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tamaranthStuff I've done and have been meaning to write up for a while ...
Some of these events were part of See Further: the festival of science + arts, at the South Bank Centre, celebrating 250 years of the Royal Society. There were furry pterosaurs! There were aerial jellyfish! There were a great many people ...
Beautiful Noise
RFH, 30th June
Panel discussion on the evolution and science of music: speakers were Dr Ian Cross (Faculty of Music, Cambridge), Prof Emily Doolittle, (Cornish College of the Arts), Prof Steven Mithen (Archaeology, Reading) and Prof Vincent Walsh (Cognitive Neuroscience, UCL).
VW: music as happy accident? aide-memoire to language? aid to problem-solving, general creativity, good behaviour?
IC: had brought his guitar which was handy for demonstrating harmonics. Pointed out that standard Western experience of music (performed by the few for the many) is not how music has worked through most of human existence. A communicative medium for social situations - the musical brain is the social brain.
SM: from an archaeological perspective (he'd brought some skulls). Does making beautiful artefacts imply making beautiful sounds? Spoken language gave H.Sap the cutting edge, but how did other subspecies (Neanderthals etc) communicate? Did spoken language overtake / overwrite music as communication? Singing to infants is a deep impulse, possibly millions of years old.
ED: played some birdsong (Pied butcher-bird, hermit thrust), then slowed it down to one-eighth normal speed so we could hear structure and harmonics. Noted that potentially musical traits include vocal learning (we do it, great apes don't), rhythmic alignment (e.g. dancing in time to a beat), connection of sound with emotion / activity, use of fixed materials. It's hard to define music in a way that includes all human music yet excludes all animal behaviour.
Audience questions: is there an evolutionary reason for perfect pitch?
ED: it can be learnt; IC: 3% of Greek conservatory students have it, 47% of Japanese -- Japanese is a tonal language. Someone mentioned amusia -- people who can't make sense of music -- this happens in cultures with tonal languages as well.
Audience: on music, religion, social.
"Just because it's social doesn't mean it's nice" - music can be exclusive as well as inclusive.
RC notes that in most / all cultures, if the name of God is chanted it's a long low note.
SM: music as a way of communicating with deities: you can't speak to God in words, he never talks back
VW: music is seldom, any more, simply about the music: it's a soundtrack, a performance, a social event
ED: humpback whales in the same ocean basin sing variations on the same song: incoming whales can 'infect them' with a new song.
Icarus at the Edge of Time
RFH, 3rd July
event page
New work by Philip Glass, much more dynamic than many of his pieces. Preceded by John Adams 'Doctor Atomic' symphony, based on his opera about Oppenheimer. This involved a remarkable array of percussion including a large rectangle of what looked like thickish tin foil. All of it underpinned by ominous bass drumroll -- some joyous moments and considerable jazz influence. I quite liked the last 5 mins.
Icarus at the Edge of Time is based on a children's book by Dr Brian Greene, who gave us a 4-minute primer on the physics of black holes. "A work I'd like to think of, not as science fiction, but as science in fiction!" he concluded proudly.![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
swisstone, myself and (in another part of the auditorium) fjm and major_clanger all vibrated with irritation.
The performance consisted of full orchestra playing the Glass piece, plus a film by Al and Al (heavy on purple and blue, full of feather-images, beautiful slightly steampunk aesthetic and an Art Deco feel) and narration (drawn from the book) by David Morrisey. I'd have concentrated better with any two of the three: felt I was distracted from the music by the visuals, but they were too interesting to ignore. Typical Glass, arpeggios and building rhythms, but a lot more exciting than (e.g.) Ahknaten.
The plot of the story is simple but interesting: bright rebellious kid forgets basic tenet of black-hole physics, surfs to edge of black hole, finds himself in The Future(TM) where we note that the space equivalent of traffic cop is male, but friendly librarian is female. I like the Icarus metaphor but wonder if kids will get it.
Ernesto Neto - The Edges of the World: The New Decor
Hayward Gallery, 4th July
Ernesto Neto
The New Decor
On the Sundayladymoonray and I went to the Hayward to do some Art, which involved a large paddling pool on one of the balconies -- H2O-SFLV, to give it its official title. We immersed ourselves in Neto's 'body / space / landscapes' [it says in the exhibition guide] and very pleasant it was too, though overrun (the pool, at least) with small children, one of which took an inexplicable liking to me.
