On Saturday I saw some of Vivier's Rêves d’un Marco Polo, and mostly enjoyed it. We watched the Marco Polo disc (the other one is Kopernikus) including Shiraz, for solo piano (stunningly played by Marc Couroux), Lonely Child (with Susan Narucki singing in radiant form), Zipangu, Wo bist du Licht! (with Kathryn Harries), and the amazing finale, Glaubst du an die Unsterblichkeit der Seele (Do you believe in the immortality of the soul) (also with Narucki, who is just superb).
It is staged by Pierre Audi on a huge steel catwalk-type structure (for the Netherlands Opera), with the ASKO and Schoenberg Ensembles playing magnificently, conducted by Reinbert de Leeuw. Vivier's sound world is passionate, gutsy and often sad, particularly the finale, which was left unfinished and has Narucki just ending in mid-sentence. You can hear the occasional influences of so-called "spectral" composers in his writing, but Vivier is hard to categorize, which makes him so interesting.
Almost more compelling was the hour-long documentary on his life by Cherry Duyns, who uses interviews with people who knew him, some obviously rare footage of the composer, and footage from the rehearsals for the works on the DVD. Given that Vivier's music is not performed all that often, it is wonderful to have it done so well here, and filmed so beautifully.
--Bruce
