Malta - December 2012

This is the end…that is of our stay in Malta, at the end of this year (2012). Leaving tomorrow.

Weather was normal for this time of the year; around 20 degrees, clear sky most of the time…and windy (mind you, we are quite exposed – not so much at the flat but Fort-chambray itself, giving right on the sea, from the top of a cliff…)

12 days or so, resting and reading (about Italy, Peking, getting ready for Rome; doing correspondence); most of time…

We took a Christmas concert in, at Victoria’s Cathedral, at the Citadel. As Cynthia put it, Carol and Michael keep us culturally connected!

We took a few meals outside: lunch at Moby Dick in Xlendi; dinner at Patick’s Tmun (a couple of time); Xmas lunch at the Kempinski; and lunch at Ambrosia in Valetta, on Malta.

Leaving for Rome in the morning…

December 28, 2012

Restaurants in Toronto

I am often asked where to eat in Toronto. Here is a few of our best experiences (not necessarily in order) eating out in this city:

1) At Acadia; a small place – open kitchen – on Clinton Street, off College or Dundas Street; unique food (southern accents) and excellent!

2) At Colborne Lane; rather extravagant (chef Aprile, it seems, has had a long history in the food business, including some time at Le Bulli…) and enjoyed!

3) At Splendido; exceptional dinner! But not cheap!

4) At Nota Bene; Italian, downtown, lunch.

5) At Lucien, close to home on Wellington, traditional French.

6) North 44, McEwan’s flagship restaurant I think; reliable if expensive! (Fabbrica, for Italian, is a favorite, also of his, much closer to the office);

7) Some of Olivier & Bonacini restaurants; they have 7 or 8 of them in town – check their website. I have been to most of them if not all, but would avoid Canoe though, which I thought was way overpriced for what they served!)

8) Cynthia has enjoyed above, and also Patria on King West, Spanish…y; as well as ICI Bistro; and more recently Momofuku, the noodle bar, adjacent to the Shangri-la hotel; very new!

9) Places we go often to: Le Select on Wellington Street, mainly for brunch, and The Canteen at the TIFF building, because it’s convenient and consistently good, both places

10) One we will likely try soon, it’s the new place own/run by Susur Lee (Bent on Dundas West?)

Now that I have enumerated the above, I am starting to think of many others which should probably be on this list… But those above could be counted on…



Toronto, December 2012

New York City - 2 or 3 days in November 2012 -2

Took the bus (one hour+, on M4 bus which I caught at Lexington and 83rd Street) to The Cloisters, a fortress-like branch of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, way up north of Manhattan island – it's located in the gardens of Fort Tryon Park. Specialized in art and architecture (both religious and secular domestic) of medieval Europe (12th to 15th centuries). Fascinating! Always wanted to visit, but never enough time to make the trek out there (came back by much faster subway though!)

Had lunch in the leafy park – many paths closed because of the damage caused by the infamous storm Sandy the week before – at “the new leaf” restaurant, a short walk (which ‘they” did not want to allow me to take, but which I did anyway!) from the museum; a Ceasar Salad and a glass of Sauvignon Blanc – quite “civilized”…and as it turned out highly recommended (Guide Michelin, Zagat, etc…)

Crossed “Central Park” on my way back – beautiful day if a little chilly, which does not stop kids from running and playing around…a great initiative, this park, the ‘lung’ of New York, as it has been described so often…

Stopped by the MET; wanted to see their current exhibition of Bernini’s clays, in preparation for our upcoming visit of Rome…wondered about in the galleries – found fascinating a late 19th century marble sculpture, Sappho by the Comte Prosper d’Epinay (see picture).

Ended up in the Islamic Art section, opened the year before: quite a prologue to what is being promised at the Agha Khan museum in construction in Toronto…not to be missed is ‘the Damascus Room”, the reception room of an 18th century upper-class Syrian home, during the ottoman period – a gift from the famous collector and benefactor Hagop Kevorkian, restored and re-installed only 2 years ago! Bought the latest edition of the museum guide…and joined as an Associate Member, to the end of 2013 – might as well as half the price (US$60) already covered (and credited!) by entrance fee today!

