The Kilowatt Hour

From Brilliant Trees through Died In The Wool...

Re: The Kilowatt Hour

Postby ob8 on Sun Sep 08, 2013 10:20 am

Thanks Chad :)
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Re: The Kilowatt Hour

Postby Blemished on Fri Sep 20, 2013 1:26 pm

Postby missouriman on Tue Sep 17, 2013 3:55 pm

New on David's homepage today.

The Kilowatt Hour ft. Franz Wright

17.09.13: Permalink ª The Kilowatt Hour ft. Franz Wright

ìEarlier this year I had the good fortune to meet and work with the American Pulitzer prize-winning poet Franz Wright. Iíd been an enthusiastic admirer of Franzís work for many years but with the publication of the volume Kindertotenwald I found Iíd made a very personal connection with a uniquely intimate collection of prose poems. At the time of reading Iíd no idea of the twists and turns my life was to take in the year to come, the ramifications of which chimed so profoundly with Franzís work (having already written and recorded the title track for Died in the Wool and my interpretations of the poetry of Emily Dickinson), nor had I any notion that approximately one year later Iíd be sitting in a studio in his home town in Massachusetts, recording his readings from that same volume.

In the early months of 2013 Iíd written to Franz in the hope of peaking his interest in a possible project, which I could only describe in the most nebulous of terms. As fortune would have it, he was familiar enough with my work to embrace the idea from the outset. Unfortunately, he was in very poor health having been diagnosed with terminal cancer. Cancer is no stranger to Franz, heíd stared down its barrels once before, it was a fight heíd won against the odds, but here it was back again, lying in wait, biding its time, time Franz canít afford to waste as he continues to write with formidable determination, honesty, courage, and a devotion to his craft, his muse, documenting his fluctuating moods, insights, intellect, sorrows, loves and bloody rage in these, his last volumes, the latest being ëFí.

At the same time as Iíd been speaking with Franz Iíd also been discussing a spate of concerts with Stephan Mathieu and Christian Fennesz. It now seems inevitable perhaps that these two projects shouldíve come together in what is currently a brief series of performances based on an outline for a composition I put together as recently as August 2013. The piece is constructed so as to allow for freely improvised input from Christian and Stephan anchored by Franzís readings and my own compositional constructs. As I write this weíre still exploring the possibilities of the piece following on from our debut performance at the Punkt Festival, Kristiansand, Norway, September 2013 and Franz remains on the other end of the line talking to me of Jacob and the angel and a thousand other things that have, in truth, helped sustain me, as has his magnificent voice as it resounds around the venues and theatres of Europe.

The trio is known as The Kilowatt Hour.î
David Sylvian, September 2013

Postby inkinthewell on Tue Sep 17, 2013 5:11 pm

Marvellous.
Thank you for having posted this, missouriman, or I would have missed it.
I'm going to see The Kilowatt Hour tomorrow night, and this is so beautiful I'm going to love it regardless of how good or bad the performance will be. :D
I like David's interest in combative poets, and how they seem to be spurring him onwards, into different and difficult places.
Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans - JL 1940-1980

Postby javier on Tue Sep 17, 2013 7:50 pm

As little as I can gather from that Google translation (great to read, clear but also confusing), the performance sounds like it created quite an atmosphere.

Personally, I can find such eclectic/improvised/unpredictable performances compelling to attend. The atmosphere of interwoven sounds and silences can be fascinating and intriguing and in its own way beautiful in the moment. They can have an incredible "wow-factor". It can almost be like travelling into unknown territory.

However, because it seems generally "cerebral", even if there were a recording I probably wouldn't listen to it very often. It demands dedicated immersion and won't become integrated with my own life as would, say, a more conventional song-based performance which I might listen to regularly.

So these things always have a sense of distance and unfamiliarity. Even though it has some wonderful pieces, I rarely hum tunes from Manafon or listen to it while I commute as compared to, say, The First Day.

And then there are those "in between" things like Plight and Premonition which (IMHO) have the best balance - with just enough structure to become familiar and can be either listened to with concentration but can also be integrated with daily life, for example as late-night background music to work by.

So from the Google-translated fragments, my guess is that for those attending a performance, the Kilowatt Hour could be truly incredible, but most likely one of those "have to be there" experiences which a recording couldn't do justice.

Postby silentwings on Wed Sep 18, 2013 2:54 am

Enjoy the performances over the next couple of days, those of you who are going. Do share your experiences.

I think those readings will have a special resonance now that you know it's Franz Wright reading his own work.

The sound quality in Norway was excellent, including that spoken word content.

Postby kitaj on Wed Sep 18, 2013 4:48 am

I, too, am very much looking forward to the Milan concert. I like that I don't know what to expect.
I hope it's going to be a stimulating collective experience for all of us to remember and come back to from time to time.
I kind of sound like a workshop leader, but I mean it.
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