The Knee Plays + DVD (Music for the Knee Plays from Robert Wilson's The CIVIL warS) (1985)

Werk uit 1985, een kleine 25 jaar later voor het eerst op CD. Instrumentale miniaturen voor middelgroot ensemble met gesproken interludes door Byrne. Op de DVD hoort u de muziek met daarbij een 'slide show' van honderden foto's van de bewuste toneelstukjes. "Robert Wilson had a commission to create a work to be performed at the 1984 Olympic games called the CIVIL WarS (sic). He invited Byrne to compose the "knee plays," or, the pieces that existed in the gaps between this enormous set of plays, which were to be performed over multiple days during the games. Byrne, who had visited New Orleans and taken in the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, had been deeply influenced by their approach to harmony and rhythm. Byrne tried to get the Dirty Dozen to perform the material he had written for Wilson's work -- which never happened, so Byrne eventually hires a crack band in LA with players like Fred Wesley, David Stout, Ernie Watts, and others." (Thom Yurek, Allmusic; voor complete tekst: klik op de link)