The Department of Music and Cornell Cinema present the Momenta Quartet, who will perform before the film
$8 general/$6 students (no comps, passes or discount cards)
The Momenta Quartet will also be performing New Works for String Quartet and Gamelan Instruments by Jesse Jones, Amit Gilutz, Christopher J. Miller, and Yuan Peiying Wed Apr 18 @ 8 pm in Barnes Hall. Free Admission.
Mauricio Kagel was a German composer notable for his interest in developing the theatrical side of musical performance. He also made films with one of the best known being the experimental film, Ludwig Van, a critical interrogation of the uses of Beethoven's music made during the bicentenary of that composer's birth. In it, a reproduction of Beethoven's studio is seen, as part of a fictive visit of the Beethoven House in Bonn. Everything in it is papered with sheet music of Beethoven's pieces. The soundtrack of the film is a piano playing the music as it appears in each shot. Because the music has been wrapped around curves and edges, it is somewhat distorted, but Beethovenian motifs can still be heard. In other parts, the film contains parodies of radio or TV broadcasts connected with the "Beethoven Year 1770".
The Momenta Quartet, cited by Time Out New York as "An outstanding ensemble prone to innovation and exploration," will be in residence at Cornell from April 18 – 20, and tonight will present a musical prelude to Ludwig Van: playing a set of Beethoven contredanses, and Kagel's 1st and 2nd string quartets. They will perform for 45 minutes. Funded in part by a grant from the Cornell Council for the Arts. Cosponsored with the Dept. of Music. Subtitled. More at momentaquartet.com Digital Projection
1970, b&w, 1 hour 31 minutes, Germany