"Apple Pie", by Joe Bauer, takes the audience through a mental, physical, and emotional journey. 15 musicians, 5 actors, 13 words, and a world premiere painting blur the lines between performance, art, and the central role one's perceptions play throughout it all.Â
Leave your expectations at the door, and be prepared to exit a changed person, to whatever degree, as we are about to step through the gates of Joe Bauer's - Apple Pie. Â
"Hello, Mr. Joe Bauer. Thank you for your willingness to share more about this extraordinary project, Apple Pie. Where did the first sparks of inspiration come from to create Apple Pie?
It was the combination of two ideas. I don't want to give away everything, but the text that serves as the narrative for the piece struck me as something that paints a very clear distinction between the ideals of America versus its harsh realities. That was an idea just floating around in my mind. A few years later, I played a show at a large art gallery, and I was inspired by that space and how you might make a more interesting concert by spreading the musicians out and requiring the audience to move in order to arrive at the next stage of the performance. So these ideas combined and the text laid out a kind of form for the piece that I was able to find music to match and amplify that narrative.
How did the piece evolve from there?Â
Early on in my conception of Apple Pie, I knew the text and I knew the pieces that would be performed. When I started thinking about how I wanted the audience to experience the music as something completely abstract, opposed to something they can attempt to analyze or understand, then the purpose of the text became a way to present a concrete idea that could be analyzed and understood, and I wanted to add more information to further create a juxtaposition between these two types of ideas - between abstract and concrete information. This led to the addition of actors recreating historical American photographs alongside the first three musical pieces. For the final movement, a piano sonata that is maybe the most avant-garde sounding piece of the four, I removed the actors and displayed a large painting by the amazing Tina Mari-Rucker, who created a beautiful work for this performance in order to amplify the amount of abstract art in the finale.
Movement I
Being outside to begin really added to the mood, along with the photograph represented here, Victory on V-J Day, the piece starts on this seemingly lighthearted patriotic tone.Â
Musical Piece: Charles Ives - Variations on America
Movement II
This is a representation of a photograph leaked from the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. The audience was led from each location to the next by a musician playing a theme from the next piece.
Sofia Gubaidulina - Meditation on a theme by Bach
Movement III
I would like to thank all the musicians that made this possible, my budget was very small, and the pieces, particularly this one, were very demanding. This movement of Apple Pie is possibly my favorite, the music and the text are both very beautiful.
Ben Johnston - String Quartet No. 4 (Amazing Grace)
Movement IV
One thing that isn't shown in the film is that during the final section of the piece, the lights begin to all turn on, at the last note, the soloist, Pei-yeh Tsai immediately exits the stage, and the audience is left in a bright room with no one left to clap for.
Galina Ustvolskaya - Piano Sonata No. 6
See more by Tina Mari Rucker: tinamarirucker.com/artwork-for-sale
What do you believe the most poignant takeaways were for attendees of the show?
I assume most of the audience was not familiar with all or any of the music that was played. It's all 20th century chamber music, and it might seem very complex or challenging at times, but my intent was to create a performance that was free of any attempts to understand the music, instead to just experience the sounds in the context of a story, something we all intuitively understand.
What is the most important idea you are carrying into the future from producing Apple Pie, Mr. Joe Bauer?
I was completely new to putting on an entire production, so I learned a million things doing this, and there are a lot of aspects that I think could be improved and built upon, but the basic idea of adding additional information to direct the audience's attention is one I believe works really well and plan to explore different ways of doing that.
A final note on the overall piece: Even though the ending re-contextualizes the text that runs through the piece, it's no different than any other image or idea that is shown. The piece is not about a single idea, it's about America.
Many Special Thanks To -
Stefan Brun and the Prop Thtr: https://www.propthtr.org/
Production Team: www.city.film
Painter Tina Mari Rucker: tinamarirucker.com/artwork-for-sale
Musicians: All the musicians involved put it many hours to make this project possible. Thank you for your time and dedication.Â
Get in Touch with Apple Pie Producer - Joe Bauer
Email: joe.bauer2@gmail.com