Attended “The Tempest” at the famed MET Opera house; this is the 129th season of the Metropolitan Opera, now under the direction of General Manager Peter Gelb (since 2006; met him in Toronto last year – I had asked him then if he felt the showing of the MET’s operas at the cinema had “cannibalized” them and reduced attendance, as some feared – not at all and to the contrary, did he say, confirming a long contention of mine! “live in HD” – the series has sold more than ten million tickets since its inception in December 2006, now on some 1700 screens in 50 countries or more!) and maestro Levine (since 1976 for the latter!)

The Tempest is a modern opera, composed by Thomas Adès in 2004, who also conducted the orchestra today (he is also a concert pianist, nad performed as such I think). It is based on Shakespeare's: same story but (very) different text, modernized - libretto is by Meredith Oakes, an Australian. The production is by Robert Lepage - remarkable! in particular, his treatment of the choir. Actually, it's a co-production between the Met, l'Opéra de Québec and the Wiener Staatsoper in Vienna - my brother reminded me that it was played in Québec City last summer. I enjoyed, but not really until the 3rd and final act! Lunch at the opera house restaurant (the Grand Tier Restaurant) - actually not much of a choice if I wanted to check in my luggage then...another breakfast: egg benedict and a glass of Sauvignon Blanc!

Breakfast in eateries nearby troughout my stay - at a "Hot & Crispy", Zagat-rated (on Lexington) would you believe!

NYC – 2 or 3 days in November (2012) -1

First taste of snow this year… and it is happening in New York City! Clear skies in Toronto when I left; freak storm down south when I arrived! Left in places as much as 6 inches of the fluffy stuff on the ground…All melted away in hours in NYC…The rest of the time clear skies, if cold, but warming up quickly – in the low 60’s by the time I left!

Staying at 156, East 85th Street. Apt 1E; arranged through 9 flats. http://www.9flats.com/fr/places/39133-appartement-new_york-yorkville . Simple dinner at "Vespa" on arrival, an Italian restaurant nearby; a risotto and a glass of Sancerre.

MoMA is showing Munch’s “The Scream” (1895); one of the 4 versions made at the end of 19th century and the beginning of the 20th (the other 3 are in museums in Norway!), on loan for 6 months or so from a private collector. This is how the museum describes the painting: “A haunting rendition of a hairless figure on a bridge under a yellow-orange sky, The Scream has captured the popular imagination since the time of its making. The image was originally conceived by Munch as part of his epic Frieze of Life series, which explored the progression of modern life by focusing on the themes of love, angst, and death. Especially concerned with the expressive representation of emotions and personal relationships, Munch was associated with the international development of Symbolism during the 1890s and recognized as a precursor of 20th-century Expressionism”.

It’s interesting to see the name of “Marie-Josée and Henry Kravis”, associated to the painting – its installation, along of that of other works (prints) by Munch, is organized by the chief curator of their sponsored rooms of painting and sculpture at the MoMA. Marie-Josée…quite a history…(met her when she and then husband Charles Dutoit - celebrated director of Montreal’s symphony orchestra at the time – visited Shanghai in the 80s…) Wondered around the museum. Quite a collection – Picassos, Cézannes, Monets, and contemporary works (paintings, sculpture) by the thousands! Photography and films also. Well frequented – I suppose it is a must for anyone visiting NYC – lots of students. Lunch at the museum’s café, Terrace 5 – excellent! (Building also houses the Modern, another restaurant where we had meals back in 2009 – see blog’s entries then)

Dropped a few things at the nearby Rockefeller Center Post station, to mail to Laurence and Béatrice. The Center, and its famed skating ring, really appears as the “heart” of the city, at least for the visitor…

Dropped by the Asia Society’s headquarters, on the upper reaches of Park Avenue, on my way “home”. They also house a museum; Chinese artist Lin Tian Miao’s work, born in the 60s, is on show: quite unique – she made what she calls “thread winding” her “trademark”, so to speak. Her “Here? There?” piece, which she did for the 4th Shanghai Biennale, some 10 years ago, with her video artist husband, is stunning (picture below)! See article in last month edition of  NY-based magazine ARTnews, on Lin http://www.artnews.com/2012/10/08/wrap-artist/

