Bizet's Carmen

The opera-going duo of Natsue and Heron did very well last spring when we attended a matinee performance of Opera Australia's Baroque Masterworks. We had sensational seats in the dress circle of the State Theatre, and although our session had minor cast changes among the supporting players, we were able to hear Angus Wood in an outstanding debut as Testo in Tancredi e Clorinda, and Deborah Humble's commanding performance in the leading role of Dido and Aeneas.

Sadly, our choice of the matinee performance on August 6 of OzOpera's new touring production of Bizet's Carmen was far less fortunate. Our seats, although supposedly 'A' Reserve, were very far back and off to one side of the dress circle; we missed anything that was happening stage left. Her Majesty's Theatre was looking a bit tatty, too, and our area became very stuffy and hot.
And we got the second cast. Judith Dodsworth was a thin, energetic Carmen, although apparently Tania Ferris (a rising star) made much more of the sultry low notes in the evening performances. Don Jose sang competently but had a really dumpy figure; worse still was the corpulent Don Escamillo, an improbable bullfighter with all the charisma of wet concrete.

On the positive side, the men and the women on the chorus sang with enthusiasm and precision. It was during their contributions that I became most aware that this was not the local amateur music society we were listening to. The touring orchestra, ably conducted by Patrick Miller, was a skeleton crew of only fifteen. The intense scenes of love, jealousy and betrayal in the second half would have been better supported by a lusher accompaniment. Don Jose did his best to act the desperate fool for love, but Natsue chortled at the death scene.

It is a good opera with appealing melodies; it was a workmanlike production and I enjoyed it. Natsue was less favourably impressed, and inclined to choose an evening performance with the first cast next time around.

The Oracle: Catherine Fisher

The imminent release in Australia of 'The Scarab', Catherine Fisher's third instalment in her outstanding Oracle trilogy, makes this a timely moment to revisit the foundation novel in the series, 'The Oracle'. This novel, shortlisted for the Whitbread Prize in 2003, has an unusual setting. Fisher has created an alternative reality that combines elements of Ancient Greece with Ancient Egypt. It features a temple-strewn sacred Island, home to an oracle who is attended by nine priestesses. Across a causeway, through the port city and down a desert track there is a City of the Dead, where elaborate rituals for the mummification and entombment of the deceased are carried out.

Fisher's protagonist is Mirany, a young, timid priestess, new to the Island and its rites. At the beginning of the novel she is suddenly given a promotion in the temple hierarchy to the position of Bearer of the God. One of her duties is to carry a heavy bronze bowl full of scorpions in seemingly endless processions. The scorpions, one of which might contain the essence of the God, continually try to crawl out and strike her dead. This scenario is a compelling metaphor for the adolescent condition.

In fact, this is a novel in which two teenagers, Mirany herself and Seth, an assistant archivist in the City of the Dead, are drawn reluctantly into weighty affairs of state. Power in this world, as in many a Latin American country in the old days, resides with the head of the Army and the chief of the religious establishment. In this case, General Argelin and the Chief Priestess, Hermia, are in engaged in a conspiracy to maintain control of the land and its resources, especially water. Hermia abuses the rites of the Island to advance their corrupt cause: however impressive her ritual trances may be, she is unable to hear the voice of the oracle.

Soon however, Mirany, intially a religious sceptic, begins to receive clear instructions from the God. She and Seth and an unlikely set of allies--one of them is a suave, enigmatic tomb-thief called the Jackal--attempt to upset the machinations of Argelin and Hermia. Thus a novel that begins as a coming-of-age story and political thriller ultimately becomes an investigation into the nature of belief.

Fisher's stories are sophisticated and her prose, elegant. Better known in the British Isles than in Australia, her novels for young adults deserve a much wider local readership than they currently enjoy. I recommend them unreservedly.

The Oracle is available in the US as 'The Oracle Betrayed'.

