Again, we told you this was going to be "epic."
And throughout all 10 hours (five on Friday evening, five more on Saturday afternoon), the tweets pretty much confirmed what we knew already about Nick Hallett's Darmstadt Essential Repertoire series.
Yesterday, while quoting Richard Kostelanetz, Classicalite posted photos from John Cage & Lejaren Hiller's HPSCHD @ Eyebeam.
Today, as promised, we're happy to provide more than six minutes of exclusive audio gathered during the Friday night performance.
Seeing as how it was The New York Times' Steve Smith that alerted Classicalite to the fact that Kostelanetz was at Eyebeam in Chelsea, we figured it apropos to reprint Mr. Smith's closing grafs from his Sunday, May 5, 2013 review:
"How to assess such a work? For the first hour I paced throughout the room, listening to the music morph according to my perspective, and pausing to take in this image or that sound. In accordance with the presenters' wishes of all audience members, I posted a stream of photos on Twitter. During the second hour, heeding a cue from Richard Kostelanetz's review of the premiere for The New York Times, I lay on the floor near a concealed loudspeaker and closed my eyes, drifting with the din. (Arising 30 minutes later, I read on Twitter that I had been spotted napping on the job.)
Over the remaining three hours, the scene became a congenial social gathering, the audience increasingly vociferous in its contributions. At 10 p.m., the sounds ceased suddenly and the screens went dark; participants all, we applauded and departed.
Throughout, I felt agreeably perplexed and ineffably blissful. A gently mediated anarchy both clamorous and glamorous, this was surely just what Cage intended."
Don't forget to stop by Classicalite first thing tomorrow morn.
We'll have video of John Cage & Lejaren Hiller's HPSCHD @ Eyebeam to share with you all then...
