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    Reviews, mostly NYTimes, from 1988-to 2013

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    Reviews, mostly NYTimes, from 1988-to 2013

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    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF or read online from Scribd
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    10 views17 pages

    John Moran - CV + Press

    Uploaded by

    John Moran
    Reviews, mostly NYTimes, from 1988-to 2013

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF or read online from Scribd
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    Weltfalitthe Nachrichten So, 14.10.2012 Eine Melange aus Gerauschen John Moran prasentierte seine sinnlichen ,,Etudes: Amsterdam“ Minster Sorry, mein Stiick ist noch nicht fertig. Schuld war eine Hochwasserflut in Bangkok. Ich habe nur eine heun Minuten-Sequenz far Sie, sorry!* Immer wieder entschuldigt sich der New Yorker Komponist und Autor John Moran zu Beginn seines neues Stiicks Etudes: Amsterdam* mit verlegenem Lacheln und zerknirschtem Gesichtsausdruck bei seinem Publikum, das am Wochenende zur Deutschlandpremiere ins Pumpenhaus gekommen war. Die Buhne ist fast leer, Hocker und Laptop losen sich auf im grofien Nichts. Rauspern im Publikum, verdutzte Blicke, kurze Zweifel. Dann leuchten Morans Augen wie die eines Lausbubs, Gut gebluffi! Die Etudes: Amster- dam’ folgen doch, immerhin knapp 45 Minuten lang. John Moran kombiniert darin alltigliche Gerausche aus Amsterdam. Menschen unterhalten sich, laufen herum, sitzen auf knirschenden Sofas, trinken Kaffee und Bier, kiissen Kitzchen im Garten, In enger Synchronitat zu den Gerauschen aus dem Laptop mimt Moran mit expressiver en Gentleman und einen aufgedrehten kleinen Jungen, Mo mischen Details von der Haarwurzel bis zur FuBspitze. Fi an verkbrpert sie mit verblilfend akustischen und mi- zeigt expressiv, was diese Figuren in ihm selbst aus- lesen, mit ihrer Musik aus Gerduschen und akustischen Erkennungssignalen, Um seine Klanggemialde noch mehr ‘zu verdeutlichen, mischt er die drei Portrats zusammen und wiederholt diese Melange an Gerauschen in einer Endlosschleife, die sich allmaihlich zu einer hypnotischen Ohrwurm-Melodie mitsamt Choreographie entwickelt. Mit seinem Sttick Etudes: Amsterdam scharft John Moran unser Bewusstsein, alltagliche Gerausche unserer Umwelt und der Menschen, die uns umgeben, kiinftig aufmerksamer wahrzunehmen — wie Eitiden unseres ganz personlichen Lebenskosmos. Aus unscheinbarer Akustik werden ganz individuelle Klanggemalde. Jeder Mensch hat seine eigene Melodie und Choreographie, und eine Stadt wie Amsterdam wird zu einer wahren Musikbiblio- thek ihrer Einwohner. So zeigt Moran, wie musikalisch das Leben ist. Man muss nur richtig hinhoren. Am schon- sten ist die Szene, in der et einen Menschen in einer Daunenjacke liebevoll in den Arm nimmt. Die Daunenjacke knirscht wie sanft knistemdes Kaminfeuer. Dieses Gerausch und Morans weit geoffnete Arme erzeugen mehr ‘Warme als 1000 Worte Markische © Allgemeine Brandenburgs beste Seiten Tanztage: Tone Sammeln POTSDAM / SCHIFFBAU es etwas, bis die beiden Perform ERGASSE - Zu Anfang dauert ri er John Mo- ran und Seine Nachbarin Saori so wirken, als seien sie ern ranzer/S sthafte Knstler, aber auch diese Volte, verstelt man spite, hort in die fast schon besessen zu ne mathematische und Sammelleiden: Nicht genug, dass er Tone zal, er gibt manchmal Geschwindigkeit der Bewegungen und Sprechweise bits pro Minute spreche er gerade, sagt er und wird la beim Sprechen, als sei wie bei einem Tonband scine Spur am Auslaufen, Der amerikanische Musiker soll jahrelang auf Philipp Glass’ Couch gelebt haben, bis der Komponist ihn als \wiirdigen Nachfolg . ddas Beharren auf sich wiederholenden Strukturen, wie bei der Szene 2u Be ‘uf den Hosenboden setzt und laut lachend bestit ting on the floor*, Darin ist der Lehter zu erkennen. annie, Daher mBglicherweise auch inn, wo John Moran sich drei Mal hintereinander Philip Glass hat seine meinhin als alistiseh bekannte Musik. als sich wiederholende Strukturen bezeich. net. John Moran hat optilente Oper inszeniert, mit Menschen wie Iggy Pop 2.B. ..The Manson family" besetzt. Aber, so er- zaihlte er wihrend der 70-minitigen Show mit seiner , Nac er beschimplte manchmal arm wie eine Kirchenmaus. Viereinhalb sein Hun, bain Saori Produzenten und war dann -rekord, erfubren die Zuschauer im voll besetzten John Moran und seine Nachbarin