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Monthly culture: March 2020
Monday, April 13th, 2020 10:34 amIn the Before Times, I used to leave the house and experience cultural events in the company of friends. Watching recorded culture on my own just doesn't engage, or affect, or uplift me in the same way.
05MAR20: 'Musical Homelands', Cadogan Hall
Sibelius' Karelia Suite, Bruch's Violin Concerto, Rachmaninoff's Symphony #3. The Sibelius handily overlaid some loaded memories of a particular Christmas, but my highlight was the Bruch, performed by Latvian violinist Kristine Balanas: who languished, attacked and luxuriated, achieved appropriate frenzy, and made the difficult bits look easy. Absolutely marvellous, and I was able to tell her so.
My companion A was mostly there for the Rachmaninoff, which was glorious: a work of exile, the last great Russian symphony, echoes of American folk songs... completed in 1936, with the rise of fascism looming anew.
06MAR20: Macbeth, Greenwich Theatre
I've enjoyed previous Lazarus Theatre productions at my local theatre (if 'enjoyed' is the right word for a very gory Edward II): Macbeth did not disappoint. Rains of glitter and gory hands (Macbeth's hands still bloody at his coronation, to the strains of Zadok the Priest), and a fierce ambitious Lady Macbeth who's stronger than her husband. There's little Christianity in this, but a real sense of older pagan custom. Powerful and compelling.
07MAR20: The Revenger's Tragedy, Barbican Theatre
In Italian! With surtitles! I found it hard to split my attention at first, but once I got into the rhythm of the words and action I found this great fun. It helped that I am, or was, fairly familiar with the play. Excellent acting, almost farcical in places and suitably horrific in others.
14MAR20: Parasite, Greenwich PictureHouse
The beats and rhythms of this seemed quite different to standard Hollywood fare. It's a claustrophobic film and the sparing use of music -- especially near the end -- enhances the horror.
Themes throughout of smell, of water (crystallised at the end as snow), of non-verbal signals and unnoticed intrusions.
And then we went to a riverside pub and drank wine in the sun: and that was the last social thing I did.
05MAR20: 'Musical Homelands', Cadogan Hall
Sibelius' Karelia Suite, Bruch's Violin Concerto, Rachmaninoff's Symphony #3. The Sibelius handily overlaid some loaded memories of a particular Christmas, but my highlight was the Bruch, performed by Latvian violinist Kristine Balanas: who languished, attacked and luxuriated, achieved appropriate frenzy, and made the difficult bits look easy. Absolutely marvellous, and I was able to tell her so.
My companion A was mostly there for the Rachmaninoff, which was glorious: a work of exile, the last great Russian symphony, echoes of American folk songs... completed in 1936, with the rise of fascism looming anew.
06MAR20: Macbeth, Greenwich Theatre
I've enjoyed previous Lazarus Theatre productions at my local theatre (if 'enjoyed' is the right word for a very gory Edward II): Macbeth did not disappoint. Rains of glitter and gory hands (Macbeth's hands still bloody at his coronation, to the strains of Zadok the Priest), and a fierce ambitious Lady Macbeth who's stronger than her husband. There's little Christianity in this, but a real sense of older pagan custom. Powerful and compelling.
07MAR20: The Revenger's Tragedy, Barbican Theatre
In Italian! With surtitles! I found it hard to split my attention at first, but once I got into the rhythm of the words and action I found this great fun. It helped that I am, or was, fairly familiar with the play. Excellent acting, almost farcical in places and suitably horrific in others.
14MAR20: Parasite, Greenwich PictureHouse
The beats and rhythms of this seemed quite different to standard Hollywood fare. It's a claustrophobic film and the sparing use of music -- especially near the end -- enhances the horror.
Themes throughout of smell, of water (crystallised at the end as snow), of non-verbal signals and unnoticed intrusions.
And then we went to a riverside pub and drank wine in the sun: and that was the last social thing I did.
