Rabbit & Rogue

[BATMAN]

I saw/heard the new ballet last night. My opinion differs from the dance critic of the NY Times who said:

“Mr. Elfman’s ambitious score has many hues — including those of the gamelan — and makes plain that he means here to step outside his achievements as a composer of film and television music. I hear echoes of Philip Glass (especially the pounding bass of “In the Upper Room”), of the churning and brightly scored worlds of John Adams, and of the brilliant writing for high strings of Benjamin Britten. (One figure that closely resembles Britten’s “Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra” keeps returning to irritating effect.) With many effects of coarse orchestration, however, it’s a score that lacks distinction.”

My take is this: it does closely resemble “Serenada” inasmuch as he starts off with a good idea and takes it as far as it can go, which is usually about 3 minutes. While that might be an indictment for a symphonist, it worked really well for ballet which is totally episodic. The work is in 5 movements:
I. Frolic
II. Rag
III. Lyric
IV.:Gamelan
V.: Finale

Frolic is out of the Charlotte’s web vein. Actually, a lot of the rhythmic ideas in the strings which build and build sound like Serenada in that way…the same can be said of Rag which sort of sounds like “A Brass Thing” with more of a beetlejuice oompa thing.
Lyric is my favorite movement and the artistic highlight of the whole piece. Tonally it has an atmosphere of Nightbreed. The small repeating idea in the percussion/vibraphone or synth…whatever it was it was this ethereal mood which was repeated and repeated (like the main idea of the Nightbreed theme). However, it was more complex. As it grew I was swept away in a sort of trancelike euphoria…the whole piece was really “busy” (i.e. unfocused) but here in the middle of my euphoria, right at the right moment, chromatic brass ease in at just the right moment stating that main idea in whole notes. It was really beautiful. Gamelan didn’t have any gamelan in it. The drums were brazilian and others which Elfman uses often. I didn’t pay much attention to the dancing, but the movement, being percussive, was concentrated mostly on some sort of running around or a street fight or something.
The finale is a crescendo-ing loud climax which you would expect. It was all very nice. I talked to Danny at intermission and he said there were no plans at the moment to record it. It was big…some 40 something minutes of music. And like Serenada deserves a recording so we’ll see. In the program it says it’s heading next to the Orange County Performing Arts Center on August 6, 2008

[Monsterhead]

Thanks for the update Batman. I’m sure Danny was surprised to see you there.

[Ryan Keaveney]

Thanks, Richard. You’re always in the right place at the right time!

[gaba]

Nothe rreview is far kinder than that from NYtimes:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/patricia-zohn/culture-zohn-twyla-tharp_b_105468.html

The score by Danny Elfman is lush and cinematic, heart swelling and tuneful as well as rousing. Elfman paced up and down the Met aisles mingling with the ghosts of Puccini and Philip Glass whose operas had been in repertory during the recent season. Don’t tell me artists EVER get jaded or over opening night jitters no matter how successful they are and as many times as they’ve done it; each time is the first time.

[moyesii]

I saw the June 6 performance at the Met, and I thought it was brilliant — rousing and euphoric — both the music and the dancing! I’m really hoping that they make a recording. Obviously, this music is something special; it has been over a month now and I’m still musing about it

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