Had more simple dinners at Bar Boulud – twice as a matter of fact – “iberico” ham one night; “proscutto” ham the other night; with ‘Magnum of the day” wine: a 2005 Côtes du Rhone the first night, and 1983 Bordeaux the second! Saw in nearby cinema “A Late Quartet” – quite moving, with Seymour-Hoffman, an aged and aging Christopher Walken, and 2 other protagonists (plus ‘the daughter”) – the péripéties and tensions in the life of the musicians of this string quartet…

NYC, November 10, 2012

“Frida and Diego” – Toronto AGO

 

Went to see this exhibition last night at the AGO (subtitled “passion, politics and painting”). One will have noticed the order of the names: no, not Diego and Frida, but the other way around. Because the latter is nowadays better known than the former – the G&M devoted a front-page (Arts section) article to the “Frida-better-known” phenomenon this morning…

Perhaps I am unique in that respect (no so,  as Cynthia felt the same way!) but I had the impression that the exhibition was more of a discovery of Diego and some of his work, of which we had not seen much, or heard much, except perhaps about his ill-fated attempt to get the son of Rockefeller to pay for a murale (which is, as we learn, his trademark!) incorporating a figure of Lenin, to be featured in the lobby of the Rockefeller Center in New-York!

I must admit, I had seen the film, Salma Hayek’s; an exhibition of Kahlo’s work at the Tate Modern in London a few years ago; and had bought a book about her for Cynthia (which she remembers vividly reading – she reads everything, and then some!) Which reminds me: for 1 book on Rivera in the inevitable store coming out of the exhibition, there were several on Kahlo!...

Aside from discovering some of the work of Diego Rivera (he was after all the chant of the Mexican Revolution!), what is striking are the photos and films about them – quite a few from photographers who were already (or were to be) well-known on their own, such as Nicholas Muray (who was, we learn, Frida’s lover at some point – we had certainly heard about Diego’s philandering, but it would seem that Frida did not “give her place” either: women in NYC and Paris, Trotsky in Mexico, and now this guy… One must remember incidentally that Frida’s (German) father was a professional photographer – so the camera was not a novelty to her… (she must have learned early on how to pause!...) Picture below from the Net http://neilsonartstudios.com/ - probably a picture taken by Muray (copyright?)

 

On the whole, a very good exhibition (likely to go back…).

Toronto , October 18, 2012

Ville de Québec – weekend en septembre (2012)

Poursuivons sur Québec de Montréal, par train (un peu plus de 3 heures)…

Descendons au Le Germain – Dominion; nous y sommes déjà descendus en décembre 2008 (eh oui – il y a déjà 4 ans!) Bel hotel; belle et grande chambre. Grande attention aux détails. L’hôtel tient son nom, y apprend-on, de la compagnie qui a bâti l’immeuble au début du siècle dernier, la Dominion Fish & Fruit Limited. (“En 1912, l'édifice de huit étages était le plus haut et le plus moderne de la capitale! Son style est inspiré d'une école d'architecture de Chicago. À l'époque, la Dominion Fish & Fruit jouissait d'une enviable situation sur la rue Saint-Pierre, toute proche du port et reconnue comme la Wall Street de Québec. Elle partageait l'artère avec des édifices prestigieux en pierre de taille, qui abritaient banques, courtiers, assureurs, notaires, avocats et divers commerçants. Aujourd'hui, on peut encore lire sur la façade de l'immeuble le nom de la compagnie qui l'a érigé. En 2002, l'hôtel s'est agrandi en englobant l'édifice voisin, celui de l'ancienne Banque d'Hochelaga, datant de 1902. C'est alors que les portes des voûtes, fabriquées par la firme ontarienne Goldie & McCulloch, ont été redisposées sur chaque étage. Un plan d'étage de la banque est également exposé” lit-on sur le site internet de l’hôtel).

