21 October 2014
In 1982 the Scottish trumpeter, John Wallace, gave the premiere performance of Malcolm Arnold's 'Trumpet Concerto' at the Royal Albert Hall in London. John Wallace's 1984 recording with the Bournemouth Sinfonietta is still the only time this short but fiendishly difficult concerto has been recorded. So it was very exciting, last Saturday, to have the opportunity to perform Arnold's 'Trumpet Concerto' at the Derngate in Northampton with John Wallace. The Northampton Symphony Orchestra, conducted for the first time by John Gibbons, had been invited to open the ninth Malcolm Arnold Festival with a morning concert of works by Arnold and other 20th century English composers. As well as the 'Trumpet Concerto' we played Arnold's 'A Flourish for Orchestra' and his mighty 'Peterloo Overture' (which was commissioned by the Trades Union Congress to mark its centenary in 1968). Our programme also included the beautiful 'Rhapsody, A Shropshire Lad' by George Butterworth, Ralph Vaughan Williams' 'March Past of the Kitchen Utensils' from 'The Wasps', and the wonderful suite from the 1936 film 'Things To Come' by Sir Arthur Bliss. Between these pieces young musicians from the Malcolm Arnold Academy performed the movements of Arnold's rarely heard ‘Miniature Suite'. But the highlight of the morning was undoubtedly John Wallace's brilliant performance of the 'Trumpet Concerto', accompanied by the Northampton Symphony Orchestra (in which Malcolm Arnold himself played the trumpet in his youth) and finishing with a glorious, stratospheric major third between the soloist and NSO's Principal Trumpet, Nick Bunker.
Tuesday, October 21, 2014
Thursday, October 16, 2014
'Me Talk Pretty One Day' by David Sedaris
16 October 2014
The American humourist David Sedaris is now such a familiar figure on BBC Radio 4 it is hard to read his essays without hearing his voice in your head. I've been reading his collection published in 2000, 'Me Talk Pretty One Day'. It's a good sample of the David Sedaris style – a neurotic, sarcastic, self-deprecating collection of personal experiences. I know his writing is not to everyone's taste – his amusing observations of foreigners can sail close to racism and he sometimes succeeds in his attempts to persuade you that he's not a very nice person. But his prose is beautifully constructed and can be incredibly funny. I liked this opening to 'The Learning Curve' in which “a terrible mistake was made” and the recently graduated Sedaris was offered a position teaching a writing workshop:
“The position was offered at the last minute, when the scheduled professor found a better-paying job delivering pizza. …. Like branding steers or embalming the dead, teaching was a profession I had never seriously considered. I was clearly unqualified, yet I accepted the job without hesitation, as it would allow me to wear a tie and go by the name of Mr Sedaris.”
The American humourist David Sedaris is now such a familiar figure on BBC Radio 4 it is hard to read his essays without hearing his voice in your head. I've been reading his collection published in 2000, 'Me Talk Pretty One Day'. It's a good sample of the David Sedaris style – a neurotic, sarcastic, self-deprecating collection of personal experiences. I know his writing is not to everyone's taste – his amusing observations of foreigners can sail close to racism and he sometimes succeeds in his attempts to persuade you that he's not a very nice person. But his prose is beautifully constructed and can be incredibly funny. I liked this opening to 'The Learning Curve' in which “a terrible mistake was made” and the recently graduated Sedaris was offered a position teaching a writing workshop:
“The position was offered at the last minute, when the scheduled professor found a better-paying job delivering pizza. …. Like branding steers or embalming the dead, teaching was a profession I had never seriously considered. I was clearly unqualified, yet I accepted the job without hesitation, as it would allow me to wear a tie and go by the name of Mr Sedaris.”
Tuesday, October 07, 2014
'Everybody Down' by Kate Tempest
7 October 2014
It's not often that a rapper is featured on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, but Kate Tempest is not your average rapper. Last month, the day after her new album 'Everybody Down' was shortlisted for the Mercury music prize, Kate Tempest was selected by the Poetry Book Society as one its Next Generation poets. The 27-year old from South East London studied music at the Brit School and poetry at Goldsmiths College. Intrigued, I thought I would listen to 'Everybody Down' but I have to admit that when I first played the opening track my immediate reaction was that hip-hop really isn't my kind of music and I very nearly gave up on the album. Something persuaded me to persevere and I decided to reserve judgement until I had listened to the whole thing. I realised I really needed to give my full attention to the words and treat 'Everybody Down' like a radio play, written in verse, with background music – rather than thinking of it as an album of songs. The 12 tracks form a single continuous story with excellently drawn characters and I found myself rooting for Becky as her family and friends pull her into a world of criminality, drug-dealing and violence. There is some wonderful word-play:
I’m in a mess, I can’t help it
I just go round and round
I’m paranoid, I’m selfish
Push me, I clam up, I’m shellfish
We had a dream, I shelved it
That eats me up, that’s Elvis
Las Vegas era
I’m half bag lady, half Bagheera
And the more I listened the more I fell for the words, the characters and the story. I've since learned that Kate Tempest is working on transferring the characters from Everybody Down into a novel, due to be published next year, which will begin where the album ends and will also include characters from two of her three stage plays (one of which was commissioned by Paines Plough). Clearly Kate Tempest is a name to watch.
It's not often that a rapper is featured on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, but Kate Tempest is not your average rapper. Last month, the day after her new album 'Everybody Down' was shortlisted for the Mercury music prize, Kate Tempest was selected by the Poetry Book Society as one its Next Generation poets. The 27-year old from South East London studied music at the Brit School and poetry at Goldsmiths College. Intrigued, I thought I would listen to 'Everybody Down' but I have to admit that when I first played the opening track my immediate reaction was that hip-hop really isn't my kind of music and I very nearly gave up on the album. Something persuaded me to persevere and I decided to reserve judgement until I had listened to the whole thing. I realised I really needed to give my full attention to the words and treat 'Everybody Down' like a radio play, written in verse, with background music – rather than thinking of it as an album of songs. The 12 tracks form a single continuous story with excellently drawn characters and I found myself rooting for Becky as her family and friends pull her into a world of criminality, drug-dealing and violence. There is some wonderful word-play:
I’m in a mess, I can’t help it
I just go round and round
I’m paranoid, I’m selfish
Push me, I clam up, I’m shellfish
We had a dream, I shelved it
That eats me up, that’s Elvis
Las Vegas era
I’m half bag lady, half Bagheera
And the more I listened the more I fell for the words, the characters and the story. I've since learned that Kate Tempest is working on transferring the characters from Everybody Down into a novel, due to be published next year, which will begin where the album ends and will also include characters from two of her three stage plays (one of which was commissioned by Paines Plough). Clearly Kate Tempest is a name to watch.
Friday, October 03, 2014
'Colin Gray: a journey with his parents through love, life and death'
3 October 2014
While I was in Edinburgh this week I visited North Edinburgh Arts Centre to see an exhibition of photographs by Colin Gray, presented as part of Luminate 2014 – Scotland's Creative Ageing Festival (of which I am a Trustee). 'Colin Gray: a journey with his parents through love, life and death' is a selection of works documenting Gray's 34 year collaborative journey with his parents. It includes work from 'The Parents' series, which started in 1980; from 'In Sickness and in Health', photographs that explored his parents' older age and his mother's death; and a preview of new work from 'Do Us Part', his ongoing series of images of his father and daughter. Many of the photos are playful and funny – showing Gray's ageing parents retaining a childlike sense of fun. I particularly enjoyed the picture of them sailing down an imaginary stream in their garden in an old bathtub. In contrast, the pictures of Colin Gray's mother's final days are incredibly sad – including candid shots of her in a hospital bed and her corpse in the coffin. And the scenes of her husband grieving alone are painful and moving, including a close-up of his wrinkled neck enclosed by collar and black tie. But the exhibition ends with pictures of Gray's father with his granddaughter comforting him, providing a warm final image that shows continuity of life into the next generation.
