Olga Neuwirth is a
contemporary Austrian composer who has
absorbed nearly everything: the good,
the bad, and the kitchen sink, from
every radical movement from early 20th
century serialism to late 20th
century atonality. She is a clear student
of non-minimalist electronic music and
the aleatoric modes advocated by Pierre
Boulez. She also seems to be one of
the current standard-bearers for Stockhausen’s
random sonic overlays that allow for
elaborate and very spooky electronic
backgrounds. Toss into the mix a bit
of the theater-of-the-absurd and screwball
Lacanian psychology and you have just
about every element that is present
on this release.
Not quite an opera,
Lost Highway is meant as a bit
of non-linear, noir-like Musiktheater
and is a loving, almost worshipful,
translation of David Lynch’s 1997 movie
of the same name. There is very little
singing here, but quite a lot of dialogue
that is taken from the movie but rendered
here more like bits from the plays of
Ionesco or Beckett. Eighty years ago
this might have been called "experimental"
music or perhaps "music of the
future". Now it’s just très
moderne and, to me, a bit pretentious.
The Klangform Wien ensemble uses traditional
instruments, but there is a music sampler
involved in here - sampling both vocals
and sound effects. Post-production also
added more computer and/or electronic
effects. Lost Highway’s only
aesthetic weakness is that this is a
recording of something that’s meant
to be staged … and based on a film.
I say "aesthetic"
weakness here, because it has one other
weakness, and it’s a big one. Though
a loving retelling of the movie, Lost
Highway, given the high strangeness
of both the spoken word parts, the few
song passages, and stretches of pure
electronic cacophony, this is only going
to appeal to people who either admire
this composer or works of similar complexity
and dissonance. Admirers of the films
of David Lynch or even of avant-garde
theater are unlikely to find this music
attractive. The visual and narrative
chaos of a film is an altogether different
kind of creature than an opera that
employs both sound and song to carry
the same effects. The only work I know
that pulls this off is the 1959 opera
Aniara by Karl-Birger Blomdahl
- based on Harry Martinson’s epic poem
about a lost space-ship filled with
doomed passengers. But then, Aniara,
is quite linear and quite cogent. The
music and electronic effects add
to the telling of the tragic story;
they aren’t part of the telling.
While the physical
sound quality of this release is excellent
and the miking of the various speakers/singers
is spot-on, these elements alone do
not a fine composition make. And while
the notes in the accompanying booklet
are extremely informative — they are
in French, German and English — they
also hint at the sycophantic, going
out of their way, as they do, to make
all sorts of odd declarations that unwittingly
suggest that the folks involved in this
production are actually living on some
other planet. In the opening essay,
Stavoj Zizek concludes by saying: "…
[T]his central position of voice in
Lynch’s universe, is what makes the
idea of an OPERA based on Lynch’s Lost
Highway not only so interesting
and provocative, but, in a way, urgent,
something which HAS TO BE DONE . . ."
Huh? When I read statements like this,
I wonder who these people are who are
so absorbed in David Lynch that they
would assume that the rest of us should
also be.
Still, this is obviously
a labor of somebody’s love. But I can
only recommend it to a stalwart few.
Certainly if you are a David Lynch fan
you might want to check it out. You
may find some kindred spirits here.
Paul Cook
for
details
Constance Haumann (Renée/Alice)