Photo çi-bas: place FAO, coin rues St-Pierre et St-Paul, vue de la chambre

Visite “familiale”: lunch à “L’Echaudé” avec Micheline; diner chez Robert, avec Rolande, Micheline & Claude, Cynthia et moi - appels téléphoniques aux "manquants" (Normand en Gaspésie, et plus tard en soirée, Gaston à Ferme-Neuve); brunch dimanche chez Claude et Micheline (photo plus bas), toujours en famille (canard délicieux!)

Petit achat sur la rue St-Paul pour Cynthia, tout près, une création de joailliers locaux (Karine Gaudreault et Robert Langlois)

Visite en après-midi au Musée de la civilisation, tout près. Plus d’une heure à parcourir l’exposition (“spectaculaire…”, de dire Le Monde!) Samouraï. Chefs-d’œuvre de la collection Ann et Gabriel Barbier-Mueller (« Une incursion captivante dans l’univers mythique de ces guerriers à la fois redoutables et féroces, cultivés et raffinés, à partir de la collection unique et exceptionnelle rassemblée au cours des 20 dernières années par Ann et Gabriel Barbier-Mueller. En tout, ce sont sept siècles de chevalerie japonaise qui sont évoqués. Une histoire pleine de bruit et de fureur, de code d’honneur – le bushido – et... d’art! » selon le site du musée); et puis, rapidement, une nouvelle exposition permanente au musée, Le Temps des Québécois, le temps de se rafraîchir la mémoire!

Retour sur Toronto (via Montréal – 2 trains; plus de 9 heures!) le dimanche.

Québec, septembre 2012

Montréal – septembre 2012

Du 22 au 28 septembre

Réunion d’affaires (sessions CIS de la CISAC). Réception offerte par la SOCAN à l’Arrivage, au Musée de la Callière, dans le Vieux-Montréal.

Logeons dans un appartement dans le Vieux-Montréal – “McGill Ouest”, 630 rue William, #717 – à proximité de l’hotel oàu se tiennent les réunions (Hotel Bonaventure).

En Profitons pour voir deux spectacles: La Traviata à l’OSM (Salle Wilfrid Pelletier à la PdA, samedi le 22) et les Grands Concerts de l’OSM (à la Maison Symphonique, Place des Arts, jeudi le 27). Voir les notes plus bas, telles que reprises des sites internet.

Température saisonnière (beau, frais, pour la plupart du temps, autour de 70F)

Restaurants fréquentés: Vallier; Le Latini, Le Cartet, Brasserie T, Chez l’Epicier, Le Locale, Le Bremner, Graziella, Olive et Gourmando, et Anziamo.



Giuseppe Verdi

LA TRAVIATA



Après les succès de Rigoletto (2010) et d’Il trovatore (2011), l’Opéra de Montréal conclut sa présentation de la « Trilogie populaire » de Verdi. Inspiré de l’immortelle Dame aux camélias, ce drame intemporel demeure un des opéras les plus joués au monde. Il est servi dans une distribution européenne de grande classe, menée par l’exceptionnelle tragédienne lyrique Myrtò Papatanasiu.



Violetta, courtisane très en vue, aime Alfredo, jeune homme de bonne famille. Le père d’Alfredo convainc Violetta de renoncer à son amour pour sauver l’honneur... Consumée par le désespoir et la maladie, sacrifiée sur l’autel des conventions, Violetta en mourra.





Les Grands Concerts:



JAMES CONLON, chef d'orchestre

GIL SHAHAM, violon

Programme: RAVEL- Le Tombeau de Couperin; BRITTEN - Concerto pour violon; DEBUSSY - Le Martyre de Saint-Sébastien – Fragments;

RAVEL- Rapsodie espagnole

Shaham : « Un virtuose et un interprète d'une profonde et totale sincérité… L'un des violonistes actuels les plus dominants» (The New York Times)

« Virtuose et interprète d’une profonde et intense sincérité… l’un des plus éminents violonistes d’aujourd’hui » selon le New York Times, Gil Shaham fera vibrer son Stradivarius dans le Premier Concerto pour violon de Britten, créé en 1939 à New York, une œuvre toute en contrastes qui repousse les limites du genre.



