Saturday, 31 October 2009
Thursday, 29 October 2009
Tuesday, 27 October 2009
Support the elephants!
Well, I discovered these painted elephants on my way to Vincent van Gogh's Museum!
I then understood the purpose of this exhibition. For a good cause of course, as wild elephants are to be protected.
In fact life is to be protected these days, threats are so strong when we want to think about them.
I was wondering about the peaceful attitude of this country,thousands of bikes parked in front of offices, which is already a big step forward.
And these rows of elephants! Here are a few of them.
If I were a' happy few 'which one would I try to buy on Nov the 12th?
The blue elephant of course...There's one with white ears!
I thought about doing my own with sunflowers all over his ears and body, to be in tune.
The only music which came to my mind with the dream of parade elephants is Albert Roussel's Padmavati.
Monday, 26 October 2009
street musicians.
Saturday morning oct the 24th.
Memorable day.
Market day in Nijmegen, rainy intervals and a family atmosphere, lots of kids around!
This is my favourite activity, strolling along gently and looking around, stopping, watching what is going on, listening to this soft language which seems to my ears a cross between English and German. Now and again St Steven's chimes,discret and musical, while I taste one of these delicate honey stuffed biscuits which smell of cinnamon. Some local people are swallowing herrings covered in onions, on a barrel next to the fishstall.
Then comes the strange tune from an exotic looking musician...
The atmosphere is smooth, light, the water runs gently all around, the golden leaves
rustle softly in the air, these exotic sounds mingle with the voices.
A touch of live poetry is filling the air with a swift trip far away on the tones of the street musician !(This instrument is a Hang and the musician is Jaron Tripp)
Memorable day.
Market day in Nijmegen, rainy intervals and a family atmosphere, lots of kids around!
This is my favourite activity, strolling along gently and looking around, stopping, watching what is going on, listening to this soft language which seems to my ears a cross between English and German. Now and again St Steven's chimes,discret and musical, while I taste one of these delicate honey stuffed biscuits which smell of cinnamon. Some local people are swallowing herrings covered in onions, on a barrel next to the fishstall.
Then comes the strange tune from an exotic looking musician...
The atmosphere is smooth, light, the water runs gently all around, the golden leaves
rustle softly in the air, these exotic sounds mingle with the voices.
A touch of live poetry is filling the air with a swift trip far away on the tones of the street musician !(This instrument is a Hang and the musician is Jaron Tripp)
Wednesday, 21 October 2009
just a thought.
A fantastic good moment to remember.
I wonder if Sonia Ganassi is now a happy mother.
She is a real good mezzo, the type I enjoy listening to.
That was such an intense musical momentum at the Fenice!
It is strange to read so many awful lines written on blogs and opera-forums about singers, even when it seems people appreciate them, at one point or another the nasty remark occurs.
May be I do the same without really thinking I am being offensive toward some one who likes a lot that precise singer I am running down.
It is a strange feeling to be on the side of a singer people know better about his vocal condition than him and have been predicting all about what is happening since donkey years, and even call you a cheap audience for appreciating his singing!
Part of the game?
I still think of the amazing moments I shared with this artist, Rolando Villazon,I do not regret the trips I made to get there, Paris, Berlin, London, Barcelona, and I hope to be on the go soon for him again.
Tuesday, 20 October 2009
song for a dream: 'Addio..'
Sonia Prina's voice ... wll rock me gently to where Handel wants us to go...Addio...
Monday, 19 October 2009
Blog reading: Chez Opera chic ( very often with her, yes)
Hopefully, yes! He is back!
Arriving, on this rather dark shot, at the Gala Concert on Friday oct the 16th, Marseilles opera house,with his lovely wife, Lucia!
Extracts from Opera chic's blog which is part of my daily reading: Comments on Rolando's last video, telling us 'I am back' which is for me fantastic good news!
What is this Greek song? He must have sung it at the Megaron in Oct 08!
Has he recorded it?
I really do not know.
If it is on YT I will not find the English translation, I do not read Greek , so it is a rather tricky job!
May be some reader will help?
Who knows...
""Les Mitchell -" he is singing Επέστρεφε, a Greek song based on a text by the celebrated poet Cafavy :
*Return*
Return often and take me,
beloved sensation, return and take me --
when the memory of the body awakens,
and an old desire runs again through the blood;
when the lips and the skin remember,
and the hands feel as if they touch again.
Return often and take me at night,
when the lips and the skin remember....
