Three Tales

The documentary opera ›Three Tales‹ (1998-2002) by Steve Reich (music) and Beryl Korot (video) depicts the 20th century as an age of technological rule, with its own distinct promises and catastrophes.
Each act is named after and describes one of three central events of this technological age: Hindenburg, Bikini, and Dolly – the crash of the airship Hindenburg after its first transatlantic flight in Lakehurst 1937, the nuclear tests at Bikini Atoll between 1946 and 1954, and finally the first cloning of sheep Dolly in the year 1997 in Scotland. Thus depicting the growth and effects of technological developments during the last century by referring to the beginnings of aviation as well as to the more recent ethical discussions about the future of mankind.

Video artist Beryl Korot uses video montage, film- and interview sequences to tell those three ›stories‹. While Hindenburg and Bikini are mainly depicted through archive material (historical footage, photographs, video recordings of news presenters a.o.), Dolly employs filmed interviews – the variety of images on the electronically multi-divided screen itself reflecting technological progress.
It is remarkable, that Steve Reich, too, makes much greater use of music technological developments than he does in earlier works. Original recordings are being integrated into the composition and altered through transpositions and / or rhythmical modulations. Apart from ›Slow Motion Sound‹, a technique Reich preconceived before it was actually realizable, ›Freeze Frame Sound‹ is also included, both techniques modulating the sound of the recorded interviews.
Not simple criticism of technology, but rather the ambivalence of technological developments is therefore being voiced.

›Three Tales‹ is the second co-production of Reich and Korot following ›The Cave‹. ›Three Tales‹ premiered 12 May 2002 at the Wiener Festwochen with Ensemble Modern and Synergy Vocals conducted by Brad Lubman, followed by performances in Amsterdam, Torino, London, Strasbourg, Paris, Lisbon, and Berlin.