While I was in Edinburgh this week I visited North Edinburgh Arts Centre to see an exhibition of photographs by Colin Gray, presented as part of Luminate 2014 – Scotland's Creative Ageing Festival (of which I am a Trustee). 'Colin Gray: a journey with his parents through love, life and death' is a selection of works documenting Gray's 34 year collaborative journey with his parents. It includes work from 'The Parents' series, which started in 1980; from 'In Sickness and in Health', photographs that explored his parents' older age and his mother's death; and a preview of new work from 'Do Us Part', his ongoing series of images of his father and daughter. Many of the photos are playful and funny – showing Gray's ageing parents retaining a childlike sense of fun. I particularly enjoyed the picture of them sailing down an imaginary stream in their garden in an old bathtub. In contrast, the pictures of Colin Gray's mother's final days are incredibly sad – including candid shots of her in a hospital bed and her corpse in the coffin. And the scenes of her husband grieving alone are painful and moving, including a close-up of his wrinkled neck enclosed by collar and black tie. But the exhibition ends with pictures of Gray's father with his granddaughter comforting him, providing a warm final image that shows continuity of life into the next generation.
Baltic Cruise
3 October 2014
Our Baltic cruise on the P&O ship Adonia was a wonderful holiday. We sailed through the Kiel canal in North Germany and spent a couple of days in Kiel, during which we took a train to the pretty medieval town of Lubeck which I last visited with the Manchester Youth Orchestra nearly 30 years ago. Some parts of the town were familiar but I failed to find the bar in which the orchestra's leader Angela Ceasar wowed the locals, singing 'Summertime' with the house band. From Germany we sailed to Estonia, stopping at the beautiful island of Saaremaa before spending a day in Talinn. Talinn is a fairytale city – like a Disneyland version of a medieval European town. The architecture is reminiscent of Switzerland or Austria but more brightly coloured and with some clear Russian influences. We loved Talinn's narrow cobbled streets, high town walls and stunning central square. Our next port of call was St Petersburg – my first visit to Russia. St Petersburgh is an amazing place – intimidating and austere on the outskirts, with a magnificent city centre. Like Paris, the centre of St Petersburg was designed and built as a single project, giving the streets and buildings a consistency missing from most major cities. There are some incredibly impressive buildings, dominated for me by the Church of Our Saviour over Spilled Blood – an incredibly colourful, extravagant, onion-spired showpiece of a building. We also visited the Hermitage – an enormous museum which reminded me of the Louvre in Paris (and can be similarly crowded, though it wasn't too bad when we were there). We had a guided tour of the Hermitage and saw works by Rembrandt, Cezanne, Monet, Renoir, Van Gogh and Leonardo da Vinci. Our visit to Stockholm was also dominated by a fantastic museum: the Vasa Museum houses the preserved remains of a warship which sank in 1628. The museum gives a fascinating insight into the history of the period, through a series of displays all linked to the Vasa itself, ever-present as you walk around the four floors which provide a range of views over the huge ship. It's brilliantly done – one of the best museums I have ever visited. We were similarly charmed by the much smaller David Collection in Copenhagen which includes extensive displays of early Islamic art, beautifully presented with lots of background information about the history of much of the Middle East and North Africa. It was great to return to Copenhagen – one of my favourite European cities. Regular readers will be relieved to know that we finally managed to see the Little Mermaid. You can see a selection of my holiday photos at: http://www.culturaloutlook.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Baltic2014.
Our Baltic cruise on the P&O ship Adonia was a wonderful holiday. We sailed through the Kiel canal in North Germany and spent a couple of days in Kiel, during which we took a train to the pretty medieval town of Lubeck which I last visited with the Manchester Youth Orchestra nearly 30 years ago. Some parts of the town were familiar but I failed to find the bar in which the orchestra's leader Angela Ceasar wowed the locals, singing 'Summertime' with the house band. From Germany we sailed to Estonia, stopping at the beautiful island of Saaremaa before spending a day in Talinn. Talinn is a fairytale city – like a Disneyland version of a medieval European town. The architecture is reminiscent of Switzerland or Austria but more brightly coloured and with some clear Russian influences. We loved Talinn's narrow cobbled streets, high town walls and stunning central square. Our next port of call was St Petersburg – my first visit to Russia. St Petersburgh is an amazing place – intimidating and austere on the outskirts, with a magnificent city centre. Like Paris, the centre of St Petersburg was designed and built as a single project, giving the streets and buildings a consistency missing from most major cities. There are some incredibly impressive buildings, dominated for me by the Church of Our Saviour over Spilled Blood – an incredibly colourful, extravagant, onion-spired showpiece of a building. We also visited the Hermitage – an enormous museum which reminded me of the Louvre in Paris (and can be similarly crowded, though it wasn't too bad when we were there). We had a guided tour of the Hermitage and saw works by Rembrandt, Cezanne, Monet, Renoir, Van Gogh and Leonardo da Vinci. Our visit to Stockholm was also dominated by a fantastic museum: the Vasa Museum houses the preserved remains of a warship which sank in 1628. The museum gives a fascinating insight into the history of the period, through a series of displays all linked to the Vasa itself, ever-present as you walk around the four floors which provide a range of views over the huge ship. It's brilliantly done – one of the best museums I have ever visited. We were similarly charmed by the much smaller David Collection in Copenhagen which includes extensive displays of early Islamic art, beautifully presented with lots of background information about the history of much of the Middle East and North Africa. It was great to return to Copenhagen – one of my favourite European cities. Regular readers will be relieved to know that we finally managed to see the Little Mermaid. You can see a selection of my holiday photos at: http://www.culturaloutlook.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Baltic2014.
Thursday, September 11, 2014
'Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage' by Haruki Murakami
11 September 2014
The Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami combines critical acclaim with huge popularity and the publication of a new Murakami book now feels like a major event. I'm very much a fan and I rushed to read his latest novel, 'Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage' (which I read as an unabridged audio book, translated by Philip Gabriel and narrated by Michael Fenton Stevens). After the enormous magical saga of Murakami's previous book, ''1Q84' (reviewed here in April 2012), 'Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage' is a smaller, calmer, more serious work. There is no magic realism (though the symbolism of erotic dreams again plays a significant part). This is essentially a gentle love story. Tsukuru Tazaki is a 36-year old engineer whose life has been haunted by the mystery of his sudden expulsion, 16 years ago, from a close group of school-friends. Tsukuru never knew why his four best friends suddenly rejected him and finally decides to try to find out what happened. Murakami's writing has a compellingly odd quality. His prose is terribly precise and careful and most of his characters behave in a very logical, straightforward way, but somehow he makes you feel the presence of something deeply mysterious and intriguing in his narrative. Nothing appears to be missed out but you get the impression that the most important things are not being said. Tsukuru Tazaki is likeable and sympathetic but a little dull – but is there anything wrong with being an empty vessel? I enjoyed being back in the strange world of Haruki Murakami and found myself gripped by Tsukuru's pilgrimage, though I missed the humour of some of the earlier novels.
The Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami combines critical acclaim with huge popularity and the publication of a new Murakami book now feels like a major event. I'm very much a fan and I rushed to read his latest novel, 'Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage' (which I read as an unabridged audio book, translated by Philip Gabriel and narrated by Michael Fenton Stevens). After the enormous magical saga of Murakami's previous book, ''1Q84' (reviewed here in April 2012), 'Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage' is a smaller, calmer, more serious work. There is no magic realism (though the symbolism of erotic dreams again plays a significant part). This is essentially a gentle love story. Tsukuru Tazaki is a 36-year old engineer whose life has been haunted by the mystery of his sudden expulsion, 16 years ago, from a close group of school-friends. Tsukuru never knew why his four best friends suddenly rejected him and finally decides to try to find out what happened. Murakami's writing has a compellingly odd quality. His prose is terribly precise and careful and most of his characters behave in a very logical, straightforward way, but somehow he makes you feel the presence of something deeply mysterious and intriguing in his narrative. Nothing appears to be missed out but you get the impression that the most important things are not being said. Tsukuru Tazaki is likeable and sympathetic but a little dull – but is there anything wrong with being an empty vessel? I enjoyed being back in the strange world of Haruki Murakami and found myself gripped by Tsukuru's pilgrimage, though I missed the humour of some of the earlier novels.