I like Neto's work a lot -- it's playful and it makes me think, though sometimes what I am thinking is "must never be allowed to name things"; symbiotintestubetime for instance, 'a serpentine, spice-laden tunnel' with holes in it. Great fun! And it's on til 5th September.
The New Decor was patchier. Some terrible things done in the name of Art: luckily there were 36 different artists' works here, and some fascinating and disturbing works. (a room where everything is a map of Palestine -- coathanger bent into the outline of the territory, carrier bag made from coated paper map, stains on bedframe, strands of hair on pillow ...) I liked the clock which had, instead of hours, 'epiphany', 'anxiety', 'duty' etc. (Raqs Media collective)
When It Changed
RFH, 4th July
When it Changed - ed. Ryman
Geoff Ryman, Sara Maitland, Michael Arditti, Dr Vinod Dhanak, Dr Matthew Cobb: panel discussion rooted in Mr Ryman's new anthology, which pairs scientists and writers in collaboration. Arditti and Maitland read from their stories (cyberdeath and mosses, respectively) and the panel discussed research, invention, creativity.
MC: 'Knowing stuff is boring, the interesting thing is finding out -- if a scientist, by experimenting; if a writer, by writing'. An insect is more complex than a star -- we know how the sun's going to go nova but we can't predict what a maggot will do.
GR namedroppedpurplecthulhu
MA: quoting Vanessa Redgrave on the vital role of the arts in asserting humanity. Writing fiction is putting science in a moral context.
Then onto science, religion and scientific atheists e.g. Dawkins. This got heated. (So did my brain: stuffy room, long busy weekend ...)
Then audience questions, and the difference between 'proper' SF and wish-fulfilment (e.g. Star Trek). "We've gone from a literature of wonder to a literature of comfort -- science fact is more interesting than a lot of science fiction" though he noted the recent 'golden age' of British SF, and observed that many practitioners are left-wing and tech-savvy.
The Railway Children
Waterloo Station, 7th July
event page
With real steam train! Yay! The play's staged in the old Eurostar terminal at Waterloo -- it's a good use of the space (including, did I mention, real steam train). Most of the trains are invisible, though very audible (as indeed were the mundane SWT trains on platforms 1-19): the set is a series of blocks moving along the rails, but these can be a front room or a kitchen as easily as a railway carriage. And both times the steam train makes an entrance, it's incredibly impressive: though actually I'm accustomed to seeing such trains from ground-level rather than platform level, so it looked oddly small.
The story's told by the children when they're grown up, looking back -- 'when did we become the Railway Children?' The cast are excellent -- Sarah Quintrell as Bobby has a distinct resemblance to Jenny Agutter. It's been adapted for stage with sensitivity and humour (this is certainly a production that children will understand, relate to and find funny / sad / exciting as appropriate).
I don't know the film very well, but I remember the book in considerable (though uneven) depth: the simile about events being like sticking a finger in risen dough, and leaving a smudge if the finger's dirty, has stuck, but I'd completely forgotten the Russian dissident.
Sad to see so many empty seats but it's on until 4th September and is highly recommended -- do go if you like the story, or trains, or live theatre in unusual places!
Beethoven choral stuff
Cadogan Hall, 8th July
event page
London Concert Choir and Counterpoint Players, cond. Mark Forkgen: Claire Seaton (sop), Arlene Rolph (mezzo), Adrian Thompson (tenor) & Giles Underwood (baritone).
Mass in C, A Calm Sea & A Prosperous Voyage, Leonore No. 3, Fidelio finale.
There is not a lot I can say about this. Claire Seaton has an utterly marvellous voice -- not that the rest of the soloists were at all bad -- and the choir did very well under trying circumstances involving ... well, I shall be kind and note that it's hard to keep period instruments in tune for long. Or, apparently, in time.
The Fidelio finale is still one of the pieces I find most uplifting, though squawky brass didn't help: the Mass in C deserves better (I don't know it well, but could see foreshadowings of Missa Solemnis in it): the reason I never remember 'Calm Sea' is because it's so, well, calm: I could feel considerable distress emanating fromladymoonray during Leonore #3.
