Just returned from Philip Glass' tremendous Koyaanisqatsi, about which more in an upcoming New Yorker column. The cycle of Glass -qatsi films continues Friday and Saturday with Naqoyqatsi and Powaqqatsi; they complete Lincoln Center's month-long "Sound Projections" festival of film and live music intertwined. As it happens, Anthology Film Archives is in the middle of a series on a similar theme — "Eye and Ear Controlled." This weekend they're showing films by the zany-brilliant composer-conceptualist Mauricio Kagel, culminating in the notorious Beethoven bicentennial tribute Ludwig van. Most of these films have never been seen in America before. Coming June 9 is a program of Steve Reich and Terry Riley soundtracks, including rare sixties-underground items such as Plastic Haircut and Oh Dem Watermelons. (Thanks to Tiffany Kuo for the tip.) Meanwhile, Esa-Pekka Salonen, fresh from triumphant performances of Tristan in Paris, comes to town this weekend with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Friday night it's Shostakovich's Tenth Symphony, Sunday afternoon the local premiere of John Adams' Dharma at Big Sur, which made bewitching noises at the gala opening of Disney Hall.