Friday, September 05, 2014
'All The Things You Are' by Leon Fleisher
5 September 2014
“Writing about music is like dancing about architecture” is an often mis-attributed quotation which appears to have been coined by the comedian Martin Mull (see http://quoteinvestigator.com/2010/11/08/writing-about-music/ for a lengthy investigation of its origins). As a musician I often find written descriptions of pieces of music (particularly in novels) excruciating. (And don't even get me started on the common misuse of the term 'crescendo'!) So it was a pleasure to come across two excellent pieces of writing this week that sent me scurrying off to listen, not just to the works in question but to the particular recordings that the authors were describing. I rarely listen to solo piano music, so it is an additional testimony to these pieces of writing that both were about this genre.
I've just started reading the new novel by Haruki Murakami, 'Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage', and I was intrigued by this passage: “As they listened to one piano recording, Tsukuru realised that he'd heard the composition many times in the past. He didn't know the title, however, or the composer. It was a quiet, sorrowful piece that began with a slow, memorable theme, played out as single notes, then proceeded into a series of tranquil variations. Tsukuru looked up from a book he was reading and asked Haida what it was. “Franz Liszt’s 'Le Mal du Pays' – it's from his 'Years of Pilgrimage' suite, Year One: Switzerland ... The piece seems simple technically but it's hard to get the expression right: play it just as it's written on the score and it winds up pretty boring, but go the opposite route and interpret it too intensely and it sounds cheap. Just the way you use the pedal makes all the difference and can change the entire character of the piece.” “Who's the pianist here?” “A Russian – Lazar Berman. When he plays Liszt it's like he's painting a delicately imagined landscape … there aren't many living pianists who can play it accurately and with such beauty. Among more contemporary pianists, Berman gets it right.”” Apparently copies of Lazar Berman's CD sold out almost immediately after the publication of Murakami’s novel, and a new release is now planned.
I also loved this New Yorker article by Alex Ross: http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/09/08/classical-cloud , which persuaded me to listen to the pianist Leon Fleisher's album 'All the Things You Are' – an eclectic collection which includes pieces by Bach, George Perle, Gershwin and Jerome Kern. Ross writes: “In the mid-nineteen-sixties, Fleisher began suffering from focal dystonia, and for several decades he lost the use of his right hand. Eventually, thanks to experimental treatments, he returned to playing with both hands, but he still gravitates toward the left-hand repertory, much of which was commissioned by the Austrian pianist Paul Wittgenstein, one of the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein’s brothers, who lost an arm during the First World War. Fleisher has expanded that repertory further, and draws upon it in 'All the Things You Are'. The central work is Bach’s 'Chaconne in D Minor for violin', arranged as a left-hand piano exercise by Brahms. In a letter to Clara Schumann, Brahms told of his love for the Chaconne – “a whole world of the deepest thoughts and most powerful feelings” – and said that he enjoyed struggling in solitude to execute it with one hand, because “one does not always want to hear music actually played.” The miracle of Fleisher’s account is that, while he performs with astonishing dexterity, he retains that atmosphere of exploration, as if no one were listening. The most wrenching passage in the Chaconne comes toward the end, when, after an upward-striving, light-seeking section in D major, there is a shuddering collapse back into the minor. Here, as sonorous, multi-register figuration gives way to spare, confined lines, you may remember what you might have forgotten, that the pianist is using one hand, and that the impairment of the other has caused him much sorrow.”
“Writing about music is like dancing about architecture” is an often mis-attributed quotation which appears to have been coined by the comedian Martin Mull (see http://quoteinvestigator.com/2010/11/08/writing-about-music/ for a lengthy investigation of its origins). As a musician I often find written descriptions of pieces of music (particularly in novels) excruciating. (And don't even get me started on the common misuse of the term 'crescendo'!) So it was a pleasure to come across two excellent pieces of writing this week that sent me scurrying off to listen, not just to the works in question but to the particular recordings that the authors were describing. I rarely listen to solo piano music, so it is an additional testimony to these pieces of writing that both were about this genre.
I've just started reading the new novel by Haruki Murakami, 'Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage', and I was intrigued by this passage: “As they listened to one piano recording, Tsukuru realised that he'd heard the composition many times in the past. He didn't know the title, however, or the composer. It was a quiet, sorrowful piece that began with a slow, memorable theme, played out as single notes, then proceeded into a series of tranquil variations. Tsukuru looked up from a book he was reading and asked Haida what it was. “Franz Liszt’s 'Le Mal du Pays' – it's from his 'Years of Pilgrimage' suite, Year One: Switzerland ... The piece seems simple technically but it's hard to get the expression right: play it just as it's written on the score and it winds up pretty boring, but go the opposite route and interpret it too intensely and it sounds cheap. Just the way you use the pedal makes all the difference and can change the entire character of the piece.” “Who's the pianist here?” “A Russian – Lazar Berman. When he plays Liszt it's like he's painting a delicately imagined landscape … there aren't many living pianists who can play it accurately and with such beauty. Among more contemporary pianists, Berman gets it right.”” Apparently copies of Lazar Berman's CD sold out almost immediately after the publication of Murakami’s novel, and a new release is now planned.
I also loved this New Yorker article by Alex Ross: http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/09/08/classical-cloud , which persuaded me to listen to the pianist Leon Fleisher's album 'All the Things You Are' – an eclectic collection which includes pieces by Bach, George Perle, Gershwin and Jerome Kern. Ross writes: “In the mid-nineteen-sixties, Fleisher began suffering from focal dystonia, and for several decades he lost the use of his right hand. Eventually, thanks to experimental treatments, he returned to playing with both hands, but he still gravitates toward the left-hand repertory, much of which was commissioned by the Austrian pianist Paul Wittgenstein, one of the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein’s brothers, who lost an arm during the First World War. Fleisher has expanded that repertory further, and draws upon it in 'All the Things You Are'. The central work is Bach’s 'Chaconne in D Minor for violin', arranged as a left-hand piano exercise by Brahms. In a letter to Clara Schumann, Brahms told of his love for the Chaconne – “a whole world of the deepest thoughts and most powerful feelings” – and said that he enjoyed struggling in solitude to execute it with one hand, because “one does not always want to hear music actually played.” The miracle of Fleisher’s account is that, while he performs with astonishing dexterity, he retains that atmosphere of exploration, as if no one were listening. The most wrenching passage in the Chaconne comes toward the end, when, after an upward-striving, light-seeking section in D major, there is a shuddering collapse back into the minor. Here, as sonorous, multi-register figuration gives way to spare, confined lines, you may remember what you might have forgotten, that the pianist is using one hand, and that the impairment of the other has caused him much sorrow.”
Thursday, August 28, 2014
Edinburgh Festivals 2014
28 August 2014
Last week we were in Edinburgh, marking the 20th anniversary of our first visit to the Edinburgh festivals. For several years we went every August but then restricted our visits to every other year, so I'm not sure how many times we have been in total but we've certainly seen a lot of shows. This year we saw 26 performances in the 6 days we were in Edinburgh.
As usual we took advantage of some of the free BBC Radio shows at Potterrow, starting the day with BBC Radio Scotland's 'MacAulay and Co', with Fred MacAulay and Susan Calman introducing a wide selection of the best comedy acts on the Fringe. We also enjoyed an excellent edition of Radio 3's 'The Verb' hosted by the inimitable Ian McMillan.
The PBH Free Fringe continues to grow in scale and stature. We saw some wonderful free shows, including 'Prufrock and Me' – a personal account of one man's relationship to T. S. Eliot's poem 'The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock' by Dave Williams – and stand-up comedian Josh Howie's clever, edgy and hilarious show 'AIDS: A Survivor's Story' in which nothing was quite what it seemed.
