The Seduction of Ingmar Bergman
Encyclopedia
The Seduction of Ingmar Bergman is the 22nd album by American rock
/pop
group Sparks
, released in August 2009. The duo's first pop musical, Seduction is built around an imaginary visit to Hollywood
by Swedish film director Ingmar Bergman
in the mid-1950s. Its storyline focuses on the divides between European and American culture, between art and commerce. Unlike other Sparks albums, the work is conceived as a single piece, to be listened to as a whole, rather than a collection of stand-alone songs.
The work was commissioned by Sveriges Radio
Radioteatern, the radio drama
department of Sweden's national radio broadcaster. First released in the Swedish broadcast version in August 2009, with an English-language version following in November 2009, it features a cast of Swedish and American actors and a variety of musical styles ranging from opera
to vaudeville
and pop
. The album's recording was a collaborative effort – while the music and English vocals were recorded by Sparks in the United States, the album's Swedish vocals were recorded by Sveriges Radio in Stockholm, and then sent to the Maels via an FTP server. The album and its ambitious dramatic concept received favourable reviews, and the Mael brothers have said that they are planning both a live show and a film version of the musical.
. The project was proposed to Sparks by Marie Wennersten of SR Radioteatern, the station's radio drama department. Wennersten had become a Sparks fan after watching the duo perform in Sweden in 2004: "I had never seen such energy and love from the audience. I thought the Södra Theatre was going to take off and fly away. I wrote to the Sparks fansite and thanked them for the experience." Wennersten subsequently travelled to Los Angeles as a journalist, to attend and report on another Sparks concert. By that time, the idea of a collaboration had formed in her mind: "I always dreamed of dragging them into the radio world."
Wennersten contacted Sparks when Jasenko Selimovic, the head of SR Radioteatern, decided that the station would produce a number of new musicals. She thought Sparks would be suitable for the format: "They are a bit extravagant; they have a larger-than-life quality, and above all, they make music that is colourful enough for it not to feel like you miss a visual component." Sparks were initially somewhat surprised by the invitation to write a musical for Swedish radio, and were hesitant to take on the project. However, after several months of persuasive effort from Wennersten, via e-mail and telephone, they decided to accept the challenge. "We originally thought of it as a side project between albums, but once we started working on it it took on a bigger life," Sparks have said. "As Americans we have almost abandoned radio drama and it was truly exhilarating for us to work in a medium where the imagination of the listener is so integral a part of the work. Aside from our love of Bergman, we have a love of Orson Welles and his use of the medium of radio was something that inspired us in this work."
Sveriges Radio stipulated that the work had to include a Swedish element. Singer Russell Mael
told The National
, "At first, we obviously thought of cars and Ikea. I’m joking. But the more profound, more lasting idea – being the film fans we are – was Ingmar Bergman. So we hit upon a fantasy situation of him going to Hollywood, which is obviously a lot more universal, too." Before starting work on the musical, the Mael brothers decided to refresh their memories by looking at Bergman's films again. "We were both really big film fans in university. At that time unless you only liked foreign film, and hated American ones, you weren’t cool", Ron Mael
told The Times. "There was a real kind of seriousness to [Bergman]. He actually addressed big things and was able to frame those in really pure, cinematic ways. Now those things are seen as being kind of pretentious. Everyone wants to be seen as though they don’t care about the big issues." Commenting on the suitability of Bergman as the topic of a musical, Russell Mael told a Swedish newspaper, "In a way, he is the least appropriate person for a musical. We like the absurdity of it all. He was such a deep, intense person and the vast majority of his films are about really deep topics. But we did not want to ridicule him, we wanted to do something respectful that Bergman would have been able to appreciate."
In writing a musical about film making in Hollywood, Sparks were also informed by their own past film projects. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, they had spent six years trying to get their film Mai the Psychic Girl produced. Based on a Japanese manga
comic, the film was at one time supposed to be directed by Tim Burton
. Although the music had been completed, the film failed to materialise, an experience that coloured their portrayal of the studio head in The Seduction of Ingmar Bergman. Earlier, Sparks had worked with French director Jacques Tati
on Confusion, another film project that remained uncompleted. Having had numerous meetings with Tati over the course of a year, they were aware that, like other great European directors, Tati had been wooed by Hollywood: “He showed me a letter from Paramount,” Ron Mael recalled. “He said: ‘Oooh! They take me to Hollywood and they have a limousine for me.’ But it was kind of mocking of the whole similar situation to our fantasy Bergman thing. He could see Hollywood for what it was.”
Sveriges Radio gave Sparks free rein to develop the project: "Once we got the basic concept approved, we were able to work according to our own ideas. SR asked us to be as faithful to our own vision as possible." In the end, Sparks felt it had been "a perfect project. It forced us out of our comfort zone. And it has proved to be a safer way to achieve creative success than any other in the history of Sparks."
– "The Wizard of Oz meets The Truman Show, with a light sprinkling of Life On Mars" – it is based on imaginary events in the career of Swedish film director Ingmar Bergman.
