(photos by Julieta Cervantes)
BAM's Next Wave Festival - and artistic director Joe Melillo in particular – must have a thing for indie rockers. Last year, they commissioned Sufjan Stevens' The B.Q.E. which – though I never saw it – turned out unanimous rave reviews. This year, BAM turned to The National's Bryce and Aaron Dessner to write The Long Count: a 70 minute piece of musical theater, with visuals by Matthew Ritchie and musical contributions from Kim and Kelley Deal (ex. Breeders/Pixies), Shara Worden (My Brightest Diamond), and The National's own Matt Berninger.
Give the Dessners props: they certainly have ambition. Ritchie's visuals played on a huge double screen, with the Dessners sitting at opposite ends of the stage and an 11 piece orchestra down front. Their subject matter was equally grand: the title refers to the Mayan creation myth of Popol Vuh, in which twin gods play ball to decide the fate of the universe. (Aaron and Bryce are twins, as are Kim and Kelley Deal.) And the music pulled from all kinds of places: everything from Renaissance madrigals to Glass' cinematic scores with their repeating themes and ecstatic builds. There was even a bit of Michael Gordon's pounding force, which surely Gordon must have noticed from his seat not far from mine.
But in practice, The Long Count was something of a mess. At the performance I saw on Wednesday, the levels were overly loud, Kim Deal's vocals were distorted to the point of being incomprehensible, and Worden's treacly soprano was outshone only by her overly-dramatic gesturing. Far worse, any sense of narrative arc was lost on me: the only way anyone would know what was going on would be by reading the program (or possibly looking at Worden's feather headdress.) And the music, which was full of promise early on, degraded by the end into overripe cliche.
Judging by the standing ovation, I assume most folks present were willing to give the Brothers Dessner a free pass based on their reputation. Sorry, but that's not doing them any favors, nor is it respectful of the tradition they're attempting to play into. If indie rockers want to play in the art music world, they should stick to what they do well. In other words: keep things clear and simple.
(P.S. Bryce found better success with his Kronos Quartet commission Aheym, premiered at Celebrate Brooklyn this past summer.)