A CD-ROM dealing with the first half century of the ecstatic life of the performer and visual artist Moniek Toebosch. It takes us from her birth (there is not much about that on this cd-rom, but listening to Moniek Toebosch herself on the subject, you understand that it must have been a musical happening of the first order) through to her most recent work.
The high point of the disk is undoubtedly Moniek as 'La Toebosch' in a live, multipartite tv series in which she features as the hostess and muse of a number of her favourite musical talents. In the final part she fulfils one of the dreams of her youth, which was to sing the 'Liebestod' from Wagner's 'Tristan and Isolde', accompanied by a genuine classical orchestra, at no less a place than the Carré Theatre in Amsterdam. Slip this cd-rom into your computer and click on 'Aanvallen van Uitersten' (attacks of extremes) in part 4. The camera follows the entrance of a procession of figures in clearly 'Wagnerian' costumes, with Moniek Toebosch bringing up the rear. She is not completely relaxed, and certainly not prepared for the confusion that greets her. The orchestra pit is far from full, and she suddenly notices that half the orchestra has gone off, refusing to play. The reason is not exactly trivial. The immediately preceding item was a truly deafening performance of symphony number something or other by the band of New York musician Glenn Branca, perhaps the loudest of all the guitar bands of those years. Branca is actually a genuine hero, not just in Toebosch's eyes, for his din is regarded by the true avant-gardists of those days as state-of-the-art. But a large number of the orchestral musicians have been somewhat deafened by Glenn Branca's noise machine, and can no longer play Wagner correctly, so they have taken to their heels. What was supposed to be the grand finale of a series of evenings of artistic entertainment just falls apart into a thousand pieces. A nightmare has become reality. Moniek Toebosch is standing on the stage on her own and seems to have been left completely in the lurch. She calls imploringly for "The Liebestod please, play the Liebestod" and tries to rally the remaining musicians into playing. The music does in fact begin to swell, and the first bars have been played when, to crown the disaster, she discovers as she sings that the conductor Evan Fischer has also left the podium. What can she do in this horrifying situation? One single inspired decision makes her mistress of the situation. "Shall I conduct it and sing it?", she wonders aloud, though more
to herself than the audience. Before anyone quite realizes what is happening, Moniek is singing and conducting at the same time.
In a twinkling, she has managed to transform her frightening, exposed and alarming situation into the unforgettable spectacle
of a superior artist. Singing at the top of her voice, she takes the players of the depleted orchestra in tow, sends the audience into ecstasies and turns a certain nightmare into an indisputable triumph. This is a singer who rises above her material in a way
that Wagner could never have imagined. But more than that: her performance on this occasion was in my view one of the most heroic artistic statements of the twentieth century.
– Paul Groot
|
Design Annelys de Vet, editors Rudy J. Luijters, Mayke Nas, Moniek Toebosch, Annelys de Vet, programming Shosho, Annelys de Vet
Moniek Toebosch ° 1948 Breda, Netherlands
Annelys de Vet ° 1974 Alkmaar, Netherlands
Live and work in The Netherlands
|
|
2 0 0 1 
