La Damnation de Faust

It's not strictly an opera but rather a symphonic poem as I learned today. La Damnation de Faust is based on Goethe's legendary Faust, composed by Berlioz and staged as a "dramatic legend" by the Met.

We witnessed a new direction the opera has taken as the Met under Peter Gelb's management mixed traditional stage set with cutting edge software technology. It was hailed as the marriage between theatre and state-of-the-art video technology. Holger Forterer a German interactive video designer takes the credit for using this technology for set design. This was done skillfully without the video imagery overwhelming the music or drama. The images were not pre-recorded, rather the performers, acrobats, dancers and singers contribute to the projection through their movements or the pitch of their voices.

The producer Robert Lepage is known for his Cirque du Soleil production of Ka among others. To the unschooled like myself in this type of production, the set appeared to be a cold metal scaffolding of sorts with boxed compartments resembling the old Hollywood Squares television board which is a stack of open-faced cubicles.

But it is more than that. There were elaborate changes taking place, video projections on the stage, acrobatic and classical dance and of course the Met boasting its talented mezzo-soprano Susan Graham as Marguerite, Marcello Giordani as Faust and John Reylea as Mephistopheles. James Levine could not have been the perfect conductor bringing back this production to the Met. It has not been performed here in over 100 years.

Not everyone though was thrilled with this innovative style. At intermission, overheard in the ladies room line was a little old lady chastising Peter Gelb for his approach to this production. "It's utter nonsense", she declared. "Purely and totally nonsense. You can teach dogs, monkeys and horses to walk backwards too. This is not an opera. It's a symphonic poem and it belongs to the cinema!".

Outspoken and opinionated, she takes a very firm stand against this and all future productions under Gelb's flagship and swore that she'll write the Met out of her will and will not renew her subscription of 60 years. She is one dissatisfied benefactor. All because of change from tradition.

La Damnation de Faust where art meets technology. I feel privileged to have witnessed this change. (Sorry about the blurry picture of the stage; that was a strictly forbidden stolen shot).

Simply the best

The roads were empty on the way to New Jersey but as usual the expected happened. Between Mapquest's sucky directions and Jersey's horrible road signs, I don't know who to curse; we missed a turn and ended up in a gas station for help. This I was trying to avoid since we are not on friendly territory. If you've driven on the Jersey Turnpike you know you're toast if you miss an exit or a turn!

I was disappointed that the Prudential Center Arena with an 18,000 seating capacity wasn't filled to the roof. Our seats were perfect mezzanine center, it was too bad that I was such a jerk to be so "law-abiding" not to bring a camera. I saw lots of people taking pictures, not fair. Security check even made me dump my can of ginger ale and bottled water into the trash. So mean!

The minute Tina got on stage half-hour late, the arena rocked. However I found the New Jersey audience to be a little subdued compared to the New York crowds.

The 69 year old still sexy but classy Tina was energy-packed and her voice seems to be more powerful than ever. Wearing those 6-inch spike heels and doing her signature leg twitches and kicks, body and head shakes, she displayed such physical stamina most women in their 60's would have long lost. Her singing remains flawless as she reached her golden age, the crowd roaring as she sang What's Love Got to Do With It, Al Green's Let's Stay Together, The Beatles' Help, Creedence Clearwater Revival's Proud Mary, Private Dancer, Simply The Best and a host of other old and new songs.

The band electrified the stage, the whole set and the show with the dancers, back-up singers and the pyrotechnic display was a blast! She began to sing Proud Mary with a series of nice and easy body sways that teased the audience and finally broke into an explosion that's Tina Turner's trademark.

She was great, seemed fearless as she was lifted by a cherry picker several feet above the band on stage, and continued to sing and dance on what looked like a narrow slippery runway.

What a performance! Age-defying, strong and still sexy, sometimes referred to as the female Mick Jagger, Tina Turner is simply the best.

Giving thanks

Day of giving thanks and we did.
I'm grateful for good health and the things that matter.