Debussy et Ravel se partagent le reste du programme. Nous entendrons les fragments symphoniques du Martyre de Saint Sébastien, extraits d’un ballet écrit pour la grande ballerine Ida Rubinstein. Ravel quant à lui nous envoûtera avec sa Rapsodie espagnole, sa première grande œuvre orchestrale, et Le Tombeau de Couperin, proche du concerto pour orchestre, hommage à la musique française baroque.



James Conlon, chef d'orchestre

James Conlon est le directeur musical du Los Angeles Opera, du Ravinia Festival (la résidence d'été du Chicago Symphony Orchestra), et du Cincinnati May Festival, où il a assuré la direction artistique plus souvent que tous les autres directeurs musicaux, au cours des 138 ans d'existence de ce festival. De plus, il fait partie des directeurs musicaux en poste pendant le plus grand nombre d'années, si l'on considère toutes les principales institutions de musique classique de l'Amérique du Nord. Depuis ses débuts au New York Philharmonic en 1974, il a été invité à diriger pratiquement tous les orchestres importants d'Amérique du Nord et d'Europe, et pendant plus de 30 ans, il a souvent été invité à diriger le Metropolitan Opera.

Réputé pour ses interprétations du cycle L'Anneau du Nibelung de Wagner en Europe, M. Conlon a dirigé ce cycle pour la première fois aux États-Unis (au Los Angeles Opera) en 2010. Dans le but de sensibiliser le public aux compositeurs réprimés par le régime nazi, M. Conlon s'est fait le défenseur de la musique d'Ullmann, d'Haas, de Korngold, de Schulhoff et de Krenek, entre autres, ce qui lui a permis de recevoir le Crystal Globe Award de l'Anti-Defamation League. Il a beaucoup enregistré sous étiquettes EMI, Erato et Sony Classical, et a reçu des Grammy Awards dans les catégories Meilleur album classique et Meilleur enregistrement d'opéra pour son enregistrement avec le Los Angeles Opera de Grandeur et décadence de la ville de Mahagonny de Weill.

M. Conlon a été fait Commandeur des arts et des lettres par la France et a reçu la Légion d’honneur en 2002.



Gil Shaham, violon

Gil Shaham unit une technique parfaite à une chaleur inimitable et à une grande générosité d'esprit. Il est recherché par les plus grands orchestres, salles et festivals. Il poursuit son exploration des concertos des années 30 avec le New York Philharmonic, les orchestres symphoniques de Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, Kansas City et de la NHK et l'Orchestre de Paris. Il jouera aussi avec le Los Angeles Philharmonic, le Philadelphia Orchestra et les orchestres symphoniques de Pittsburgh, St. Louis et Seattle, et continue de se produire en récital avec le pianiste Akira Eguchi.

Shaham a enregistré plus de 24 CD. Il a remporté des prix Grammy, un Grand prix du disque, un Diapason d’or et un Gramophone Editor’s Choice. Ses récents enregistrements comprennent Sarasate: Virtuoso Violin Works, le Concerto d'Elgar, le Concerto et le Trio en la de Tchaïkovski, des albums d'œuvres de Prokofiev, Fauré, Haydn et Mendelssohn, et Mozart in Paris. Il lancera une série de concertos des années 30, ainsi qu'un enregistrement de mélodies hébraïques avec sa sœur, la pianiste Orli Shaham.

Il a remporté une subvention de carrière et le prix Avery Fisher. Il joue sur le Stradivarius « Comtesse Polignac » (1699) et vit à New York.

