Sounds Like Beckett

Samuel Beckett stripped the meaning from the words in his writing, leaving only the sounds of the words themselves on the page. He did the same in the score for his radio play, Words and Music; Beckett's notes for the composer consist of directions such as "humble muted adsum." Composer Morton Feldman tackled the challenge of interpreting these cryptic instructions, devising a score for the debate between the characters Words and Music, as moderated by Croak. Members of the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra perform the rarely heard Words and Music, along with Feldman's Samuel Beckett, at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday (January 31 and February 1) at the Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts (3716 Washington Boulevard; 314-754-1850 or www.pulitzerarts.org). Also on the program is John Cage's radio-broadcast-and-tape-recording composition, Credo in US. Tickets are $20.
Wed., Jan. 31; Thu., Feb. 1