Dalek Invasion of China

It seems my observation about the Dalek-like appearance of characters Ping, Pang, and Pong in Vancouver Opera's production of Turandot was not totally off-base.

On this web page the following revelation is made:

The Doctor was with composer Giacomo Puccini when he died in Brussels on November 29, 1924 (Doctor Who TVM)

Could the costume designer be a fan of The Doctor?

Opera Review: Turandot

Turandot
Vancouver Opera
Queen Elizabeth Theatre
Saturday October 29 7:30pm

Vancouver Opera opened its 2005-2006 season with Giacomo Puccini's final opera. When the new earlier start time of 7:30pm arrived we got a surprise announcement by General Director James Wright. Usually when the General Director comes onstage with an announcement it's something bad like the soprano has laryngitis. Fortunately he was just delaying the starting time by a few minutes to accomodate the latecomers who didn't notice the earlier start time which was plastered on all Vancouver Opera billboards, posters, mailings, websites, and advertisements.

After about a 10 minute delay, the four guards in black who had discreetly moved onto stage tore away the yellow curtains and the opera launched into action right away without an overture. This was the first of many interesting production touches. The minimalist set was dominated by a large rear-projected screen at the back of the stage. Images and color washes projected on the screen suggested a set and created a mood. The actual set pieces were tall, bamboo-like, moveable scaffolding pieces.

This setup was used to convey symbolic meaning. The common people were at ground level. Turandot, the courtiers, and the Emperor were above everyone on the scaffolds. As the opera unfolds Turandot progressively descends from her remoteness until she is at last on ground level with Calaf.

I also noticed the symbolic use of colour although I'm not sure what it all meant. The first act opens with a yellow curtain, the Mandarin in yellow, and Turandot veiled in ghostly white. The second act starts with a green curtain and Turandot in a green costume. The third act starts with a blue curtain and Turandot in a blue costume. The final scene starts with a red curtain which seems to symbolize the love between Calaf and Turandot.

Another interesting aspect of production were the costumes which were not strictly ancient Chinese in appearance. The guards looked like would be at home in a Star Wars film. The wheeled outfits for Ping, Pang, and Pong reminded me of Doctor Who's Daleks. When they are trying to dissuade Calaf from trying to court Turandot I half expected them to tell him he would be exterminated!

On the music side, the large chorus was quite impressive. From the turbulence of the opening scene to the celebration of the final scene they carried the grandness of this opera. Also impressive was the children's chorus.

I was initially having doubts about tenor Renzo Zulian (Calaf). He was difficult to hear in the first act. However, he seemed to find his voice in the second act. And he redeemed himself with me on the all important "Nessun dorma!" which starts the third act.

Soprano Audrey Stottler (Turandot) has a big dramatic voice which easily carried through the rafters especially when's she's right up there on a scaffold. We don't get to hear her until the second act when she delivers the role of the cruel and remote ice princess. Although I have to say her stature is more queen than princess so some suspension of disbelief is required.

Soprano Sally Dibblee (Liu) steals the show with the best performance. Her role is the most sympathetic and she sings it with very touching emotion. The audience thought so too with the loudest applause for her.

It's a good start to this very dramatic opera season. I'm looking forward to more music, singing, and beheadings next time in Dialogues of the Carmelites.

Concert Review: VEJI 25th Anniversary Concert

Vancouver Ensemble of Jazz Improvisation
Vancouver East Cultural Centre
October 28 8:00pm

Hugh Fraser's ensemble of Vancouver's finest jazz musicians celebrated its silver anniversary in top form in the intimate space of the VECC. Freshly back from their lockout, the CBC crew was recording this outstanding concert for posterity. After 25 years, individually these players are at the top of their game, and as a group they are tight as a drum.

The first half of the show was a musical retrospective highlighting some of the group's finest works. Fraser got the crowd and musicians warmed up with the rollicking The Key of Love.

Fraser's inspiration for his compositions comes from diverse sources as the next piece Leda's Song is based on the classic Greek myth of Leda and the Swan. This one featured solos by Bill Runge on baritone saxophone as the swan and singer Christine Duncan as Leda.

I've never thought of a choral mass as music that really swings but Fraser's Mass in C minor does. We got a taste of the two final movements of the piece and I think I need to hear the full mass with chorus sometime.