Notes



« Claude Debussy […] capte les jeux fugitifs de l’onde et de la brise, les frémissements de la forêt, la course rapide des nuages changeants, le vol de l’insecte qui frôle fleur, le passage des anges, des idées, des souvenirs et des âmes. Ravel, au contraire, s’arrête, fixe le papillon sans altérer ses couleurs, le sertit et l’encadre… Ce que la sculpture statique de Maillol, la peinture construite de Cézanne sont à Rodin ou à Monet, la musique de Ravel l’est à celle de Debussy. Réaction inévitable. Mais pourquoi opposer ces deux génies avec une sorte d’antagonisme, alors que l’un et l’autre professaient pour la musique de chacun une estime profonde et une admiration sincère? » Suivons aujourd’hui l’exemple le poète Léon-Paul Fargue et jouons plutôt les appositions que les oppositions, acceptons que le langage musical ne peut être perçu qu’en lui accordant une liberté entière d’expression. Le Concerto pour violon de Britten, écrit pour un expatrié peu après la fin de la Guerre d’Espagne, dont le dernier mouvement se veut un presque douloureux hommage aux chaconnes de Bach et Purcell, deviendra ainsi prolongement naturel du Tombeau de Couperin de Ravel, salut aux musiciens français du 18e siècle et aux amis disparus, ainsi qu’aux fragments symphoniques du Martyre de Saint Sébastien de Debussy, inspiré par les mystères du Moyen-âge.



Maurice Ravel

Né à Ciboure (Pyrénées-Atlantiques) le 7 mars 1875

Mort à Paris le 28 décembre 1937

Le Tombeau de Couperin

« La ligne nette, fine et continue des Pyrénées, barrière mais non limite, est comme la ligne de la musique ravélienne, qui jamais ne se rompt ni ne déborde, mais s’appuie, ferme et nette, entre la terre et le ciel. », écrivait Fargue dans son essai consacré à son ami. Cette maîtrise du langage reste particulièrement évidente dans Le Tombeau de Couperin, créé dans sa version pour piano solo par Marguerite Long le 11 avril 1919, mais qui habitait le compositeur depuis le début de la Première Guerre mondiale. (La version pour orchestre, qui reprend quatre des six danses sera créée le 28 février 1920 aux Concerts Pasdeloup.)

Il faut ici entendre le titre de tombeau non pas dans un sens funèbre (même si chacun des mouvements est dédié à un ami tombé au combat), mais plutôt mallarméen d’une « composition poétique ou musicale en l’honneur de quelqu’un ». Le musicologue américain Louis Biancolli décrit plutôt la suite comme « une couronne funéraire placée par un classiciste français moderne sur la tombe d’un prédécesseur révéré ».



Claude Debussy

Né à Saint-Germain-en-Laye (près de Paris) le 22 août 1862

Mort à Paris, le 25 mars 1918

Le Martyre de Saint Sébastien - Fragments symphoniques

Au début de 1911, Debussy reçoit une commande de musique de scène pour un Mystère de Gabriele d’Annunzio, immense poème, écrit en français (mais ne comprenant que des mots existant au 15e siècle), en cinq actes (ou plutôt « Mansions », terme repiqué des Mystères médiévaux), dépassant les quatre heures. Le rôle-titre devait être parlé et dansé par Ida Rubinstein (qui passerait commande à Ravel en 1928 pour un certain Boléro), commanditaire de l’œuvre. Même si la première était prévue à la fin mai et que le texte entier lui parviendra le 2 mars, le compositeur ne chercha pas à se départir de ses obligations, tant le projet le fascinait. Il confia cependant certaines orchestrations à son ami André Caplet, qui devait diriger les représentations.

L’équipe de création n’était toutefois pas au bout de ses peines. Peu avant la première, le cardinal-archevêque de Paris menaça tous les catholiques qui y assisteraient d’excommunication, la juxtaposition entre sensualité païenne et spiritualité chrétienne et le fait que le saint soit représenté par une danseuse juive lui semblant trop osés. Le 22 mai, la première devait recevoir un accueil désastreux et l’œuvre entière d'Annunzio serait mise à l’index. Après quelques représentations, la production dramatique quittera l’affiche et survit principalement aujourd’hui à travers les fragments symphoniques entendus ici.