Constantine P. Cavafy (1912)
Manou is answering Les Michell's question about a song Rolando sings , beginning with 'E'
So, reading the name of the famous Greek poet Constantin Cavafy, Marguerite Yourcenar's memories came back to my mind like a shot, yes she translated his poems into French and wrote a portrait of him in a collection of portraits 'Sous bénéfice d'inventaire'between Selma Lagerlöf's portrait and Piranèse's one.
I am expecting his voice and music on these lines.
Perhaps someone knows all about it?
Yes! somebody knew about it!
The answer came from Forum opera where I posted the same message (without the Marguerite Yourcenar passage) I am so pleased to be acquainted to these dedicated persons!
And here is Rolando singing this really moving love poem :
Epestrefe"LINK
Music by D. Papadimitriou
Poem by Kavafis
Arriving, on this rather dark shot, at the Gala Concert on Friday oct the 16th, Marseilles opera house,with his lovely wife, Lucia!
Extracts from Opera chic's blog which is part of my daily reading: Comments on Rolando's last video, telling us 'I am back' which is for me fantastic good news!
What is this Greek song? He must have sung it at the Megaron in Oct 08!
Has he recorded it?
I really do not know.
If it is on YT I will not find the English translation, I do not read Greek , so it is a rather tricky job!
May be some reader will help?
Who knows...
""Les Mitchell -" he is singing Επέστρεφε, a Greek song based on a text by the celebrated poet Cafavy :
*Return*
Return often and take me,
beloved sensation, return and take me --
when the memory of the body awakens,
and an old desire runs again through the blood;
when the lips and the skin remember,
and the hands feel as if they touch again.
Return often and take me at night,
when the lips and the skin remember....
Constantine P. Cavafy (1912)
Manou is answering Les Michell's question about a song Rolando sings , beginning with 'E'
So, reading the name of the famous Greek poet Constantin Cavafy, Marguerite Yourcenar's memories came back to my mind like a shot, yes she translated his poems into French and wrote a portrait of him in a collection of portraits 'Sous bénéfice d'inventaire'between Selma Lagerlöf's portrait and Piranèse's one.
I am expecting his voice and music on these lines.
Perhaps someone knows all about it?
Yes! somebody knew about it!
The answer came from Forum opera where I posted the same message (without the Marguerite Yourcenar passage) I am so pleased to be acquainted to these dedicated persons!
And here is Rolando singing this really moving love poem :
Epestrefe"LINK
Music by D. Papadimitriou
Poem by Kavafis
Sunday, 18 October 2009
song for a dream
Sounds from nature for a change !
From Pierrerue to Forqualquier, hiking slowly and gently in brisk air and
quiet sounds around, to finish at La Bonne Fontaine.
Paradise.
Too much opera singing in three days. ( Wonder what Rolando did to refresh his ears after that demanding period ... Hope he found peace and quiet like I did on saturday!)
From Pierrerue to Forqualquier, hiking slowly and gently in brisk air and
quiet sounds around, to finish at La Bonne Fontaine.
Paradise.
Too much opera singing in three days. ( Wonder what Rolando did to refresh his ears after that demanding period ... Hope he found peace and quiet like I did on saturday!)
Saturday, 17 October 2009
the gala concert pays hommage to Rolando Villazon.
Sunset in Marseilles on friday evening oct the 16th.
Thursday, 15 October 2009
Songs for bedtime
Rolando Villazon
Grisélidis (Massenet)
Je suis l'oiseau que le frisson d'hiver chasse de la ramée
Adieu! Adieu! La caresse embaumée!'
The finals on Friday night at Marseilles opera house
I feel like a seven year old kid, I can't wait! Because of all the excitement of having
attended the whole selection for two days and two evenings, and because of Rolando of course!
I know there are new prospects for him, somehow I have the feeling he will take part in the 2013 cultural events in our ancient, amazing and fine town.(Marseille, capitale européenne de la culture en 2013).
I had already written to him about that and when I had the great joy of meeting him briefly on tuesday morning (Although I felt I was disturbing, he had to meet the candidates), I told him my dream once more, and whether an ordinary person like me could do something to make the dream come true! He said with a smile 'Rien' (his speaking voice is already so charming!)," on en parle"... So let's dream and hope!!!
(yes what can an ordinary listener and fan can do!)
This is Rose Caron 's portrait,I would have liked Rolando's photo next to her, but it did not turn out like that! he is in front of Rosa!
