Monk: Atlas - An Opera in Three Parts

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Threading together Meredith Monk's various guises in the world of avant-garde performance art (from dance and mime to multimedia explorations) is her sensibility first and foremost as a composer, one who creates from the musical imagination's love of pattern and texture. And in Atlas, her full-length opera commissioned by Houston Grand Opera and premiered in 1991, Monk brings together several decades' worth of pioneering ways of expression. Yes, this is an opera involving almost no text and presenting a nonlinear, dreamlike collage in lieu of traditional narrative, but an opera all the same in the centrality of the human voice as the source and vehicle for conveying a dazzling multiplicity of states (Monk herself describes her use of the term "opera" to capture "the multiperceptual, mosaic form that I was envisioning.") Based quite loosely on the travel writings of Victorian adventurer Alexandra David-Neel, Atlas involves the journey of an Everywoman as an analog for spiritual questing, for a movement from the outer world to an inner, lost, or forgotten dimension. Monk's trademark work in "extended vocal technique" (work that links her with such other mavericks as Laurie Anderson and Joan La Barbara) is the basis for the opera's sound world, and she's trained her fellow cast members (Monk herself performs one of the three stages in the life of Atlas's heroine) to attain the remarkable flexibility required for its strangely beautiful, magnificently ranging variety of vocalise--from complex, microtonal, birdlike imitations to Tibetan chanting and quivering ululation. The repetitive, always slightly changing patterns of the melodic cells might be pigeonholed as "minimalism" (a term Monk, like Steve Reich, abjures), but this would be an unnecessary reduction for the fantastically original and appealing, rhythmically subtle, and unexpected fabrics that Monk weaves--with spare accompaniments by a chamber-size orchestra and the exotic colorings of glass harmonica. The booklet contains color photos of the original production--but even without the theatrical experience, Atlas comes through as a haunting and uniquely beautiful vision of the untapped possibilities of the lyrical stage. --Thomas May

Monk: Atlas - An Opera in Three Parts, Music, Meredith Monk, Arthur J. Jr. Fiacco, John Cipolla, Meredith Monk, Wayne Hankin, James F. Wilson, Bill Hayes, Thad Wheeler, David Meschter, Kathleen Carroll, Darryl Kubian, Susan Iadone, Allison Easter, Carlos Arevalo, Ching Gonzalez, Dana Hanchard, Dina Emerson, Emily Eyre, Janis Brenner, Katie Geissinger, Meredith Monk, Randall K. Wong, Robert Een, Robert Osborne, Shi-Zheng Chen, Stephen Kalm, Thomas Bogdan, Victoria Boomsma, Wendy Hill, Wilbur Pauley, American 20th/21st Century Opera, Chamber Music & Recitals, Classical, Classical Music, Opera, Opera/Operetta

Monk: Atlas - An Opera in Three Parts
Average customer rating:

Throw out everything you knew before!

Utter garbage

A Modern Minimalist Disaster

Strange, wonderful and very human

An Opera without words . . . and a masterpiece

Monk: Atlas - An Opera in Three Parts

Manufacturer: Ecm Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Chamber Music | Forms & Genres | Classical (c.1770-1830) | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music
General | Classical | Styles | Music
General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music
General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music
Modern & 20th Century | Historical Periods | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music
English | Languages | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music
Operettas | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music
ECM Classical | ECM Records | Amazon.com Label Stores | Stores | Music
ECM Jazz & World | ECM Records | Amazon.com Label Stores | Stores | Music
Similar Items:

Mercy

Our Lady of Late: Music for Voice and Glass

Meredith Monk (PAJ Books: Art + Performance)

Meredith Monk: Facing North

Volcano Songs

ASIN: B00000E56I
Release Date: 2000-04-18

Tracks:

