Saturday, January 28, 2012
The Artist
What a fun movie! Jean Dujardin played it just right - as did Uggie ;) And wasn't it thrilling to watch Berenice Bijo smile and dance. Such presence. Glad I tracked down where it was playing. I don't understand why it doesn't have a larger audience. Still, I'm pulling for The Help or (fat chance) Midnight in Paris.
Friday, January 27, 2012
A Dance ... Books 2 & 3
My love for the series, A Dance to the Music of Time by Anthony Powell, continues to grow. (See my earlier post on A Question of Upbringing). If I had nothing else on my plate to read, I would devour all twelve right now. I know I will miss them when I am done.
In books 2, A Buyer's Market and 3, The Acceptance World, Nicholas Jenkins is now working for a publisher of art books and struggling to write novels on the side. In the evenings he attends social dances with his peers. These are set up for young people by their parents as a way of arranging marriages for the women. In book 3, he outgrows the dances and instead attends parties - lots of parties, running into his old college chums as well as meeting lords, ladies, artists and fools. An eccentric lot to be sure. The books rely on that eccentricity for the wry humor to flow.
In terms of romances, it is puppy love in book 2 and his first long-term romance in book 3. The latter is actually an affair with a married woman whose husband returns from abroad at the end of the leaving us to wonder if she will still be around in book 4.
On a side note: I bought a used copy of Invitation to the Dance, a reader's companion to A Dance to the Music of Time that tracks characters, events and places throughout the 12-book series. At this point, I am still able to keep track of what's gone on, but I expect that by book 5 I will be relying on Invitation heavily.
Next: Book 4 - At Lady Molly's
In books 2, A Buyer's Market and 3, The Acceptance World, Nicholas Jenkins is now working for a publisher of art books and struggling to write novels on the side. In the evenings he attends social dances with his peers. These are set up for young people by their parents as a way of arranging marriages for the women. In book 3, he outgrows the dances and instead attends parties - lots of parties, running into his old college chums as well as meeting lords, ladies, artists and fools. An eccentric lot to be sure. The books rely on that eccentricity for the wry humor to flow.
In terms of romances, it is puppy love in book 2 and his first long-term romance in book 3. The latter is actually an affair with a married woman whose husband returns from abroad at the end of the leaving us to wonder if she will still be around in book 4.
On a side note: I bought a used copy of Invitation to the Dance, a reader's companion to A Dance to the Music of Time that tracks characters, events and places throughout the 12-book series. At this point, I am still able to keep track of what's gone on, but I expect that by book 5 I will be relying on Invitation heavily.
Next: Book 4 - At Lady Molly's
Einstein on the Beach - Ann Arbor
What a treat ... The opera, Einstein on the Beach, composed by Philip Glass, choreographed by Lucinda Childs and designed and directed by Robert Wilson, opened it's preview performances in Ann Arbor prior to heading out on a world tour. I attended the first of these 4 1/2 hour performances on January 20th at the Power Center.
The opera -- more like opera meets performance art meets Philip Glass - is not the usual lush setting, tragic story, gorgeously costumed staging that comes to mind with the term opera. There is no plot, the music, dance and staging is minimal (if not quite minimalist) and there is little libretto - just a few poems and spoken lines that are repeated multiple times within a "scene". The bulk of what libretto there is are sequences of numbers such as "12345678, 12345678, 1234, 1234, 12345678". Given that the opera honors Einstein, the numbers are appropriate as are the slow robot-like movements of the choreography.
Glass, Wilson and Childs brought Einstein's humor into the opera. Much of the context for individual scenes are visual and auditory puns on Einstein's work - the term "sand" suggests particle theory and dancers in a field represent the unified field theory. Performers wearing baggy grey pants, loose shirts and suspenders stick their tongues out at the audience on several occasions -- reminiscent of a popular photo of Einstein.
Both music and dance are hypnotic rather than lyrical. Some of it very enjoyable, some of it painfully fatiguing. In fact, the work requires great endurance on the part of the musicians, dancers and the audience since there is no intermission. All of us, performers and audience alike, sneaked breaks quietly while others remained behind to carry on.
Overall, the opera felt very long. I kept wishing that Wilson had lopped off 20-30% of everything. Given the repetition, that would have been possible. I was not alone. By the end, 20% of the originally packed house were gone.
The audience was warned that since this was the first performance, there might be a few glitches - and in fact, the event started 20 minutes late. There were a few noticeable mistakes, but it ran smoothly overall. The quality of the performance was another matter. The soprano was not quite up to the enormous challenge of her part that night. Also, many of the performances lacked the fluidity and intensity that I expect will come with time. There are still 8 weeks remaining before the world premiere in France, and so there is time for polish.
What was my overall response to this very-special performance? I enjoyed parts of it enormously and am glad that I was in attendance for this "event of the year". I would love to see how it evolves in the months ahead - although sitting through it for another 4.5 hours seems daunting.
Wilson, Glass and Childs collaborated on this production and were in attendance in Ann Arbor. It is expected that this will be their final production - as they are all in their 70s.
The opera -- more like opera meets performance art meets Philip Glass - is not the usual lush setting, tragic story, gorgeously costumed staging that comes to mind with the term opera. There is no plot, the music, dance and staging is minimal (if not quite minimalist) and there is little libretto - just a few poems and spoken lines that are repeated multiple times within a "scene". The bulk of what libretto there is are sequences of numbers such as "12345678, 12345678, 1234, 1234, 12345678". Given that the opera honors Einstein, the numbers are appropriate as are the slow robot-like movements of the choreography.
