The final performances of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company in New York City, with excerpts from 26 dances spanning six decades of choreography by Merce Cunningham, the December 2011 Events at the Park Avenue Armory concluded MCDC’s two-year Legacy Tour. The first disc of the Park Avenue Armory 3-DVD set includes a composite film of all three stages, the second disc includes individual videos of each stage, and the third features excerpts of films, archival video, and contemporaneous performances of the 16 dances performed on the legacy tour.
Music composed by David Behrman, John King, Takehisa Kosugi, and Christian Wolff with live electronics and sound design by Jesse Stiles.
The music combines four new scores, which overlap to exceptional effect: David Behrman’s “Open Space With Brass,” John King’s “Astral Epitaphs,” Takehisa Kosugi’s “Octet,” and Christian Wolff’s “Song [for 6].” At the start, with wonderful polyphony, brass players, one located on each of the topmost balconies on four sides, play long notes that mesh wonderfully with recorded high choral sounds (like a Kyrie in a modernist requiem Mass). The soundscape changes; its effects later include organ sounds and slow string portamenti. One alternation of silence and electronic sounds helps you to sense that here is the music of the spheres; so does the choreography.
Winner: Outstanding Production in a Large Venue