A MUSICAL WEEK
Although I had seen the Marie Laurencin exhibition this week, the rest of it turned out to be very musical. Since Gianni returned to Italy, I am not so keen about going to the Cité de la Musique which is a long way from home and coming back in the metro at night is not always very secure. Also this year has been a mixed lot and I have walked out of concerts, napped in them or been only slightly enthusiastic. The programme contains much less contemporary music than it once did and many concerts are theme music (Indian, African, Film.....) which is not always my cup of tea. This was to be a concert directed by Susanna Mälkki who came to Paris (she’s Finnish) to direct the Ensemble Contemporain in 2005. I have learnt a lot under her direction, follow her blindly and have never been disappointed.
It was to be an Opera which she had created (as Conducter) at the Scala in 2011 and this was our introduction to «Quartett» by Luca Francesconi. An hour and a half, no interval which is ideal from my point of view.
Before the opera began, Susanna took the micro and informed us that this was her last concert with the Ensemble. I couldn’t help it, I started to cry. And then we began.
Quartett is based on the text by Heiner Müller - for us it was sung in English. A loose adaptation of «Les Liaisons Dangereuses» by Choderlos de Laclos. Sung by the original cast of two. Allison Cook the soprano and Robin Adams the baryton.
The two protagonists are alone for the opera which becomes a long duo but the excitement comes from the interchange of roles between Valmont and Madame Merteuil. The music is as dramatic as the exchange in characters and as their voices turn from soprano to baryton without any effort at all, when he is she or she is he, the tension builds. Also the voices have been recorded so in a way, there is a further exchange with the outside world even if it is the two characters in question. Those who know the text will remember how violent it is not to mention erotic.....
No-one coughed - a pin could have dropped and the ovation was one of the most overwhelming I have heard at that theatre. For Susanna? For Luca? - who was there of course - For Quartett? For all three. We applauded for a long time. Usually I run for the metro as soon as the concert has finished. I was there until the last moment. Tears running down my cheeks. Evenings like that are rare and although I will go to the presentation of the next season this week, without Susanna it just can’t be the same.....
http://www.dailymotion.com/fr/relevance/search/ircam+francesconi/1#video=xlmpjk
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Before I went to Theatre School in the U.K. and as a young adolescent, I used to dance and sing all the musical comedies that were on in the world. The room was large enough in our Tasmanian home for me to move around, dance, sing and orchestrate my own productions of the musicals I had on records in my collection. 20? 30? More? However many there were, I knew them all by heart, played all the roles, but never felt at ease as the herione, more the second role or comic....I was planning to become a musical comedy «star». Well my voice broke through poor training and I had serious problems with my back learning to dance, so that was the end of that.
We were to have the first broadway production of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein’s Carousel at the Chatelet theatre. I had booked a year ago. Even after 50 years, I still knew the words by heart but had never seen the musical on stage. My «production» had been a figment of my imagination around the songs and the very brief text given on the record jacket. Again, what an experience. This was without any doubt one of the best musical productions I had ever seen (barring the opening nights of West Side Story and My Fair Lady in 1957 in London). The cast was brillant. Words clear and I don’t have to tell you that I was singing along in my head as the musical moved on. My imagination had not played too many tricks although one of the final scenes with the star keeper had not been part of «my production». Do I have to tell you that I danced home singing all the way?
http://chatelet-theatre.com/2012-2013/carousel-fr
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The final series of concerts were at the Cité again. A matinée followed by an evening performance of music from French films. The afternoon performance was The Traffic Quintet and Alexandre Desplat’s music. My head nodded through most of it only to be aroused by a very enthusiastic applause. The evening was Fred Pallem with a group that was so loud I should have been wearing ear plugs to listen to it. I left. If concerts are to be slept in or too loud to enjoy, I will not be subscribing to many next year.
It was to be an Opera which she had created (as Conducter) at the Scala in 2011 and this was our introduction to «Quartett» by Luca Francesconi. An hour and a half, no interval which is ideal from my point of view.
Before the opera began, Susanna took the micro and informed us that this was her last concert with the Ensemble. I couldn’t help it, I started to cry. And then we began.
Quartett is based on the text by Heiner Müller - for us it was sung in English. A loose adaptation of «Les Liaisons Dangereuses» by Choderlos de Laclos. Sung by the original cast of two. Allison Cook the soprano and Robin Adams the baryton.
The two protagonists are alone for the opera which becomes a long duo but the excitement comes from the interchange of roles between Valmont and Madame Merteuil. The music is as dramatic as the exchange in characters and as their voices turn from soprano to baryton without any effort at all, when he is she or she is he, the tension builds. Also the voices have been recorded so in a way, there is a further exchange with the outside world even if it is the two characters in question. Those who know the text will remember how violent it is not to mention erotic.....
No-one coughed - a pin could have dropped and the ovation was one of the most overwhelming I have heard at that theatre. For Susanna? For Luca? - who was there of course - For Quartett? For all three. We applauded for a long time. Usually I run for the metro as soon as the concert has finished. I was there until the last moment. Tears running down my cheeks. Evenings like that are rare and although I will go to the presentation of the next season this week, without Susanna it just can’t be the same.....
http://www.dailymotion.com/fr/relevance/search/ircam+francesconi/1#video=xlmpjk
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Before I went to Theatre School in the U.K. and as a young adolescent, I used to dance and sing all the musical comedies that were on in the world. The room was large enough in our Tasmanian home for me to move around, dance, sing and orchestrate my own productions of the musicals I had on records in my collection. 20? 30? More? However many there were, I knew them all by heart, played all the roles, but never felt at ease as the herione, more the second role or comic....I was planning to become a musical comedy «star». Well my voice broke through poor training and I had serious problems with my back learning to dance, so that was the end of that.
We were to have the first broadway production of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein’s Carousel at the Chatelet theatre. I had booked a year ago. Even after 50 years, I still knew the words by heart but had never seen the musical on stage. My «production» had been a figment of my imagination around the songs and the very brief text given on the record jacket. Again, what an experience. This was without any doubt one of the best musical productions I had ever seen (barring the opening nights of West Side Story and My Fair Lady in 1957 in London). The cast was brillant. Words clear and I don’t have to tell you that I was singing along in my head as the musical moved on. My imagination had not played too many tricks although one of the final scenes with the star keeper had not been part of «my production». Do I have to tell you that I danced home singing all the way?
http://chatelet-theatre.com/2012-2013/carousel-fr
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
The final series of concerts were at the Cité again. A matinée followed by an evening performance of music from French films. The afternoon performance was The Traffic Quintet and Alexandre Desplat’s music. My head nodded through most of it only to be aroused by a very enthusiastic applause. The evening was Fred Pallem with a group that was so loud I should have been wearing ear plugs to listen to it. I left. If concerts are to be slept in or too loud to enjoy, I will not be subscribing to many next year.
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