We saw two Edinburgh International Festival performances - both in huge venues that were completely sold out. The James Plays – Rona Munro's new history play cycle, directed by Laurie Sansom for the National Theatre of Scotland and the National Theatre of Great Britain, have been the talk of the festival. We saw 'James I' at the Festival Theatre and it did not disappoint – it was ambitious, spectacular, fascinating and surprisingly funny. Munro has created a drama that bears comparison with Shakespeare's history plays, but uses modern language to give the action a contemporary feel. Having recently seen 'Richard II', 'Henry IV Parts 1 & 2' and 'Henry V', 'James I' felt like a natural next step as it starts with Henry V of England releasing James after 18 years in captivity to take his place on the throne of Scotland. We also saw a fantastic concert at the Usher Hall where Scottish violinist Nicola Benedetti got a deservedly rapturous reception for her performance of Erich Korngold's 'Violin Concerto' with the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Jiří Bělohlávek. The concert concluded with Martinu's lovely 'Symphony No 4' with the Czech Philharmonic on top form.
We visited the Edinburgh International Book Festival in Charlotte Square to see our new favourite novelist Ned Beauman promoting his latest book 'Glow' (reviewed here in June 2014). He shared the platform with the young Austrian novelist Clemens J Setz and I am looking forward to reading the first of his novels to be translated into English, 'Indigo'.
It was great to rediscover the zany musical world of New York's Kenny Young and The Eggplants who we first saw on the Fringe about 18 years ago. They played at the Acoustic Music Centre at St Bride's in front of an enthusiastic audience who seemed to know all their lyrics - 'aubergenius!' as one review said. We saw a few comedians including the ramblingly brilliant 'Simon Munnery sings Soren Kierkegaard' and an old Fringe favourite of ours, Owen O'Neill, this year performing in the 'spoken word' section of the Fringe with a mixture of storytelling and poetry.
But most of our week was spent watching some wonderful fringe theatre, the highlights being 'Last Christmas' – a monologue by Matthew Bulgo about a man returning home to Swansea a year after his father died of a heart attack, performed by Sion Pritchard at the Assembly George Square Studios, which was warm, funny and very moving – and 'The Initiate' by Alexandra Wood, performed by Paines Plough at Summerhall, which told the story of the reaction of a Somali-born taxi driver in London to the kidnap of a British couple by Somali pirates. It was a very clever play, excellently acted by three actors (Andrew French, Sian Reese-Williams and Abdul Salis) without the need for any set, props or costumes, in which the unseen events between the scenes created an intriguing ambiguity and really made you think about the morality and motivation of the characters.
We had an exhaustingly wonderful week in Edinburgh.
Last week we were in Edinburgh, marking the 20th anniversary of our first visit to the Edinburgh festivals. For several years we went every August but then restricted our visits to every other year, so I'm not sure how many times we have been in total but we've certainly seen a lot of shows. This year we saw 26 performances in the 6 days we were in Edinburgh.
As usual we took advantage of some of the free BBC Radio shows at Potterrow, starting the day with BBC Radio Scotland's 'MacAulay and Co', with Fred MacAulay and Susan Calman introducing a wide selection of the best comedy acts on the Fringe. We also enjoyed an excellent edition of Radio 3's 'The Verb' hosted by the inimitable Ian McMillan.
The PBH Free Fringe continues to grow in scale and stature. We saw some wonderful free shows, including 'Prufrock and Me' – a personal account of one man's relationship to T. S. Eliot's poem 'The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock' by Dave Williams – and stand-up comedian Josh Howie's clever, edgy and hilarious show 'AIDS: A Survivor's Story' in which nothing was quite what it seemed.
We saw two Edinburgh International Festival performances - both in huge venues that were completely sold out. The James Plays – Rona Munro's new history play cycle, directed by Laurie Sansom for the National Theatre of Scotland and the National Theatre of Great Britain, have been the talk of the festival. We saw 'James I' at the Festival Theatre and it did not disappoint – it was ambitious, spectacular, fascinating and surprisingly funny. Munro has created a drama that bears comparison with Shakespeare's history plays, but uses modern language to give the action a contemporary feel. Having recently seen 'Richard II', 'Henry IV Parts 1 & 2' and 'Henry V', 'James I' felt like a natural next step as it starts with Henry V of England releasing James after 18 years in captivity to take his place on the throne of Scotland. We also saw a fantastic concert at the Usher Hall where Scottish violinist Nicola Benedetti got a deservedly rapturous reception for her performance of Erich Korngold's 'Violin Concerto' with the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Jiří Bělohlávek. The concert concluded with Martinu's lovely 'Symphony No 4' with the Czech Philharmonic on top form.
We visited the Edinburgh International Book Festival in Charlotte Square to see our new favourite novelist Ned Beauman promoting his latest book 'Glow' (reviewed here in June 2014). He shared the platform with the young Austrian novelist Clemens J Setz and I am looking forward to reading the first of his novels to be translated into English, 'Indigo'.
It was great to rediscover the zany musical world of New York's Kenny Young and The Eggplants who we first saw on the Fringe about 18 years ago. They played at the Acoustic Music Centre at St Bride's in front of an enthusiastic audience who seemed to know all their lyrics - 'aubergenius!' as one review said. We saw a few comedians including the ramblingly brilliant 'Simon Munnery sings Soren Kierkegaard' and an old Fringe favourite of ours, Owen O'Neill, this year performing in the 'spoken word' section of the Fringe with a mixture of storytelling and poetry.
But most of our week was spent watching some wonderful fringe theatre, the highlights being 'Last Christmas' – a monologue by Matthew Bulgo about a man returning home to Swansea a year after his father died of a heart attack, performed by Sion Pritchard at the Assembly George Square Studios, which was warm, funny and very moving – and 'The Initiate' by Alexandra Wood, performed by Paines Plough at Summerhall, which told the story of the reaction of a Somali-born taxi driver in London to the kidnap of a British couple by Somali pirates. It was a very clever play, excellently acted by three actors (Andrew French, Sian Reese-Williams and Abdul Salis) without the need for any set, props or costumes, in which the unseen events between the scenes created an intriguing ambiguity and really made you think about the morality and motivation of the characters.
We had an exhaustingly wonderful week in Edinburgh.
Thursday, August 14, 2014
'The Last Dragonslayer' by Jasper Fforde
14 August 2014
Regular readers will be aware of my enthusiasm for the work of the comic-novelist Jasper Fforde. Having exhausted his books for adults (all ten novels reviewed here between April 2007 and April 2012) I thought I would try his 'Dragonslayer' young-adult fantasy novels. I've just finished the first book in the series, 'The Last Dragonslayer' (which I read as an unabridged audio book, narrated by Jane Collingwood). It was a very enjoyable read – with much more in common with his other novels than I was expecting. This tale of dragons, wizards and magic is set in an alternative-reality version of Hereford (a similar model to the Reading of the Nursery Crimes novels and the Swindon of the Thursday Next series). We follow the perilous journey of teenager Jennifer Strange as she is drawn by her destiny into a struggle with royalty, the media, big business and big magic. There are some familiar Jasper Fforde themes and some recognisable villains, though this feels like a very stripped down version of Thursday Next and I was sorry there wasn't more of Fforde's trademark silliness. Nevertheless 'The Last Dragonslayer' is great fun, with some great characters. I loved the trivia-expert William of Anorak and the apprentice dragonslayer Gordon van Gordon, and who couldn't love the Quarkbeast with his one-word vocabulary. “Quark!”
