Brooklyn-Queens Expressway

Roberto mi fa notare giustamente che tra le uscite discografiche autunnali ci sono anche delle cose di Sufjan Stevens. Delle cose, già.

The BQE

On May 31, 2007, Asthmatic Kitty announced that Stevens would be premiering a new project titled The BQE in early November 2007. The project, dubbed a “symphonic and cinematic exploration of New York City’s infamous Brooklyn-Queens Expressway”, was manifested in a live show. The BQE featured an original film by Stevens (shot in Super 8 mm film and standard 16 mm), while Stevens and a backing orchestra provided the live soundtrack. The performance used 36 performers which included a small band, a wind and brass ensemble, string players, horn players, and hula hoopers. There were no lyrics to the music. The BQE was commissioned by the Brooklyn Academy of Music as part of their Next Wave Festival and performed on three consecutive nights from November 1–3, 2007.

The performance sold out the 2,109 seat BAM Opera House without any advertising. After three weeks of rehearsing the piece with the three dozen musicians involved, he presented the 30-minute composition. The BQE was followed by an additional one hour of concert by Stevens and his orchestra. The BQE won the 2008 Brendan Gill Prize.

On July 21, 2009 it was announced that the multimedia package would be released on October 20, 2009. It will consist of a CD of the show’s soundtrack, a DVD of Brooklyn-Queen Expressway footage that accompanied the original performance (not a film of the performance itself), a 40-page booklet with liner notes and photos, and a stereoscopic 3D View-Master reel. There will also be a limited edition version that features the soundtrack on 180-gram vinyl and a 40-page BQE-themed comic book starring the show’s hula hooping wonder women, the Hooper Heroes.

Run Rabbit Run

Stevens has recently released news via his record label website that he is working on new material and that he will appear at All Tomorrow’s Parties New York, which is a music festival in New York. His new material will be rearranged versions of his old album Enjoy Your Rabbit for strings, performed by the Osso String Quartet, and will be entitled Run Rabbit Run. The album is set to be released on October 6th, 2009.

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