Florence Foster Jenkins, 02/05/2016

Of course I went to see Stephen Frear's biopic of FFJ, what self-respecting opera lover wouldn't - especially on a bank holiday with nothing better to do!  It is worth seeing,very well played and beautifully designed, and, in its way, it's something of a feel-good movie, which you might not expect from the subject.  It didn't, however, quite hit the emotional notes of "Marguerite" (although the French film went over-the-top at the end).

There were two things I found interesting about Frear's movie.  First was the acting, not so much of Streep, good as she is, but of Simon Hellberg and Hugh Grant.  Hellberg was an adorably hapless Cosmé McMoon - rather younger than the real McMoon was at the time - channeling Gene Wilder's Leo Bloom for all his worth.  As for Grant, he was exceptional, in a many-layered role that, for me, quite overshadowed Streep's FFJ.

Second was the sense of period.  When I first heard FFJ's recordings, I though they dated from a good decade earlier.  I've certainly heard recordings from the mid-40s with a much better sound than these Melotone pressings, and it remains, still, a bit of a surprise to realise that they date from the war years.  The period is drawn vividly in Frear's film, but there is in it, visually, what I hear in those recordings - a sense of the end of an era.  Even if FFJ could have sung correctly, there's a sense that she's a relic that has outlived her time, and you see it echoed all around in the look of the film, in the tiara-ed dowagers set against the hip younger crowd, and the fading splendour of the Art Deco architecture and interiors set against the utilitarian dinginess of more 'modern' flats.

So, two down, one to go.

Sod's Law strikes again!

The plan for tonight was to see the broadcast from the Paris Opera of Tchaikovsky's Iolanta and The Nutcracker, a pairing that hasn't been seen since they were originally created together.  I was looking forward to it too; Dmitri Tcherniakov is the director of both pieces, and he rarely leaves you indifferent - outraged, quite possibly, but certainly not bored.  Also, one of the choreographers involved in Tcherniakov's revised Nutcracker is the Belgian Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, whose work I've discovered only quite recently.  What I've seen of it has impressed me, and I'm keen to see more.

However, the best laid plans etc. etc.  Arriving at the only cinema scheduling this broadcast for about 100 miles around, I was regretfully informed that the venue had (to all intents and purposes) blown a fuse, and was closed for the night.  Nothing for it but to drive back home and sulk.  I gather that the film will shortly become available to view on France TV's Culturebox, which I believe is available outside the territory, and when I can find 4 hours to spare, I will be looking for it, but it's not quite the same thing....

[Next : 18th March]

What was THAT...?

What it was supposed to be was a production of The Nutcracker by one of those itinerant Eastern European companies that roam around the UK two or three times a year.  Now, I'm not daft.  I don't expect miracles, especially when they come to this city and use a venue very little suited to the performance of ballet (and that escapes me too - surely there are some proscenium arch auditoriums in town that could take these companies for a couple of nights, at no greater expense than the Concert Hall?).  They schlepp around the country, the dancers underpaid and overworked, with their shoestring budget productions, (usually) badly recorded soundtracks, and minimal and often old-fashioned staging values, but that's the world of dance for you.  A dancer - a good dancer, particularly - is a wondrous thing, an athlete swathed in beauty, driven by a vocation as all-consuming as holy orders, so that even under the patchiest of circumstances, they can still communicate their own passion for their art, and their devotion to their craft.  I was merely expecting an honest evening's entertainment; it's the only Nutcracker I'm going to see live on stage this season.  What I got was the most charmless and graceless performance I've ever seen! So, that's as much of a review as I'm going to give, and the company concerned deserves no recognition, not even a name.

[Next : 21st November]

"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]

King Roger streamcast

I've known Szymanowski's King Roger in audio form for many years, and I'd have given my eye-teeth to be in London for the Royal Opera's first-ever staging of this marvellous work.  Not possible, alas, and for some reason, the company saw fit not to add this to its cinema broadcast roster, but they did stream it live over the internet.  It was available from a couple of sources, but I watched via the newly launched Opera Platform (www.theoperaplatform.eu), which also promises more and similar goodies to come, from opera houses all over Europe.