The story is set in the mid-1950s, shortly after Bergman's award win at the 1956 Cannes Film Festival
for Smiles of a Summer Night
. After his return to Stockholm
, Bergman feels compelled to go to a cinema and watch a Hollywood blockbuster movie. As he exits the cinema, he inexplicably finds himself transported to Hollywood, where a limo driver is waiting to take him to a film studio. The studio's executives, who give Bergman a lavish welcome, are desperate to entice him to stay in Hollywood and make movies for them, the American way: "We're not hicks, but we must deliver kicks."
The studio bosses have booked a hotel room for Bergman, complete with a "Hollywood Welcoming Committee" – a hooker
they hope will persuade him to accept their offer – and a limo shuttles Bergman from meeting to meeting. Visiting "The Studio Commissary", he is brought face to face with the many European directors who went to make films in Hollywood: Billy Wilder
, Fritz Lang
, F. W. Murnau, Jacques Tourneur
, Josef von Sternberg
, and Alfred Hitchcock
, all apparently happy to work in Hollywood: "Alfred Hitchcock, bless his soul, there chomping on a dinner roll, The Man Who Knew Too Much done twice, in Hollywood, done twice as nice". Bergman is tempted by the prospect of secure funding for his film projects and feels he "must not be hasty" in rejecting the proposal.
The story develops into a Kafkaesque nightmare as Bergman, besieged by autograph hunters, finally decides that Hollywood is not for him. Unable to get an international line to call Sweden, he tries to escape on foot, pursued by hotel staff, police cars and helicopters "like an actor in a bad, big-budget Hollywood action film". He evades his captors and reaches the seashore, where he prays for deliverance and at last meets the angelic figure of Greta Garbo
, who guides him "home to somewhere monochrome, but somewhere you will be a certain kind of free". A circular plot device concludes and resolves the fantasy.
. Translation of the lyrics was also handled in Sweden: "Since I do not speak Swedish, I will never know how they managed," Russell Mael said, expressing his appreciation for the efforts of everyone involved to translate the tone and spirit of the Maels' original text into Swedish lyrics. Sparks and Wennersten communicated mainly via an FTP server, with Sparks sending Wennersten their musical material, and Wennersten sending the edited Swedish voice recordings back to Sparks. Sparks were very pleased with the results of the collaboration, and the fact that Swedish actor Jonas Malmsjö
, playing Bergman, had starred in several Bergman productions, enabling him to bring this personal experience to his portrayal of Bergman.
, vaudeville
, jazz
, pop
and rock
, and features both song and spoken-word elements. Singer Russell Mael's falsetto
vocals remain a prominent feature, while Ron Mael makes his vocal debut in the roles of the limo driver and Hollywood tour guide. Besides Jonas Malmsjö providing Bergman's voice, Elin Klinga
, one of Bergman's favourite actresses in the latter stages of his career, appears in the role of Greta Garbo. Drummer for Sparks, Tammy Glover, appears as The Hollywood Welcoming Committee. Opera singer Rebecca Sjöwall
appears as a Hollywood actress.
Structurally, the album is not a collection of stand-alone songs, but a 64-minute piece of music composed of 24 plot-driven subsections. The music references the band's own discography at various points, evoking echoes of their earlier records – "sly winks to fans, each with their favourite era of Sparks in mind". The BBC
review stated that the album was "steeped in the same arch humour and orchestral sweep that guided the likes of 2006’s Hello Young Lovers and last year’s Exotic Creatures of The Deep", blending "jaunty songs and rib-tickling tangents with a coherent narrative".
and broadcast on Sveriges Radio's P1
channel. An exclusive edition of 1,000 CDs was released by SR Records, the Sveriges Radio record label, at the same time. The band later released an English version of the work on their own Lil' Beethoven label, initially only available as a double vinyl
and digital download. BBC 6 Music
and presenter Stuart Maconie
hosted the English version's première in London on 28 October 2009, followed by a Q&A session with the Mael brothers.
in The Independent
called it "an engrossing and enriching piece" when listened to as a whole. Craig Carson in PopMatters
commented that the Sparks' "wry humor and willingness to experiment with different formats continue to stretch the limits of pop music in ways many other acts simply do not attempt. The band continually seem able and willing to explore just about anything – they remain musicians blessedly apart from the herd." Daryl Easlea, writing for Record Collector
, commented in a similar vein: "Only Sparks could do this. A 64-minute 24-song cycle commissioned for Swedish radio about Ingmar Bergman. [...] Obscure, of course – delightfully warm, naturally; it underlines Sparks' greatness and importance." Commenting on the portrayal of Bergman, Easlea stated, "Swedish actor Malmsjö plays Bergman with all the appropriate detached paranoia"; he concluded his review by awarding the album a full five stars.