Skreeab Bop got the joint bouncing again and ended the set. This diverse selection of music really showed off Fraser's wide ranging imagination and compositional skills as well as the band's talent in pulling off these tunes.

After the intermission, Hugh Fraser premiered his latest large scale composition. The one hour long Canadian Dedication Suite was the highlight of the evening. Written to let almost all the players show off their chops they were more than up to the task. Ross Taggart had a hard swinging tenor saxophone solo. Vince Mai's trumpet solo had him quick switching from one trumpet to another. Hugh Fraser's solo had him playing the grand piano in every way possible including from the inside. Christine Duncan's solo demonstrated the versatility of her voice--sounding like the blare of a trumpet one minute to the low raspy sound of a throat singer the next. The rhythm section showed of their talents with the incredibly tight interplay of percussion and drums by Jack Duncan and Dave Robbins respectively. The piece went to the edge with Brad Muirhead going wild on the bass trombone along with Rod Murray on trombone.

After a standing ovation for an amazing hour of blisteringly energetic music, the band closed with the cheeky Thank You Very Much. Fraser took up his trombone and turned over the piano to Ross Taggart, as Christine Duncan belted out the lyrics to send the happy crowd home.

Here's hoping for another 25 years of great music from 16 of the West Coast's finest musicians.

Concert Review: West Coast Symphony

West Coast Symphony
Christ Church Cathedral
Friday October 14 8:00pm

Under the steady hand of conductor Bujar Llapaj and with guest pianist Noel McRobbie, the West Coast Symphony put on a tremendous opening concert for their 2005-2006 season. With the depart of conductor Clyde Mitchell who challenged and grew the amateur orchestra artistically under his tenure I was wondering if that development would continue. Fortunately it sounds like it has.

The concert opened with Felix Mendelssohn's Hebrides Overture. While the title may not be familiar to everyone the music is instantly recognizable. The piece really suggests the sound of the crashing waves of the North Sea onto a Scottish beach on a dark and stormy night. I was definitely hankering for a wee dram to keep out the North Atlantic chill.

Also immediately recognizable are the first notes of Edvard Grieg's Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 16. Guest pianist Noel Robbie's beautiful performance earned him an extended standing ovation.

Johannes Brahms' Symphony No. 4 in E minor, Op. 98 concluded the concert. I wasn't previously familiar with this piece. The third movement is joyous sounding and a contrast to the slow, brooding second movement.

Opera Review: Naomi's Road

Naomi's Road
An opera for young people commissioned by Vancouver Opera
Norman Rothstein Theatre
Saturday October 1 3:00pm

I was going to write a review on Naomi's Road but there's nothing more I can really add to what Todd has written. Read his excellent review.

VIFF Review: Punk: Attitude

A funny thing happened on the way to the theatre. Well, in the theatre actually. The projector was not working and the theatre staff left us in the dark for 10 minutes. Whether they were intentionally trying to give us some attitude or just incompetent will probably never be known because the film did finally start.

Punk: Attitude [PUNKA] is a concise history of punk music. Punk was a rebellion against the prevailing trends in popular music of the 1970's. The self indulgent excesses of progressive rock galvanized a younger generation to express themselves with the minimum of musical skill and a maximum of attitude.

The film is largely made up of interviews with the surviving participants, and many of them have survived their sex, drugs, and rock and roll phase into middle age. Chrissie Hynde (The Pretenders) is looking a lot older than I remember when I last saw her at the Commodore about 10 years ago. Henry Rollins (Black Flag) looks quite fit, and gets the most screen time as his rapid delivery gives him the most to say. Others punk luminaries interviewed include Siouxsie Sioux (Siouxsie and the Banshees), Mick Jones (The Clash), and David Johansen (New York Dolls).

The family tree of bands is traced out starting with the New York scene which was centred on the CBGB Club. Amusingly the club initials stand for Country, Blue Grass, Blues. The New York Dolls inspired the Velvet Underground, Patti Smith, and the Ramones. The punk movement soon crossed the Atlantic and London groups formed such as the Sex Pistols, and The Clash.

Every music has its heyday and fickle pop fans soon moved on to the New Wave of the 1980's. Even so punk never really went away and groups like Sonic Youth, and the Dead Kennedys kept its ethos alive in the 1980's. In the 1990's Nirvana and the Seattle grunge sound blasted onto the scene for a new generation of disaffected youth. Today's groups like Blink 182, and Green Day are more considered punk-lite or pop-punk.