Saori gastieren im T-Werk ,.Tanz mit den Seifenblasen’ BildvergréBerung Saal des T-Werks am Fr das, was seine Freundin Eva aus Deutschland nicht mitmachen ‘wollte, Aber auch wahrend der schlimmsten Zeiten, kurz vors dem Selbstmord, konnte er Bach hoen, sagte er und legte die Goldberg: Variationen auf den Plattontller des halb demoliert wirkenden Wobnzimmer-Bikhnenensembles, Er selbst sei der Pianist, informiert er, und wieder lachend: die Musik sei nicht an einem Stiick, sondern Ton fiir Ton aufgenommen worden. Kaum zu glauben, hdrte es sich doch an wie die Goldberg: Variationen, Aber das ist John Morans Ding: Téne, Ger che, Augenblicke, Anblicke sammeln, herausWisen aus. der Wirklichkeit, neu zusammensetz nd, und wahrscheinlich war es und 2war auf eine Weise dass der Betrachter oder Zuhidrer nicht unbedingt den Ténen und Bildern diese Reise ansieht oder -hort, die sie hinter sich hhaben. John Moran und mit ilim seine ,Nachbarin Saori sind Sezierer der Realitit, sie nehmen sie bis in ihre kleinsten Fit zelchen suscinander, sie setzen sic aber wieder zusammen Nur Kleine Irrtationen sind es, die darauf aufimen cchen: Wenn Saori die nicht vorhandene ~ Schicibe putzt oder aan die ebenso wenig vorhandene Tir klopft und man dazu das _uthentische' Geriusch hért, sind das im Vergleich zu Bachs Goldberg-Variationen Holzhammer-Methoden. Alles in allem aber eine faszinierende Reise in die Welt der kleinen Dinge die sie 2usammenhalten, Gabe es John Moran nicht, widen ‘wir es noch nicht einmal bemerken, = Von Hanne Landbeck April 10, » THE28@8sTIMES John Moran and His Neighbour Saori at the Soho Theatre, W1 by Donald Hutera It is unusually aricky deciding how to label this unique performance by the New York-based composer John Moran and his Japanese-born friend, the dancer Saori Tsukada. Is it dance, music or theatre? In the end it scarcely matters, especially when what we get is ~as Tsukada describes i “soft warning” at the start of the show — an hour or so that is “sort of like and, by tums, “scary, sweet and strange” She might have added the adjectives special and self aware a concert Lavishly endorsed by his long-time mentor, Philip Glass, Moran is an original whose reputation has been built upon innovative and large-scale operas (for want of a better word) that have featured the likes of Uma Thurman, Allen Ginsberg and Iggy Pop. A few years ago he met ‘Tsukada by chance during a power ct The encounter helped to change the direction of his artistic output, She has since become a regular col- laborator and, itis plain, Moran's muse. Their show at Soho is intimate and immediately friendly. Think of it as the gently eccentric avant- garde. The set is a kind of domesticated sound studio, led 1 gaping hole in it. The space, both familiar and curious, is ideal for the mercurial couple occupying it. symmetrical yet jarring with slanted floor and an walls, one of which has Raised in rural Nebraska, Moran is a slender, puck- ish figure who at times suggests a middle-aged and possibly schizophrenic choirboy, Much of his music consists of hypnotic loops of intricately edited speech \d sound effects to which he and Tsukada lip-syne .d, particularly in her ease, move ina flawlessly mi- metic manner. He also offers the occasional delicately quavering vocal with guitar accompaniment. Duri this alternately dreamy, disturbing, fun iy and decep- i he and Tsukada play aspects of themselves or, as dictated by the material they pres- tively casual eveni ent, invented cha ‘What we experience is an exceptionally artful blend of naturalism and artifice by two performers who seem rightly and innocently entranced by their own peculiar gifts. Itcould be a cult hit Box office: 0870 4296883, to April 19 2008 Ehe New Hork Cimes Review/Music; Collaboration at 72 Beats Per Minute By STEVE SMITH June 26,2011 “Lm supposed to remind you at this portion ofthe show that I'm composer,” John Moran announced just over halfway through “ohn Moran + Saori (... in Thailand,” the 2010 piece he pre- sented in its New York premiere at the Issue Project Room in Brooklyn on Friday evening, and repeated on Sarurday. Anyone ‘new to Mr, Moran’s work probably welcomed an explanation; up to that point, ttle about his performance with the dancer Saori ‘Takada had registered as music by any conventional notion, ‘You saw Mr, Moran, lanky and gamilous, eareering around a neatly bare stage. Ms, Tsukada, coo! and elegant, mimed every day acts — drawing a bath, making tea — and danced Siamese