Here is the list of the selected singers:
Amiel Kévin ténor France
Bandzak Filip baryton Tchéquie
Fritier Clémence Soprano France
Han Jeehye Soprano Corée de Sud
Jang Yu Ree Soprano Corée du Sud
Kim Minseok Ténor Corée du Sud
Lee Jaesig Ténor Corée du Sud
Melo Eduarda Soprano Portugal
Rivero Gaston Ténor USA
Vyatkina Veronika Russie
I have a real crush on the Russian mezzo's voice. For the semi-final she sang 'O mio Fernando'( La favorite, Donizetti) with beautiful musicality, like a cello cord holding a strong breath, I was really moved by her deep and warm voice with no jumping sounds from deep to high tones, beautiful rendition really! And in the hall I had the pleasure of meeting her. I told her I loved her singing. I met her again on tuesday, we had a chat about her expectations, what Rolando wanted her to sing for the finals, 'les lettres' Charlotte, I told her that her warm and deep voice will be great in that aria, she said she was at ease with the French language in that aria she had already studied. So I have very special thoughts for her, coming from Russia, having of course hopes in a good result.
I took a few shots of the hall on monday night at a break, they all looked tired.
Anxiety could be felt somehow. Such a big investement for these young singers coming from Corea, Russia, America, Australia, China !
Veronika is leaning against the glass show case. The young Corean family with their sweet toddler, I wish all of them great happiness in their lives.
I had so much joy listening to nearly all of them! How could I thank them for so much
pleasure? I keep my fingers crossed !
Wednesday, 14 October 2009
Caro nome...
During three auditions of this too famous 'Caro nome' at the singing contest in Marseilles Opera house on Monday, I had some difficulties in keeping serious because of dear Victor I had watched so often in England.
So here is the famous Victor Borge taking the mickey out of good old Rigoletto-Rigormortis:
So here is the famous Victor Borge taking the mickey out of good old Rigoletto-Rigormortis:
Tuesday, 13 October 2009
Mare Nostrum
Did he sing this bracing aria from La Gioconda when he walked along the 'Old port' perhaps stopped and watched the fishing boats, and gazed at the horizon, which changes colours so often during the day?
I would have liked to ask him if he had time to enjoy this special place, where
he spent the week-end and will come to spend the next one,the Opera house is just round the corner!
Friday, 9 October 2009
Postcard to Mum.
At this time of the year I was offered a pomegranate, round and red, and amazingly bright and juicy inside with thousands of shiny purple pearls packed in very tight rows separated by yellow soft partitions. It was fairly difficult to extract the pearls without crushing them and tearing the yellow partitions. So I ended up contemplating this amazing architecture for fear of damaging it. I hardly ate these pearls. Luckily this amazing fruit dries up and even now I keep it, like in those days.
And this is what I can find in my memory with your voice of that time:
Mum, that was a real treat.
Is it a coïncidence? I am spending most of my time here:
And this is what I can find in my memory with your voice of that time:
Mum, that was a real treat.
Is it a coïncidence? I am spending most of my time here:
Thursday, 8 October 2009
Broken pieces, broken lives
Wozzeck, opera Bastille, Friday oct the 2nd. Last performance.
Marthaler's old production has proved its efficiency though completely different from what Alban Berg wrote for his opera. Here it is set in one spot,a cafeteria which could be in a hyper market opening on a chidren's playground,with people, children, coming and going. what has vanished is the water element, so important in the libretto adapted from Georg Büchner's play, where Marie will disappear stabbed by her obsessed companion and father of her son, where Wozzeck and his knife will sink, where the doctor and the officer will take their last evening stroll, not giving one single thought to these poor souls they had utterly persecuted when they were alive.
This warehouse of all the human flaws,injuries,breaks and deaths, is in fact a strong concentration of modern despair,the music going very well with its dreadful design. Atonality, jumping sounds, high sharp notes played on violins or strong rhapsodic drummings, cries,laughters, that special utterances neither sung nor talked, all contributed to this desperate picture of humanity.
