David Bowie's Berlin Trilogy, New Sounds Live 2018 from Brookfield Place
On-demand archived audio for each full album (once posted) will expire on Jan. 25, 2021.
However, these recordings are available for purchase from shearwater.bandcamp.com
All during the week of Monday, Jan. 4- Friday, Jan. 8, 2021 we'll revisit "[W]hat may well have been New York City’s best shows this year [2018]" according to Pitchfork - recordings of the performances of David Bowie’s Berlin trilogy: Low (1977), “Heroes" (1977), and 1979’s Lodger, and the music that inspired the trilogy. In marking the anniversaries of Bowie’s birth and his death, for a limited time, you can hear those stunning performances of Bowie’s music and the works that inspired it. Â
Recorded at Brookfield Place in October of 2018, the cast of players was led by Shearwater/Loma's Jonathan Meiburg and featured current and past members of Shearwater, Deerhoof, Dirty Projectors, Wordless Music Orchestra, Xiu Xiu, Battle Trance, Glass Ghost, and Loma, along with special guest, Carlos Alomar (David Bowie’s guitarist and musical director for 30 years.) Also, hear music that inspired the trilogy: Brian Eno's "Discreet Music," and selections from Another Green World (1975), and "Body Love" by Klaus Schulze.Â
"The three albums of David Bowie's Berlin Trilogy - Low (1977), “Heroes" (1977), and Lodger (1979), - represent the sound of rock music exploding." - John Schaefer
Jonathan Meiburg, in the program, writes that "[T]hese albums are the pinnacle of [Bowie's] musical and artistic output...the Berlin Trilogy has everything: brooding, cinematic instrumentals, rave-ups that end almost before they begin, gorgeous ballads that threaten to collapse on themselves, and Bowie’s most famous and expansive song.
John Schaefer continues:
"Bowie actually began referring to his "Berlin Trilogy" only in the promotional phase leading up to Lodger's release. In retrospect, all three albums reflect the city - its darkness, its cultural ferment, its isolation. Working with Brian Eno, and Tony Visconti, Bowie produced some of his most memorable rock songs, and some of his edgiest. But he also surprised and confounded the listening public by devoting large stretches of each record to musical experiments that departed not only from the world of rock but from the song format itself.Â
The lasting impact of these three albums has been felt not just in the world of rock but in contemporary classical music as well. Philip Glass was moved to write a series of symphonies based on the trilogy: his Lodger Symphony completes that trilogy and premiere[d] in 2019. Subsequent generations of composers and musicians have grown up with the freedom to move among the various musical worlds that Bowie explored in these three pivotal albums. For proof, you need only look at the musicians in these concerts: they represent a gathering of the tribes, from the worlds of indie rock, but also from New York's thriving contemporary music scene - many are part of both camps, and some are composers themselves." Â
The recordings of the music from Parts 2, 3, 4 are available for purchase from shearwater.bandcamp.com
Listen to Show #4188: David Bowie Week, Part 1 - Berlin Trilogy Inspirations
