Multimedia Review

Three Tales. Steve Reich, music; Beryl Korot, video. Three Tales (1998-2002): A Documentary Digital Video Opera: Hindenburg, Bikini, Dolly. The Steve Reich Ensemble; Synergy Vocals; Bradley Lubman, conductor. 2003. Nonesuch 79662-2 CD+DVD (70 minutes; Picture Format 4:3; sound: DTS Surround and Dolby Digital 5.1 on DVD)

Composer Steve Reich's latest theatrical work marks his second large collaboration with his wife, video artist Beryl korot. This Nonesuch release includes both a CD of the steve Reich ensemble along with singers from synergy vocals, and a DVD packaged within the same jewel case. The DVD features korot's complete video for Three Tales coupled with Reich's music (for five voices, four percussionists, two pianos/keyboards, and string quartet). This comes very close to giving a home viewer access to the concert experience. Unlike her earlier work for The Cave, for Three Tales Korot designed her artwork to be shown upon a single large screen. The DVD provides all of these images in wide-screen format, helpfully indexed into numerous tracks. The images in "Hindenburg" derive from archival footage of the airship under construction, flying over Manhattan, and crashing in flames in Lakehurst, New Jersey. "Bikini" uses Army footage of the atomic tests on Bikini Atoll between 1946 and 1952, depicting animals being led away as if to board Noah's ark, and the evacuation of native islanders—transformed by Korot into painterly stills reminiscent of Gauguin. The third tale, "Dolly," takes a different approach: its images, and a good portion of its sound, are constructed from clips of interviews about technology, many focusing on the 1997 cloning of "Dolly" the sheep.