Where has the DIY rebellion gone? The film posits that the modern day punk rocker is as likely to be found on the Internet as on stage--building websites, organizing protests, and mixing tracks with Logic Pro. The punk ethos survives.

VIFF Review: Abdullah Ibrahim - A Struggle for Love

Abdullah Ibrahim - A Struggle for Love [ABDUL] is a short 60 minute film about the great South African jazz pianist. We meet him at his house in Cape Town where he makes his home. He playfully shows us the acoustically designed features of his music studio including acoustic curtains and adjustable window shutters which tune the room sound. After years of exile, his joy in being able to live again in his beloved hometown in freedom is palpable.

We visit a school with a music room named after him. The teacher introduces Ibrahim to her students. One adorable little girl plays a composition she wrote for him. After the visit Ibrahim comments on how far post-apartheid South Africa has come but also how much it has to go. The little girl risks her life each day coming to school in the crossfire of gang violence in her poor neighbourhood.

Ibrahim tells us of the risks of his childhood. He did not really know his natural father because he was murdered when Ibrahim was four years old. He did not get along with step father and left home at age 17. As a young man he had to leave again--this time the country--to escape the repressive apartheid regime. Music clubs were closed down, and once he was forced at gunpoint to stop playing.

He wound up in exile in Zurich, Switzerland where he played with his trio at the Africana Club. There he meets his wife Sathima Bea Benjamin and his life takes a big turn. Benjamin manages to make her way backstage to Duke Ellington's dressing room and convinces him to see Ibrahim and his trio at the club. Ellington is impressed and invites them to Paris to recording with him.

Ibrahim's international career is launched and he moves again to New York. While Sathima is happy there, he is not. He reveals his struggles with drugs and alcohol. Converting to Islam gave him the tools to reconcile with himself, his family, and his country. He could now move on to handle the creative struggles and come into his own musically.

VIFF Review: Elliot Carter: A Labyrinth of Time

I was not previously familiar with American composer Elliot Carter before seeing this film. Born in 1908 and now in his 90's he's still composing classical music, traveling to have his work performed, and walking the streets of his hometown New York City.

Carter has a different sensibility about music than many other modern composers. His notion of time is the human experience of it which can vary greatly according to mood as opposed to the regular mechanical tick of the clock. His music is always changing, avoiding repetition, and flowing irregularly to its own mood. You would never mistake him for Philip Glass.

Interestingly both he and Glass studied with Nadia Boulanger who taught many of the greats of American 20th century music. (A film on her would be fascinating in its own right.) The film takes us to Paris where Carter revisits Boulanger's school, and he recounts stories about her rigorous lessons. Carter later meets up with his friend composer Pierre Boulez who will be conducting one of his works. Together they mark up the score and make adjustments for the orchestra as we listen in on the rehearsal process.

A broad range of his compositions from string quartet, to vocal, to opera are well presented in the film. A choir gives a wonderful demonstration of multipart counterpoint. Segments of the Berlin production of his opera What Next? which depicts the aftermath of a traffic accident are interspersed with the World Trade Center aftermath. Was that emergency worker part of the opera or 9/11?

Much of the film interview is shot in Carter's New York apartment where he has lived together with his wife Helen since the end of World War II. From their windows you get a view of the New York skyline including the omnipresent World Trade Center towers. The figures of the towers loom in the background throughout the film like ghosts. To reinforce the fluid sense of time many of the New York skyline images are filmed in grainy sepia tone and mixed with historical footage to confuse the past and present.

At the end of the film Carter puts the 9/11 events into their historical perspective along with all the others he has witnessed. He is ever hopeful that people will improve to meet the challenges of living in increasing complicated times and when they do they will finally learn to like his music.

VIFF Review: Hell on Wheels

Hell on Wheels [HELLO] is the emotional story of the 2003 Tour de France as seen by the racers who aren't named Lance Armstrong. While all are elite athletes you must be exceptional among the elite to win this most grueling three week challenge.

Historical footage puts the race into context. Starting in 1903 with just 60 riders it has become a national and international institution. Although it was a shorter race back then at only(!) 2500 km compared with today's 3400 km those early racers had none of the modern comforts like support crews, generous sponsors, live media coverage, and paved roads.