Regular readers will be aware of my enthusiasm for the work of the comic-novelist Jasper Fforde. Having exhausted his books for adults (all ten novels reviewed here between April 2007 and April 2012) I thought I would try his 'Dragonslayer' young-adult fantasy novels. I've just finished the first book in the series, 'The Last Dragonslayer' (which I read as an unabridged audio book, narrated by Jane Collingwood). It was a very enjoyable read – with much more in common with his other novels than I was expecting. This tale of dragons, wizards and magic is set in an alternative-reality version of Hereford (a similar model to the Reading of the Nursery Crimes novels and the Swindon of the Thursday Next series). We follow the perilous journey of teenager Jennifer Strange as she is drawn by her destiny into a struggle with royalty, the media, big business and big magic. There are some familiar Jasper Fforde themes and some recognisable villains, though this feels like a very stripped down version of Thursday Next and I was sorry there wasn't more of Fforde's trademark silliness. Nevertheless 'The Last Dragonslayer' is great fun, with some great characters. I loved the trivia-expert William of Anorak and the apprentice dragonslayer Gordon van Gordon, and who couldn't love the Quarkbeast with his one-word vocabulary. “Quark!”
Tuesday, August 05, 2014
'Skylight' by David Hare
5 August 2014
On Sunday we made a first visit to the wonderful Errol Flynn Filmhouse in Northampton – a delightful little cinema with some of the most comfy seats I've encountered – to see the recent NT Live recording of David Hare's play 'Skylight' at the Wyndham's Theatre in London. I had heard a radio version of the play during its first run in 1995, but this was the first time I had seen it. It's a clever, subtle piece of writing, with three actors in a single room set, teasing out political themes through a very personal story. Stephen Daldry's production created a very realistic setting (with a wonderfully squalid set by Bob Crowley) and the acting by Bill Nighy (reprising his role from the original 1995 production), Carey Mulligan (making her London stage debut) and Matthew Beard was excellent. The NT Live cameras revealed some very delicate touches in close-up that added to the painful reality of the situation. Carey Mulligan's incredibly expressive face managed to say much more than appears in the script and she generated an impressive volume of real tears. The play was much funnier than I had remembered and Bill Nighy delivered some brilliant set-piece lines in the uncomprehending deadpan manner than has become his trademark.
On Sunday we made a first visit to the wonderful Errol Flynn Filmhouse in Northampton – a delightful little cinema with some of the most comfy seats I've encountered – to see the recent NT Live recording of David Hare's play 'Skylight' at the Wyndham's Theatre in London. I had heard a radio version of the play during its first run in 1995, but this was the first time I had seen it. It's a clever, subtle piece of writing, with three actors in a single room set, teasing out political themes through a very personal story. Stephen Daldry's production created a very realistic setting (with a wonderfully squalid set by Bob Crowley) and the acting by Bill Nighy (reprising his role from the original 1995 production), Carey Mulligan (making her London stage debut) and Matthew Beard was excellent. The NT Live cameras revealed some very delicate touches in close-up that added to the painful reality of the situation. Carey Mulligan's incredibly expressive face managed to say much more than appears in the script and she generated an impressive volume of real tears. The play was much funnier than I had remembered and Bill Nighy delivered some brilliant set-piece lines in the uncomprehending deadpan manner than has become his trademark.
Tom Robinson
5 August 2014
I'm a little too young to remember Tom Robinson's first 15 minutes of fame - in 1978 when the BBC banned his song 'Glad to be Gay' - and, although I do recall his second moment in the sun (the 1982 hit 'War Baby'), I didn't really discover Tom Robinson until much later. I think it was around 1994 when we went to see him performing at the South Holland Centre in Spalding. By then there was no Tom Robinson Band, just Tom himself handing out promotional postcards before the show, acting as the support group and providing his own backing vocals. But we were impressed - by his musicality, his storytelling, his songwriting and his political passion - and we joined his fan club (The Castaway Club) and saw him perform many times across the country over the next few years. In 1996 he was joined by the brilliant young guitarist Adam Philips (then a painfully shy twenty-something) and we saw them try out material for the 'Having it Both Ways' album. I think the last time we saw Tom Robinson live was at The Stables in Wavendon in about 2001, where he was supported by a young Mancunian singer/songwriter Lee Griffiths. Then Tom Robinson was recruited as a regular presenter on the new BBC digital radio station 6 Music and he decided to stop touring. So it was wonderful to have the chance to see him perform a rare one-off gig at the Jazz Cafe in Camden last Friday. After getting "the six songs of mine you've probably heard of" out of the way at the start (including songs he wrote with Peter Gabriel and the inevitable "medley of my greatest hit" - '2-4-6-8 Motorway') this was a performance that focussed on more obscure songs from his extensive back-catalogue requested by fans on his Facebook page. It felt great to step back in time, rediscovering what we had always liked about Tom and being reunited with some long-forgotten songs. We had been prepared for the fact that he would be looking older than we remembered him (which he was) but it was more of a shock recognising the older versions of Adam Philips and Lee Griffiths in his backing band. Tom Robinson has always generously supported emerging young artists - through his live concerts and latterly through his 6 Music show - and we enjoyed hearing the young support band, from Derry/Londonderry, 'Best Boy Grip' (in London to record a set for Tom's radio show). But this was a celebration of the career of Tom Robinson - a great performer and an intelligent and accomplished songwriter.
I'm a little too young to remember Tom Robinson's first 15 minutes of fame - in 1978 when the BBC banned his song 'Glad to be Gay' - and, although I do recall his second moment in the sun (the 1982 hit 'War Baby'), I didn't really discover Tom Robinson until much later. I think it was around 1994 when we went to see him performing at the South Holland Centre in Spalding. By then there was no Tom Robinson Band, just Tom himself handing out promotional postcards before the show, acting as the support group and providing his own backing vocals. But we were impressed - by his musicality, his storytelling, his songwriting and his political passion - and we joined his fan club (The Castaway Club) and saw him perform many times across the country over the next few years. In 1996 he was joined by the brilliant young guitarist Adam Philips (then a painfully shy twenty-something) and we saw them try out material for the 'Having it Both Ways' album. I think the last time we saw Tom Robinson live was at The Stables in Wavendon in about 2001, where he was supported by a young Mancunian singer/songwriter Lee Griffiths. Then Tom Robinson was recruited as a regular presenter on the new BBC digital radio station 6 Music and he decided to stop touring. So it was wonderful to have the chance to see him perform a rare one-off gig at the Jazz Cafe in Camden last Friday. After getting "the six songs of mine you've probably heard of" out of the way at the start (including songs he wrote with Peter Gabriel and the inevitable "medley of my greatest hit" - '2-4-6-8 Motorway') this was a performance that focussed on more obscure songs from his extensive back-catalogue requested by fans on his Facebook page. It felt great to step back in time, rediscovering what we had always liked about Tom and being reunited with some long-forgotten songs. We had been prepared for the fact that he would be looking older than we remembered him (which he was) but it was more of a shock recognising the older versions of Adam Philips and Lee Griffiths in his backing band. Tom Robinson has always generously supported emerging young artists - through his live concerts and latterly through his 6 Music show - and we enjoyed hearing the young support band, from Derry/Londonderry, 'Best Boy Grip' (in London to record a set for Tom's radio show). But this was a celebration of the career of Tom Robinson - a great performer and an intelligent and accomplished songwriter.
Friday, August 01, 2014
'The Silkworm' by Robert Galbraith
1 August 2014
I enjoyed 'The Cuckoo's Calling' by Robert Galbraith – J K Rowling's first detective novel (reviewed here in May 2014) – and I was looking forward to the sequel. I've just finished reading 'The Silkworm' (as an unabridged audio book, narrated by Robert Glenister) and I wasn't disappointed. 'The Silkworm' is more of the same, but it's well done, gripping, puzzling and satisfying. The private detective, Cormoran Strike, and his assistant, Robin, are likeable, sympathetic characters. My only gripe is that, amongst the clearly carefully researched, realistic London setting, there are a few small anomalies that I would have expected an editor to spot – Cormoran Strike must be the only person able to watch live football on his television at 3 pm on a Saturday afternoon! But this is a minor quibble – 'The Silkworm' is a good read and I will be eagerly awaiting the next novel in the series.