The Times
said it was "a very Sparksian undertaking – painstaking and slightly ludicrous – to make a musical about an art-house film director, with a very complicated plot, for the radio (even Rick Wakeman’s King Arthur on Ice had something to look at)." It said the orchestral arrangements by Ron Mael were "great, actually, recalling the skyscraper bustle of Bernstein and the triumphant fanfares of Michael Nyman", and stated that "the central concept – pursue your own idea of art, regardless of whether anyone will buy it – seems to be their rule of thumb, too. And you can't knock that." The review by Stephen Dalton, also in The Times, found the "modernist musical backdrop" dominated by "electro-orchestral fragments" "less seductive" and, "despite plenty of arch and witty lyrics", regretted the scarcity of "memorable melodies or fully realised songs". Dalton concluded that the work was "not wholly successful, perhaps, but still an alluringly barmy and glamorous affair", and a "fascinating folly from two enduringly inventive oddballs".
The BBC review stated fans hoping for "a fresh suite of crisp new Sparks songs" might be disappointed because "there are no tunes without the tale attached", but added that "luckily, the tale is a good one": the story of Hollywood corruption "is told masterfully, and builds to a dramatic conclusion that both condemns Hollywood and satirises its conventions with rapier-sharp wit." Dave Simpson in The Guardian
said the piece, "best experienced as a whole", was "not an idle fantasy, and emerges as a fascinating and powerful discourse on the struggle between art and commerce, and the destructive power of celebrity", calling the musical "a bold, major work – as compelling and original as anything in their sporadically brilliant career."
David Quantick
in The Word commented that "musically, Seduction is awe-inspiring in the way the Maels perfectly meld their current style – intense, repetitive beats and melodies (there's even a bit of squelching techno here) and caustic, snappy lyrics – with the demands of an actual musical." He called the album an "amazing record", a "commissioned piece that not only does what it's been asked to do, but transcends the brief and creates a genuinely exciting piece of music in its own right." Andy Gill in The Independent
gave The Seduction of Ingmar Bergman a maximum rating of five stars and included the record among his 20 albums of the year: "Sharply scripted, with that sly, knowing touch so typical of Sparks, it's also scored with scrupulous intelligence, the arrangements drawing on a range of apt influences, from Kurt Weill to jazz, pop and rock, and the orchestrations ingeniously duplicitous, wistful and sinister, as the action dictates. It may well turn out to be the pinnacle of Sparks' career, and certainly has an ambition well beyond the usual remit of popular culture."
about a film version of the musical. They confirmed in a September 2010 interview on Michael Silverblatt
's Bookworm show that Maddin and actor Jason Schwartzman
were on board, and that they were in the process of seeking funding for the project.
The world premiere of the live musical, starring Sparks, Maddin, Finnish actor Peter Franzén
as Bergman, Tammy Glover recreating her role as the Hollywood Welcoming Committee, Sjöwall reprising her role as the Hollywood starlet, and Ann Magnuson
as Greta Garbo, took place on June 25 at the 2011 Los Angeles Film Festival
. Showcased at the festival to attract investor interest in the film project, the performance at the John Anson Ford Amphitheatre
featured Maddin reading stage directions from the film's screenplay.
Musicians
SR production staff
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
/pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
group Sparks
Sparks (band)
Sparks is an American rock and pop band formed in Los Angeles in 1968 by brothers Ron and Russell Mael , initially under the name Halfnelson...
, released in August 2009. The duo's first pop musical, Seduction is built around an imaginary visit to Hollywood
Hollywood, Los Angeles, California
Hollywood is a famous district in Los Angeles, California, United States situated west-northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Due to its fame and cultural identity as the historical center of movie studios and movie stars, the word Hollywood is often used as a metonym of American cinema...
by Swedish film director Ingmar Bergman
Ingmar Bergman
Ernst Ingmar Bergman was a Swedish director, writer and producer for film, stage and television. Described by Woody Allen as "probably the greatest film artist, all things considered, since the invention of the motion picture camera", he is recognized as one of the most accomplished and...
in the mid-1950s. Its storyline focuses on the divides between European and American culture, between art and commerce. Unlike other Sparks albums, the work is conceived as a single piece, to be listened to as a whole, rather than a collection of stand-alone songs.
The work was commissioned by Sveriges Radio
Sveriges Radio
Sveriges Radio AB – Swedish Radio Ltd – is Sweden's national publicly funded radio broadcaster. The Swedish public-broadcasting system is in many respects modelled after the one used in the United Kingdom, and Sveriges Radio - like Sveriges Television - shares many characteristics with...
Radioteatern, the radio drama
Radio drama
Radio drama is a dramatized, purely acoustic performance, broadcast on radio or published on audio media, such as tape or CD. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the listener imagine the characters and story...
department of Sweden's national radio broadcaster. First released in the Swedish broadcast version in August 2009, with an English-language version following in November 2009, it features a cast of Swedish and American actors and a variety of musical styles ranging from opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
to vaudeville
Vaudeville
Vaudeville was a theatrical genre of variety entertainment in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill...
and pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
. The album's recording was a collaborative effort – while the music and English vocals were recorded by Sparks in the United States, the album's Swedish vocals were recorded by Sveriges Radio in Stockholm, and then sent to the Maels via an FTP server. The album and its ambitious dramatic concept received favourable reviews, and the Mael brothers have said that they are planning both a live show and a film version of the musical.
