Charles Downey and Jens Laurson at ionarts amuse themselves by critiquing the Poème Symphonique for 100 Metronomes video that is currently on display at The Standing Room:
LAURSON: Great video, but sloppy performance... intonation problems and the conductor wayward.
DOWNEY: I think the problem is with the instruments. Clearly, we need to hear this work with original instruments, that is, metronomes as they were made in 1963.
LAURSON: ...and Sir Roger Norrington could dig out lost... metronome markings, as it were...
The Poème will be performed tomorrow night on the steps of the Muziekgebouw in Amsterdam, in advance of a Holland Festival performance of Peter Eötvös's Angels in America — which, as it happens, also opens tonight at Opera Boston / Boston Modern Orchestra Project.