classical steps, calmly and deliberately Floor ereaks and door slams, recorded and amplified, jostled with snatches of stately gamelan and bubbly pop. Many events ‘were repeated twice in sequence, underscoring the precision of their enactment. Photo John Moran + Saori Saori Tsukada, background, and John ‘Moran, foreground, performing at Issue Project Room in Brook yn. Credit Julieta Cervantes for The New York Times How Mr. Moran, once anointed as an operatic trailblazer, came to his present idiom is @ story offen reold, Newly arrived fiom Lincoln, Neb, in 1988, he beftiended the composer Philip Glass, ‘whose support helped to bring wide attention to Mr, Moran’s sroundbreaking operas. ‘Conor ohn Meran ithe dane Sor Tuk, ooo: Esa Brabcher {In a chance encounter with Ms. Tsukada in 2005, Mr, Moran found the muse who enabled his current work: spare intimate quences of memories, recounted and enacted with an intricate ‘mixture of recorded music, spoken word, choreographed move= ‘ment and video. (Mr. Glass, a benefactor with a long memory, will present the show in August, as part of his new Days and Nights Festival in Carmel Valley, Calif) Alera short prelude in which Mr, Moran and Ms, Tsukada, ip- syncing to theirrecorded voices, agree om a tempo of 72 beats per ‘minute the first par ofthe show runs sequentially. Left behind in Berlin by Ms. Tsukada, Mr. Moran overstays his vise, He then hurriedly moves to Bangkok, where an insistent transgender “a dyboy” becomes his guide and guardian, With Ms, Tsukada daneing splendidly in Siamese regalia behind him, Mr, Moran relates his impressions of Buddhist solemnity ‘and grandeur, Thailand’s racy nightlife and its worshipful ati= tude toward its king, When Mr. Moran halts the work to explain its musical architec ture, the break initially feels arbitrary and jarring. Then, to an au- ible metronomic pulse of 72 beats per repeat earlier sections of the work in new justapasitions. Dispa- rate moments in time align seamlessly into an antic commingling of diary and dream, The result is whimsical, rich and enchanting, And, oh yes, it is music, ute, the performers The New York Times DANCE REVIEW Of a Birthday and a Baby, on the Very Edge of Mime By ALASTAIR MACAULAY January 11,2008 (On Wednesday Performance Sp complexities do no en there Ehe New Hork Cimes DANCE From Opera to Dance: His New Style, No Sweat By GIA KOURLAS. August 29, 2006 1s hatd to think of many contemporary New York artists who, personally and professionally, have experienced the highs and lows of John Moran, whose latest work, “Zenith 5," ‘was presented lastnight at Spiegeltent at the former Fulton Fish Market, under the Brooklyn Bridge. Mr. Moran is best known as a composer and director of w conventional operas. In recent years, however, he has worked fon a more intimate scale, with dancers who lip-syne while ‘moving to complex, rapid scores. By linki ingly incongruous movements, which correspond to the work’s spliced seore of noise and text, Mr. Moran creates an intvicae, singular world that is bit like walking into a fun house together seem During the 1990's, his much-lauded productions could be seen at places like the Joseph Papp Public Theater and Lin- ccoln Center, but more recently his produetions have played at clubs like Galapay Brooklyn, whieh dou- bled as his bedroom for afew scary months last year in Williarsbua “People's opinions come and go in dhe wind like leaves blow= ing past,” Mr. Moran said recently over coffee in Chelsea, dis- ceusing his career. “And it doesn’t mean that the o aren't relevant, but I've seen everything, from way too much attention to being completely shut out to being let in again, Mr Mor from Lincoln, Neb, when he was 23 and b a slender, youthfullooking 41, came to New York ame well known the protégé of Philip Glass. Over the last three years, as he shifled to a more intimate seale, Mr. Moran began to create ‘work that seemed to have more in common with dance than ‘opera. Or pethaps he was a choreographer all along? The one point everyone can agree on regarding Mr. Moran's work ‘which he has recently started to deseribe as balle, is that it defies classification. “To me, a ballet is larger, more complex structure than a dance.” he said, “When I hear the word ‘dance,’ I automati= celly think, not type of a it up in certain types of cos- ‘200d oF bad, but of @ consiste cliché of giels really sweatin tumes. My work is constant choreography timed really spe: cifically toa soundescore that { write