Soundtrack for Dreamscapes

Dreamscapes, the new exhibition at the Pulitzer Foundation For the Arts (3716 Washington Boulevard; 314-754-1850 or www.pulitzerarts.org), features art that probes the meaning and mechanics of dreams. With a new exhibit comes a new concert series, and Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra music director David Robertson was responsible for finding music that responds to this theme of our nocturnal lives. Robertson has picked a pair of absolute corkers to open the Dreamscapes Concert Series. Jonathan Harvey's Mortuos plango, vivos voco is a haunting combination of a child singing and sonorous church bells, while Philippe Manoury's En echo is an evocative and at times nightmarish melding of soprano voice and electronics. En echo fairly drifts along on clouds of glory, then is lit up by skittering stabs of dissonant oscillations, the rhythmic snaps of clipping scissors and groaning blasts of low-end blur. The Dreamscapes Concert Series begins at 7:30 p.m. this evening; tickets are $10 to $20 and can be purchased online at www.stlsymphony.org.
Wed., Feb. 23, 2011