http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/article/220926
REVIEW
Glass work unclear despite Cohen
Book of Longing event proves a confusing hybrid, save for when writer's voice is heard
Jun 03, 2007 04:30 AM
GREG QUILL
ENTERTAINMENT COLUMNIST
Part chamber-music concert, part theatrical cabaret and part art installation, the Philip Glass-Leonard Cohen collaboration Book of Longing is a confusing work of considerable importance, and was met with appropriate warmth Friday night at its world premiere, the first of three consecutive performances, at the Elgin Theatre as a key element of the Luminato arts festival.
It helped that Glass, who was one of three keyboardists in the 12-piece orchestra and chorus assembled for this affectionate – if somewhat bloodless – musical exploration of the beloved Canadian poet's most recent book of verse, was joined on stage at the end of the performance by Cohen, who had sat anonymously in the auditorium for the entire performance and was quickly escorted forward to be warmed by a standing ovation.
White-haired and frail, Cohen appeared more bemused than moved. Indeed, so did many in the audience who were clearly thrown by the scarce heed paid by the great American composer to the low, conversational meter and distinctive beat rhythms of Cohen's verse, adapted here to fit great slabs of Glass' typically attenuated chord progressions and intricately layered arpeggios, and given voice for the most part by four classically trained singers enunciating Shavian-quality syllables. The voices were exceptional, the melodies elegant, but somehow Cohen's words sounded false, forced and uncomfortable in their company.
On the other hand, when the poet's own pre-recorded voice – a sombre mumble thickly coated with the ashes of irony and yearning – resonated through the theatre's sound system on a handful of poems, the effect was galvanizing. The music took on another dimension, applying a kind of sonic syntax to the work, not unlike the way an eloquent soundtrack elevates great dialogue.
Not entirely without structure, with tempos, keys, lyrics and moods cleverly juxtaposed to provide a semblance of forward thrust, Book of Longing is nonetheless a clumsy hybrid with odd, stagey trimmings, neither an entirely musical nor an entirely literary event. Movements of the singers, who entered and exited the stage with conspicuous deliberation, tended to imply some kind of dramatic effect. At one point, all four, as well as virtuoso cellist Wendy Sutter, performed facing the upstage wall, which was adorned throughout the movie-length event with enlargements of Cohen's erotic sketches and unflattering self-portraits, and a video-screen centrepiece on which countless variations of the same graphic material were projected.
Why they were directed to turn their backs to the audience for that one song, why in others they appeared to be characters who had wandered in from another show, and why Book of Longing gets off to such a lumpy start, are mysteries to which producer Linda Brumbach and stage director Susan Marshall might address themselves before this weighty melange of Glass' densely organized, often hypnotizing score and Cohen's alternatively ribald, savage and heartsore verse hits the road in the U.S. and Europe in coming months.
TheStar.com - Glass work unclear despite Cohen
Re: TheStar.com - Glass work unclear despite Cohen
A few comments to add to Greg Quill's views on the performance on Friday night. I think it's a tough configuration - Cohen's poetry which is brilliant but so self-deprecating with that heavier than normal beat of Glass's works which is also dour and in the past has often accompanied dark cinema. Pretty scary stuff. But, I thought Glass was a little lighter in tone than he has been in some of his previous visual accompaniments and the singers carried Cohen's verse above its usually glumness. "Boogie Street" and "You Came to Me This Morning" were the highlights for me along with moments when Cohen spoke a few short poems. His sonorous basso vibrato was a better match for Glass's music that the excellent singers. I know this is billed as a Philip Glass work of Cohen's Book of Longing, but I think skewing the honorifics toward Glass is the work's fatal flaw. This production is really about Cohen's poetry, not Glass's music. We should be hearing more Cohen. He's obviously perfect for the part! For him to sit through this in the audience seemed a waste of talent.
Another issue for me were the sidling in and out of the singers. The staging seemed a bit lame. And finally the sketches on the set toward the end went by too fast to read the captions. They could have been spaced out in a more leisurely pace if they were started earlier in the production. The captions were interesting when I could get through them before the next slide appeared. The set was interesting and the instrumentalists were superb. Glass provided them with terrific music to showcase their talent. If Cohen's voice had been woven through the it I think the production would have been more cohesive and evocative for us. Don't get me wrong. I liked the production a lot and left with a real admiration for Cohen's honest, introspective life and the terrific talent exhibited on the stage throughout the production..
Another issue for me were the sidling in and out of the singers. The staging seemed a bit lame. And finally the sketches on the set toward the end went by too fast to read the captions. They could have been spaced out in a more leisurely pace if they were started earlier in the production. The captions were interesting when I could get through them before the next slide appeared. The set was interesting and the instrumentalists were superb. Glass provided them with terrific music to showcase their talent. If Cohen's voice had been woven through the it I think the production would have been more cohesive and evocative for us. Don't get me wrong. I liked the production a lot and left with a real admiration for Cohen's honest, introspective life and the terrific talent exhibited on the stage throughout the production..