Background
Sparks produced the album, their first in this genre, after it was commissioned as a radio musical by Sweden's national broadcasting service, Sveriges RadioSveriges Radio
Sveriges Radio AB – Swedish Radio Ltd – is Sweden's national publicly funded radio broadcaster. The Swedish public-broadcasting system is in many respects modelled after the one used in the United Kingdom, and Sveriges Radio - like Sveriges Television - shares many characteristics with...
. The project was proposed to Sparks by Marie Wennersten of SR Radioteatern, the station's radio drama department. Wennersten had become a Sparks fan after watching the duo perform in Sweden in 2004: "I had never seen such energy and love from the audience. I thought the Södra Theatre was going to take off and fly away. I wrote to the Sparks fansite and thanked them for the experience." Wennersten subsequently travelled to Los Angeles as a journalist, to attend and report on another Sparks concert. By that time, the idea of a collaboration had formed in her mind: "I always dreamed of dragging them into the radio world."
Wennersten contacted Sparks when Jasenko Selimovic, the head of SR Radioteatern, decided that the station would produce a number of new musicals. She thought Sparks would be suitable for the format: "They are a bit extravagant; they have a larger-than-life quality, and above all, they make music that is colourful enough for it not to feel like you miss a visual component." Sparks were initially somewhat surprised by the invitation to write a musical for Swedish radio, and were hesitant to take on the project. However, after several months of persuasive effort from Wennersten, via e-mail and telephone, they decided to accept the challenge. "We originally thought of it as a side project between albums, but once we started working on it it took on a bigger life," Sparks have said. "As Americans we have almost abandoned radio drama and it was truly exhilarating for us to work in a medium where the imagination of the listener is so integral a part of the work. Aside from our love of Bergman, we have a love of Orson Welles and his use of the medium of radio was something that inspired us in this work."
Sveriges Radio stipulated that the work had to include a Swedish element. Singer Russell Mael
Russell Mael
Russell Mael is an American singer and songwriter who, with his older brother Ron, is in the band Sparks....
told The National
The National (Abu Dhabi)
The National is a government-owned English-language daily newspaper published in Abu Dhabi. The editor-in-chief since June 8, 2009 has been Hassan Fattah. Prior to this, and from the launch of the newspaper Martin Newland was editor-in-chief. Mubadala Development Company, an investment company...
, "At first, we obviously thought of cars and Ikea. I’m joking. But the more profound, more lasting idea – being the film fans we are – was Ingmar Bergman. So we hit upon a fantasy situation of him going to Hollywood, which is obviously a lot more universal, too." Before starting work on the musical, the Mael brothers decided to refresh their memories by looking at Bergman's films again. "We were both really big film fans in university. At that time unless you only liked foreign film, and hated American ones, you weren’t cool", Ron Mael
Ron Mael
Ronald David Mael , is an American musician and songwriter. He and his younger brother Russell, make up the pop duo Sparks.Ron Mael was born in Culver City, California. Ron plays keyboard and writes most of the songs for Sparks...
told The Times. "There was a real kind of seriousness to [Bergman]. He actually addressed big things and was able to frame those in really pure, cinematic ways. Now those things are seen as being kind of pretentious. Everyone wants to be seen as though they don’t care about the big issues." Commenting on the suitability of Bergman as the topic of a musical, Russell Mael told a Swedish newspaper, "In a way, he is the least appropriate person for a musical. We like the absurdity of it all. He was such a deep, intense person and the vast majority of his films are about really deep topics. But we did not want to ridicule him, we wanted to do something respectful that Bergman would have been able to appreciate."
In writing a musical about film making in Hollywood, Sparks were also informed by their own past film projects. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, they had spent six years trying to get their film Mai the Psychic Girl produced. Based on a Japanese manga
Manga
Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...
comic, the film was at one time supposed to be directed by Tim Burton
Tim Burton
Timothy William "Tim" Burton is an American film director, film producer, writer and artist. He is famous for dark, quirky-themed movies such as Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Ed Wood, Sleepy Hollow, Corpse Bride and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet...
. Although the music had been completed, the film failed to materialise, an experience that coloured their portrayal of the studio head in The Seduction of Ingmar Bergman. Earlier, Sparks had worked with French director Jacques Tati
Jacques Tati
Jacques Tati was a French filmmaker, working as a comedic actor, writer and director. In a poll conducted by Entertainment Weekly of the Greatest Movie Directors Tati was voted the 46th greatest of all time...
on Confusion, another film project that remained uncompleted. Having had numerous meetings with Tati over the course of a year, they were aware that, like other great European directors, Tati had been wooed by Hollywood: “He showed me a letter from Paramount,” Ron Mael recalled. “He said: ‘Oooh! They take me to Hollywood and they have a limousine for me.’ But it was kind of mocking of the whole similar situation to our fantasy Bergman thing. He could see Hollywood for what it was.”
