Rachmaninov, Risotto, Restoration Comedy and Raven
Wednesday, June 15th, 2011 04:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tamaranthWriting up last weekend because it was simply packed with culture, and my memory is like a sieve ...
Philharmonia concert - RFH, 09.06.11
Kikimora (Liadov)
Piano Concerto #2 (Rachmaninov: piano, Kirill Gerstein)
Symphonic Dances (Rachmaninov)
cond. Yuri Temirkanov
Kikimora was short and rather Slavic: I was intrigued by the fairy story, but the music didn't move me.
I don't know Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto #2 by heart (unlike #3) and I always forget how much gorgeous music is packed into it -- not just the sweeping romanticism but a surreal blend of Oriental scales, jazz jocosity and omnipresent rumbling bass.
Symphonic Dances -- which demands a large orchestra, including a pianist and two harpists: the stage was packed -- is a symphony in all but name. I kept noticing echoes of other pieces by Rachmaninov: staccato tumbling rhythms, a decadent waltz-like rhythm in 'Twilight', fragments of Dies irae. The third movement,'Midnight', reminds me that this is wartime music -- though not Rachmaninov's war, as it was composed 1941 when America (where he'd lived since 1918) had only just entered WW2.
I had various plans for the Friday evening, but open-air opera didn't seem wise considering the rain; I failed to round up a spare ticket for the time-travel panel at the British Library; and I was offline, so didn't chase up potential birthday drinks. Instead I cooked an excellent fish risotto for my hostess, M, whose house has just been remodelled, and we drank wine and listened to Brahms and talked about her new kitties. (And about the Sebastian Faulks novel, A Week in December, which she'd urged me to read: enjoyed very much, proper review soon.)
The Man of Mode - A Single Leaf theatre co, Bridewell Theatre, 11.06.11
An abridged and modernised lunchtime matinee version of Etheridge's homage to John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester: this was hilarious, and the contemporary setting worked very well. Dorimant (a very louche Gavin Harrison) was appalled that no woman had defriended him on Facebook for days; Belinda's fascinator was the talk of Kensington Roof Gardens; and Will Seaward's Sir Fopling Flutter, newly arrived from New York Fashion Week, stole the show.
Circle of Animals / Zodiac Heads (Ai Weiwei) - Somerset House, 11.06.11
Then we wandered up to Somerset House and examined Ai Weiwei's Circle of Animals / Zodiac Heads. We wondered why some of the heads were considerably more anatomically accurate than others -- apparently they were modelled on traditional Chinese zodiac sculptures from Yuanming Yuan (Beijing). Doesn't really explain why Cockerel and Dragon had so much more, credible, detail ...
The artist has been detained by the Chinese authorities since April 20th, reportedly for 'economic crimes'. Free Ai WeiWei
X-Men: First Class - Cambridge, 12.06.11
Ihaven't seen don't remember seeing any of the other X-Men films(though ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
ladymoonray is adamant that I accompanied her to at least one of 'em!) and was lured to this one by the trailer. It exceeded my expectations: excellent character-building, an authentic 60s spy-thriller ambience (complete with women in miniskirts and fur), and some splendid special effects. Especially charmed by the synergy between James McAvoy (Charles Xavier) and Michael Fassbender (Erik Lensherr); Kevin Bacon also pretty good, and Jennifer Lawrence as Raven was stunning.
Sidenote: I feel I have seen the trailer for Green Lantern more than enough now. (All the trailers were for superhero / SF-ish movies or computer games. That new one called Windows 7 looks fun.)
Then I slept a lot.
Philharmonia concert - RFH, 09.06.11
Kikimora (Liadov)
Piano Concerto #2 (Rachmaninov: piano, Kirill Gerstein)
Symphonic Dances (Rachmaninov)
cond. Yuri Temirkanov
Kikimora was short and rather Slavic: I was intrigued by the fairy story, but the music didn't move me.
I don't know Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto #2 by heart (unlike #3) and I always forget how much gorgeous music is packed into it -- not just the sweeping romanticism but a surreal blend of Oriental scales, jazz jocosity and omnipresent rumbling bass.
Symphonic Dances -- which demands a large orchestra, including a pianist and two harpists: the stage was packed -- is a symphony in all but name. I kept noticing echoes of other pieces by Rachmaninov: staccato tumbling rhythms, a decadent waltz-like rhythm in 'Twilight', fragments of Dies irae. The third movement,'Midnight', reminds me that this is wartime music -- though not Rachmaninov's war, as it was composed 1941 when America (where he'd lived since 1918) had only just entered WW2.
I had various plans for the Friday evening, but open-air opera didn't seem wise considering the rain; I failed to round up a spare ticket for the time-travel panel at the British Library; and I was offline, so didn't chase up potential birthday drinks. Instead I cooked an excellent fish risotto for my hostess, M, whose house has just been remodelled, and we drank wine and listened to Brahms and talked about her new kitties. (And about the Sebastian Faulks novel, A Week in December, which she'd urged me to read: enjoyed very much, proper review soon.)
The Man of Mode - A Single Leaf theatre co, Bridewell Theatre, 11.06.11
An abridged and modernised lunchtime matinee version of Etheridge's homage to John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester: this was hilarious, and the contemporary setting worked very well. Dorimant (a very louche Gavin Harrison) was appalled that no woman had defriended him on Facebook for days; Belinda's fascinator was the talk of Kensington Roof Gardens; and Will Seaward's Sir Fopling Flutter, newly arrived from New York Fashion Week, stole the show.
Circle of Animals / Zodiac Heads (Ai Weiwei) - Somerset House, 11.06.11
Then we wandered up to Somerset House and examined Ai Weiwei's Circle of Animals / Zodiac Heads. We wondered why some of the heads were considerably more anatomically accurate than others -- apparently they were modelled on traditional Chinese zodiac sculptures from Yuanming Yuan (Beijing). Doesn't really explain why Cockerel and Dragon had so much more, credible, detail ...
The artist has been detained by the Chinese authorities since April 20th, reportedly for 'economic crimes'. Free Ai WeiWei
X-Men: First Class - Cambridge, 12.06.11
I
ladymoonray is adamant that I accompanied her to at least one of 'em!) and was lured to this one by the trailer. It exceeded my expectations: excellent character-building, an authentic 60s spy-thriller ambience (complete with women in miniskirts and fur), and some splendid special effects. Especially charmed by the synergy between James McAvoy (Charles Xavier) and Michael Fassbender (Erik Lensherr); Kevin Bacon also pretty good, and Jennifer Lawrence as Raven was stunning.Sidenote: I feel I have seen the trailer for Green Lantern more than enough now. (All the trailers were for superhero / SF-ish movies or computer games. That new one called Windows 7 looks fun.)
Then I slept a lot.
