Why I Love The French
11:17 PM July 08 2009
My wife Jessica and I went to the Stravinsky fountain when we visited Paris in 2006. We saw the fountain after I tried to get into Pierre Boulez’s IRCAM (Institut de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique/Musique) which it turns out doesn’t really give tours.
They do concerts, but we were definitely not there in concert season. So I got to stand in the lobby and try to be the smiley American while the French security guard wondered exactly what was wrong with us.
Anyway the big highlight of this jaunt is the Stravinsky Fountain which was commissioned/ordered by Chirac probably via composer/conductor Boulez who is pretty much an international treasure. His music looks and sounds like this and the man himself looks like this.
Each one of the sculptures is inspired by a Stravinsky piece (we could pick out the Firebird and Rite of Spring) and does something, either via a motor or internal fountain. So things rotate, churn, spite water, all to music that is piped in from IRCAM (via actual large battleship-style pipes) and you can listen to the IRCAM concerts (the stage is underground, below the fountain) in the square and watch the fountain at the same time. The whole effect is sort of a Tim Burton-style aquapark experience. Also they had buckwheat crepes nearby. One of my favorite places in Paris.
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