I have always loved the idea of Karlheinz Stockhausen. That there was such a person. Someone who challenged assumptions about what 20th Century music could be, and masterminded intriguing concepts of performance and presentation.
But I have fascination with modern opera so at some point I have to do my penance and review something from this titan of the European 20th century avant-garde.
So I have decided to watch the Medici. Samstag is in German and is written for wind ensemble, brass players, organ, and percussionists of varying types. I know just a little bit about the Licht cycle , but that is just enough to not want to spend time and mental bandwidth on studying up on it. My time is valuable. This opera is over 3 hours long and my strong intuition tells me that I have to have the thing on a short leash. So to save my time and to give a spontaneous, honest review I will give a blow by blow account, writing in real time as I watch.
The feeling of powerful unease draws me in. This might not be so bad after all. Some guy in a crow costume comes out and lurks around the stage a bit. Like the kind of costume you might have seen on one of the members of The Village People if hookup sex with enormous crow-men had somehow been added to the pantheon of gay fetishes.
After a few minutes Mr. Crow takes his head off the costume to reveal he is not a giant crow but a bearded dude with a bunch of eyeliner.
