I agree! That one instrument was awesome and I’m trying to find out what it was! The whole show was great because they did such a good job at displaying their superb musicianship. Loved the jamming.

I was saw the 3rd and 4th performances and was pretty surprised by both of them. I must admit, I find it very hard to relate to the type of music found in many of the pieces performed. Lots of it felt very random and hard to follow. This left me wondering what the purpose of these pieces were.

Yet, what amazed me was how beautiful some of the contrasts in songs were on saturday (#3). The Ives piece especially had a great combination of dissonant and strange parts along with very subtle and beautiful parts. This had a very emotional effect on the audience because the changes were so apparent.

At sundays performance (#4) I found myself again frustrated with the lack of melody and order. It seemed the aspect that was really missing in lots of these pieces was the audiences sense of anticipation. Much of the music was so random that you never quite felt the buildup and resolution that is so critical for “feeling” music. Meredith Monk’s piece was the exception. Like Ives piece the night before, a combination of dissonance and unrecognizable rhythms complimented elegant melodies very nicely.

There was certainly no shortage of innovation and ideas in these performances. But I feel that lots of the pieces failed at evoking an emotional response from the audience, probably because they were meant to be appreciated instead of enjoyed.

This might be my new favorite play. I’m not usually a big fan of theater because it can be hard to relate to and lofty but this show was not only entertaining and funny, but it showed incredible depth of emotion as well. It was really cool how you only heard one end of the conversations. This made you focus on the emotions of just the person who was important. Also I think this made many parts a lot funnier when you could only hear the characters’ response to what had been said. Overall a very good show that I would recommend to almost anyone.

What a great show! I was amazed how the four of them seemed to really feel the music together. It seemed like they were all drawing from very similar inspiration and it showed! Also very impressed by their precision and taste in transitions between contrasting parts. I feel this did display some of Beethoven’s maverick qualities in that there didn’t seem to be any rules in the music and hardly any organization but Beethoven does an excellent job of pouring his soul into the pages and taking the audience on a journey. The Hagen quartet did a great job of honoring that.

I also really enjoyed the performance! Not only did the music and movement mesh well to produce a dream-like feeling, but there was also so much emotion worked into the show. I especially liked the interactions between men and women. There was often visible tension between male and female dancers that was at times very sexual and just as often completely nonsexual. This emotion was what allowed the show to tell many stories about conflict between dancers what made it a very moving performance.

I liked reading other peoples ideas about the pretentious nature of the opera as well their speculation on the meaning. I myself enjoyed many of the individual parts very much because they evoked such a wide range of emotions in me and I frequently had the “chills down my spine” sensation. Still, I found my self annoyingly determined to find both meaning and a purpose in the opera.

Einstein on the beach brings up so many questions in my mind regarding the purpose of art in general. There are many different ways to view the opera and in many ways this depends on the perspective that you choose to adopt. You can take on a purely experiential role as an uneducated observer and you can be one to delve into its artistic and cultural significance. And it occurred to me about half way through that you can also view it from a psychological perspective. I think it is even possible that Wilson wants people to view the opera from the perspective of Einstein. Many times I felt as if I was being taken on a tour through the mind of Einstein and I experienced revelations simultaneously with him. But then this makes Wilson seem quite pretentious for assuming he can understand and try to recreate the breakthroughs of someone so brilliant.

One can make many conclusions about the significance of the opera, but on the other hand, maybe it is Einstein on the Beach’s ambiguity that allows it to be so provocative because no one is holding your hand through the experience. Either way, I was impressed by the performance and its ability to keep me thinking!