Yesterday I got a call from a good friend who offered a couple of tickets to the concert of Tina Turner tonight at the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ. How can I say no to that? Not even on Thanksgiving Day. This is Tina Turner my goodness, what is there to think about? Free, mezzanine premium seats ($100 each) and the show doesn't start until 7:30 pm anyway, so we have plenty of time.

We didn't waste any time -picked up the tickets, quickly said our thank yous and hurried back home. Chong had to rearrange the schedule such that we'll have early dinner (she always invites us for Thanksgiving at her place), then leave for NJ around 4:30 pm. Good enough for me, I'm not the one who's driving. Not to New Jersey anyway! It's the pits we always get lost. And at night? Fuggedaboudit!

I'll tell you all about it tomorrow, I'm sure Tina is going to bring the house down.

Proud Mary keeps on burnin', rollin', rollin'....

Now I have one more thing to thank God for - these priceless tickets that just came from nowhere. Am I lucky or what? See 'ya later.

Far from the madding crowd

We visit places, take home souvenirs and often times never bother to check for their authenticity or meaning. Maybe we doze off as the tour guide provided the commentary or were too busy taking photos; whatever it is, I now have this need to jog my memory.

This wooden paper weight has sat on my desk for the longest. It’s labeled “From the yew tree Stoke Poges Church”. Not having seen one, I decided to look up the significance of the yew tree.

Check this out. Most parts of the tree are toxic. No wonder I’m getting occasional memory lapses and brain freeze and as a result, often I just stare and suffer from blogger’s block. Thanks to yew!

Ironically it is also the source of a potent chemotherapeutic cancer drug (Taxol). The alkaloid or bioactive chemical can be extracted from the bark of the tree. We might recall how Al Gore and other environmentalists were strongly opposed to this since it will end up killing the trees. The yew is associated with Wales and England and commonly found in the church yards. They can live as long as 2000 years and have become a symbol of life but sometimes also referred to as the “tree of death” because it is poisonous. The only part which isn't is the fleshy part of the seed.

It is all coming back to me now, after nearly two decades. We visited this very old tiny church Stoke Poges is the name, in the countryside of England. According to the literature, in 1750 it is in this church graveyard that the poet Thomas Gray wrote his masterpiece Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard. Remember the phrase – "Far from the madding crowd"? He later was buried beside his mother also in this churchyard. Related to this are the spin-offs taken from the famous line - Far From the Madding Crowd, an 1874 novel which is a portrait of English rural life, by Thomas Hardy and later in 1967 a film production where Julie Christie played the central character Bathsheba. It’s good to learn that even in those days when it was not fashionable for a woman to be independent there was Bathsheba who broke the mold.

The photos I took (before the days of digital cameras) were a reminder of how beautiful and tranquil this place was. The church pews were made of thick wooden planks that have shown their age. The place, peaceful and truly an ideal breeding ground for churchyard poets. Far from the maddening crowd, indeed. Below is the Litch Gate entrance to the church and graveyard.

All these and more. Amidst this frenzied society, Long live the yew tree!

From the top

Gingko, water tanks and music

Road hog Maria, aka Maria Andretti, got us in Manhattan early enough for a quick bite (an expensive slice of pizza), cold seats at the pizza parlor and a heated argument with Judy about the term Long Island and how Queens is part of it! No way can this be accurate. The Hampton yuppies are going to cringe at the thought that the middle class residents of Queens (I'm one of them) are considered Long Islanders! Wait till I get home and research it, Judy.

The object was to be at Mannes College for Music for the 4:30 pm chamber music performance. It goes without saying that Cecilia always finds something interesting along the way to note and take a picture of. The operative word is interesting but you might argue that the term is relative.

The gingko leaves (as in gingko biloba? Yes) on the ground are a manifestation of the end of Fall. These are beautiful trees whose fan-shaped leaves turn radiant yellows in autumn and line the streets of Manhattan. It is the same plant being touted by some researchers as having the ability to aid in retarding senility or Alzheimer's symptoms. I stopped Judy from munching on the leaves! Too late my friend. Shown in the picture is the naked gingko tree standing above the cold pavement.

