Galleries

First test roll from the Fuji GF670

2009-12-28 San Francisco Photo Photo galleries

Chevron/Standard station on Van Ness

Chevron maintains this one station under Standard branding to keep the trademark in California

Swan Oyster Depot

Run by the Sancimino family since 1946

Lego Store in San Mateo’s Hillsdale Mall

2009-12-28 Stuff Photo galleries

9 Beet Stretch

2004-04-24 San Francisco Photo galleries

I attended a rather unusual performance yesterday night, Norwegian artist Leif Inge‘s 9 Beet Stretch. Actually, I shouldn’t be using the past tense as it started at 10PM and is still running as I write (I left around 8AM). You see, the work is Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, digitally stretched to last 24 hours. It may sound like a happening gimmick, but interestingly enough some passages are still recognizable despite the tempo mangling. When combined with the setting – a typically SoMa artists’ live-work loft with exposed rafters and liberally appointed with couches, reclining chairs, bean bags and mattresses – this gives off a definite tinge of unreality. Amusingly enough, when Beethoven first released his Ninth Symphony, it was criticized for being too long.

Beethoven’s Ninth is the reason why audio CDs last 74 minutes – the symphony, known in Japan as the 大九 (“Dai Kyu”, Great Ninth) is very popular there and Sony engineers ensured it would fit on a single disc. If they had preferred Mahler, we might have a higher capacity medium. Will the 24-hour Ninth become the yardstick for MP3 players? Not that this is the longest piece in the modern repertoire – the notorious musical provocateur John Cage wrote one called Organ²/ASLSP that started playing on September 5, 2001 and is expected to complete after 639 years…

Update (2017-10-05):

This technique was used to great effect in Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk by stretching Elgar’s Enigma Variations, more specifically Nimrod, but having it remain recognizable despite the dilation.

Galleries

First test roll from the Fuji GF670

Chevron/Standard station on Van Ness

Chevron/Standard station on Van Ness

Chevron/Standard station on Van Ness

Chevron/Standard station on Van Ness

Swan Oyster Depot

Swan Oyster Depot

Swan Oyster Depot

Swan Oyster Depot

Swan Oyster Depot

Swan Oyster Depot

Lego Store in San Mateo’s Hillsdale Mall

Fuji GF670

Head-Fi meet in San Jose

My demo set-up

My demo set-up

Ray Samuels

Ray Samuels

9 Beet Stretch