I am not going to London again for a while ...
Some of these events were part of See Further: the festival of science + arts, at the South Bank Centre, celebrating 250 years of the Royal Society. There were furry pterosaurs! There were aerial jellyfish! There were a great many people ...
Beautiful Noise
RFH, 30th June
Panel discussion on the evolution and science of music: speakers were Dr Ian Cross (Faculty of Music, Cambridge), Prof Emily Doolittle, (Cornish College of the Arts), Prof Steven Mithen (Archaeology, Reading) and Prof Vincent Walsh (Cognitive Neuroscience, UCL).
VW: music as happy accident? aide-memoire to language? aid to problem-solving, general creativity, good behaviour?
IC: had brought his guitar which was handy for demonstrating harmonics. Pointed out that standard Western experience of music (performed by the few for the many) is not how music has worked through most of human existence. A communicative medium for social situations - the musical brain is the social brain.
SM: from an archaeological perspective (he'd brought some skulls). Does making beautiful artefacts imply making beautiful sounds? Spoken language gave H.Sap the cutting edge, but how did other subspecies (Neanderthals etc) communicate? Did spoken language overtake / overwrite music as communication? Singing to infants is a deep impulse, possibly millions of years old.
ED: played some birdsong (Pied butcher-bird, hermit thrust), then slowed it down to one-eighth normal speed so we could hear structure and harmonics. Noted that potentially musical traits include vocal learning (we do it, great apes don't), rhythmic alignment (e.g. dancing in time to a beat), connection of sound with emotion / activity, use of fixed materials. It's hard to define music in a way that includes all human music yet excludes all animal behaviour.
Audience questions: is there an evolutionary reason for perfect pitch?
ED: it can be learnt; IC: 3% of Greek conservatory students have it, 47% of Japanese -- Japanese is a tonal language. Someone mentioned amusia -- people who can't make sense of music -- this happens in cultures with tonal languages as well.
Audience: on music, religion, social.
"Just because it's social doesn't mean it's nice" - music can be exclusive as well as inclusive.
RC notes that in most / all cultures, if the name of God is chanted it's a long low note.
SM: music as a way of communicating with deities: you can't speak to God in words, he never talks back
VW: music is seldom, any more, simply about the music: it's a soundtrack, a performance, a social event
ED: humpback whales in the same ocean basin sing variations on the same song: incoming whales can 'infect them' with a new song.
Icarus at the Edge of Time
RFH, 3rd July
event page
New work by Philip Glass, much more dynamic than many of his pieces. Preceded by John Adams 'Doctor Atomic' symphony, based on his opera about Oppenheimer. This involved a remarkable array of percussion including a large rectangle of what looked like thickish tin foil. All of it underpinned by ominous bass drumroll -- some joyous moments and considerable jazz influence. I quite liked the last 5 mins.
Icarus at the Edge of Time is based on a children's book by Dr Brian Greene, who gave us a 4-minute primer on the physics of black holes. "A work I'd like to think of, not as science fiction, but as science in fiction!" he concluded proudly.
swisstone, myself and (in another part of the auditorium) fjm and major_clanger all vibrated with irritation. The performance consisted of full orchestra playing the Glass piece, plus a film by Al and Al (heavy on purple and blue, full of feather-images, beautiful slightly steampunk aesthetic and an Art Deco feel) and narration (drawn from the book) by David Morrisey. I'd have concentrated better with any two of the three: felt I was distracted from the music by the visuals, but they were too interesting to ignore. Typical Glass, arpeggios and building rhythms, but a lot more exciting than (e.g.) Ahknaten.
The plot of the story is simple but interesting: bright rebellious kid forgets basic tenet of black-hole physics, surfs to edge of black hole, finds himself in The Future(TM) where we note that the space equivalent of traffic cop is male, but friendly librarian is female. I like the Icarus metaphor but wonder if kids will get it.
Ernesto Neto - The Edges of the World: The New Decor
Hayward Gallery, 4th July
Ernesto Neto
The New Decor
On the Sunday
ladymoonray and I went to the Hayward to do some Art, which involved a large paddling pool on one of the balconies -- H2O-SFLV, to give it its official title. We immersed ourselves in Neto's 'body / space / landscapes' [it says in the exhibition guide] and very pleasant it was too, though overrun (the pool, at least) with small children, one of which took an inexplicable liking to me. I like Neto's work a lot -- it's playful and it makes me think, though sometimes what I am thinking is "must never be allowed to name things"; symbiotintestubetime for instance, 'a serpentine, spice-laden tunnel' with holes in it. Great fun! And it's on til 5th September.
