Three minutes in, and I am both excited and certain I'm not ready to get through this while I am as sober as I need to be while on the clock.
posted by cortex at 4:25 PM on May 13, 2016 [1 favorite]

The university where I work put on the Globolinks, and I took my kids, who were then 6 and 9. The 9 year old got so freaked out by the Globolinks that had to take her outside.
posted by leahwrenn at 4:31 PM on May 13, 2016

I want to know what kinds of synthesizers they used.
posted by teponaztli at 5:39 PM on May 13, 2016

Ooh! It's a Menotti opera! His vaguely communist Christmas opera Amahl and the Night Visitors was a fixture in my house, and on NBC around Christmastime for many many years. I'd love to see a resurgence of performances of it -- its message of unity with non-Christians (Amahl and his mother could be read as Muslim, Jewish, or pagan) would be a welcome relief from the "war on Christmas" crap Fox dishes out each year.

Thanks for bringing this up -- it was an opportunity to do a bit more digging on Amahl, too, and the backstory of how it's built on his childhood in Italy waiting for the Three Kings to show up is cute.
posted by gusandrews at 6:19 PM on May 13, 2016 [2 favorites]

(gives it a listen)

Wow, the electronic parts are excruciating... tell us how you REALLY feel about the advent of electronic music, Menotti. More like "an opera for children and those who hate Bruce Haack and Mort Garson," amirite?
posted by gusandrews at 6:28 PM on May 13, 2016 [2 favorites]

Oddly enough, Menotti was an acquaintance from the beginning of my twenty-year stint as an operatic supernumerary back in 1981, a longtime penpal, and a generous mentor who I largely credit for my interest in performing my own sort of work, albeit far removed from the rock and roll world of opera, on the stage.

I've got tales to share, but irritatingly, I'm working construction and I've got jobs backed up straight through the weekend, so I'm going to need to revisit this when I can see blue sky again.

Gian Carlo Menotti was the real deal, though. Hell, he even got me sent to the principal's office for "acting all Italian." It was such a privilege to be close enough to watch him work.
posted by sonascope at 7:25 AM on May 14, 2016 [2 favorites]

I want to know what kinds of synthesizers they used.

At 54:50 it sounds like a ring-modulator and a filter, maybe using prepared piano as a source. It doesn't sound like a synth.
posted by bhnyc at 7:41 AM on May 14, 2016

At 54:50 it sounds like a ring-modulator and a filter, maybe using prepared piano as a source. It doesn't sound like a synth.

Definitely electro-acoustic sources run through a ring modular, short-period delay, and filter, though there's a bit of a chance it could be Trautonium with heavy processing.
posted by sonascope at 12:09 PM on May 14, 2016