A Closer Listen
A Closer Listen has reviewed scores written for movies and TV shows, installations and exhibitions, plays and choreographies, but only one written for puppetry (@c’s Ab OVO) ~ until now. Tin Iso and the Dawn is the first part of a trilogy inspired by Tristan und Isolde, presented here in four acts plus opening and closing.
To many people, puppetry is associated with hand puppets, but there are many kinds of puppets, from shadow puppets to paper mache to marionettes. The video below provides a hint of the visual experience. Mystery is involved, and hopefully wonder, as fantasy elements blend with the real world. In like fashion, the “Opening” begins with solo piano, then becomes experimental, with rustles and clanks imitating the approach of the manipulated characters. In “Act I: Stars and Moon,” brass and drone connote a regal procession. Tin and Iso have begun their journey, imbued with the potion of love.
“Puppeteers tell true lies,” the description reads. Allen hopes that viewers and listeners will find themselves in this story, projecting their journeys in their mind’s eye as the light projects shadows on the screen. Visually and semantically, “Act II: Sea and Sky” suggests the sea, but the twinkling chimes are equally reminiscent of light through trees; the organ tones may be the ocean depths or beams of holy light. These chimes ring even clearer in “Land and Growth,” as if clarity has been achieved. Yet even this clarity is flickering, a revelation snatched, the contrast felt most keenly in the juxtaposition of static and human whistle. When the chimes return, one imagines them as a sound the duo is chasing across oceans, through forests, to the heavens and beyond.
The entire album plays with concepts of light and darkness, life and death, culminating in “Death and the Dawn.” The trajectory is made clear in the album title: while death, by design, always lies in the future, one may conquer the fear of death and in so doing, approach the dawn. This happy ending leaves our travelers in a wondrous place, so much so that one wonders if the puppeteer will construct for them a revised finale or stick to the original tragedy. For now we leave the lovers in the forest, bodies entwined, blissfully unaware of the narrator’s intentions. (Richard Allen)
Wed Oct 11 00:01:54 GMT 2023