Tones

It's a two-in-one post this time. First up: I attended a performance at the American Ballet Theatre in the NYC Metropolitan Opera House tonight. The tones in the hall were decidedly red and gold. The whole ceiling is gilt, as were many of the hard surfaces in the place, the remainder being red velvet. Rather opulent, but quite beautiful nonetheless (or as a result?). The chandeliers were rather reminiscent of sea urchins, spiky and crystalline and shiny. They were on long cables that retracted as the lights dimmed. There were some blemishes in the surface of the ceiling - marks of prior attachment? Or badly measured retractions that rammed scintillating crystal into burnished metal? I wonder. The programme was Mozart's Sinfonia Concertante, my primary interest, and the Bard's 'A Midsummer Night's Dream', scored by Felix Mendelssohn. I was basically curious to see how the Mozart would be treated, and I'd read a flattering article about the performance in the papers on Monday. I must confess, I was a bit disappointed by the first movement - it seemed a bit aimless and bland. I can't fault the technique of the dancers, but I didn't think that much of the choreography. The second and third movements were much improved, the slow movement seeming more emotionally involved and the thrid movement capturing the exuberance and playfulness quite well. Nonetheless, I think I most enjoyed hearing the piece performed than watching it. The music was pretty good, but not stellar - it seemed like there were a couple of tempo instabilities and balance with the soloists was almost flawless, but there were a couple of lapses. The 'proper' ballet, The Dream, was fantastic, however. Mendelssohn's music was wonderful, conjuring up the fairies and forest and fog very well. The stage setting was meticulously detailed, really bringing the atmosphere into the hall. Finally, the choreography was splendid, bringing out all the releavant plot details, injecting a bit of humour and really bringing the story alive. Oberon, Bottom and Puck were especially well danced, and the audience showed its approval very vocally. Now I'm thinking I'd like to perform the music some time...

More on tones: This Scientific American article on how there seem to be mutations in a couple of genes correlated with groups speaking tonal and non-tonal languages. There's a prior article relating those mutations, which are relatively recent (37,000 years ago) to how the human brain is still quite plastic, evolutionarily. Rather interesting that tonal languages should be more 'ancient', if one should choose to view it that way. Of course, you might get those nuts who then jump on this to claim the innate superiority of non-tonal languages and the races that speak tham. HAH! I say. Just shows the relative development and sophistication of those cultures, I say. No, leave behind such foolishness. I'm very well disposed towards tonality in languages. It adds a nice level of meaning, though certain accommodations have to be made. To those who say that non-tonal languages leave more room for tonal articulation of emotion, that view is blatantly false. You'll easily be able to tell the difference between cursing and polite conversation, regardless of what language is being spoken. Hm, I'm getting a bit confrontational, aren't I? What I'd really like to see would be the logical (if not, perhaps, natural) extension of tonal language to harmonic language, as opposed to pitch language, which I find just silly. Incorporating chords and cadences into oration, now that would be cool. Actually, I've listened to this Detroit JazzStage podcast episode, where the guest, a saxophonist, notes how even in English, there is some aspect of harmony (he says 'tone', but I disagree), such as the rise of a tritone at the end of a posed question. I tried asking a question and listening to the rise of pitch, and it actually seems right about a tritone - dissonance that invites resolution. Try saying something like "So that's it." - you get a 5-1 perfect cadence, a nice resolution when you're hit by a revelation. Heh. What fun.