Sveriges Radio gave Sparks free rein to develop the project: "Once we got the basic concept approved, we were able to work according to our own ideas. SR asked us to be as faithful to our own vision as possible." In the end, Sparks felt it had been "a perfect project. It forced us out of our comfort zone. And it has proved to be a safer way to achieve creative success than any other in the history of Sparks."
Storyline
The musical's storyline explores the divisions between art and commerce and between European and American culture, dichotomies that have also shaped much of Sparks' own career. Described as a "dark fairy tale" by Stephen Dalton in The TimesThe Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
– "The Wizard of Oz meets The Truman Show, with a light sprinkling of Life On Mars" – it is based on imaginary events in the career of Swedish film director Ingmar Bergman.
The story is set in the mid-1950s, shortly after Bergman's award win at the 1956 Cannes Film Festival
1956 Cannes Film Festival
-Jury:*Maurice Lehmann *Arletty *Louise de Vilmorin *Jacques-Pierre Frogerais *Henri Jeanson *Domenico Meccoli *Otto Preminger *James Quinn *Roger Regent *María Romero...
for Smiles of a Summer Night
Smiles of a Summer Night
Smiles of a Summer Night a.k.a. Smiles on a Summer Night is a 1955 Swedish comedy film directed by Ingmar Bergman. It was the first of Bergman's films to bring the director international success, due to its exposure at the 1956 Cannes Film Festival...
. After his return to Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
, Bergman feels compelled to go to a cinema and watch a Hollywood blockbuster movie. As he exits the cinema, he inexplicably finds himself transported to Hollywood, where a limo driver is waiting to take him to a film studio. The studio's executives, who give Bergman a lavish welcome, are desperate to entice him to stay in Hollywood and make movies for them, the American way: "We're not hicks, but we must deliver kicks."
The studio bosses have booked a hotel room for Bergman, complete with a "Hollywood Welcoming Committee" – a hooker
Prostitution
Prostitution is the act or practice of providing sexual services to another person in return for payment. The person who receives payment for sexual services is called a prostitute and the person who receives such services is known by a multitude of terms, including a "john". Prostitution is one of...
they hope will persuade him to accept their offer – and a limo shuttles Bergman from meeting to meeting. Visiting "The Studio Commissary", he is brought face to face with the many European directors who went to make films in Hollywood: Billy Wilder
Billy Wilder
Billy Wilder was an Austro-Hungarian born American filmmaker, screenwriter, producer, artist, and journalist, whose career spanned more than 50 years and 60 films. He is regarded as one of the most brilliant and versatile filmmakers of Hollywood's golden age...
, Fritz Lang
Fritz Lang
Friedrich Christian Anton "Fritz" Lang was an Austrian-American filmmaker, screenwriter, and occasional film producer and actor. One of the best known émigrés from Germany's school of Expressionism, he was dubbed the "Master of Darkness" by the British Film Institute...
, F. W. Murnau, Jacques Tourneur
Jacques Tourneur
Jacques Tourneur was a French-American film director.-Life:Born in Paris, France, he was the son of film director Maurice Tourneur. At age 10, Jacques moved to the United States with his father. He started a career in cinema while still attending high school as an extra and later as a script clerk...
, Josef von Sternberg
Josef von Sternberg
Josef von Sternberg — born Jonas Sternberg — was an Austrian-American film director. He is particularly noted for his distinctive mise en scène, use of lighting and soft lens, and seven-film collaboration with actress Marlene Dietrich.-Youth:Von Sternberg was born Jonas Sternberg to a Jewish...
, and Alfred Hitchcock
Alfred Hitchcock
Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE was a British film director and producer. He pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres. After a successful career in British cinema in both silent films and early talkies, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood...
, all apparently happy to work in Hollywood: "Alfred Hitchcock, bless his soul, there chomping on a dinner roll, The Man Who Knew Too Much done twice, in Hollywood, done twice as nice". Bergman is tempted by the prospect of secure funding for his film projects and feels he "must not be hasty" in rejecting the proposal.
The story develops into a Kafkaesque nightmare as Bergman, besieged by autograph hunters, finally decides that Hollywood is not for him. Unable to get an international line to call Sweden, he tries to escape on foot, pursued by hotel staff, police cars and helicopters "like an actor in a bad, big-budget Hollywood action film". He evades his captors and reaches the seashore, where he prays for deliverance and at last meets the angelic figure of Greta Garbo
Greta Garbo
Greta Garbo , born Greta Lovisa Gustafsson, was a Swedish film actress. Garbo was an international star and icon during Hollywood's silent and classic periods. Many of Garbo's films were sensational hits, and all but three were profitable...
