alisonboston.com

Very masculine, mostly cerebral, yet at times intensely visceral (thanks to the guitar, but also occassionally the voice) and sometimes downright boring, especially in the beginning.

That’s An Index of Metals in a nutshell. Composed by the late Fausto Romitelli, performed by Flemmish Ensemble Ictus, with Georges-Elie Octors conducting - the music dominates this multi media performance, while the synchronous video component created by Leonardo Romoli and Paolo Pachini is hypnotic and relevent. Three large screens suspended above the ensemble carry images of metals in various forms: from amoeba-like wobbly blobs to 100’s of tiny objects rolling in a mesh cylinder. The script however, by Kenka Lekovich, seems unrelated and serves no purpose other than to provide words for the singer - in which case a list of metals and their chemical composition would serve just as well, if not better. But I have to ask, other than to challenge one’s self with an intellectually creative exercise, why choose such a topic?