asi it's made up of sound effects. We don’t like to see our per= formers break a sweat, even though i's hard “Iti dance,” he said after a pause, “but is deceiving because it completely imitates naturalism.” For Mr. Moran, who has worked with people like Iagy Pop in “The Manson Family” and Uma Thurman in “Book of the Dead (Second Avene), driven by a collaboration with Saori Tsukada, a relatively un- known but stad Woe that’s very his current theatrical direction i ily precise dancer: ‘Neighbors in South Williamsburg, they met on his front stoop during the blackout 02003. He negded a dancer fora show at the Kiteben, and the moment he saw Ms. Tsukada, be knew se was the one, She performed with him that fll, after which Mr. Moran moved to Franee, where he served for nearly two years a an artist in esidenee forthe mayor’s office in Paris, They were sure nice 1 do that,” Mr. Moran said, eyes erin ‘ing with laughter, “but I was very surprised at how they re fused to ever mix mediums, The word American’ kept coming up constantly. And Bush, So it ended up that | hhad nothing to do, and I was broke and I had to come home to save myself.” ‘Upon his return to New York, Mr: Moran, without regard to swliere he would live or how he would support himself, imme= diately resumed his work with Ms, Tsukada. They performed Ehe New York Times: From Opera to Dance: His New Style, No Sweat A z ‘mainly at clubs, especially at Galapagos, under the ttle “John Moran and His Neighbor Saori" as well as at PS, 122 “That show went really great, and T walked away from the Final party, the last cheers, and realized I had nowhere 1 go,” he said. “All Pd been thinking about was work, work, work, It ended up that I had the Keys to Galapagos, so 1 went there and fell asleep. The owner found me, and 1 was so embar- rassed. He didn’t say a wort. He just gave me a blanket. And I saw him the nextday, and he said, "You know, you should do that again if you have to," He laughs ruefully about it now, bur Mr. Moran aetually lived fon the same stage on which he and Ms, Tsukada had per formed. “Ht got preity rough,” he suid, adding that he even contempla- ced suicide. “I was going to call itin, and then [ thought, no, no just don’t. I want to do my work. So I ended up saving, enough to get a place, and everything’ fine now.” Mr. Moran, who lives in Bushwick, Brooklyn, may have @ home these days, but he still seems more engaged with his ar= tistic than his ma whose feet are definitely fn te ground, says I live in a cloud,” he said, “She reminds ‘me to be responsible, and I help let to stop from being te sponsible.” As characters in “Zenith 5,” Mr. Moran and Ms. Tsukada play hyper versions of themselves, providing comic rele. “What we're doing is tough,” he said, “but when you wath it itll look like we're goofing around. We do a bit where I'm way 100 stoned, and she's kind of mad at me about it, ut it’ all super-rehearsed.” “Zenith 5” isa piece in which an ensemble of six performers, along with Mr. Moran and Ms, Tsukada, move to different loops of sound. “It isa nonsense piece in that it's clearly de- signed so that you're not supposed to be able to follow it,” he said, "But it's also a serious telling of new music and @ new style of dance and performance.” ‘Audience members offen assume that Mr. Moran and Ms, Tsukada are romantically involved, They're not. Rather, i Me. Moran’s mind, they are best friends with a particular on- stage chemistry, “IE Tam the disciplined Japanese girl, then lies the kind of | prson people usually think of as an artist,” Ms. Tsukada said e's like a picture ofa tortured artist, Probably to everybody else, also still get surprised by what he says and thinks. He For now, Mr. Moran appears, in his droll way, to be trying to control his artistic obsessiveness. Butte drive to lose himself in his work is still there, just under the surface, 11's going to take me all the way to the end, and I'm glad bout that,” Mr. Moran said about his art. “I'd pat my life on the line for my work ayain, I'm not quite ready 10 do it this second, I'm kind of tired. But I'd do it ‘GIA KOURLAS Ehe New Hork Cimes THEATER THEATER; Innovative? For Sure. But What Is It? By ALLAN KOZINN November 19,2000 EVEN at atime when the working definition of opera is extreme ly loose, the growing bo Moran calls operas ~ the latest of which, "Book of the Dead (Second Avenue)" opens tomorrow al the Joseph Papp Public Theater is likely to strain an opera fan's notions ofthe form, fof works