Benjamin Britten

Né à Lowestoft le 22 novembre 1913

Mort le 4 décembre 1974 à Aldeburgh

Concerto pour violon, opus 15

Britten met la dernière main à son Concerto pour violon en septembre 1939, à Saint-Jovite (dans les Laurentides). « À une époque comme celle-ci, écrit-il à son ami Wolfgang « Wulff » Scherchen, il est particulièrement important de travailler – que les humains puissent penser à autre chose qu’à se faire tuer! » La première sera donnée le 28 mars 1940 par Antonio Brosa (qui avait déjà créé sa Suite pour violon et piano opus 6) et le New York Philharmonic, sous la direction de John Barbirolli. La critique devait se révéler très divisée, « assez violente – soit pour, soit contre » explique Britten dans une lettre à son beau-frère. Le redoutable critique Olin Downes louera néanmoins sa maîtrise de l’orchestration. Dans une missive à son éditeur, Britten n’hésitera pas à affirmer qu’il s’agit là de son meilleur ouvrage à ce jour, « bien qu’un peu sérieux je le crains ». À ce titre, le Concerto demeure représentatif d’une certaine morosité animant à l’époque le compositeur, qui parlait même d’abandonner la musique.

« Tu n’as que 26 ans. Tu as déjà formidablement réussi… Que veux-tu encore, du sang? », rapporte David Rothman, un ami de la traductrice Elizabeth Mayer, mère d’adoption de Britten.



Maurice Ravel

Rapsodie espagnole

« Ravel, ce Grec d’Espagne », comme aimait le définir André Suarès, jamais n’oubliera le pays basque, patrie de sa mère, et les sonorités espagnoles. « Sa transposition était si racée qu’elle donnait du pays traduit une image plus pure, plus “stylisée” que n’importe quelle mélodie de terroir recueillie avec ses altérations ou ses excès, résume Fargue. Il est demeuré Ravel en écrivant espagnol. »



Composée en 1907, soit un an avant Iberia de Debussy, la Rapsodie espagnole devait convaincre le public (qui bissa la « Malagueña »), dont le compositeur Manuel de Falla. « La Rapsodie me surprit par son caractère espagnol », écrira- t-il dans la Revue musicale en 1939. En parfait accord avec mes propres intentions (et tout à l’opposé de Rimski-Korsakov dans son Capriccio), cet hispanisme n’était pas obtenu par la simple utilisation de documents populaires, mais beaucoup plus (la jota de la « Feria » exceptée) par un libre emploi des rythmes et des mélodies modales, et des tours ornementaux de notre lyrique populaire, éléments qui n’altéraient pas la manière propre de l’auteur… » Louis Laloy avait lui aussi perçu la grandeur de l’œuvre, comme en témoigne son article de la Grande Revue : « La suite d’orchestre […] n’est pas seulement un régal pour l’oreille et l’esprit; elle affirme, avec autant de décision que les Histoires naturelles, une personnalité qu’on peut aimer ou haïr, mais dont ne saurait méconnaître l’indépendance et l’intérêt. […] C’est une Espagne fort bien observée, mais par un œil qui s’amuse, et volontiers charge ou déforme : l’Espagne de Cervantès ou de Goya, avec des lignes plus cherchées, des formes plus tourmentées, et de plus fantasques caprices; une Espagne quelque peu japonisante, toute en détails piquants, en clins d’œil, en grimaces, en contorsions imprévues, impossibles presque, saisissantes d’accent. »



Par Lucie Renaud

TIFF 2012

Ai manqué TIFF l'an passé (2011 - en voyage en Chine à ce moment-là). Me reprends cette année - voir notes (ailleurs)...ou plutôt ci-contre maintenant...

TIFF 2012 – Films

Missed 2011 Festival (in China then), but not this one! Stars and World Premières and “stars” galore!

Films in Industry category that I ended up seeing!

Films in Public category which I got tickets for( many seen with Cy)

Films in Industry category that were in my calendar but I ended up not seeing!

Coming soon to TO; Cy wants to see. Coming to TO; Cy not interested in seeing necessarily

Thursday Sept 6:

Rust & Bone (De rouille et d’os) – latest Audiard’s film – after Cannes Grand-Prix winner ‘Un prophète” a few years ago (saw at TIFF in 2010). With Marion Cotillard (sans maquillage; and without legs!) In the same style as previously – raw, harsh, matter-of-fact approach, “underworld”- like.(I did not know that Audiard directed “De battre mon coeur s’est arrêté”, which I saw in the fall of 2005...)