We follow the journey of Team Telekom. With their hot pink jerseys they are easy pick out of the pack. Using extensive close-up photography we are right there with them on the road experiencing the highs and lows of the race. Erik is the team captain and veteran of many tours who may no longer be at the top of his game. We feel his frustration as he trails hot on the leader but time after time comes in second.

The support members of the team are vital to the cyclists. At the end of every day the team doctor Eule massages the worn out racers. When a terrifying crash involving dozens of racers takes down one team member it is Eule who wields the stiff brush to painfully remove the dirt and stones from his road rash--another recipient of the official tattoo of the race. Eule also tends to their mental health with his calm, fatherly manner.

The mountain stages are breathtaking for all. The beautiful scenery delights the spectators but the steep, narrow, winding roads takes the wind out of the riders. As agonizing as the ride up is, the ride down is a test of nerve. Reaching speeds up to 90 km/h the potential for disaster is just a split second or a slippery patch away.

The final stage in Paris is a heady one for the remaining riders as it seems the entire city turns out to cheer them on. Making to this point is an accomplishment in itself. With their last ounce of strength they have one last chance for victory in the stage. No matter the outcome these men have shown the world they are champions. As the riders cross the finish line for the final time you can see the look of relief on their faces. All the stresses and heartache of the last three weeks are behind them and they can finally rest.

VIFF Review: Everything Blue: The Color of Music

Everything Blue: The Color of Music [EVERY] opens in the pre-dawn twilight on the waters of Salvador de Bahia's harbour. Out of the darkness an unearthly beautiful note soars through the air. The figure of the singer is silhouetted against the brightening sky. This is the dramatic introduction of Virginia Rodrigues who could be Jessye Norman's long lost Brazilian niece. With the voice of an opera singer she has risen out of poverty and become one of Brazil's foremost voices on music and social justice.

We are are also introduced to Mae, a former prostitute now in her 80's. "Black Mother" as she is called runs a house in a Salvador favela which takes in homeless children. In addition to giving her kids a roof and food she gives them hope and purpose by involving them in her "Black Mother's Band".

Rodrigues, Mae, and her kids are the face of the Black experience in Brazil. The descendants of the African slaves brought here to work the land are still very much at the bottom of the social order. But through all the hardship they have managed to retain their culture and thereby made an enormous contribution to Brazilian culture. By disguising their worship of the old animistic religion Candomble within the Catholic worship they kept their original faith. The spiritual and folk songs which survived are distinctly African sounding and represent the purest legacy of their African heritage.

From Salvador we fly to Rio de Janeiro where the African songs were transformed into samba. We meet the Old Guard of the Laporta Samba School. They are the most senior members of the school who preserve its traditions and pass it on to the younger members. They are totally dedicated to the school--some of them have even forsaken marriage and children. From them we learn the origin of the film title: Everything Blue is the title of a samba which translates to "everything OK" and sums up their whole attitude towards life's hardships.

Hardship follows even this music most identified with Brazil. At one point samba was officially banned. Raids were conducted where concerts were played and musicians' instruments were confiscated by the police. Samba was the music of the favelas, of the disreputable segments of society and had to be repressed. Unfortunately the film only mentions this in passing. It would have been interesting to learn more about this suppression of samba.

An interesting inclusion is the female impersonator Rogeria. S/he is a force of nature outlandish, camp and steals the scenes s/he's in. S/he appears to be a popular figure so it's hard to determine from the film what the real attitudes towards non-heterosexuals are in Brazilian society.

The film concludes at the famous Sambadromo where the Carnival samba competition is held. Spectacular hardly begins to describe the scene. A huge float with a gigantic animatronic eagle holding a perch with a dancer is lead by a procession of dancers in impossibly colorful, feathered, sequined, and outlandish costumes all moving to that irresistible samba beat. And that's just first of many in this intensely creative and passionate competition.

We get to see the end of the show where the floats are disassembled and the dancers disperse. Rogeria appears to congratulate the performers and laments on the end of Carnival: where for a brief time the poorest of Rio's inhabitants can imagine themselves as someone else in fantastic circumstances.

I got lucky again, the film director Jesse Acevedo was in the audience and we had a Q&A session.

VIFF Review: Arvo Part: 24 Preludes for a Fugue

Arvo Part is one of the most well known living composers in the classical music world today. Using the musical analogy of 24 preludes for a fugue this film paints an impressionistic portrait of Part's life and work in 24 named scenes.

