About the Interaction of the Audio and Video Elements in the Composition “Three Tales” by Steve Reich and Beryl Korot
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Abstract
The article is devoted to understanding certain artistic principles of the “documentary video opera” (according
to Steve Reich’s original definition) as one of the relevant forms of contemporary music. The author of the article
indicates at the sources of documentary theater, highlights the artistic ideas of the composer’s documentary works, and
analyzes the compositional techniques of the work. Special attention is paid to the issue of interaction of music and
the video element, which has practically never been researched in musicology in Russia and other countries, on the
example of the video opera “Three Tales” (2002). In this composition, created by the celebrated American minimalist
composer Steve Reich and video artist Beryl Korot, a pioneer of American video art, an original conception of the
dialogue between the arts is examined. Here the music and video comprise one scenic entity, developing by the laws of
musical minimalism and documentary theater. The composition possesses specific compositional and form-generating
peculiarities, including principles of non-linear dramaturgy, polyphonic techniques, including the principles of nonlinear
dramaturgy, contrapuntal and repetitive techniques. The documentary nature of the musical material is also
emphasized by the verbatim technique, derived from documentary theater and holding a dominating position when the
composer wrote his previous opera “The Cave.” The author denotes the expansion of the possibilities of interpretation
of Reich’s compositions based on documentary material and arrives at the conclusion about the special potentials of
synthesis of various arts within the framework of musical video opera.
Keywords: Steve Reich’s musical theater, Beryl Korot, documentary theater, video opera, synthesis of the arts.
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