I enjoyed 'The Cuckoo's Calling' by Robert Galbraith – J K Rowling's first detective novel (reviewed here in May 2014) – and I was looking forward to the sequel. I've just finished reading 'The Silkworm' (as an unabridged audio book, narrated by Robert Glenister) and I wasn't disappointed. 'The Silkworm' is more of the same, but it's well done, gripping, puzzling and satisfying. The private detective, Cormoran Strike, and his assistant, Robin, are likeable, sympathetic characters. My only gripe is that, amongst the clearly carefully researched, realistic London setting, there are a few small anomalies that I would have expected an editor to spot – Cormoran Strike must be the only person able to watch live football on his television at 3 pm on a Saturday afternoon! But this is a minor quibble – 'The Silkworm' is a good read and I will be eagerly awaiting the next novel in the series.
Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games
1 August 2014
We had a brilliant time at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow at the beginning of this week. It was very well organised and there was a fantastic atmosphere throughout the city. It was great to see the Clydesider volunteers making such an important contribution – and being properly recognised for it. On Monday we attended an extended morning session of athletics at Hampden Park and were lucky to see our local hero, Greg Rutherford (from Woburn Sands), in the long jump, Kenyan world-record holder David Rudisha in the 800m, the amazing David Weir in the T54 1500m, and Scotland's Eilidh Child in the 400m hurdles. The stadium was packed and, even though we were mostly watching heats rather than finals, it was a thrilling experience which finished with a fascinating decathlon pole vault competition won by Ben Gregory from Wales. Watching events like the pole vault or high jump you find yourself genuinely delighted when any competitor manages to clear the bar – regardless of which country they are representing. In the latter stages of the competition, when there are more failures than clearances, any success is truly exciting. On Monday afternoon and evening we were at a long session of badminton at the Emirates Arena. I have never watched badminton before and I really enjoyed it. We could see matches going on simultaneously across four courts and there was plenty to hold your attention, even in some fairly one-sided first round matches. The rallies in badminton tend to be lengthy and dramatic and there is a balletic athleticism to many of the shots. It was great to see some of the smallest competing nations and territories taking part in the mixed doubles – including teams from the Norfolk Islands and St Helena. On Wednesday morning we were back at Hampden Park for a second session of athletics which included the women's high jump and long jump qualifying and the heats of the men's 200m. It was great to be in Glasgow and to see the excitement generated by the games. Waiting in Glasgow Airport for our flight home we saw two young members of the Australian swimming team, being persuaded to pose for photos with their medals by fellow passengers who were thrilled to meet them. You can see a selection of my photos from Glasgow 2014 at: http://culturaloutlook.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Glasgow2014
We had a brilliant time at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow at the beginning of this week. It was very well organised and there was a fantastic atmosphere throughout the city. It was great to see the Clydesider volunteers making such an important contribution – and being properly recognised for it. On Monday we attended an extended morning session of athletics at Hampden Park and were lucky to see our local hero, Greg Rutherford (from Woburn Sands), in the long jump, Kenyan world-record holder David Rudisha in the 800m, the amazing David Weir in the T54 1500m, and Scotland's Eilidh Child in the 400m hurdles. The stadium was packed and, even though we were mostly watching heats rather than finals, it was a thrilling experience which finished with a fascinating decathlon pole vault competition won by Ben Gregory from Wales. Watching events like the pole vault or high jump you find yourself genuinely delighted when any competitor manages to clear the bar – regardless of which country they are representing. In the latter stages of the competition, when there are more failures than clearances, any success is truly exciting. On Monday afternoon and evening we were at a long session of badminton at the Emirates Arena. I have never watched badminton before and I really enjoyed it. We could see matches going on simultaneously across four courts and there was plenty to hold your attention, even in some fairly one-sided first round matches. The rallies in badminton tend to be lengthy and dramatic and there is a balletic athleticism to many of the shots. It was great to see some of the smallest competing nations and territories taking part in the mixed doubles – including teams from the Norfolk Islands and St Helena. On Wednesday morning we were back at Hampden Park for a second session of athletics which included the women's high jump and long jump qualifying and the heats of the men's 200m. It was great to be in Glasgow and to see the excitement generated by the games. Waiting in Glasgow Airport for our flight home we saw two young members of the Australian swimming team, being persuaded to pose for photos with their medals by fellow passengers who were thrilled to meet them. You can see a selection of my photos from Glasgow 2014 at: http://culturaloutlook.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Glasgow2014
WOMAD 2014
1 August 2014
2014 was the hottest WOMAD I can remember. It was also the busiest - the first time the Festival has sold out since it moved to the enormous Charlton Park, near Malmesbury in Wiltshire, in 2007. The weekend was full of musical superlatives too. Every year WOMAD is a showcase for the best music you had never previously heard of. I don't bother looking at the line-up until I arrive because it's invariably the unknowns that provide my personal highlights. This year my favourites included four female singer/songwriters – the Swedish 'cellist Linnea Olsson, the lively swing of harpist Lucinda Belle (this year's 'Caravan Palace' moment), Cumbrian folkie Maz O'Connor (the recent beneficiary of an English Folk Dance and Song Society Fellowship) and the former Mercury Prize nominee Kathryn Williams (whose latest album 'Crown Electric' is wonderful – highly recommended). It was a privilege to see the veteran Indian Sarod maestro Amjad Ali Khan performing with his sons Ayaan and Amaan Ali Khan. The warmest applause of the weekend was for two sisters from Iran, Masha and Marjan Vahdat, who break Iranian law every time they perform in front of an audience that includes men. They got a deservedly rapturous reception. But my pick of WOMAD 2014 was a performance by Justin Vali and the Ny Malagasy Orkestra from Madagascar. Justin Vali is famous for championing the valiha – a bamboo zither from which he can conjure both beautifully delicate and rousingly percussive music. His set with the Ny Malagasy Orkestra included a wide variety of styles and was moving, charming, lively and very danceable. You can see a selection of my photos from WOMAD 2014 at: http://www.culturaloutlook.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/WOMAD2014
2014 was the hottest WOMAD I can remember. It was also the busiest - the first time the Festival has sold out since it moved to the enormous Charlton Park, near Malmesbury in Wiltshire, in 2007. The weekend was full of musical superlatives too. Every year WOMAD is a showcase for the best music you had never previously heard of. I don't bother looking at the line-up until I arrive because it's invariably the unknowns that provide my personal highlights. This year my favourites included four female singer/songwriters – the Swedish 'cellist Linnea Olsson, the lively swing of harpist Lucinda Belle (this year's 'Caravan Palace' moment), Cumbrian folkie Maz O'Connor (the recent beneficiary of an English Folk Dance and Song Society Fellowship) and the former Mercury Prize nominee Kathryn Williams (whose latest album 'Crown Electric' is wonderful – highly recommended). It was a privilege to see the veteran Indian Sarod maestro Amjad Ali Khan performing with his sons Ayaan and Amaan Ali Khan. The warmest applause of the weekend was for two sisters from Iran, Masha and Marjan Vahdat, who break Iranian law every time they perform in front of an audience that includes men. They got a deservedly rapturous reception. But my pick of WOMAD 2014 was a performance by Justin Vali and the Ny Malagasy Orkestra from Madagascar. Justin Vali is famous for championing the valiha – a bamboo zither from which he can conjure both beautifully delicate and rousingly percussive music. His set with the Ny Malagasy Orkestra included a wide variety of styles and was moving, charming, lively and very danceable. You can see a selection of my photos from WOMAD 2014 at: http://www.culturaloutlook.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/WOMAD2014
Thursday, July 24, 2014
'Two Gentlemen of Verona' by William Shakespeare
24 July 2014
On Tuesday we were at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon to see 'Two Gentlemen of Verona' – one of Shakespeare's earliest plays, and possibly his first comedy. It's not often performed (the last RSC performance on the main Stratford stage was 45 years ago) and you can see Shakespeare developing the technique that he would use to create later greater works. But Simon Godwin's Royal Shakespeare Company production is great fun and well worth seeing. It's fascinating to spot the prototypes for scenes in 'As You Like It', 'Twelfth Night', 'A Midsummer Night's Dream', 'The Winter's Tale' and other plays. And I enjoyed watching a Shakespeare play without knowing exactly where the plot was heading. 'Two Gentlemen of Verona' is a fairly bonkers romp and the RSC's swashbuckling production reminded me of the marvellous Not Man Apart production of 'Pericles Redux' we saw in Edinburgh some years ago (reviewed here in August 2008). The RSC cast were all impressive – with Roger Morlidge giving a great comic turn as the servant Launce. The RSC is very good at introducing wave after wave of stunning young actors. Michael Marcus, Mark Arends, Peal Chanda and Sarah Macrae, who played the four young lovers, were all excellent – and all four are in their RSC debut season. But the star of the show was undoubtedly the lurcher Mossup who played Launce's dog Crab. Mossup was clearly an experienced actor and it was good to see that she had her own biography in the programme (she has previously appeared in 'Legally Blond' (in Glasgow), 'Casualty' and 'The Tudors' on TV, and the film 'The Invisible Woman'!). I also enjoyed Nicholas Gerard-Martin channelling Morrisey in his desperate singing of 'Who is Silvia?'. 'Two Gentlemen of Verona' is a hoot.