The New Decor was patchier. Some terrible things done in the name of Art: luckily there were 36 different artists' works here, and some fascinating and disturbing works. (a room where everything is a map of Palestine -- coathanger bent into the outline of the territory, carrier bag made from coated paper map, stains on bedframe, strands of hair on pillow ...) I liked the clock which had, instead of hours, 'epiphany', 'anxiety', 'duty' etc. (Raqs Media collective)
When It Changed
RFH, 4th July
When it Changed - ed. Ryman
Geoff Ryman, Sara Maitland, Michael Arditti, Dr Vinod Dhanak, Dr Matthew Cobb: panel discussion rooted in Mr Ryman's new anthology, which pairs scientists and writers in collaboration. Arditti and Maitland read from their stories (cyberdeath and mosses, respectively) and the panel discussed research, invention, creativity.
MC: 'Knowing stuff is boring, the interesting thing is finding out -- if a scientist, by experimenting; if a writer, by writing'. An insect is more complex than a star -- we know how the sun's going to go nova but we can't predict what a maggot will do.
GR namedropped
purplecthulhuMA: quoting Vanessa Redgrave on the vital role of the arts in asserting humanity. Writing fiction is putting science in a moral context.
Then onto science, religion and scientific atheists e.g. Dawkins. This got heated. (So did my brain: stuffy room, long busy weekend ...)
Then audience questions, and the difference between 'proper' SF and wish-fulfilment (e.g. Star Trek). "We've gone from a literature of wonder to a literature of comfort -- science fact is more interesting than a lot of science fiction" though he noted the recent 'golden age' of British SF, and observed that many practitioners are left-wing and tech-savvy.
The Railway Children
Waterloo Station, 7th July
event page
With real steam train! Yay! The play's staged in the old Eurostar terminal at Waterloo -- it's a good use of the space (including, did I mention, real steam train). Most of the trains are invisible, though very audible (as indeed were the mundane SWT trains on platforms 1-19): the set is a series of blocks moving along the rails, but these can be a front room or a kitchen as easily as a railway carriage. And both times the steam train makes an entrance, it's incredibly impressive: though actually I'm accustomed to seeing such trains from ground-level rather than platform level, so it looked oddly small.
The story's told by the children when they're grown up, looking back -- 'when did we become the Railway Children?' The cast are excellent -- Sarah Quintrell as Bobby has a distinct resemblance to Jenny Agutter. It's been adapted for stage with sensitivity and humour (this is certainly a production that children will understand, relate to and find funny / sad / exciting as appropriate).
I don't know the film very well, but I remember the book in considerable (though uneven) depth: the simile about events being like sticking a finger in risen dough, and leaving a smudge if the finger's dirty, has stuck, but I'd completely forgotten the Russian dissident.
Sad to see so many empty seats but it's on until 4th September and is highly recommended -- do go if you like the story, or trains, or live theatre in unusual places!
Beethoven choral stuff
Cadogan Hall, 8th July
event page
London Concert Choir and Counterpoint Players, cond. Mark Forkgen: Claire Seaton (sop), Arlene Rolph (mezzo), Adrian Thompson (tenor) & Giles Underwood (baritone).
Mass in C, A Calm Sea & A Prosperous Voyage, Leonore No. 3, Fidelio finale.
There is not a lot I can say about this. Claire Seaton has an utterly marvellous voice -- not that the rest of the soloists were at all bad -- and the choir did very well under trying circumstances involving ... well, I shall be kind and note that it's hard to keep period instruments in tune for long. Or, apparently, in time.
The Fidelio finale is still one of the pieces I find most uplifting, though squawky brass didn't help: the Mass in C deserves better (I don't know it well, but could see foreshadowings of Missa Solemnis in it): the reason I never remember 'Calm Sea' is because it's so, well, calm: I could feel considerable distress emanating from
ladymoonray during Leonore #3.I am not going to London again for a while ...
