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Monthly Archives: March 2019

Border

28 Thursday Mar 2019

Posted by P.P.O. Kane in Film review

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Border

Border

Directed by Ali Abbasi

Denmark, 2018

HOME, 27 March 2019

Border

A Transhumanist Manifesto.

A gripping film, this one, and a mish-mash of genres. It is a crime drama, in part: there is an investigation into a paedophile ring. There is a fantasy, even folkloric element which it would be remiss to reveal in a review. But, anyway, this put me in mind of the theory that early humans killed off the Neanderthals, an act that was the first genocide. In addition, the film has an element of self discovery: the main character, a customs official, discovers who she is and acquires a sense of belonging.

It was one of those rare films where you are attentive throughout: an absorbing, rewarding experience.

 

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The White Crow

28 Thursday Mar 2019

Posted by P.P.O. Kane in Film review

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The White Crow

The White Crow

Directed by Ralph Fiennes

France, 2018

HOME, 27 March 2019

The White Crow

A Portrait of the Artist as an Irresistible Force.

This film looks at the period in Nureyev’s life when he was in Paris with the Kirov, a Soviet dancer, just before his defection. He is arrogant, intelligent, full of vital energy. He cannot be contained, not even by the Soviet Union, then a Superpower.

Oleg Ivanko excels in the title role and David Hare’s insightful, intelligent script makes the film a cut above most in this genre.

Hare’s influence is felt throughout. There is, for example, a point where one character, on seeing Nureyev dance, remarks: ‘Always from the East.’ Meaning, I would guess, that Europe needs always outside influences in order to replenish itself. And that is the thing: Nureyev needs the freedom of Paris, he would suffocate in the Soviet Union. But France could never have created a Nureyev; in France he would have remained a poor peasant boy.

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The Funeral Director @ HOME

28 Thursday Mar 2019

Posted by P.P.O. Kane in Play review, Theatre review

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Aryana Ramkhalawon, Assad Zaman, Edward Stone, Francesca Zoutewelle, Iman Qureshi, The Funeral Director @ HOME

The Funeral Director

By Iman Qureshi

English Touring Theatre and Papatango Theatre

HOME, 27 March 2019

11. The Funeral Director - Aryana Ramkhalawon (Ayesha) and Assad Zaman (Zeyd) - Photo by Mihaela Bodlovic

Aryana Ramkhalawon (Ayesha) and Assad Zaman (Zeyd) in The Funeral Director. Photo by Mihaela Bodlovic

A play for today.

This engaged, emotionally-charged drama explores the issues of homophobia in the Muslim community and Islamophobia in wider British society.

The key event occurs when a distraught young man, Tom ((Edward Stone), comes to the funeral parlour run by Ayesha (Aryana Ramkhalawon) and Zeyd (Assad Zaman). His close ‘friend’, a Muslim lad, has just died and he wants to arrange a Muslim funeral in line with his wishes. Sussing out that Tom is gay and thinking it too much of a hassle dealing with this particular death, they send him elsewhere. Later, Tom sues them for discriminating against him on the grounds of his sexuality.

The legal action comes at a fraught time for the couple, anyway, what with their marriage hitting a bumpy spell. There is an asymmetrical aspect to their affection: the love is going mainly one way. And they have no children. The return of Janey (Francesca Zoutewelle), Ayesha’s childhood friend, adds to mix, is another catalyst for change.

In the end, Ayesha concludes (the play charts her journey above all) that Allah is good and kind and so must surely accept and love gay people, since He made them that way. It is a nice, liberal sentiment but I am not sure that the Salafist scholars over in Riyadh would concur. Meanwhile there is the inconvenient fact that gay people exist and some are Muslim. (Mind, one should remember that God squad Christians have a problem with the existence of gay people too, Tim Farron being one of them.)

The Funeral Director, an engrossing, thought-provoking play of great integrity, is showing at HOME until 30 March, further details can be found here.

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Harp Masterclass with Anneleen Lenaerts

25 Monday Mar 2019

Posted by P.P.O. Kane in Music review

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Anneleen Lenaerts, Harp Masterclass with Anneleen Lenaerts, Marco Borggreve, RNCM

Harp Masterclass with Anneleen Lenaerts

Carole Nash Recital Room, RNCM

24 March 2019

Harp Masterclass with Anneleen LenaertsPhoto credit: Marco Borggreve

Anneleen Lenaerts, Principal Harpist with the Vienna Philharmonic, gave a public masterclass, working with three students from the RNCM

It was interesting to observe. Playing the harp requires ‘good fingers’ and ambidexterity – you need to have good use of both hands. You need also to be decisive: like a chess player committed to moving the piece he has touched. On top of that, the harp looks mighty difficult to control; a piano with the strings exposed.

At the end of the masterclass, Anneleen Lenaerts gave a 30-minute solo harp recital where she showed how powerful and expressive her instrument could be. Here, her performance of The Moldau by Smetana was especially wonderful.

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Decontamination #16: Contralto

22 Friday Mar 2019

Posted by P.P.O. Kane in Film review, Music review

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Contralto, Decontamination #16: Contralto, Sarah Hennies

Decontamination #16: Contralto

Carole Nash Recital Room, RNCM

22 March 2019

Decontamination #16: Contralto

Decontamination #16 was a performance of Sarah Hennies’ Contralto, an hour-long work for video, strings and percussion.

