By John HC Thompson (III)
Saturday November 19th will be the first of the experimental orchestra’s “identity” shows. I had decided over the summer that every concert for this season would have a title and, at least, a broad or abstract conceptual core. This identity would be a way to help guide my imagination for programming and be a snappy, bizarre avenue for marketing. The title for November’s performance “Clouds, Aquariums, and Night Scents” comes paraphrased from a quote by twentieth century French poet and press man Jean Cocteau. Cocteau had stated, not quite exactly, “Enough with clouds, aquariums, water sprites, and night scents, we again need everyday music.” With this statement Cocteau was effectively dissing Debussy, Ravel, and all the other impressionists that had dominated the French music scene for the previous two decades. Incidentally it was also his attempt to promote a group of composers largely of his own making, les six.
I think this is a huge misstatement by Cocteau. Everyday music or music for the common man would have everything to do with clouds, night scents, &tc. Cannot the common man smell with the same sophistication and articulation as the cultured or wealthy? And on a daily basis? Clouds certainly may be the first and most commonly shared object for imaginative thinking, indeed the only source for the overworked or under privileged with no or uncommon access to art or incredible sights. In many ways clouds, aquariums, stories of water sprites and the odors of each day may be all the working man has to experience.
It is this complete reversal of sentiment that themes the experimental orchestra’s first ever show in a barroom setting, the best place to reach the everyday citizen. Granted we will be performing in the comforting elegence of the Wine Bar’s back salon, we are still taking our music out of the academic concert hall to the westside streets. We hope the show is fittingly abstract yet attuned to the tastes of the drinking class. The deep and playful imagery of clouds, aquariums, and night scents taken meerly on its own without the backstory generates a thought provoking core that hopefully leads the curious into the salon with an open mind ready for expansion.