Madagascar, The Motion Picture Soundtrack

After sitting through the highly-predictable and kiddy movie that is Madagascar, I came away wanting the soundtrack, which is highly unusual for me. Usually when I see a movie that I don't particularly like, the last thing on my mind is to pour more money into its frachise. But this is different. The main difference is that the original music for the movie and therefore its soundtrack was written by Hans Zimmer, my favourite modern film composer. That gave me a reason to get the soundtrack, even if it meant having to listen to some of the cliched classics used (not very effectively) in the movie, that appear on the CD as well.
The soundtrack itself consists of a modest 12 tracks, but only 5 of these are original, and only one of them is solely written by Zimmer, which unsurprisingly turned out to be my favourite.
The CD opens with an original song by Heitor Pereira, Hans Zimmer, Ryeland Allison and James S. Levine. That's a lot of people for a resonably mainstream track, but I learnt to treasure it because it definitely felt like one of the only original flavours on the CD. The second track was also written for the film, and is definitely a guilty pleasure. It is a dance track called "I like to move it", with the vocals by the artist who voiced King Julian the lemur in the movie. This song was used to good effect in the credits, which is probably why it is so lengthy, but it did begin to feel monotonous towards the end.
Then with track 3 we enter the realm of over-used classics that are abundant on this CD: "Hawaii Five-O" (a new mix), "Boogie Wonderland" by Earth, Wind & Fire, "Whacked out Conspiracy" (you may not recognise it, but YOU HAVE heard it), Vangelis' "Chariots of Fire" (the only old song used in the movie to actually crack a smile from me) and "Stayin Alive" which has a time of almost five minutes (felt like an hour).
Finally, after the Bee Gees had their vengeance, I got an all-Hans-Zimmer track, which was easily the best on the album, even though it has the unfortunate title of "Zoosters Breakout". Oh Dear.
The final four tracks, save the last, go by in a flash: "Born Free" at just over a minute, "The Foosa Attack" by Heitor Pereira is 37 SECONDS and "Beacon of Liberty", the last of the original tracks and one of the more charming, is a reasonable two minutes.
The ending of this CD was, to me, a disappointment. I hate coarse vocals, so "What a Wonderful World" was a nightmarish end to a barely passable sountrack. I suppose it will please Louis Armstrong fans.
And I admit I already knew what I was in for before buying the CD because I had looked at the track listing beforehand, but when I listened to entire soundtrack all the way through, it seemed very sparse indeed, finishing in just 31 minutes. Not good value for your dough, especially when most of the cliched songs people will either already have on other CDs or vowed never to listen to again to preserve their sanity.
But the soundtrack wasn't all bad. Indeed, it was very chirpy, which I guess mirrors the overall feel of the film. However, unless you want every item that has come off the Madagascar line, want to start your very own over-used songs collection, are dying to hear that lone Hans Zimmer track again, or thought the front cover looked cute and couldn't wait to see the design of the booklet within (VERY sad), I would steer clear of this particular soundtrack. But I don't need to tell anyone that: if they've seen the movie they should know. Or not. I thought I knew what I was in for. How very wrong I was.

Pottermania Approaches...

That's right, it's 10 days til Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is released. This is good for fans, of course, but for non-fans (Heron being among them) this is a painful time of posters, TV interviews, grubby little kids running around with witches' hats, and the inevitable Harry Potter movie reruns. For fans, however, this is a blissful time of wizarding fantasia, where every streetcorner is filled with fellow pottermaniacs gleefully anticipating the release of the next book of sacred lore, when their favourite bespectacled boy rules the bestseller lists, infuriating obscure but worthier authors into tantrums that influence their latest unknown work...
And for the rest of us who like Harry Potter but do not worship it or glue beards to our faces in an attempt to appear like a certain headmaster? Well, we will venture out to our local bookstore on the day, but more likely after the hubbub dies down a couple of days later, and pick up our copy and return to our homes without feeling part of an scary world-wide obssession.
As for me? Well, I'm going to a late-night organ recital the evening before the 16th, so if I can actually be bothered getting up the next day, I'll probably throw on my Prof. Snape t-shirt, knock on my friend's door until she agrees to come with me, and head into the city, avoiding the rush of the larger bookstores, until we find a reasonably-priced one. Done. And we can say we survived the release of the latest Harry Potter book. As for Heron? She can hide in her study counting down the seconds until the 17th dawns.

Rembrandt's World Concert

On Thursday night, June 30, Natsue and I were privileged to claim seats in the front row for the Melbourne debut of the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra Ensemble. Director Paul Dyer, who was out the front helping to set up, saw us and gave us a broad smile. We had first heard about the Ensemble when we were in Sydney in May to hear the Orchestra perform Handel's 'Ode to St Cecilia'. On that occasion Dyer spoke--for too long--about this new small group, made up of Dyer himself on harpsichord and chamber organ, and the first player of each of the other groups of instruments. He told us about a series of concerts to be performed at the Sydney Consevatorium of Music in honour of the exhibit 'Dutch Masters from the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam', due to arrive in Melbourne in June.

