Turtle Dreams

In the late 1970s Monk acquired a turtle named Neutron as a pet, and in 2016 said "When I first got her I had a lot of dreams about her, very strange dreams. And then I started thinking, how does a turtle think? What would a turtle mind be, and if she’s sleeping, what would a turtle dream be?".[4]

In a 2010 interview, Monk said she found standard music concerts boring, and said "at that time I started to try to feed in elements to that situation – like one little element of movement. Turtle Dreams is a music piece that has a very simplified movement component. I was working on that music myself, and then I thought ‘wouldn’t it be interesting if the movement had a totally simple counterpoint? So instead of standing there singing, what about if we went from side to side?’ And from there, the piece seemed to make itself.".[5] She also added "When I was working on it I didn’t realise some things that I see now. There’s a certain fascist element to it, and I wasn’t conscious of that at the time. ... There’s a flatness, a surface style to the people, and maybe a kind of narcissism too."

The film version of the piece includes footage of turtles, initially in natural settings and then walking across a world map and through a miniature model of a Western city. This footage was photographed and directed by filmmaker Robert Withers.[6]

AllMusic awarded the album four stars, with Ted Mills calling it "A daring display of vocal gymnastics and a journey back to childhood when all sounds were wondrous".[7]

After its premier John Rockwell of the New York Times wrote "The effect is rich, enigmatic and compelling."[8]

In 2020, interest in the performance piece was reignited after coverage by YouTube movie-review channel Red Letter Media, who featured a copy of the WGBH filmed version on their show "Best of the Worst". The group panned it, expressing confusion towards the intent of the performance, with co-host Rich Evans notably summarizing the video as "the most jaw-dropping cringe embarrassment I've ever seen," declaring that he holds it "in utter contempt."[9]

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[7]

All compositions by Meredith Monk

1. "Turtle Dreams (Waltz)" - 17:52
2. "View 1" - 10:13
3. "Engine Steps" - 2:03
4. "Ester's Song" - 1:14
5. "View 2" - 6:02

• Recorded in New York City (tracks 1 & 2), at Hanford Mills Museum, East Meredith in New York (track 3), and at Tonstudio Bauer in Ludwigsburg, West Germany (track 4 & 5)

• Meredith Monk — voice, piano, synthesizer, organ
• Collin Walcott — didgeridoo (tracks 2-5), organ (track 1)
• Julius Eastman — organ (track 1)
• Steve Lockwood — organ (track 1)
• Andrea Goodman — voice (track 1)
• Paul Langland — voice (track 1)
• Robert Een — voice (track 1)