that the composer John 1 nt just that his subjects are peculiar by operate standards or ‘that is works have alway’ been presented by theater companies Alter all, however ol *The Jack Benny Program” (1989) might have seemed, with ils streams of repeating snippets from Jack Benny reruns and its psychedclic imagery, i wasnt that much quirkier than, say, "Einstein onthe Beach," by Mr, Moran's mentor «and professional role model, Philip Glass. And in yoking the story of Chatles Manson in "The Manson Family’ (1990) wo the characters ofthe television show "Hawai Five-O" Mr, Moran was in syne, however idiosyncratcally, with ‘he then-nascent wend of turing news events into oper. |What really makes his works oda, as operas go is that they tend ‘10 involve ive singing, surely one ofthe defining elements of ‘opera as it has been practiced since 160, Actually, the oer acts of "Book ofthe Dead?” do include singing in "The Manson Family” But forthe ‘works (and all of Mr. Moran's others) are scored not for singors but for actors who lip-sye toa tape prepared by Mr, Moran, nger, and here was some live west pat, those What they lip-syne is mostly speoeh, fiom which Mr. Moran hrases and Fragments wal the shapes said, When he oes lapse into more conventional melody, it ends not to be the acrobatic sort favored by 19th century Talian opera composers, oF the hervie vocalizing of German opera, but something simple and sleet ok Mics Rock OF The Deiat Te Nor ae there orchestral accompaniments in Mr, Moran’ operas When he needs orchestral sounds o, for that matter, rock-band sounds — he makes them on a synthesizer. Musically, he isn es that touch on "Book of the Dead! one hears passa rg, Puccini, retro loungs particular works directly e ruck and salsa, without He prefers to make this music himself rater than entrust iw ive musicians, A live ensemble, in any ease, would have to be pro hibtively diverse, given the varioy’ of music he drasis on. In much the same way, ambience and sound efleets are nt eft the ies of live performance. Anjthing the sidionce sees — a character walking aevoss the sage or opening a door, for example asa corresponding sound effect in Mr. Moran's soundtrack, Because this demands a tight eho i phy that adds mime to lip-syneing, the works might even be mote accuraely called bal Jets than operas. Me, Moran, am easygoing 34-year-old, did not dispute that point, but while he refered to "Book of the Dead as Aan opera several times during a recent conversation atthe Public Theater, it tans ou that he sees connections with anther aa form cottly “This east has been working on this fora year, most of them the composer said, just after a rehearsl. "And it’s really dense. To separate your sounds from everybody else's takes enormous stu But what we do is, we tlk about animation a ket. The whole soundtvack is made before anything else, and is extremely spe cific, yet there's oom for the setors to interpret it. They each have to study their character amd decide that, I seh and such a thought right hore, how am I going to show that physically? I's lke being an animator. But ifs not me animating the actors; is more them puppeteering their oven bodes. characteris hay The New ork Zimes Arts THEATER THEATER; Innovative. But What Is It? "Vd say that what's most related to what I do is Disneyland,” he added. "What I'm basically working toward, at this point. is trying to create Disneyland-type rides. But I want them to be feature-length, and I don't want them to be based on a pre- «existing commercial product. I'm not trying to make Moran- land, or one particular place. 'm tying to make different a traetions. This is not really opera anymore: i's an attraction." In purely technical terms, itis an extraordinary undertaking for a composer who has virtually no formal schooling, Born in Nebraska in 1965, Mr. Moran never completed high school, and an attempt to study informally atthe University of Nebraska, in Lineoln, where his father was assistant dean of | arts and sciences, went nowhere. But he had sung children's parts in opera productions and was drawn to composition, so ‘when the Philip Glass Ensemble performed in town, Mr. Moran telephoned all the hotels in Lincoln until he found Mr. ‘Glass and told him he wanted to eompose operas. "As [remember i,” Mr. Glass said, "this skinny kid eame up and gave me a tape, like all the skinny kids with tapes do, and believe itor not, I isten to them. at least ina haphazard way. And I was struck right away. This