On Tuesday we were at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon to see 'Two Gentlemen of Verona' – one of Shakespeare's earliest plays, and possibly his first comedy. It's not often performed (the last RSC performance on the main Stratford stage was 45 years ago) and you can see Shakespeare developing the technique that he would use to create later greater works. But Simon Godwin's Royal Shakespeare Company production is great fun and well worth seeing. It's fascinating to spot the prototypes for scenes in 'As You Like It', 'Twelfth Night', 'A Midsummer Night's Dream', 'The Winter's Tale' and other plays. And I enjoyed watching a Shakespeare play without knowing exactly where the plot was heading. 'Two Gentlemen of Verona' is a fairly bonkers romp and the RSC's swashbuckling production reminded me of the marvellous Not Man Apart production of 'Pericles Redux' we saw in Edinburgh some years ago (reviewed here in August 2008). The RSC cast were all impressive – with Roger Morlidge giving a great comic turn as the servant Launce. The RSC is very good at introducing wave after wave of stunning young actors. Michael Marcus, Mark Arends, Peal Chanda and Sarah Macrae, who played the four young lovers, were all excellent – and all four are in their RSC debut season. But the star of the show was undoubtedly the lurcher Mossup who played Launce's dog Crab. Mossup was clearly an experienced actor and it was good to see that she had her own biography in the programme (she has previously appeared in 'Legally Blond' (in Glasgow), 'Casualty' and 'The Tudors' on TV, and the film 'The Invisible Woman'!). I also enjoyed Nicholas Gerard-Martin channelling Morrisey in his desperate singing of 'Who is Silvia?'. 'Two Gentlemen of Verona' is a hoot.
Northampton Symphony Orchestra concert
24 July 2014
The Northampton Symphony Orchestra Friends' Concert, each July, always feels like an 'end of term' party. This year it was also our final concert with conductor Alexander Walker. Alex has been conducting NSO since 2009 and, looking back over the past five years, he has been presided over some stunning concerts and I think he has helped to create a marked improvement in our playing. Alex has been a reassuring presence during concerts, often steering us calmly to safety when a wrong entry threatened to derail our performance. And I think we have learned a lot from his particular knowledge of, and passion for, Russian music. My personal highlights from Alex's tenure as our regular conductor include the incredible experience of playing Mahler's 'Symphony No. 6' (reviewed here in November 2011), a stunning performance of Richard Strauss’ ‘Four Last Songs’ with Katherine Crompton (featuring an exquisite horn solo in ‘September’ by David Lack) (reviewed here in November 2010), Shostakovich's immense ‘Leningrad Symphony’ (reviewed here in November 2013) and our 'Love and Death' concert earlier this year (reviewed here in February 2014) which included the Richard Strauss tone poem 'Tod und Verklärung' ('Death and Transfiguration'). Alex's final NSO programme, last Sunday, included Dvorak's tone poem 'The Water Goblin' (a lovely piece), the 'Danse Macabre' by Saint-Saens and Rimsky Korsakov's rousing 'Capriccio Espagnole'. But I most enjoyed playing Wagner's 'Siegfried Idyll' – an achingly beautiful expression of love.
The Northampton Symphony Orchestra Friends' Concert, each July, always feels like an 'end of term' party. This year it was also our final concert with conductor Alexander Walker. Alex has been conducting NSO since 2009 and, looking back over the past five years, he has been presided over some stunning concerts and I think he has helped to create a marked improvement in our playing. Alex has been a reassuring presence during concerts, often steering us calmly to safety when a wrong entry threatened to derail our performance. And I think we have learned a lot from his particular knowledge of, and passion for, Russian music. My personal highlights from Alex's tenure as our regular conductor include the incredible experience of playing Mahler's 'Symphony No. 6' (reviewed here in November 2011), a stunning performance of Richard Strauss’ ‘Four Last Songs’ with Katherine Crompton (featuring an exquisite horn solo in ‘September’ by David Lack) (reviewed here in November 2010), Shostakovich's immense ‘Leningrad Symphony’ (reviewed here in November 2013) and our 'Love and Death' concert earlier this year (reviewed here in February 2014) which included the Richard Strauss tone poem 'Tod und Verklärung' ('Death and Transfiguration'). Alex's final NSO programme, last Sunday, included Dvorak's tone poem 'The Water Goblin' (a lovely piece), the 'Danse Macabre' by Saint-Saens and Rimsky Korsakov's rousing 'Capriccio Espagnole'. But I most enjoyed playing Wagner's 'Siegfried Idyll' – an achingly beautiful expression of love.
Friday, July 18, 2014
'Piano Concerto No. 3' by Peter Lieberson
18 July 2014
The American composer, Peter Lieberson, died in 2011, leaving an extensive legacy of orchestral, chamber and vocal music. I've been listening to his 'Piano Concerto No. 3' in a new recording by by Steven Beck and the Odense orchestra, conducted by Scott Yoo. The three movements are based on poems by Pablo Neruda, St Francis of Assisi and Charles Wright. This is clearly modern classical music, but with the grandeur of a 19th century romantic concerto. Serious, thoughtful and intriguing. I look forward to exploring other music by Peter Lieberson.
The American composer, Peter Lieberson, died in 2011, leaving an extensive legacy of orchestral, chamber and vocal music. I've been listening to his 'Piano Concerto No. 3' in a new recording by by Steven Beck and the Odense orchestra, conducted by Scott Yoo. The three movements are based on poems by Pablo Neruda, St Francis of Assisi and Charles Wright. This is clearly modern classical music, but with the grandeur of a 19th century romantic concerto. Serious, thoughtful and intriguing. I look forward to exploring other music by Peter Lieberson.
Monday, July 07, 2014
'Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant'
7 July 2014
Regular readers will remember I am a big fan of the novels of Anne Tyler (see, for example, 'Noah's Compass' reviewed here in May 2010 and 'The Beginners Goodbye' reviewed here in March 2013). My first experience of Anne Tyler was her 1985 novel 'The Accidental Tourist' (still a favourite) so it was interesting to go back to an earlier work, from 1982, 'Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant', which I have just read as an unabridged audio book, narrated by Suzanne Toren. Like nearly all Anne Tyler's novels, 'Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant' is a family story set in Baltimore. In this case we follow the lives of Pearl and Beck Tull and their three children, from the 1940s to the 1970s. Each chapter is written in the third person, but from the point of view of one member of the family. The narrative is non-linear, with some seminal events revisited from different viewpoints to reveal more than was originally obvious. It's a beautifully constructed and beautifully written novel, full of delicate, heartbreaking moments. Anne Tyler achieves the same trick as Jonathan Franzen did (much later) in 'The Corrections' (and Andrea Levy did in 'Small Island') of making us empathise and sympathise with each member of the family in turn, allowing us to root simultaneously for the opposing sides in each argument. Whereas, in 'The Corrections' the mother is desperate to bring her children together for one final family Christmas, here Ezra is forever trying to get his relations to remain at the same table for the duration of one proper family dinner. Ezra, his brother Cody and sister Jenny, are brilliantly drawn characters – each with distinct voices and characters but sharing enough traits to make them totally believable siblings – clearly three parts of a singe whole, demonstrating both the frustrations that drive families apart and the ties that inexorably bind them together. 'Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant' is a very sad tale – none of the protagonists has a happy life and there is little of the humour that characterises later Anne Tyler novels. Nevertheless it is an excellent executed and painfully moving book.