Contralto featured eight transwomen (is that the correct term?) who spoke or sang certain set phrases. Some phrases had emotional resonance – they touched upon issues like acceptance and rejection, self-understanding and personal quest – while some phrases sounded like nonsense syllables. Utterances (even the same utterances, spoken by different women) were shyly spoken, or defiant or defensive, or an opportunity to be playful and flirtatious. Some women took their task seriously, even earnestly, while others were off-hand, casual, knowing.

By the end, curiously enough, you had (or thought you had) a very real sense of these women’s lives, even though the film did not consist of formal interviews or responses to probing questions.

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E for Eliot

19 Tuesday Mar 2019

Posted by P.P.O. Kane in Uncategorized

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E for Eliot

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RNCM Chamber Music Festival 2019

19 Tuesday Mar 2019

Posted by P.P.O. Kane in Music review

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Beethoven, Haydn, Heath Quartet, RNCM, Trio Wanderer

Joseph Hayden: Innovation and Inspiration: RNCM Chamber Music Festival

RNCM, 15-17 March 2019

RNCM Chamber Music Festival 2019

This year’s RNCM Chamber Music Festival focused on the work and legacy of Joseph Hayden, the great composer of chamber music.

Over the weekend there was a lecture and a masterclass, a film screening and a workshop, and many, many concerts. The concerts featured Haydn’s music, naturally enough, but also music by those who had influenced him, his contemporaries and those who came afterward. Chiefly a certain Ludwig van Beethoven.

RNCM students and staff contributed to many concerts and each evening there was a concert by a world class ensemble. So on Saturday we heard from Trio Wanderer, who played:

  • Haydn – Piano Trio in A major; Piano Trio in F sharp minor; Piano Trio in E flat minor
  • Beethoven – Piano Trio in B flat major, ‘Archduke’

The ‘Archduke’ was pretty wondrous, as ever. It is amazing to think that a human being made it.

On Sunday we had Heath Quartet over, and they played:

  • Haydn: String Quartet in D major; String Quartet in C major
  • Beethoven: String Quartet in E flat major

Again, this was a superlative concert too. Incidentally, they played standing up, these guys: unusual, but maybe it improved their performance, by making them more alert, more responsive to each other’s playing? Certainly, it made me more aware of the swagger in Hayden’s music in particular.

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B for Bardin

16 Saturday Mar 2019

Posted by P.P.O. Kane in ABC

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B for Bardin

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Halle Orchestra: Shostakovich’s First Symphony

16 Saturday Mar 2019

Posted by P.P.O. Kane in Music review

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Chopin, Dvořák, Halle Orchestra, Piano Concerto No.1, Scherzo capriccioso, Shostakovich, Symphony No.1

Halle Orchestra: Shostakovich’s First Symphony

The Bridgewater Hall, 14 March 2019

Halle Orchestra: Shostakovich’s First Symphony

An evening of ebullient and bombastic music.

The Czech Czech conductor, Tomás Hanus, shepherded the Halle as they played:

  • Dvorák: Scherzo capriccioso
  • Chopin: Piano Concerto No.1
  • Shostakovich: Symphony No.1

Probably the first work, Dvorák’s Scherzo capriccioso, was the most testing for the orchestra, because it was so incredibly mercurial. Always moving forward, constantly accelerating, never standing still. Very busybody. An ideal exemplar of music as process. And, I am sure, a devil to perform – but here the Halle excelled.

I knew Dvorák’s mother had died shortly before he wrote it and so kept on listening out for elegiac passages (which certain commentators had sworn were there), but couldn’t hear any. Mind, ascribing intention and emotion to a composer’s work is a bit like attributing human emotions to animals. It can be done, but it is a leap.

The best I could come up with was to identify a restless, distracted (indicative of dissatisfaction with the world,  grieving?) quality in certain passages.

Overall, though, it was happy and joyful. At the end you pictured a conquering hero climbing a stairway to heaven. When he reaches the top step a door opens. Blinding light.

The wonderful Eric Lu was the pianist for Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 1 – which was actually the second concerto Chopin wrote, though the first one to be published. The second movement, in Lu’s formidable performance, had real emotional heft. It was intense and powerful: like telling someone you love them for the first time. Meanwhile, the third and final movement was a cheery and lively dance, full of Krakowiak rhythms. The circus had come to town.

Then, following a short interval, we came to the main event of the evening, Shostakovich’s First Symphony.

Written in the mid-1920s and completed when Shostakovich was just 19, it is unusual in several respects, not least in the prominence given to wind instruments: the trumpet, bassoon, flute, oboe and clarinet all play starring roles. And already, even at this early stage in Shostakovich’s career, you can see emotional depth and deft musical construction.

The symphony evokes a sombre mood at the start, brilliantly sustains it, becoming later on dramatic and raucous. It is in the third movement where Shostakovich ups his game, conjuring a Shakespearean world of grand confilict and kingly tragedy. Musically, I love the way the oboe segues into the cello. They are kindred instruments. Both can marshal dark, strange sounds.

All in all, the symphony is an incongruous juxtaposition of exuberance and pathos, and the Halle delivered a splendidly evocative and exciting performance.

Another Halle concert, another encomium.

Details of future Halle concerts can be found here.

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V for Valin

14 Thursday Mar 2019

Posted by P.P.O. Kane in ABC

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V for Valin

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