Merce Cunningham at 90 - Sonic Youth, John Paul Jones & more @ BAM, Brooklyn - pics

photos by Stephanie Berger

“It is not unusual these days to hear Merce Cunningham called the world’s greatest living choreographer. I go further: I have long thought that he is the greatest living artist since the death of Samuel Beckett, almost 20 years ago.

His latest world premiere, “Nearly Ninety,” presented at the Brooklyn Academy of Music on Thursday (his 90th birthday), is not a perfect work of art…

…The music, composed and performed by John Paul Jones, Takehisa Kosugi and Sonic Youth (Kim Gordon, Thurston Moore, Lee Ranaldo, Steve Shelley), sounds now like a rock musician’s worst hangover, as if the pot and the kettle were calling each other every color under the sun before settling down and breeding a whole tribe of tintinnabulations. One powerful guitar chord out of the blue happened on Thursday to coincide with the most electrifying gear change in the Goggans-Squire duet, but even such moments are mere effects… [NY Times]

The show’s 4th of four performances takes place today, Sunday the 19th, at BAM. More pictures below…