Note the water tanks atop the roofs. Like red barns are a part of a farm scene, these wooden water storage tanks that dot the roofs of the City are a part of its skyline. Due to low water pressure, buildings over six stories high, pump water to these storage tanks for delivery by gravity to the lower floors as needed. Why wooden? I guess for better insulation.

Now, the program at Mannes Colllege. Three groups of students in their early 20's I'm guessing, performed Haydn, Britten and Olivier Messiaen compositions for quartet, respectively. Without a conductor I always felt that chamber music ensembles have a difficult task of harmonizing without overpowering each other's instrument, but these students seemed to have perfected that.

The young cellist performing the Haydn piece was so expressive, the Japanese violinist well-poised and all four complimented each other in delivering a magnificent String Quartet in C major, op. 74 no.1. The Britten piece was for oboe and string trio and again, the oboe solo was just a feast for the ears and emotions.

The most interesting of all was the Quartet for the End of Time by Olivier Messiaen. A religious Catholic, he wrote this composition while incarcerated in the concentration camps. It was first performed with his fellow musician prisoners to an audience of inmates and prison guards. What an unshakeable faith, with titles such as Praise to the eternity of Jesus and Praise to the immortality of Jesus.

The clarinet, cello and violin solos did justice to the theme of this 8-movement composition. In the middle of the cello solo, we elbowed one another when we observed how strange that this student was holding the bow differently, grasping it from the bottom where the bow hairs are, rather than the bow stick or I think they call it "frog"? It turned out that this talented fellow has only two fingers in his right hand, resembling lobster claw. This gave more meaning to his exemplary performance. Bravo, Brian Sanders.

Bravo to Judy also. Did we bet on this one, Maria? She's right, geographically Queens is part of Long Island; politically it is a borough on its own and part of New York City. Should I trust Wikipedia?

Saint Cecilia

Saint Cecilia and an Angel

by Orazio Gentileschi c. 1617

November 22nd - today is the feast day of Saint Cecilia, the patron saint of music and my namesake. (*Disclaimer : I'm not gifted with musical talent, it's not my birthday today, I am not a candidate for sainthood.)

Today is also the anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. We miss you Mr. President.

Happy feast day, Saint Cecilia.

Less is more

Life nowadays is too complex so let me just focus on a simple thing and leave the checking of portfolios and serious thinking to the scholars and economic pundits.

A distraction from the bone-penetrating 20F temperatures and the nose-diving economy, all day yesterday I went through my files which seemingly gets bigger and bigger each day. This is what I'd call an exercise in "voluntary simplicity". I'm not proud to declare that I have an aversion to pack rats. Luckily the disorder hasn't afflicted me so I swear just shoot me when that happens.

I'd also like to believe that I'm not alone in this; once a year I weed out my files and grudgingly let go of the ones that are old and have no room in the cabinet. I just hope the old connotation doesn't give my family an idea that they can get rid of me when I reach that stage. Slowly getting there but not feeling it yet. Side note: Soylent Green. For those of you who are too young to be familiar with this 1973 sci-fi film, I'd say just Google it and then borrow and watch it!

Paper, paper everywhere - there's just too much of it, catalogs, newspapers, supermarket circulars, you name it. And all unsolicited. There is no end in sight. And we're wondering where all the money is going and why there is a need to save planet Earth?

Mayor Bloomberg is thinking "outside the bag" by proposing a 6-cents charge to the customer for every plastic bag the grocer hands out. Great idea. You go green, Mr. Mayor. It's about time, was it in Amsterdam where I observed this practice?

Downsize, scale back, minimalize or simplify, whatever the buzzword is, maybe that's the solution. Anyway, my bagful of confetti went for recycling. That's my small contribution. What a great invention this paper shredder, don't you think?