With his bald pate, and salt and pepper beard, Part has a grandfatherly look about him. His soft spoken, scholarly demeanor, and unassuming presence are reflected in his music. His music is austere, reverent, elegiac, haunting, and contemplative.

Part contemplates his youth and shares several stories of his childhood. He speaks fondly of his music teacher from his Estonian hometown. He tells us of the broken down piano he practiced on. It was missing hammers so he had to constantly rearrange the remaining ones to fit the keys he played. We get a glimpse of the boy inside the man in one scene where Part pauses to listen to the sounds of a lush green courtyard.

Inspiration does not seem to come instantly to Part. His neatly written scores are just a starting point. He is constantly writing, listening, and revising. It's interesting to see that many of the improvements come about by deleting and simplifying passages. Much of his music develops in collaboration with the musicians performing his work. Even with an old piece there are changes to be made to fit with a new group.

Throughout the film his wife Eleonora is close by--out of frame but within earshot. She seems to be the practical one in the relationship and takes care of the details of living while Part composes. She is his closest confidant and critic. The film ends with them together on a picnic in the woods, walking down the path with arms wrapped around each other.

VIFF Review: Brasileirinho

Brasileirinho [BRASI] is the story of the oldest Brazilian musical style, choro. I use the term "story" loosely as really there was no story, just the barest narrative about the history of choro and a showcase of musicians and their amazing performances. The best way to explain choro is to experience it and that's what this film does.

The first performance is by Trio Madeira Brasil who give you enough of a taste of choro for you to want more. Three guys on six string guitar, seven string guitar, and mandolin put out a seamlessly interwoven sound that just hooks you, and hints at the possibilities ahead.

Starting with this trio other musicians are added to build up the choro sound. Brass and wind instruments like the clarinet, trumpet, and trombone are included. The most surprising addition to unfamiliar ears is the tambourine. While everyone is familiar with the simple use of the tambourine as basic rhythm, in choro it is peer to any other instrument. In the right hands, that complexity of sound and performance is possible on the tambourine as well.

By far my favorite performances were by 25 year-old Yamandu Costa on seven string guitar. Both his solo performances are so compelling and virtuoso that the movie audience claps in appreciation.

There are many hopeful Costas in the school of choro in Rio de Janeiro. Musicians of every age attend classes. The living continuity of musical tradition is handed down in person from teacher to student. The students are intent on their instruments in class, and everyone jams together in the school courtyard afterward.

Choro is not just an instrumental music, it is a popular music to sing and dance to. It accommodates singing styles from the aggressive growl of the voice of Elza Soares to a more romantic sound from Teresa Cristina. In the dance hall, on the street, and on stage, dancers step and twirl to its driving rhythm.

To my ears, choro is very much like jazz. It probably shouldn't be surprising that the marriage of African and European music in South America and the marriage of African and European music in North America should produce such similar sounding cousins.

CD Review: Renee Fleming / Haunted Heart

I recently heard Renee Fleming's new pop and jazz album "Haunted Heart" with Fred Hersch, piano and Bill Frisell, guitar. The first thought that popped into my mind was, "Someone please teach this woman how to swing!" As an admirer of her operatic work I was completely disappointed in this misguided attempt to venture into new territory. Despite some great playing by Hersch and especially Frisell, Fleming's leaden, overwrought delivery makes dirges out of these songs. It's bad enough having Rod Stewart strangling the Great American Songbook--four times now--but did you have to get into the act Renee?

VIFF Review: The Miracle of Candeal

The Miracle of Candeal [MIRAC] tells two intermingled stories. The first is of 85 year old Cuban pianist Bebo Valdes' journey to Bahia state in Brazil to discover the roots of his music. The second is the story of the favela Candeal located in Bahia's capital city of Salvador and its rise out of abject poverty through music.

This is not a documentary but a story told in documentary style. Things are definitely staged. "By chance", after arriving in Salvador, Bebo wanders into a church attracted by the sound of singing. There he befriends Mateus who is leading a vocal group practicing in the reverberant church. Mateus takes Bebo to Candeal and introduces him to Carlinhos Brown and his band. Carlinhos introduces him to the community leaders of Candeal and to many important Bahian musicians.

