More mental gymnastics from David, Simon, Sam & Martin, as Song by Song grapples with not only defining the Black Box as a song, as well as a theatrical conceit. There’s some in-depth discussion of unusual instruments and their use in musical storytelling/signposting, comparison with other Robert Wilson collaborations, and we work our who that guy from Labyrinth is.
Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include:
Black Box Theme, The Black Rider, Tom Waits (1993)
Knee Play 1, Einstein On The Beach, Phillip Glass/Christopher Knowles (1975/1979)
Black Box Theme at 1m51s from The Black Rider: The Casting of the 12 Magic Bullets (filmed at the Weiner Festwochen, via YouTube), Wilson/Burroughs/Waits (1990)
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