Wozzeck was the French baritone Vincent Le Texier. He had the look of the character and his dark voice not really resounding could fit that depressed and obsessed hero , who is constantly humiliated by his fellow men. Marie is no longer in love with him, she can feel he is so much disturbed that she can no longer help him, being herself at the bottom of the scale, not a married woman with child. So humiliation and obsessions are their share. Waltraud Meier gave the role a stunning interpretation, whatwith her looks and voice. She had that modern appearance of being worn out by life, and yet had deep sincere outburts towards that child of theirs who behaves like an autistic child, in such an alianated world. I must admit that seeing her sitting in that bleak cafe light, in jeans and white shirt, short hair and rather heavy make-up on, made me feel upset and uneasy and when she decides, like after all, she could not care less, to go out with the Drum Major, she had an incredible look, the orchestral thundering tells us the end of that story, with the child waiting for his Mum, opposite the door where she disappeared with the Drum Major. Very bleak atmosphere where voices are reaching amazing heights . They were all very good. I had only listened to the Maderna opera film with Sena Jurinac as Marie. What I discovered that night was really extremely convincing.The Drum Major was Stefan Margita with an amazing look, a cross between Nigel Kennedy and Elton Jones! He was excellent in his macho-pig role. and extreme urban violence. The last scene has an orchestral interlude which at that point of the action made me sob. I realised it was a requiem for our human condition ridden by sex, violence, humiliation and alianation. The children are the last ones to be heard and seen singing, telling that poor child what he had to know about his dead Mum, kids lost in a world where adults cannot look after them, cannot give them love. (It is the last picture when the curtain is falling. Like a schoolroom. Tragic end). There was heavy silence before a thunder of applause.
Apart from three silent periods (corresponding to the end of acts) it had been non-stop for more than an hour and a half. Atonality is fascinating. I knew it because I have already listened to Pierre Boulez conducting extracts from Pierrot Lunaire some years ago.
It took me quite a while to move and get out of Bastille . I was relieved when I met some friends and came back on firm ground. I needed a glass of wine.
Tuesday, 6 October 2009
Rolando! that video is back again !
This is the first video I favoured when I started my Youtube channel two years ago!
Then it disappeared and the author explained he was happy, his Amor was back,so he took it away or I guessed so!
And last night, feeling half bored, half depressed and sleepless I was checking Rolando's melodies on youtube. (When I come back from intense live opera performances I always feel empty, the anticlimax after the extreme of joy and emotions).
And there it was back and that was it!I like the pathos of this melody and the pictures chosen which can be used for inventing several stories. Rolando's voice here is the only suitable one I can imagine, with tears at the back of his ringing tones!
Well,I do hope the author of this video is not too unhappy again, but I do feel moved to see it back and if it disappears I will know the cause...
Monday, 5 October 2009
lend me your eyes!
Lately, in Aix- en -Provence and in Paris on friday afternoon, I saw nature, still life, women, children, love, sex, and death through their eyesights.
It was a kind of revival, rediscovering some emotions I had buried long ago. Through their respective colours, curves or angles, life looked different and was more significant than in the past years. Probably because life is at a standstill, personal worries being numbed for a while.
Cézanne's sceneries and colours are familiar to me, and Picasso's vision is nearly
understandable now, though I have always been moved by the curves of his women's nudes and the weeping Dora Maar.
Friday afternoon with Renoir at the Grand Palais was pleasant, but not really moving.
I admired the huge decorative nudes, the quiet beauties of the flesh, and above all these blue, blurred eyes, giving very soft looks in almost all the chubby women's faces he painted.
He seemed so keen on depicting quiet familiar life, which seemed somehow a little boring. No tragic vision, just decorative flesh and splendid impressions of silky, fluffy material of elegant women's dresses. Peaceful children as well, playing the piano, reading, practising writing, gorgeous babes being breast-fed. Too idealised family life ? Why not? It is a happy vision withouth Picasso's meaningful double take.
A quiet and pleasant journey before the thunderstorm which was ahead of me with the night at Bastille opera house and the last performance of Wozzeck.
Thursday, 1 October 2009
Major thought for myself.
2020 vision campaign.
My grandchildren will be 15 and 18.
Theodore Monod
I am a great admirer of his life protest against nuclear weapons.
I am a great admirer of his life long search for rare plants in the desert,
and meanwhile of his discoveries on human soul.
The mayor of the small city where I live does not participate.
But some other town around like Aubagne have joined in.
So, I feel connected!
(There is no music and too many to choose for peace
so I select the music of one's heart).
My grandchildren will be 15 and 18.
Theodore Monod
I am a great admirer of his life protest against nuclear weapons.
I am a great admirer of his life long search for rare plants in the desert,
and meanwhile of his discoveries on human soul.
The mayor of the small city where I live does not participate.
But some other town around like Aubagne have joined in.
So, I feel connected!
(There is no music and too many to choose for peace
so I select the music of one's heart).
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