I turned to Natsue and asked, 'Yes, but is the Ensemble going to perform in Melbourne, where the pictures are actually going to be hung?' Fortunately for us culture fanatics, the answer was yes. We were able to book combined tickets that allowed as exclusive after-hours entry into the exhibit at the St Kilda Road National Gallery of Victoria, and afterwards to the concert in the Great Hall. Front row seats turned out to be not only desirable but virtually essential. The ensemble was set up on a small platform towards the back of the hall, just under the inscription to benefactor Alfred Felton. I thought with the stone walls all around the acoustics might echo or jangle; not a bit of it: the giant space sucked up sound like a black hole. I have my doubts that the second piece, Dowland's 'Lachrimae', a pavan for solo lute, could have been heard from the back rows. Nonetheless, soloist Tommie Andersson played this with great elegance and control. (David Daniels sings a version of this song on 'A Quiet Thing'). I was also very struck with the sweetness of tone of Lucinda Moon's violin performance in the Schop 'Pavan for Violin and Basso Continuo".

Some of the other works presented, however, were less attractive in that they made less connection with the audience. Coming fresh from the highly theatrical and extroverted Handel concert in Sydney, performed by full Baroque orchestra, including trumpets and timpani, chorus and two solo singers, the Ensemble's chamber music seemed very inward-looking, perhaps unduly so. Dyer explained that for a long time he and the solo players had wanted an opportunity to explore the chamber repertory. When they select the works, though, they must ensure that they have the power to take the audience with them. With my ear attuned to the fuller sound of the modern flute, the two unaccompanied pieces for Baroque flute left me cold. And was there ever anything more self-indulgent than the 'Improvisation' on the folk song 'Est-ce Mars'? Much of the elaborate ornamentation on this simple melody clearly had been worked out beforehand: it pleased the players but not the Heron.

The second section of the concert was well and truly redeemed, however, by oboist Kirsten Barry's hearfelt performance of the Albinoni 'Concerto a cinque'. Barry played the Largo with an intense vocal quality, sustaining the long phrases with great conviction. The Ensemble is due back in Melbourne in October, once again at the National Gallery of Victoria. I'll grab a front row seat again, thanks. I don't know about Natsue. At the end of the Albinoni, Natsue whispered to me, 'Quick! Let's get out of here before they play an encore!'

Les Choristes (The Chorus) Soundtrack: Bruno Coulais

If you've seen the original French-language film, you'll know that its main asset is its rustic charm, being set mostly in the countryside, with picturesque views on all sides of the school the protagonist, Mattieu, a former music teacher, is sent to teach in. But what really appealed to me in this movie, not surprisingly considering its title, was the music. Throughout the film moody instrumental pieces crept in the background, and the vocals of the boys when instructed in the chorus Mattieu created gave the movie an undeniable ambiance that stayed with me long after I had forgotten parts of the plot upon departing the cinema.
I definitely wanted the soundtrack, even if it was only to savour the themesong again. And I wanted a translation of most of the lyrics too, as all of the vocal pieces are in french.
I got what I wanted when I finally found the soundtrack, and overall, I was very pleased with the CD. There are 21 tracks, although the last is mostly made up of the sound from a more memorable scene, which depending on your taste, is a good or bad point. There are 10 all-instrumental pieces which are spread quite well amidst the rest of the tracks which are vocal with instrumental backing. The only A Capella track is the second last, which is a slightly shorter variation of the second track, 'In Memoriam'. I found this to be my favourite actually, because even without any kind of backing from instruments it is intensly powerful and finds its own melodies from the spread of the choir's voices weaving in and out of each other.
The only songs I disliked in the 'Les Choristes' Soundtrack were some of the more childish pieces made up of rapid piano work and singing. There are about 5 of these (some variantly repeated near the end), and I suppose lift an otherwise brooding CD with its more heavy pieces. I don't doubt that some people may actually like these cute songs, but I was on the verge of hating them before my finger found the "skip track" button. I don't know why, but they seemed less annoying when I was watching the movie.
But annoying pieces aside, which really only make up a small part of an otherwise wonderful CD, I don't regret buying the soundtrack by any means, and urge anybody who enjoyed the film and its music to look for this as well. That is not to say that the CD is not enjoyable without seeing the movie, but when you can put the songs in some kind of context, I think it's easier to extract more meaning out of them. And anyway, who would spend their money on a soundtrack that they've never seen the movie of, and therefore never heard its music? Me for one, if I was rolling in $100 bills. But I'm not. So see 'The Chorus' first.

June Round Up

-There were 2 site announcements (Bright Shield Tower Debuts and Added Features)

-There were 3 news posts (The Scarab , Vincent D'Onofrio and Wimbledon)

-There was 1 book review (Word of the Day)

-There were 2 CD reviews (Handel's Giustino and A Quiet Thing)

-There were 2 manga reviews (Remote Vol. 1 and Deus Vitae Vol. 1)

-We said Happy Birthday to Rafael Nadal (June 3rd) and Vincent D'Onofrio (June 30th)

-The words of the week were AMNICOLIST and THRENODY