Atlas: Part I: Personal Climate: Overture (Out of Body 1)
Atlas: Part I: Personal Climate: Travel Dream Song
Atlas: Part I: Personal Climate: Home Scene
Atlas: Part I: Personal Climate: Future Quest (The Call)
Atlas: Part I: Personal Climate: Rite Of Passage A
Atlas: Part I: Personal Climate: Choosing Companions
Atlas: Part I: Personal Climate: Airport
Atlas: Part II: Night Travel: Night Travel
Atlas: Part II: Night Travel: Guides' Dance
Atlas: Part II: Night Travel: Agricultural Community

Tracks:

Atlas: Part II: Night Travel: Loss Song
Atlas: Part II: Night Travel: Campfire - Hungry Ghost
Atlas: Part II: Night Travel: Father's Hope
Atlas: Part II: Night Travel: Ice Demons
Atlas: Part II: Night Travel: Explorer #5 - Lesson - Explorers' Procession
Atlas: Part II: Night Travel: Lonely Spirit
Atlas: Part II: Night Travel: Forest Questions
Atlas: Part II: Night Travel: Desert Tango
Atlas: Part II: Night Travel: Treachery (Temptation)
Atlas: Part II: Night Travel: Possibility of Destruction
Atlas: Part III: Invisible Light: Out Of Body 2
Atlas: Part III: Invisible Light: Other Worlds Revealed
Atlas: Part III: Invisible Light: Explorers' Junctures
Atlas: Part III: Invisible Light: Earth Seen From Above
Atlas: Part III: Invisible Light: Rite Of Passage B

Amazon.com

Threading together Meredith Monk's various guises in the world of avant-garde performance art (from dance and mime to multimedia explorations) is her sensibility first and foremost as a composer, one who creates from the musical imagination's love of pattern and texture. And in Atlas, her full-length opera commissioned by Houston Grand Opera and premiered in 1991, Monk brings together several decades' worth of pioneering ways of expression. Yes, this is an opera involving almost no text and presenting a nonlinear, dreamlike collage in lieu of traditional narrative, but an opera all the same in the centrality of the human voice as the source and vehicle for conveying a dazzling multiplicity of states (Monk herself describes her use of the term "opera" to capture "the multiperceptual, mosaic form that I was envisioning.") Based quite loosely on the travel writings of Victorian adventurer Alexandra David-Neel, Atlas involves the journey of an Everywoman as an analog for spiritual questing, for a movement from the outer world to an inner, lost, or forgotten dimension. Monk's trademark work in "extended vocal technique" (work that links her with such other mavericks as Laurie Anderson and Joan La Barbara) is the basis for the opera's sound world, and she's trained her fellow cast members (Monk herself performs one of the three stages in the life of Atlas's heroine) to attain the remarkable flexibility required for its strangely beautiful, magnificently ranging variety of vocalise--from complex, microtonal, birdlike imitations to Tibetan chanting and quivering ululation. The repetitive, always slightly changing patterns of the melodic cells might be pigeonholed as "minimalism" (a term Monk, like Steve Reich, abjures), but this would be an unnecessary reduction for the fantastically original and appealing, rhythmically subtle, and unexpected fabrics that Monk weaves--with spare accompaniments by a chamber-size orchestra and the exotic colorings of glass harmonica. The booklet contains color photos of the original production--but even without the theatrical experience, Atlas comes through as a haunting and uniquely beautiful vision of the untapped possibilities of the lyrical stage. --Thomas May

Customer Reviews:

Throw out everything you knew before!.......2002-10-05

As is clear below by the existence of 1 and 5 star reviews only, Meredith Monk is like most 'modern classical' composers. You're either going to love this or hate it. For my part, on first listen, I wasn't sure which category I would fall.

First, I must confess that my bias has always been against opera. Composers of opera tend to butcher both the melody and libretto all in the name of an elusive drama that usually falls quite flat. That being said, if you are a fan of traditional opera a la Gluck, Verdi and Wagner, you will never like 'Atlas' which consists mostly of wordless vocalise over repeating patterns played by a 10 peice orchestra. The cast mimics animal noises, claps, screams, shrieks and orrates occasional gibberish.

