Some artistic collaborations are so wondrous, so meant to be, that the mere limits of space and time cannot hobble them with their silly constraints and rules and the fact that one-half of the team is dead. Like that old commercial where the late Fred Astaire dances with a Dirt Devil vacuum cleaner, for instance. That commercial is kinda unsettling and inappropriate, you say? BAH. That’s what makes it ART. Or, say, how North Korea is still building sculptures of Kim Il-Sung (1912-1994), the country’s “Eternal President.” WHAT? You say that’s propaganda? Okay, okay, yes, that’s 100% true. Well, how about musical genius Scott Walker composing tracks for Jean Cocteau’s play-turned-dance-piece “Duet for One Voice?” Yes, FINALLY. THAT is ART. A-R-T.
This isn’t the first time Walker has done the high culture dance thing. In 2007, he composed And Who Shall Go to the Ball? And What Shall Go to the Ball?, a 24-minute instrumental piece performed by the London Sinfonietta Orchestra and commissioned by CandoCo, a contemporary dance company made up of disabled and non-disabled dancers. The Cocteau piece debuts as part of the Royal Opera House’s Cocteau Voices nights in London. “Duet for One Voice” will feature choreography by ROH Associate Artist Aletta Collins and a score by Walker. Another piece, Poulenc’s opera “La Voix Humaine” will appear alongside the Walker/Cocteau performance.
• Scott Walker: http://www.4ad.com/scottwalker
• Royal Opera House: http://www.roh.org.uk
