2010 . Big Bang
The magic of breathing sounds
After shocking my favorite Bruckner conductor PJ Marthé at the Cafe Sacher in Innsbruck at the beginning of the year with my BIGBANG Bruckner version (in the 21st century with a wailing electric guitar instead of flutes as the main instrument!) on an MP3 player, the initially conservative barrier between us was suddenly broken.
For eight years now, I've been trying to convince him of the necessity of re-instrumenting, that is, adapting the Ninth Symphony to our modern listening habits. Apparently, I'd never been able to explain it to him properly before – because after the first few bars of my demo, he immediately nodded in agreement!
But I should have expected that I would awaken the virtuoso composer in him, because spontaneously he said: "If so, then not like in your version with just a large orchestra and electric guitar, but with orchestra rock band drummer singer dancer and so on!"
The idea for a Big Bang Opera about the Mayan millennium event was born.
An exciting Bruckner concept, tentatively titled "2012 BIGBANG," is currently (2010) being worked on intensively—top secret. Marthé is, of course, composing the music, and I'm handling the visual realization for the stage. A visual symphony is the ultimate goal, but this version, created for the current occasion of the Mayan paradigm shift, was something like a preliminary stage. A kind of audiovisual precursor.
Another twist of fate: I have been working for over 25 years (...) on realizing my version of the visualization of BRUCKNER'S NINTH - and this Putstone-Marthé version with sounds from BRUCKNER'S NINTH is now supposed to be finished in just two years (i.e., by the BIGBANG on December 21, 2012)?
We finished the music and the demo video in just a few weeks.
Marthé was also working in Vienna on an art film with performance artist Hermann Nitsch, "The Magic of Breathing Sounds," and in doing so, he managed to get important people in the industry on board for our BIG BANG project. Suddenly, we have such illustrious names as MG SOUND VIENNA, Thomas Rabitsch (Falco's bandleader), and Ersan Palaz (manager) involved. We need them if we want to get such big names as the white rap king Eminem or the guitar god Satriani excited about this completely new kind of classical music interpretation.
I am certainly curious to see if this short-term implementation will work.
Oh yes, one more thing: In this context, I was once again strongly advised, practically from one professional to another, just like Brandauer, to withdraw from my sinfonìa visìbile
to make a play. You're right when you say that even the film AMADEUS, which is most comparable to my project, was originally produced from a play...
...but you should consider my innovative presentation style. It was clear to me from the beginning that my...infonìa visìbile
It will not be a conventional film, but a contemporary mix of orchestral concert theatre piece (3D) film.
ADDENDUM: The production time of almost two years for our elaborate BIGBANG project was ultimately too short for those involved in the project in Vienna...
