RNZB, 29/10/2015

Adam : Giselle

Artists of the Royal New Zealand Ballet
Orchestra Wellington
Michael Lloyd (pre-recorded soundtrack)

RSNO, 24/10/2015

Dejan Lazic : Overture from Piano Concerto in Istrian Style (Dejan Lazio, piano)
Chopin : Piano Concerto No. 2 (Dejan Lazic, piano)
Mussorgsky : Pictures at an Exhibition (orch. Ravel)

Royal Scottish National Orchestra
Thomas Søndergård

RCS, 23/10/2015

Franck : Prelude, Chorale and Fugue
Franck : Piano Quintet

Sinae Lee, piano
Andrea Gajic, violin
Justine Watts, violin
Andrew Berridge, viola
Alison Wells, cello

The Trocks, 20/10/2015

Tchaikovsky : Swan Lake (Act 2)
Drigo : Le Corsaire - Pas de Deux
J.S. Bach : Brandenburg Concerto No. 3
Saint-Saëns : The Swan
Minkus : Don Quixote (extracts)

Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte-Carlo

Metropolitan Opera (HD broadcast), 17/10/15

Verdi : Otello

Metropolitan Opera Chorus
Orchestra of the Metropolitan Opera, New York
Yannick Nézet-Séguin

Scottish Opera, 13/10/2015

Bizet : Carmen

The Chorus of Carmen
Orchestra of Scottish Opera
David Parry

Bolshoi Ballet (HD Broadcast), 11/10/2015

Adam : Giselle

Artists of the Bolshoi Ballet
Orchestra of the Bolshoi Theatre
Pavel Klinichev

"Marguerite", 03/10/2015

I understand there's a film biopic of the inimitable Florence Foster Jenkins in the works, with none other than Meryl Streep in the title role.  In the meantime, French director Xavier Giannoli has snuck in there with a film loosely inspired by the would-be diva, which opened last week and which I found the time to see before returning to the UK.  Set in 1920, the unfortunate tone-deaf prima donna is a wealthy French philanthropist, Marguerite Dumont, and in the course of the film she "graduates" from a (thankfully) brief appearance at a private benefit concert to preparing for and appearing at a full-scale public recital, formal concert hall and the works.

There are, as you might expect, a few laugh-out loud moments.  The singing of Dumont (of which, thankfully, there's not actually a great deal) is suitably atrocious, and the moment when a formerly distinguished tenor, approached to coach the lady for her public debut, first hears her, is absolutely priceless. But there's much less blatant comedy than might be supposed, instead it's mostly a study of characters - most of whom leave something to be desired.  

Giannoli's film also takes a turn for the melodramatic at the end, which I thought a pity, but it has left me with one persistant thought.  Is it truly possible to appreciate something without understanding it in the least?  And, vice versa, is it possible to completely understand something without learning to appreciate it?  I don't want to use the term "love" in this context, one wanders too easily into stalker territory there - they think they both understand and appreciate the subject of their obsession, when in fact they do neither - and I can't equate Marguerite's devotion to her "art" with that degree of delusion, because she does, in fact, appear to have some understanding of music.  If that is so, however, how is it possible she cannot hear her own vocal defects?  Perhaps Stephen Frears's study of the original FFJ will provide some answers that Giannoli did not.

[Next : No change, 11th October]

Paris Opera Ballet (HD Broadcast), 01/10/2015

Clear, Loud, Bright, Forward (Benjamin Millepied, chor.; Nico Muhly, mus.)
Opus19/The Dreamer (Jerome Robbins, chor.; Prokofiev, mus.)
Theme and Variations (George Balanchine, chor.; Tchaikovsky, mus.)

Artists of the Ballet of the Opéra National de Paris
Frédéric Laroque, violin
Orchestra of the Opéra National de Paris
Maxime Pascal