Comments on: Last Night in L.A.: Gloria Cheng and friends

By: Rodney Lister

Rodney Lister — Fri, 22 Sep 2006 00:15:29 +0000

Well, there’s no accounting for tastes, of course. But for me, the poem is funny and a little manic, not static and solemnly portentious (also pretentious), as Ades’s setting seems to me to be . I can’t see any reason for the Billie Holiday associations, such as they are, which seem to me to be forced and false, and I think the word setting’s lousy. (I’d hate the same treatment if it were given to Frank O’Hara). Aside from that I guess it’s great. I’ll admit, everything I’ve said is extremely subjective, and I can’t cite any absolutes which put me in an unassailable position to condemn it, much as I would like that. It just seems to me to be wrong, wrong, wrong.

By: Jerry Zinser

Jerry Zinser — Thu, 21 Sep 2006 18:36:44 +0000

I wondered what I might have missed in hearing “Life Story”, so I went back to the poem and read it, trying to be exposed to it for the first time. The only possible misrepresentation by Ades I can find is having the poem sung by a female, which I guess is a misrepresentation of sorts. I find an instance, occurring twice, of a different interpretation. The companion(s) of the narrator have asked for his [her] life story. After finally being given an edited version “… they say, Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, each time a little more faintly …” The narrator doesn’t finish the “entralling life story”. The companion(s) then tell “you their life story, exactly as they’d intended to do all along …” and the narrator repeats the sequence of “oh”. In reading the poem, I think the “ohs” are sounds of indifference and disinterest. Ades, however, has the “ohs” start with sounds of sexual engagement. I don’t find his differing interpretation at all damaging to the larger sense of the poem, however. The lack of deeper interest in the partner for the night comes across quite clearly, leading to “that’s how people burn to death in hotel rooms.” So sorry, Rodney, I don’t understand the basis for your vehement dislike.

By: lawrencedillon

lawrencedillon — Wed, 20 Sep 2006 20:14:48 +0000

Tennessee Williams texts have been very difficult to get permission to use. Maybe that’s changing.

By: Evan Johnson

Evan Johnson — Wed, 20 Sep 2006 19:16:01 +0000

“Still Sorrowing” and another very early piano piece, “Traced Overhead,” are in my opinion still the best things Ades has ever done.

By: Rodney Lister

Rodney Lister — Wed, 20 Sep 2006 18:26:41 +0000

I can only wish that Life Story had escaped Ades attention as well. The setting is the most hideous misunderstanding (possibly) or misrepresentation (certainly) of the poems on just about every count.