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Friday, 27 January 2012
Thursday, 12 January 2012
On hearing a concert performance of Die Meistersinger
I was able to see a performance of Wagner's Die Meistersinger at Covent Garden on Sunday and again yesterday in Birmingham at Symphony Hall played and sung by the same forces (almost). For me, the concert performance was even better than the one in London. Firstly, the excellent ROH orchestra was seeable and even more importantly audible. The chorus similarly.
The lead singers wore suits (men) and long dresses (women) in a way that made the work contemporary rather than arch and trendy.
I do not know if this counts as a post-modern production, and really do not care, but it certainly was fun and accessible.
The audience cheered to the rafters.
The lead singers wore suits (men) and long dresses (women) in a way that made the work contemporary rather than arch and trendy.
I do not know if this counts as a post-modern production, and really do not care, but it certainly was fun and accessible.
The audience cheered to the rafters.
Saturday, 7 January 2012
Thursday, 5 January 2012
Wednesday, 4 January 2012
Of Gods and Men -another look
I returned to this film, which I found very moving at the first viewing, after a friend gave it negative review. I rate this friend's views and thought it important to check my original impressions with another viewing. I was aware that for many viewers the life of a group of Cistercian monks, living monastic life in the wake of the reforms of the SecondVatican Council in the 1960s, may have seemed strange. No grand medieval buildings, ornate liturgy or distance from the world here but an unpretentious priory, simple prayers and engagement with the everyday life of the local people.
There is conflict between the unnamed country's army and politicians and groups of 'terrorists' who roam around the countryside causing mayhem. We see a group of Croatians being separated from some of the local people with whom they are working. The Croatians have their throats cut. It is not clear what the 'terrorists' represent but they are Islamic. The closeness between some of the local people, Muslims, and the monks is strong. The links between the Abrahamic faiths is made explicit. The local people depend upon the free medical clinic and drugs provided by the monks and especially from one monk brother Luc, a doctor, who tends the sick with the few drugs he can source. The inevitable conflict happens when the 'terrorists' arrive to have the monk/doctor treat one of their injured. The prior refuses to speak to them if they are insistent on keeping their arms so they go outside the enclosure to speak. The authorities distrust the monks in the belief they are giving succour to the 'terrorists'.
Once it becomes more or less clear to the community that they are staying put, that they will probably be taken hostage and killed, a strange sense of settledness comes up on them. They are at their last supper. Luc puts on a tape of Sleeping Beauty and they drink wine together. Some viewers have thought this a rather incongruous thing to do. To me it makes sense.
The film ends with most of the community being marched, single file other than the prior assisting the by now very unwell Luc, through the snows of the Atlas mountains. The fate of the monks is not shown in the film. It is, of course, a fiction based on fact.
The real monks had been taken prisoner as hostages in an attempt to get the government of the county to do something. The French foreign office was not willing to help. The monks were found beheaded. A resonance to the fate of John the Baptist, forerunner of Jesus.
The film, for me, was about hope and how it will be attacked when it starts to flower.
There is conflict between the unnamed country's army and politicians and groups of 'terrorists' who roam around the countryside causing mayhem. We see a group of Croatians being separated from some of the local people with whom they are working. The Croatians have their throats cut. It is not clear what the 'terrorists' represent but they are Islamic. The closeness between some of the local people, Muslims, and the monks is strong. The links between the Abrahamic faiths is made explicit. The local people depend upon the free medical clinic and drugs provided by the monks and especially from one monk brother Luc, a doctor, who tends the sick with the few drugs he can source. The inevitable conflict happens when the 'terrorists' arrive to have the monk/doctor treat one of their injured. The prior refuses to speak to them if they are insistent on keeping their arms so they go outside the enclosure to speak. The authorities distrust the monks in the belief they are giving succour to the 'terrorists'.
Once it becomes more or less clear to the community that they are staying put, that they will probably be taken hostage and killed, a strange sense of settledness comes up on them. They are at their last supper. Luc puts on a tape of Sleeping Beauty and they drink wine together. Some viewers have thought this a rather incongruous thing to do. To me it makes sense.
The film ends with most of the community being marched, single file other than the prior assisting the by now very unwell Luc, through the snows of the Atlas mountains. The fate of the monks is not shown in the film. It is, of course, a fiction based on fact.
The real monks had been taken prisoner as hostages in an attempt to get the government of the county to do something. The French foreign office was not willing to help. The monks were found beheaded. A resonance to the fate of John the Baptist, forerunner of Jesus.
The film, for me, was about hope and how it will be attacked when it starts to flower.
Monday, 2 January 2012
New Years Day at the Tigers.
Good match at Welford Road yesterday with Tigers playing Sale Sharks. Antonio De Vecchi took this wonderful evocative pic of the corps de ballet at full tilt.....
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