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March 18, 2006
Melodious Cacophony
We've just completed an upgrade of Moveable Type, so I'm still learning how things work. For now, I'll mention that I caught the "performance" of George Antheil's 1924 "Ballet Mecanique," featuring three xylophones, four bass drums, sixteen player pianos, seven electric bells, three airplane propellors, and other instruments as part of the National Gallery of Art's Dada exhibit.
The performance was incredibly fun. Loud, cacophonous, and yet somehow melodic. The Dada exhibit itself ws pretty impressive, a nice collection of materials, which was organized by the cities that were Dada's biggest hotspots: Zurich, Berlin, Hannover, Cologne, New York, and Paris, and the exhibits were also contextualized within the Dadaist's opposition to and horror at the events of the First World War. While the Dada exhibit runs longer, the daily performances of Antheil's composition only run through March 29.
Posted by chuck at March 18, 2006 7:38 PM
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Comments
Testing new comment configuration. There seems to be a problem blocking one particular blog spammer, so until then, I'm moderating comments.
Posted by: Chuck at March 19, 2006 10:26 AM
I think I've solved the problem, so back to normal for now.
Posted by: Chuck at March 19, 2006 12:52 PM