For some reason I don't think I could just walk up to Caetano Veloso's house, ring the doorbell, be let onto the seaside deck, and have him sing a few songs to me, but Bebo gets the royal treatment. Accompanied with Carlinhos, he gets the same welcome at the house of Gilberto Gil where Bebo explains the Haitian origin of the rhythm that Gilberto performs. Bebo gets to play and speak with many musicians including the Hip-Hop Roots group, and singer Marisa Monte.

The climax of the film is the Carnival sequence. We and Bebo are thrust into the middle of the action. With gloriously engineered sound we are surrounded by the vibrancy and rhythm of the Carnival. But all things come to an end and we get to see the aftermath of Carnival as workers disassemble the floats, cleaners remove the garbage, and weary participants slump down where they can to sleep it off.

The striking thing about the people of Bahia and their traditions and culture are how strongly tied they are to their African roots. Africa is the mythical motherland and is spoken of in reverential tones. Catholic and African beliefs are freely mixed--there didn't seem to be any orthodox priests around to exorcise the African elements out. Stories, traditions, and music are handed down orally to the next generation. Surprisingly little of the outside world infiltrates the culture. In contrast to their material poverty the people are rich in culture.

VIFF Review: Five Days in September

The Toronto Symphony Orchestra like almost all symphonies in North America has gone through rough times in recent years. Last year they hired a new conductor. Hopes were high for a turn around with Peter Oundjian and this film documents his first days with the TSO.

The film crew of Five Days in September [FIVED] was given free reign and it shows. This is a warts and all behind the scenes look at a working symphony. As an ordinary concert goer it was fascinating to see what happens backstage at Roy Thomson Hall before, during, and after a concert.

The main focus was on Oundjian as we follow his daily work life. We move from rehearsal, to media interviews, to rehearsal, to fund raising banquet, to rehearsal, to opening night. Crises occur including the pulling out of a guest artist, and the loss of a major sponsor. The job of music director and conductor is part diplomat, muse, counselor, fund raiser, and sometimes even musician.

Along the way we meet some of the symphony executive, staff, and musicians. Many are veterans and have been with the organization for decades but two young musicians are spotlighted. For the two women in their 20's it was their first day on the job with the orchestra as principal violist and principal cellist respectively.

Also interviewed and featured are the month's guest artists. Pianist Emanuel Ax is a sweet teddy-bear of a guy who's playfulness is infectious. Cellist Yo-Yo Ma's humble intensity infuses his passionate playing. Soprano Renee Fleming is a diva who gets her way with honey rather than vinegar.

Overall it looks as if things are on the way up for the TSO under Oundjian's tenure. Thumbs up!

Once again I got lucky--the film's director Barbara Willis Sweete was in the audience and we got a question and answer session with her. Also in the audience was Maria Bethania: Music is Perfume director Georges Gachot, and Vancouver classic music benefactor Martha Lou Henley.

Before the main feature was the NFB animated short C Note. I'm not sure if I actually heard a note much less a C. A very abstract riot of lines, colors, squiggles, and blobs accompanied the modern orchestral soundtrack of bleeps, scratches, screeches, wails, and plunks. For dedicated fans of CBC's Two New Hours only.

VIFF Review: David Bordwell Lecture

David Bordwell is a professor of film studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and is here attending the VIFF as a jurist on the Asian film competition. He's also here to give a lecture entitled "The Modern Miracle You See Without Glasses! The Aesthetics of CinemaScope" [BORDW]. If I was a film studies student I think I would enjoy his classes. He is an engaging speaker, with a warm manner, easy to understand, and seems to have an enormous understanding of film.

With the help of a slide show (real slides--no PowerPoint!) he explained how the directors of the 1950's adapted to the new wide-screen format of CinemaScope. In an effort to woo viewers away from TV and back into the theatres, 20th Century Fox developed this anamorphic wide-screen system. Because the CinemaScope lens optically squeezes a wide 1:2.35 aspect ratio picture into a regular 1:1.33 film frame it introduces picture distortions. The CinemaScope lens also did not have the deep depth of field possible with normal lenses. Along with the technical issues there was also the problem of composing shots for an almost twice as wide screen.

In time directors and cinematographers developed techniques to minimize the problems and developed new aesthetics in composition which you can see in any modern wide screen film. The tightly framed shots with deep depth of field perfected in films like Citizen Kane did not work with CinemaScope. An early technique was to place actors as if they were on a stage. Another method was to block the wide screen into sections with each a sub-composition. Most innovative was to use the reduced frame height as a restricted window onto the action which allowed for more abstract compositions.