was a born theater creator, ‘even at that age, which was about 20, This is a rare thing When I think of born theater people, I mean people like Robert Wilson, Meredith Monk and Richard Foreman, and John was young and in Nebraska, "I dont think of myself as his mentor, although he does and that's fine. When he arrived in New York he was well beyond ng a student. He was so developed in articulai vision ofthe theater that it seemed to me that I had noth teach him.” MR. MORAN'S "Book of the Dea! has been inthe works for neatly five years, The idea occurred to him, be sai, when he ‘vas writing "Mathew in the School of Life," high-tech qua- si-Passion play that he completed in 1995. Atte time, he was ‘composing a a coffee shop on Second Avenue at Third Steet, near his apartment in the Fast Village (he has since moved to Brooklyn), and he decided thatthe layers of dialogue he was ‘overhearing could be put to use in his work. “The idea started to expand as Mr, Moran thought similaely| about the mundane details of everyday life. Focusing on a stretch of Second Avenue between Third and Seventh Streets, he began making sketches for a work that was to be called "Second Avenue” Before he could write it, though, he accept- ced a commission from the American Repertory Theater in ‘Cambridge, Mass, for an operatic setting of "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligati’ ‘The suggestion seemed right up Mr. Moran's street: in add ton 19"The Jack Benny Program" and "The Mason Family." the had by then composed "The Hospital’ (1991), a theati cally exaggerated look at lapses in the medical profession; "The Haunted House" (1992), « horrortilm parody about the nature of captivity, and the grandly titled "Trilegy of Cyclic Existence" (1993), But *Caligari,” which had its premiere in 1997, proved an un- happy experience for Mr. Moran, "The piece in Cambridge vas the first time Thad ever done a work that wasnt my on idea of what to write about," Mr. Moran said, "and I didnt enjoy it. There were alot of talented people involved with it, and theoretically 1 could have done what T wanted. But 1 hadn't chosen the subject myself, and it just wasnt exciting to ‘The Cambridge experience also led apparently to an acrimo- rious split with the Ridge Theater and its director, Bob Me~ rath, who had staged all of Mr. Moran's earlier works. Mr Moran refuses to discuss the dispute now, but in a 1998 inter- view in these pages, both he and Mr. McGrath debsted which ‘of them had created the visual style associated with Mr. Mo- ran’s works, and Mr. Moran asserted that his suggestions “during the production of "Caligari” had been ignored by both Mr. McGrath and Robert Brustein ofthe American Repertory ‘Theater. The bottor line for Me. Moran was that he decided to direct his productions himsett "Actually." he said, "I directed some of the things Idd at La Mama, 0 I've done it before. The difference is that now people won't get mad at me for doing it, Now I'm doing it in an official way. In this work, ve also done the set design, and there are a lot of slides, which I've designed as well. 1's not that I'm the best designer, exactly, but there are a Jot of spe= if theatrical ideas that! want to get across, and in order to do them, the slides, the lighting and the sets and the perfor- ‘mance have to be it total syne with one another’ By the time he finished with "Caligari.” Mr. Moran had shopped "Second Avenuo” around to potential producers and received a commission for it from the Lincoln Center Festi- val. “The Manson Family" had been presented at the center's Serious Fun festival in 1990, and the lager festival planned ‘Second Avenue" for 1999. But during 1998 the work was still changing and growing, and both Mr. Moran and Nigel Redden, the new director of the festival, decided that it would not be ready in time. "it became cleng” Mr. Redden said, "that the work needed to be workshopped in away that vould be logistically extremely ifficult forthe Lincoln Center Festival. We had hoped to find ‘apatner to help with that process, When the Publie caine into ‘the pieture, we were delighted that the piece would got the at- tention it deserved, but aso realized that this would mean that we would not be able to present the finished piece atthe fest val because, clearly, the Public would want the performances to be in one oftheir theaters.” Although a look at life on Second Avenue remained the ‘work's largest component, material from earlier deaf volving a meditation