, who guides him "home to somewhere monochrome, but somewhere you will be a certain kind of free". A circular plot device concludes and resolves the fantasy.
Production
Recording
A cast of Swedish and American actors contributed to the recording. While Sparks recorded the music in the United States, Wennersten oversaw the recording of the Swedish voice artists in StockholmStockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
. Translation of the lyrics was also handled in Sweden: "Since I do not speak Swedish, I will never know how they managed," Russell Mael said, expressing his appreciation for the efforts of everyone involved to translate the tone and spirit of the Maels' original text into Swedish lyrics. Sparks and Wennersten communicated mainly via an FTP server, with Sparks sending Wennersten their musical material, and Wennersten sending the edited Swedish voice recordings back to Sparks. Sparks were very pleased with the results of the collaboration, and the fact that Swedish actor Jonas Malmsjö
Jonas Malmsjö
Carl Jonas Love Malmsjö is a Swedish actor who has worked in theatre, TV and radio; he is the son of Swedish actor Jan Malmsjö and the Swedish actress Marie Göranzon...
, playing Bergman, had starred in several Bergman productions, enabling him to bring this personal experience to his portrayal of Bergman.
Style
The album mixes a variety of musical styles, from classical piano and opera, with full orchestral backing, to polkaPolka
The polka is a Central European dance and also a genre of dance music familiar throughout Europe and the Americas. It originated in the middle of the 19th century in Bohemia...
, vaudeville
Vaudeville
Vaudeville was a theatrical genre of variety entertainment in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill...
, jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
, pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
and rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
, and features both song and spoken-word elements. Singer Russell Mael's falsetto
Falsetto
Falsetto is the vocal register occupying the frequency range just above the modal voice register and overlapping with it by approximately one octave. It is produced by the vibration of the ligamentous edges of the vocal folds, in whole or in part...
vocals remain a prominent feature, while Ron Mael makes his vocal debut in the roles of the limo driver and Hollywood tour guide. Besides Jonas Malmsjö providing Bergman's voice, Elin Klinga
Elin Klinga
Elin Klinga is a Swedish actress who took part in several of Ingmar Bergman's late stage productions. One of Bergman's favourite actresses, she starred in such productions as The Image Makers , The Ghost Sonata and Ghosts .-External links:...
, one of Bergman's favourite actresses in the latter stages of his career, appears in the role of Greta Garbo. Drummer for Sparks, Tammy Glover, appears as The Hollywood Welcoming Committee. Opera singer Rebecca Sjöwall
Rebecca Sjöwall
Rebecca Sjöwall is an American opera singer. She has a B.A. in Political Science from Luther College, a Master's Degree in Vocal Performance from UCLA and is a two-time District Winner in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions....
appears as a Hollywood actress.
Structurally, the album is not a collection of stand-alone songs, but a 64-minute piece of music composed of 24 plot-driven subsections. The music references the band's own discography at various points, evoking echoes of their earlier records – "sly winks to fans, each with their favourite era of Sparks in mind". The BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
review stated that the album was "steeped in the same arch humour and orchestral sweep that guided the likes of 2006’s Hello Young Lovers and last year’s Exotic Creatures of The Deep", blending "jaunty songs and rib-tickling tangents with a coherent narrative".
Release
The Swedish broadcast version of the musical, containing both Swedish and English lyrics, had its world première on 14 August 2009, when it was performed at a special event in Stockholm's Södra TheatreSödra Teatern
Södra Teatern is a theatre in Stockholm, Sweden. Located in the popular "Söder"-district , it's one of Stockholms most appreciated private theatres. Established in 1859, it's Stockholm's oldest private theatre...
and broadcast on Sveriges Radio's P1
P1 (Swedish radio station)
P1 is a national radio channel produced by the Swedish public broadcaster Sveriges Radio.P1, which subtitles itself "The spoken channel" , is the principal radio channel in Sweden for:* news...
channel. An exclusive edition of 1,000 CDs was released by SR Records, the Sveriges Radio record label, at the same time. The band later released an English version of the work on their own Lil' Beethoven label, initially only available as a double vinyl
Gramophone record
A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...
and digital download. BBC 6 Music
BBC 6 Music
BBC 6 Music is one of the BBC's digital radio stations, was launched on 11 March 2002 and originally codenamed Network Y. It was the first national music radio station to be launched by the BBC in 32 years....
and presenter Stuart Maconie
Stuart Maconie
Stuart Maconie is an English radio DJ and television presenter, writer, journalist, and critic working in the field of of pop music and popular culture. He is currently a presenter on BBC 6 Music, where he hosts an afternoon show five times a week , alongside Mark Radcliffe, called the Radcliffe...
hosted the English version's première in London on 28 October 2009, followed by a Q&A session with the Mael brothers.