Sadly for CinemaScope it did not survive. Competing system Panavision which corrected most of the technical issues made it obsolete and is used to this day. Now the new wide-screen digital formats may make Panavision obsolete.

Judging by the questions at the end of his lecture there were a lot of serious film geeks in the audience as well as us interested amateurs. The best question was the simplest from an elderly lady who commented on how loud the sound was in the Ontario theatre where she attended the premiere of the first CinemaScope film "The Robe" in the 1953. This launched Bordwell into a lament on how most of the multi-track stereo soundtracks are now lost to us because no machines exist anymore to playback the magnetic tapes. Only the mono optical track embedded on the film remains.

After the lecture the recently restored 1958 CinemaScope film Bonjour tristesse (Hello sadness) was shown. This American made melodrama has a European sensibility. David Niven plays a charming but aging French playboy with a teenage daughter (the elfinly beautiful Jean Seberg) who is far too involved with his lifestyle. There can only be tragic consequences from this arrangement. The present day sequences are in black and white with flashbacks in colour to emphasize the melancholy of their present day situation compared with the happier past. Thumbs up!

Concert Review: Cecilia Bartoli with the Orchestra La Scintilla of Zurich Opera

Orpheum Theatre
Sunday October 2, 2005 3:00pm

When Leila Getz the Vancouver Recital Society Artistic Director came on stage to introduce Cecilia she was preparing us for the worst. Apparently Cecilia had cancelled her Toronto appearance. She has spent the last three days in Vancouver recovering from a bad cold. So we should excuse her if she needs to go off-stage to blow her nose or clear her throat. Unfortunately she would not be signing autographs after the concert because she needed to nurse her cold.

So it was with some apprehension that she started into the first piece by Alessandro Scarlatti. It was an up-tempo song with some coloratura scales which gave her a chance to exercise her voice. Her voice sounded fine and clear if a little quiet on the volume. Fortunately for us her cold was not having a major effect on her instrument.

She looked radiant in her off the shoulder seafoam green evening gown with long train. She sparkled with jewels sewn into her dress, jeweled earrings, and jewel encrusted bracelet. (I just noticed that the orchestra she was performing with is called Orchestra La Scintilla of Zurich Opera which means "the spark".)

I think she must have been on the mend because she seemed to sound better as the concert progressed. I really enjoyed the quieter songs in which she and the orchestra exhibited extraordinary volume control. I've never heard an orchestra playing so quietly yet it was still clearly audible in the Orpheum mid-balcony where I was sitting. You could hear a pin drop--the audience was absolutely silent not wanting to break such a beautiful moment.

By the end of the concert she must have recovered or been energized by the amazing performance. The final song by Handel was a fireworks of fast notes which went up and down the scales. She nailed the notes and took us on a rollercoaster ride of a performance. Everyone jumped to their feet in standing ovation. But the fun wasn't over yet. The freshly triumphant Cecilia gave us not just one, not just two, but three encores! BRAVA!

VIFF Review: Maria Bethania: Music is Perfume

Vancouver International Film Festival 2005

350 films in 16 days. If you suppose an average of 90 minutes per film that's 525 hours which is far more than the 384 hours that make up 16 days. So it's an impossibility to watch them all. For this year I'm limiting myself to music related films and a few others which pique my curiosity. This still leaves me with 12-20 films of interest.

The first film is Maria Bethania: Music is Perfume [MARIA]. Knowing almost nothing about Brazilian music it was wonderful to discover one of its greats. She has a remarkably deep, dark, expressive voice which could almost be a male tenor's. At a youthful 59 years old she's in full command of her instrument, is full of energy and ideas, and has a deep understanding of music. Many of the songs she sings are about love, loss, and longing. Bethania even comments that in Brazilian songs the word "coração" (heart) is used so many times you get tired of it.

This film shows Bethania the consummate musician but does not really show Bethania the private woman. Her mother and brother are interviewed but there is little about her personal life. I wasn't even sure if she was married or had children. Its definitely all about the music. The musical performances are wonderful. I had to stop myself from clapping at several points in the film.

It was a special treat to have the film's director Georges Gachot in the audience. There was a question and answer session at the end. Here's hoping there's a DVD release to hold the hours of footage that didn't make it into the 85 minute film.

Thumbs up!