on death and using elements from the "Egyptian Book of the Dead” and the "Tibetan Book of the Dead,” had taken on greater importance. The New ork Zimes Arts THearer THEATER; Innovative. But What Is It? ve always viten about death” Mr. Moran said. "To me i's the only thing worth writing about, lly. So I decided to just got right down to it, The first et i called “The Ancient E tans Prosent the Structure of the Atom ads from the "Eayp: tian Book of the Deal which says that when you die you bocomis ome with the sun and are rebom every day.S0 We Walch the ate of the sun, and when we pa out from that, we see the solar system, whieh becomes the structure of the atom. Tose atoms come together 19 make "The Field of Time? which is ‘whore we live, an that’ the second aca portal of that section ‘of Second Avene over the course of a day. And then a the end ‘ofthe night wo go into the Tibetan Book of the Dead, where you zoom ont and soe the cosmology ofa whee that sos rae through for eternity.” Exactly how the Second Avenue section related to death wasnt really clea, and Mr. Moran, when asked how tht part of the work treats the subject, was not help "Nobody did,” he said "But its a meditation on death by med tating on what it's nt, which is the musie of our perception.” ‘Once again? “Wes meattating on death by not meditating on deal but on wht death isnot, hich isthe mse that we ive i.” ‘Whether or mot it comments on death, hat the Second Avenue ding deconstruction of daily life, based on Jun Cazes cardinal notion that there is inisic in everything. Mach of what Mr, Moran shows the ot cence is as mundane a5 ile gets among its seenes, a cashier Sleepwalk through a transition a fast-food gestaurant, «bor maid takes dink orders and bantes with fiends and sees oF parody newscasts and commercials skewers bath daytime snd ‘evening television section of the work does oer ia fi Ina gesture that has become his slic signature, Me. Moran repeals phrases and even whole seenes within this panorama, adding texte and context cach time. In the bar, for example, the audience first hears the barmai’s side of conversation in which she mentions a fellow at he ar who keeps lng to her She might be on the ee hoard in the conversation, which is now clearly taking place at ‘one end ofthe bat, Ten its head again, with ter customers conversions interspersed. nd yet again with cowd noise and hone. Later, a second voice can be ‘Watching these scenes unfold, rom their stripped-down to fly ‘embellished versions, it bovames els tha What may al is ‘appear to he musique concrete ~ an eleinomiccarspositon con: structed of randomly eocorded sounds fons real life ~ is nothing ‘of the sort, All the dislogue ws writen by Mr. Moran snd fo ‘cotded by the sors who appear in the Public Theater pr tion, Thote is also a narration, record! by the aeress Una ‘Thurman, whom Mr, Mocin describes as "he voice of the ‘oper: mone ofthe characters inthe ieee have names. AS an clectronic work, "Book ofthe Dead? is light years beyond "The Jack Benny Program,” which Mr. Moran recorded using «pair of boombores. ‘Back then, 1 was working with about SO samples mine,” he ssid, eferting wo the number of distine| recordings that went into ‘making a minute ofthe work's soundirack. "Now [my Working on ‘compute, and this piece i bout 350 samples a minute. I'some- body pens a door the sound ofthe door might be made of 15 sounds. IT want the sound ofthe street, would record each ear separacly and construct a rallic pattem, and then ad each passing person and every bird in every tree, ‘The reason 1 ‘ould just go out ito the street and make a recording is that this sa composition in which every clement lines upto 8 tempo. ‘The binds ate in counterpoint w a paticuae rhythm thats inthe ‘eset same tempo as the ars, So [have fo Use as many Sounds as possible lo make the composition “Idothe voices the same way. Inecon the actors separately rom ‘ach other. and Ihave them say each linea variety of ways. Them [take bits and pieces from diferent takes, and I construct them imo. metodic lie. So fm making something thts naturalistic, but also a composition. There is ao a sound in his, oa phase, that’s not a purposely consructed melody For the underscoring, Mr. Moran was inspired by Puccini's ml ‘ultra imaginings in "Turandot and "Madara Butterfly" to proce his own wilfully inauthentic vision of Eayptan and T- olan music. The Second Avenue section, by contrast hasan

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