Glass, Wilson and Childs brought Einstein's humor into the opera. Much of the context for individual scenes are visual and auditory puns on Einstein's work - the term "sand" suggests particle theory and dancers in a field represent the unified field theory. Performers wearing baggy grey pants, loose shirts and suspenders stick their tongues out at the audience on several occasions -- reminiscent of a popular photo of Einstein.
Both music and dance are hypnotic rather than lyrical. Some of it very enjoyable, some of it painfully fatiguing. In fact, the work requires great endurance on the part of the musicians, dancers and the audience since there is no intermission. All of us, performers and audience alike, sneaked breaks quietly while others remained behind to carry on.
Overall, the opera felt very long. I kept wishing that Wilson had lopped off 20-30% of everything. Given the repetition, that would have been possible. I was not alone. By the end, 20% of the originally packed house were gone.
The audience was warned that since this was the first performance, there might be a few glitches - and in fact, the event started 20 minutes late. There were a few noticeable mistakes, but it ran smoothly overall. The quality of the performance was another matter. The soprano was not quite up to the enormous challenge of her part that night. Also, many of the performances lacked the fluidity and intensity that I expect will come with time. There are still 8 weeks remaining before the world premiere in France, and so there is time for polish.
What was my overall response to this very-special performance? I enjoyed parts of it enormously and am glad that I was in attendance for this "event of the year". I would love to see how it evolves in the months ahead - although sitting through it for another 4.5 hours seems daunting.
Wilson, Glass and Childs collaborated on this production and were in attendance in Ann Arbor. It is expected that this will be their final production - as they are all in their 70s.
Monday, January 9, 2012
The Courage Consort
The Courage Consort, by Michel Faber tells the story of Catherine, an emotionally fragile soprano, who is part of a 5-member singing ensemble specializing in new music. The consort is invited to rehearse for a Dutch music festival in a gorgeous rural house across from deep woods. Catherine is constantly tempted by suicidal urges. The change of scenery away from London along with the friendship of the group's other woman member gives her an opportunity to confront her fears.
This book is delicately written with subtle shadings. One reads it slowly or misses the personal and group dynamics. It's an interesting story and a quick read. 120 pages.
I found this quiet gem in a used book store. I paid 50 cents for a signed copy - someone missed the signature, I guess.
This book is delicately written with subtle shadings. One reads it slowly or misses the personal and group dynamics. It's an interesting story and a quick read. 120 pages.
I found this quiet gem in a used book store. I paid 50 cents for a signed copy - someone missed the signature, I guess.
A Question of Upbringing
Whoo-hoo, I'm in love with Anthony Powell! Just finished book 1 of A Dance to the Music of Time: A Question of Upbringing which starts the 12-book series narrated by Jenkins, an astute observer of people, places and politics. This first book introduces us to some of the characters who will come and go through his life - and the remainder of these books.
We meet Jenkins in prep school and stay with him through his first year of college meeting his narcissistic uncle, the prankster Peter Templer, Peter's shy sister Jean and their wealthy friend Stringham. Jenkins looks in awe as his friends leave school, find romance in the world and with women and create their lives while he follows a narrower path: mooning over Jean and Jean-like creatures while attending to his studies at the university.
This is a sweet look at upper class Britain in the mid 1900s. Dry humor abounds, but so does a bit of slapstick. Take the scene in which a champion race car driver, in the dead of night, attempts to remove a visiting lawyer's top hat from his luggage and sneak a chamber pot into it's place. Funny stuff.
Can't wait for books 2-12!
We meet Jenkins in prep school and stay with him through his first year of college meeting his narcissistic uncle, the prankster Peter Templer, Peter's shy sister Jean and their wealthy friend Stringham. Jenkins looks in awe as his friends leave school, find romance in the world and with women and create their lives while he follows a narrower path: mooning over Jean and Jean-like creatures while attending to his studies at the university.
This is a sweet look at upper class Britain in the mid 1900s. Dry humor abounds, but so does a bit of slapstick. Take the scene in which a champion race car driver, in the dead of night, attempts to remove a visiting lawyer's top hat from his luggage and sneak a chamber pot into it's place. Funny stuff.
Can't wait for books 2-12!
Death Comes for the Archbishop
My friends who have read My Antonia by Willa Cather are disappointed by Death Comes to the Archbishop. It's a book that is short on drama and loose in structure with nine "books" that read well as short stories. The book is based on the lives of the first bishop/archbishop of Santa Fe and his vicar, following them from their overland journey to Santa Fe to their deaths as old men. While hair-raising stories do come and go within this 300-page epic, the chief focus is the friendship of the two men.
Cather gives us a bit of a travelogue of the southwest in the 1800s as the poor churchmen travel back and forth across the desert, up and down mesas and up into Denver, skirting along mountain precipices.. We meet Navajo chiefs, Mexican priests, rich rancheros and even a few desparados. Kit Carson takes the stage, as well.
Having lived in that area for 3 years, I loved the book. Cather captured the serenity of the landscape, the desolation of the desert and the heart of the people. Santa Fe today, with its cathedral, plaza and winding streets is a beautiful city. We get glimpses into how it came to life and how the cathedral was built.
Read it!
Cather gives us a bit of a travelogue of the southwest in the 1800s as the poor churchmen travel back and forth across the desert, up and down mesas and up into Denver, skirting along mountain precipices.. We meet Navajo chiefs, Mexican priests, rich rancheros and even a few desparados. Kit Carson takes the stage, as well.
Having lived in that area for 3 years, I loved the book. Cather captured the serenity of the landscape, the desolation of the desert and the heart of the people. Santa Fe today, with its cathedral, plaza and winding streets is a beautiful city. We get glimpses into how it came to life and how the cathedral was built.
Read it!
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