Reception
The album has been well received by critics. Simon PriceSimon Price
Simon Price is a British music journalist and club promoter, born on 25 September 1967 in the Welsh town of Barry. He is now best known for his weekly review section in The Independent on Sunday and his book on Manic Street Preachers.-Career:...
in The Independent
The Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
called it "an engrossing and enriching piece" when listened to as a whole. Craig Carson in PopMatters
PopMatters
PopMatters is an international webzine of cultural criticism that covers many aspects of popular culture. PopMatters publishes reviews, interviews, and detailed essays on most cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, films, books, video games, comics, sports, theater,...
commented that the Sparks' "wry humor and willingness to experiment with different formats continue to stretch the limits of pop music in ways many other acts simply do not attempt. The band continually seem able and willing to explore just about anything – they remain musicians blessedly apart from the herd." Daryl Easlea, writing for Record Collector
Record Collector
Record Collector is the United Kingdom's longest-running monthly music magazine. It distributes both within the UK and worldwide. It started in 1979.-The early years:...
, commented in a similar vein: "Only Sparks could do this. A 64-minute 24-song cycle commissioned for Swedish radio about Ingmar Bergman. [...] Obscure, of course – delightfully warm, naturally; it underlines Sparks' greatness and importance." Commenting on the portrayal of Bergman, Easlea stated, "Swedish actor Malmsjö plays Bergman with all the appropriate detached paranoia"; he concluded his review by awarding the album a full five stars.
The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
said it was "a very Sparksian undertaking – painstaking and slightly ludicrous – to make a musical about an art-house film director, with a very complicated plot, for the radio (even Rick Wakeman’s King Arthur on Ice had something to look at)." It said the orchestral arrangements by Ron Mael were "great, actually, recalling the skyscraper bustle of Bernstein and the triumphant fanfares of Michael Nyman", and stated that "the central concept – pursue your own idea of art, regardless of whether anyone will buy it – seems to be their rule of thumb, too. And you can't knock that." The review by Stephen Dalton, also in The Times, found the "modernist musical backdrop" dominated by "electro-orchestral fragments" "less seductive" and, "despite plenty of arch and witty lyrics", regretted the scarcity of "memorable melodies or fully realised songs". Dalton concluded that the work was "not wholly successful, perhaps, but still an alluringly barmy and glamorous affair", and a "fascinating folly from two enduringly inventive oddballs".
The BBC review stated fans hoping for "a fresh suite of crisp new Sparks songs" might be disappointed because "there are no tunes without the tale attached", but added that "luckily, the tale is a good one": the story of Hollywood corruption "is told masterfully, and builds to a dramatic conclusion that both condemns Hollywood and satirises its conventions with rapier-sharp wit." Dave Simpson in The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
said the piece, "best experienced as a whole", was "not an idle fantasy, and emerges as a fascinating and powerful discourse on the struggle between art and commerce, and the destructive power of celebrity", calling the musical "a bold, major work – as compelling and original as anything in their sporadically brilliant career."
David Quantick
David Quantick
David Quantick is a freelance journalist, writer and critic who specialises in music and comedy.-Career history:...
in The Word commented that "musically, Seduction is awe-inspiring in the way the Maels perfectly meld their current style – intense, repetitive beats and melodies (there's even a bit of squelching techno here) and caustic, snappy lyrics – with the demands of an actual musical." He called the album an "amazing record", a "commissioned piece that not only does what it's been asked to do, but transcends the brief and creates a genuinely exciting piece of music in its own right." Andy Gill in The Independent
The Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
gave The Seduction of Ingmar Bergman a maximum rating of five stars and included the record among his 20 albums of the year: "Sharply scripted, with that sly, knowing touch so typical of Sparks, it's also scored with scrupulous intelligence, the arrangements drawing on a range of apt influences, from Kurt Weill to jazz, pop and rock, and the orchestrations ingeniously duplicitous, wistful and sinister, as the action dictates. It may well turn out to be the pinnacle of Sparks' career, and certainly has an ambition well beyond the usual remit of popular culture."
Musical and film versions
Sparks said in October 2009 that they were planning to turn the album into a live show and were in talks with Canadian film director Guy MaddinGuy Maddin
Guy Maddin, OM is a Canadian screenwriter, director, cinematographer and film editor of both features and short films from Winnipeg, Manitoba...
about a film version of the musical. They confirmed in a September 2010 interview on Michael Silverblatt
Michael Silverblatt
Michael Silverblatt is the host of Bookworm, a nationally syndicated radio program about books and literature, originating from Los Angeles public radio station KCRW. A graduate of SUNY Buffalo, Silverblatt created the half-hour interview show in 1989 to share his love of literature, poetry and...
's Bookworm show that Maddin and actor Jason Schwartzman
Jason Schwartzman
Jason Francesco Schwartzman is an American actor and musician. He is perhaps best known for his roles in the Hollywood films Rushmore, Spun, I Heart Huckabees, Shopgirl, Marie Antoinette, The Darjeeling Limited, Funny People, and Scott Pilgrim vs. the World...
were on board, and that they were in the process of seeking funding for the project.
