On Wed, 11 Dec 2002 12:29:10 -0600 Ben Axelrad <soulfrieda@hotmail.com> wrote:

The ECM website mentions that this was written in response to the murder of a Palestianian father & son in Gaza. Was this evident from either the music (I'm assuming not, since the vocals are wordless?) or performance?

The specific event that inspired the piece was not in evidence, but there were definitely images that reinforced the idea that 'Mercy' is a meditation on compassion: Meredith as elderly patient singing plaintively to Theo Bleckmann as doctor, receiving condoling "replies" until both joined in a duet based on the single word, "Help." At another point, a solo soprano is seen welcoming a silent swarm of extras, dressed as WWII-era refugees, into her protective custody.

Has Monk been politically active or vocal in the past, or is she operating from a more general humanist basis?

I don't honestly know Monk's politics, but she's certainly dealt in humanist themes in 'Ellis Island' and 'Atlas.' Related to neither of the above, one of the most striking images was the opening, with Monk and Ann Hamilton seated opposite one another at a table. Hamilton holds something up to Monk's mouth, and Monk begins to sing. On a huge screen behind the stage, you see two elongated, curved lines moving up and down in time with the singing. At first I thought that Hamilton was holding a camera to Monk's mouth -- and that's how the New York Times interpreted it in her review. Only when I vaguely made out the image of Hamilton's face in the hazy distance between the moving shapes did I realize she was holding up a light, and the camera was actually inside Monk's mouth, pointing out... Steve Smith ssmith36@sprynet.com