Monday, August 25, 2008

Robert Ashley


I was surprised and a little depressed to learn that Robert Ashley has made, like, three or four operas in the last few years, and I was completely unaware of them. Obviously, I haven't been keeping up.

A friend introduced me to Ashley's work when I was in college, and I've been a fan ever since - partly because of the music, but even more because of his use of language. He is truly one of the great manipulators of English. Perfect Lives and Improvement are particular favorites of mine. The best entry point, however, is undoubtably Private Parts (The Record), which is a hushed, mesmerizing recording of what would become the first and last parts of Perfect Lives.

1 comment:

la rose said...

Dear Tom,

Send your email and snail mail to info at lovely dot com and I'll be happy to add you to our mailing list. Otherwise, we do update our websites:
http://lovely.com
http://robertashley.org

cheers,
Andrea La Rose
assistant label manager
Lovely Music, Ltd.