The world premiere of the live musical, starring Sparks, Maddin, Finnish actor Peter Franzén
Peter Franzén (actor)
Peter Franzén is a Finnish actor who has appeared in over 40 films and TV series. Of these, the most famous are A Summer by the River, Ambush, Mustan kissan kuja, Badding, On the Road to Emmaus, Rölli ja metsänhenki, Kuutamolla, Bad Boys, Dog Nail Clipper, Matti and Hellsinki...
as Bergman, Tammy Glover recreating her role as the Hollywood Welcoming Committee, Sjöwall reprising her role as the Hollywood starlet, and Ann Magnuson
Ann Magnuson
Ann Magnuson is an American actress, performance artist, and nightclub performer who first gained prominence in the 1985 film Desperately Seeking Susan...
as Greta Garbo, took place on June 25 at the 2011 Los Angeles Film Festival
Los Angeles Film Festival
The Los Angeles Film Festival, presented by the Los Angeles Times is an event held annually in June in downtown Los Angeles, California. The Los Angeles Film Festival began as the Los Angeles Independent Film Festival in 1995. The first LAIFF took place over the course of five days in a single...
. Showcased at the festival to attract investor interest in the film project, the performance at the John Anson Ford Amphitheatre
John Anson Ford Amphitheatre
The John Anson Ford Amphitheatre is a 1421-seat performing arts theatre in Los Angeles, California. The theatre is owned and operated by the County of Los Angeles, and run through a three-way partnership between the Los Angeles County Arts Commission, the Department of Parks and Recreation, and the...
featured Maddin reading stage directions from the film's screenplay.
Track listing
Note: The digital downloads were released as single tracks with a duration of 64:32 (Swedish broadcast version) and 64:33 (English version).Personnel
Cast- Russell MaelRussell MaelRussell Mael is an American singer and songwriter who, with his older brother Ron, is in the band Sparks....
– Studio chief; policeman 1 and 2 - Ron MaelRon MaelRonald David Mael , is an American musician and songwriter. He and his younger brother Russell, make up the pop duo Sparks.Ron Mael was born in Culver City, California. Ron plays keyboard and writes most of the songs for Sparks...
– Limo driver; Hollywood tour guide
- Marcus Blake – Autograph hound; Woody
- Tammy Glover – Hollywood Welcoming Committee; Gerry
- Saskia Husberg – Interpreter
- Elin KlingaElin KlingaElin Klinga is a Swedish actress who took part in several of Ingmar Bergman's late stage productions. One of Bergman's favourite actresses, she starred in such productions as The Image Makers , The Ghost Sonata and Ghosts .-External links:...
– Greta Garbo - Marie-Chantal Long – Cannes Festival announcer
- Jonas MalmsjöJonas MalmsjöCarl Jonas Love Malmsjö is a Swedish actor who has worked in theatre, TV and radio; he is the son of Swedish actor Jan Malmsjö and the Swedish actress Marie Göranzon...
– Ingmar Bergman - Steve McDonald – Hotel concierge
- Steven NistorSteven NistorSteven Nistor is an American touring and studio drummer, best known for his work with Daniel Lanois and Danger Mouse. He is currently based in Los Angeles, California.-Early life:...
– Hotel doorman - Katie PuckrikKatie PuckrikKatie Puckrik is an American television presenter and newspaper columnist. Born in Virginia, USA, Puckrik is best known for her appearances in British shows such as The Word, The Sunday Show and The Krypton Factor. She created and hosted the British television talk show Pyjama Party and...
– Hotel operator - Rebecca SjöwallRebecca SjöwallRebecca Sjöwall is an American opera singer. She has a B.A. in Political Science from Luther College, a Master's Degree in Vocal Performance from UCLA and is a two-time District Winner in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions....
– Hollywood starlet - Jim Wilson – First A.D.; autograph hound
Musicians
- Ron Mael – Keyboard
- Russell Mael – Vocals
- Jim Wilson – Guitar
- Dean MentaDean MentaDean Menta served as the guitarist for the rock band Faith No More from 1995 to 1996. Menta had been a keyboard tech for the band and was recruited to handle guitar duties after Trey Spruance declined to tour for the album King for a Day... Fool for a Lifetime. He appears in their videos for...
– Guitar - Marcus Blake – Bass
- Tammy Glover – Drums
- Steven NistorSteven NistorSteven Nistor is an American touring and studio drummer, best known for his work with Daniel Lanois and Danger Mouse. He is currently based in Los Angeles, California.-Early life:...
– Drums
SR production staff
- Marie Wennersten – Producer and director
- Magnus Lindman – Translations
- Sabina von Greyerz – SR Records project manager
External links
- Sparks Official Website
- The Seduction of Ingmar Bergman on Sparks's MySpaceMySpaceMyspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....
blog - Speech by Russell Mael after the Stockholm première on 14 August 2009 (2 parts)
- Interview with Sparks on the movie project and upcoming musical performance at the LA Film Festival, Warner Brothers