The Seduction of Ingmar Bergman
| The Seduction of Ingmar Bergman | |||||
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| Studio album by Sparks | |||||
| Released | 14 August 2009 | ||||
| Recorded | Hollywood American Studios (Hollywood, California) Radio Drama Studio (, Sweden) |
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| Genre | Pop opera | ||||
| Length | 64:32 | ||||
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| Sparks studio albums chronology | |||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Source | Rating |
| BBC | (favourable) |
| PopMatters |   |
| Record Collector |  |
| Svenska Dagbladet |  |
| The Guardian | |
| The Independent | |
| The Times | |
| The Times | |
| The Word | (favourable) |
| Mojo | |
| Zero Music Magazine | |
The Seduction of Ingmar Bergman is the 22nd album by American rock group Sparks, released in August 2009. The duo's first work in the radio musical or pop opera genre, the album 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.
Sparks produced the album, their first in this genre, after it was commissioned as a radio musical by Sweden's national broadcasting service, Sveriges Radio. 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."
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Wikipedia