Planetarium is a
new piece by Bryce Dessner, Nico Muhly & Sufjan Stevens commissioned for
the 2012 Vivid Festival. The piece is
based on the planets in the Solar System plus The Sun, The Moon and the recently exiled Pluto. The core three is
joined by a live Drummer, String Quartet and Seven Trombones under the glow of
a glowing orb representing the subject planet.
The first half of the program featured The Orava String
Quartet playing pieces written by Dessner, Muhly & Stevens. Nico’s Diacritical Marks composition
comprised of 8 fairly short pieces and to be blunt was uninteresting. The players really didn’t seem comfortable
with the material and there seems to be no real passion in their playing. Sufjan’s Run Rabbit Run on the other hand flowed allot better
and had the kind of melodic highs found in Sufjan’s music. The three pieces flowed really nicely and
were an interesting listen. Brynce’s Aheym was very heavy in comparison to the others compositions. Kind of like Heavy Metal on strings. Probably not as successful as Sufjan but
still an interesting piece of music.
After a short interval the group formed on the stage with
Sufjan in the centre, Nico to the Left and Bryce to the right. The sound of Planetarium is very much in the
Space Rock zone. The backing is quite
lush and at times quite electronic but allot of the colour of the piece comes
from Sufjan’s vocals. For the most part
his vocals are affected by vocoders, autotuners and other effects adding a other worldly feel. It is quite exciting to
hear vocals played live as an instrument. The
more dynamic and heavier tunes were the most interesting tracks with the epic
Mars and Mercury as the highlights. Pluto
may have been booted from the Solar System but the groups tribute was
heartbreaking. A slow and haunting tune
that reflected the loneliness of being at the edge of the universe. Each tune seemed fitting to the planet that
were their inspired by and as a piece Planetarium was a major success. Lets hope that we get the a recording of this
very soon.
The Orava String Quartet Setlist:
Diacritical Marks (in eight movements) by Nico Muhly
Run Rabbit Run i: Year of the Boar by Sufjan Steven
Run Rabbit Run ii: Year of the Horse by Sufjan Steven
Run Rabbit Run iii: Year of our Lord by Sufjan Steven
Aheym by Bryce Dessner
Planetarium Setlist:
Neptune
Jupiter
Venus
Uranus
Mars
The Sun
Pluto
The Moon
Saturn
Earth
Mercury
Encore:
Somewhere Over The Rainbow