However, the problem is that it is a streamed broadcast.  Unless you have a state-of-the-art home theatre, with smart TV, integrated sound system, etc., etc., then you're faced with a small screen, and tinny sound.  The thing that really gets my goat is that it's apparently not possible to synchronise analogue and digital broadcasts.  I have a perfectly good stereo system, and the ideal would have been to turn the sound off on my computer, and listen to the broadcast live via BBC Radio 3.  Yet there's a ten second delay between the sound you get via FM, and the sound you get over the internet, which is just plain frustrating.

I'm not going to deprive myself of the pleasure of watching this sort of thing, I'm too much of an opera nut for that.  But no matter how interesting King Roger was, it's going to remain a private indulgence, as the kind of reproduction quality you get in the cinema simply isn't available to me.

[Next : 23rd May]

Chiz, chiz, chiz (to quote nigel molesworth) ...

... because the cinema from which I had chosen to view the ROH's Sicilian Vespers broadcast developed a satellite fault.  That wasn't the end of it either.  The management was pretty decent in their apologies; full refund, guest pass to any future show, including ROH broadcasts (and in any branch of the chain, including IMAX), and free entry to any other film showing on the premises tonight if desired.  Since I was out for the evening anyway, I chose another film - and then they forgot to load the movie!

Forty minutes after the announced starting time (and yes, of course 30 minutes would have been taken up by ads and trailers), we were still sitting looking at a blank screen.  Another customer had the good sense to go ask what the problem was; me, I had my nose in a book, as is my habit when waiting for just about anything.  We were subsequently spared the ads and trailers, which is always a good thing.

So I'm going to have to wait for Radio 3 to broadcast Vespers, and I'd really done my homework for this one!  It's the only mature Verdi I haven't seen now.  But the evening turned out passably entertaining nevertheless, even if partially for the wrong reasons.

[Next : 7th November]

A little more summer viewing...

I never thought I'd hear myself say this, but it is (just) possible to have too much Mozart.  Since the start of July, I have seen on TV Entführung, Clemenza, two Nozze, a rather quirky Don Giovanni live from Stuttgart, and a fearfully boring Zauberflöte live from Salzburg.  Enough, thank you.  However, grateful I am for the alternative to the bombardment of sport this summer, a little variety in the diet would be nice too.  The other broadcasts have all been from Orange; a Pagliacci and Tosca from past years, the previously mentioned Bohème and last night's Turandot, which Alagna battled through valiantly, with considerably better results than those reported on Saturday night, when apparently the top B-flat of "Nessun dorma" just didn't come out at all!

Several concerts/recitals now programmed for this month.  Although I will try to stick to my 24-hour posting rule, it may not always be possible, but there will be reports within a few days.

[Next: 2nd August]

A little summer viewing...

There's been more opera on TV here this last ten days than I've seen in the last twelve months.  Of course, most of it's being shown at an ungodly hour of the night, but that's what PVRs were invented for, after all.  Most of it's been recent, and two have been live, with a third promised at the end of the month, and the prospect of some more from Salzburg next month.  The lives this month have been the Bohème from Orange, and a Nozze from Aix-en-Provence.  The Puccini was pretty good, on the whole.  I quite liked the look of the production, though it has to be said that reading the newspaper reviews afterwards was interesting, showing just how much the view from the camera can change perspective.  Inva Mula was a little retiring as Mimì, but then everyone on the plateau would have seemed like that faced with the ebullience of Vittorio Grigolo.  Thank goodness the man can actually sing, he'd be fatiguing otherwise.  The Nozze was sort of humdrum, an orchestra far too much in retreat, a cast mostly good, but not outstanding, with one notable exception, Kate Lindsey's superb Cherubino.  Very definitely one to watch, there.

There's a Turandot due live from Orange on the 31st, in which much will no doubt depend on whether Alagna is on form or not.

[Next : Well, the 21st July is definitely off, and the next definite date is 19th September, but there should be something before then.]

No concert review tonight...

... because there were no concerts.  Due to "adverse weather conditions" (it is pretty wild and woolly out there tonight), both the city's concert halls have been closed.  I was looking forward to this one too - Bartok's "Bluebeard's Castle" was on the agenda.  Oh well....

Next event (weather permitting!) : Saturday 10th December.

Response to comment

Hi, Polaca Cabrera

I found I couldn't reply directly to your comment, much to my annoyance, so am responding in a new post.

No, I'm afraid I have no idea what Marcela Gonzalez's health problem was, but it was most likely the common cold.  It's all too easy to catch one in this country, especially if you're used to a warmer climate!