Regular readers will remember I am a big fan of the novels of Anne Tyler (see, for example, 'Noah's Compass' reviewed here in May 2010 and 'The Beginners Goodbye' reviewed here in March 2013). My first experience of Anne Tyler was her 1985 novel 'The Accidental Tourist' (still a favourite) so it was interesting to go back to an earlier work, from 1982, 'Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant', which I have just read as an unabridged audio book, narrated by Suzanne Toren. Like nearly all Anne Tyler's novels, 'Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant' is a family story set in Baltimore. In this case we follow the lives of Pearl and Beck Tull and their three children, from the 1940s to the 1970s. Each chapter is written in the third person, but from the point of view of one member of the family. The narrative is non-linear, with some seminal events revisited from different viewpoints to reveal more than was originally obvious. It's a beautifully constructed and beautifully written novel, full of delicate, heartbreaking moments. Anne Tyler achieves the same trick as Jonathan Franzen did (much later) in 'The Corrections' (and Andrea Levy did in 'Small Island') of making us empathise and sympathise with each member of the family in turn, allowing us to root simultaneously for the opposing sides in each argument. Whereas, in 'The Corrections' the mother is desperate to bring her children together for one final family Christmas, here Ezra is forever trying to get his relations to remain at the same table for the duration of one proper family dinner. Ezra, his brother Cody and sister Jenny, are brilliantly drawn characters – each with distinct voices and characters but sharing enough traits to make them totally believable siblings – clearly three parts of a singe whole, demonstrating both the frustrations that drive families apart and the ties that inexorably bind them together. 'Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant' is a very sad tale – none of the protagonists has a happy life and there is little of the humour that characterises later Anne Tyler novels. Nevertheless it is an excellent executed and painfully moving book.
Friday, July 04, 2014
Midsummer Mischief: 'The Ant and the Cicada' by Timberlake Wertenbaker and 'Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again.' by Alice Birch
4 July 2014
Last Thursday we were in Stratford-upon-Avon to see two of the RSC's new 'Midsummer Mischief' plays. 'Midsummer Mischief' comprises four short plays commissioned to mark the 30th anniversary of The Other Place and performed in a pop-up theatre on the stage of the Courtyard Theatre (which currently stands on the site originally occupied by The Other Place). We saw 'Programme A' which was directed by RSC Deputy Artistic Director, Erica Whyman. 'The Ant and the Cicada' by Timberlake Wertenbaker is a contemporary Greek tragedy which explores democracy, art and commerce. It is a relatively conventional play but uses some gentle audience participation to make us complicit (“we are all Greeks”). 'Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again.' by Alice Birch is a much more experimental piece, consisting of a series of apparently disconnected scenes in which unnamed characters challenge traditional views of sex, gender and work. The writing is witty, funny and thought-provoking and I liked the way recurring phrases and references emerge to link the scenes. I always used to like The Other Place for the way it got you closer to the actors, stripping away the distraction of the big production values of the old Royal Shakespeare Theatre stage and allowing you fully to appreciate the brilliant acting. The new thrust stage Royal Shakespeare Theatre brings the audience much closer to the action and has managed to recreate some of the excitement of The Other Place on a much bigger scale, but it was still nice to be reminded of the charm of the RSC's smallest stage.
Last Thursday we were in Stratford-upon-Avon to see two of the RSC's new 'Midsummer Mischief' plays. 'Midsummer Mischief' comprises four short plays commissioned to mark the 30th anniversary of The Other Place and performed in a pop-up theatre on the stage of the Courtyard Theatre (which currently stands on the site originally occupied by The Other Place). We saw 'Programme A' which was directed by RSC Deputy Artistic Director, Erica Whyman. 'The Ant and the Cicada' by Timberlake Wertenbaker is a contemporary Greek tragedy which explores democracy, art and commerce. It is a relatively conventional play but uses some gentle audience participation to make us complicit (“we are all Greeks”). 'Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again.' by Alice Birch is a much more experimental piece, consisting of a series of apparently disconnected scenes in which unnamed characters challenge traditional views of sex, gender and work. The writing is witty, funny and thought-provoking and I liked the way recurring phrases and references emerge to link the scenes. I always used to like The Other Place for the way it got you closer to the actors, stripping away the distraction of the big production values of the old Royal Shakespeare Theatre stage and allowing you fully to appreciate the brilliant acting. The new thrust stage Royal Shakespeare Theatre brings the audience much closer to the action and has managed to recreate some of the excitement of The Other Place on a much bigger scale, but it was still nice to be reminded of the charm of the RSC's smallest stage.
'Henry V' by William Shakespeare
4 July 2014
In 2012 – the year it celebrated its 50th anniversary – Toddington Amateur Dramatic Society attempted its first performance of a Shakespeare play. Sue Sachon's production of 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' (reviewed here in May 2012) was a triumph, and last week we were back at the TADS Theatre in Toddington to see her direct 'Henry V'. Sue had added framing scenes to link Shakespeare's examination of war with more recent conflicts. In 1939, as war is being declared, a village theatre company is about to perform 'Henry V'. One of the cast is suffering from shellshock and experiencing flashbacks to the trenches of the First World War, before taking his place on stage as The Chorus. It was really interesting to see 'Henry V' in context, having recently seen the RSC productions of 'Richard II' (reviewed here in December 2013), 'Henry IV Part 1' (reviewed here in April 2014) and 'Henry IV Part 2' (reviewed here in May 2014). I spotted nuances and references to the previous plays that I had not seen before. 'Henry V' is a very different play to 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' but the TADS production – again presented in the round – was equally excellent. In particular, Peter Carter-Brown's performance as the King would not have been out of place at the RSC. There is little comedy in 'Henry V' but Peter Carter-Brown showed a lightness of touch in the occasional comic moments to suggest it would be fascinating to see him tackle a Shakespeare comedy. And the 'Franglais' scene between Princess Catherine (Lea Pryer) and her maid Alice (Janet Bray) was wonderfully funny.
In 2012 – the year it celebrated its 50th anniversary – Toddington Amateur Dramatic Society attempted its first performance of a Shakespeare play. Sue Sachon's production of 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' (reviewed here in May 2012) was a triumph, and last week we were back at the TADS Theatre in Toddington to see her direct 'Henry V'. Sue had added framing scenes to link Shakespeare's examination of war with more recent conflicts. In 1939, as war is being declared, a village theatre company is about to perform 'Henry V'. One of the cast is suffering from shellshock and experiencing flashbacks to the trenches of the First World War, before taking his place on stage as The Chorus. It was really interesting to see 'Henry V' in context, having recently seen the RSC productions of 'Richard II' (reviewed here in December 2013), 'Henry IV Part 1' (reviewed here in April 2014) and 'Henry IV Part 2' (reviewed here in May 2014). I spotted nuances and references to the previous plays that I had not seen before. 'Henry V' is a very different play to 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' but the TADS production – again presented in the round – was equally excellent. In particular, Peter Carter-Brown's performance as the King would not have been out of place at the RSC. There is little comedy in 'Henry V' but Peter Carter-Brown showed a lightness of touch in the occasional comic moments to suggest it would be fascinating to see him tackle a Shakespeare comedy. And the 'Franglais' scene between Princess Catherine (Lea Pryer) and her maid Alice (Janet Bray) was wonderfully funny.
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