In a strange way however, this is no different than hearing Stravinsky, Babbit or Glass for the first time. It takes a lot of work and, in a sense, we need to re-learn how to listen. Normally, we are used to hearing exposition, development, recapitulation, bel canto and leitmotif. With Monk, we don't get that but instead a continual rich vocal tapestry over magically floating chamber orchestra. Yes, it takes endurance but MAN is it worth it. In fact, 'future quest' (track 4) and 'Agricultural community" (track 10)contains some of the most beautiful vocal writing I've heard in some time.

A quick disclaimer about the comparisons below to Philip Glass. Monk's technique, especially in her syncopations and instrumental voicings using 4ths, 5ths and 9ths, I would put 'Atlas' closer to Steve Reich's 'Tehillem' and 'Different Trains.' Still, Monks vocal writing is incomparable and in a crazy way, gorgeous. Pick it up; love it, hate it, sing along if you dare. Just listen to it!!

Utter garbage.......2001-04-18

Don't get me wrong. I like some of Meredith Monk's stuff (when she's not on some hallucinogen), but this is going to far. Plot, musical coherence, dramatism, take your pick--unfortunately, none of it is there. Experimentation is all well and good if you can pull it off at least with some minor hint of artistic expression, but Atlas is utterly nonsensical and way too repetitive to be considered a work of art. If, after hearing this, you are still brave enough to give Meredith Monk another try, check out Book of Days. It's much more musically coherent and much easier to grasp. It also, in my opinion, is a much better expression of Monk's continuing search to expand the capabilities of the human voice.

A Modern Minimalist Disaster.......2001-04-18

I sadly wasted approximately 2 hours of my life listening to this sorely lacking "opera". I was not at all surprised to read in the notes that the score had never actually been written to the piece, but rather, Monk came to the studio with a few ideas and improvised much of the work. The tracks repeat endlessly without any meaningful development. Some of them contain nonsensical dialogue as well, which adds little to the opera's overall effect. Listen to the sample track "Ice Demons" for a good demonstration of ludicrous and pretentious composition. While I'm not a devoted fan of minimalism in general, I can at least enjoy it on occassion. In my opinion, some minimalist works like "Einstein on the Beach" by Philip Glass are far more sophisticated than Monk's opera and don't have the aggravating tendency to take themselves too seriously. Monk's overdramatic spiritual nonsense really gets on the nerves.

Strange, wonderful and very human.......2000-06-06

Before listening to this work, you'd be well advised unburden youself of all the expectations implied by the words "opera" and "avant garde". It's theatrical, tells a story of sorts, and there's a great deal of singing, but it's very different from the usual notion of opera. The instrumental accompaniment is sparse, and mostly serves to keep time. There are few words, and almost all of them spoken (typical for Monk's work). It's not cold, sterile or academic. That aside, this is a strangely moving and beautiful work that will grow on you. You're unlikely to see it performed live, so this recording may be the only way you'll ever experience it. The extended vocal techniques work to a dramatic purpose, and there is a meaningful musical climax with some stunning ensemble singing. Well worth the price.

An Opera without words . . . and a masterpiece.......2000-05-25

Monk's "Atlas" is one of the important works of the later 20th century. It is an opera almost entirely without words, and those words in it are spare and enigmatic. Yet, even without the staging on hand, the narrative comes through in the music and the vocalising. Her idea was simple, sincere and quite radical, and beautifully done.

The style of the music is very much the Minimalism of Philip Glass, not as complex harmonically, but the same sound world and style. It's very beautiful, and if Minimalist works appeal to you, as well as fascinating experimentation, than you should seek out this great piece.

Music Review:

Music Review

Proensa (A Theatre of Voices Project) - Paul Hillier

Hits of Patty Loveless: Vol.1 [KARAOKE]

Party to the Max [Import]

Relaxation

Nur das Beste [Import]

Paul & Paula - Greatest Hits [Import]

Perfformiad I Mewn Cymru [Live]

Mozart: Requiem, Exsultate jubilate

Misa Negra

Maria Felix: La Inspiracion

Memorias [Import]

Complete String Quartets / Piano Quintet

Til Shiloh