Laurence Anyways – latest by Xavier Nolan, Québec director sensation (J’ai tué ma mère et Les amours imaginaires). Long (161 minutes!) on-and-off romance of a transgender (Laurence, author and teacher, played by French Melvil Poupaud) with a good Montreal girl (Suzanne Clément, full of energy). Gives rise to frighteningly direct scenes (Nathalie Baye as Laurence’s mother; Denise Filiatrault as owner/manager of a popular restaurant where Suzanne “pique une crise”, etc.). Enjoyed it more that his last film...

On the Road – a classic; based on Jack Kerouac’s celebrated novel – American mythology; the Beat Generation; not afraid of breaking the rules; Neal Cassady; etc.  Directed by Walter Salles (The Motorcycle Diaries, among others). A few big names: Kirsten Dunst; Kristen Stewart, Viggo Mortensen. But the palm goes to the lesser known actors of the travelling males...

Amour (first few minutes!) – with aging Jean-Louis Trintignant (he has not aged nicely – I saw him in Paris a few years ago -awful!) and Emmanuelle Riva...will have to see it in full...

Men at Lunch - Documentary (Irish) about the “most celebrated picture” about New-York – fascinating!

Fidaï – Documentary: what a veteran, El Hadi, the Fidaï,  of the “guerre d’indépendance”. What did he do exactly during that war? His immediate family does not know, until it is revealed by the director himself, Damien Ounouri. (this is when I lost my wallet coming out of the theatre, and that the film’s executive producers found; they called me and I get it back by meeting them at the opening party...)

 

 

Friday, Sept 7

The Pervert’s Guide to Ideology – iconoclastic! Featuring this madman of Slavoj Zizek, superstar academic and philosopher, full of tics, professing his provocative (and entertaining) interpretation of films (Taxi Driver, The Sound of Music, etc.) Directed by Sophie Fiennes (she did with Zizek The Pervert’s Guide to Cinema, 5 or 6 years ago).

Stories We Tell – Sarah Polley’ cinematic memoir – almost a documentary , with real and made up sequences – recounting her childhood and life through her fathers’ (actual and biological – a revelation in the film: the biological one is a producer based in Montreal, Harry Gulkin, who was involved in Lies that my Father Told me, back in the early 70s – dropped a note to my brother who worked on that film...), brothers’ and sisters’, and other family relatives’ accounts. Tender and revealing! 

The Central Park Five – documentary on the 5 black kids falsely accused of a gruesome murder. They served jail time and were later acquitted (when the real killer admitted, out of compassion!) Their life nonetheless was irremediably affected!

Dangerous Liaisons (Weixian Guanxi) – Inspired by Laclos’s literary classic, set in 1930s Shanghai (and directed by Hur Jin-Ho, who has done several films but that I don’t know...). Zhang Ziyi is excellent as the innocent victim; the guy who plays the equivalent of Valmont, not so good! Very slick but too “larmoyant”!

John dies at the end – sci-fi. By a veteran of the genre, Don Coscarelli. Paul Giamatti is the “bite”. No real plot, just craziness, but funny!

Berberian Sound Studio – there is a “bite” (Toby Jones, memorable as and in Capote!) and a plot, but I would be hard pressed here to explain it! Kafkaesque? To say the least! I would have passed...

Dead Europe – Australian. About a Greek-born gay photographer who goes back to the old country, to discover there (as well as in Paris and Budapest where his drug-addicted trafficker brother lives) the unvarnished and awful truth about his father’s life during the WWII (who has just committed suicide upon learning his son’s plan to go back and visit “dead Europe”)...Not very joyful, for sure...Young director, Tony Krawitz, on site.

 

Saturday, Sept 8

The Place beyond the Pines (first hour) – latest Ryan Gosling’s promotional vehicle! “Male anxiety and suppressed violence”! Repetitive...

Mea Maxima Coulpa: Silence in the House of God – Doc; American Alex Gibney (Client number 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer – have seen at 2010 Festival ). How Rome (right up to John-Paul II and his successor Cardinal Ratzinger/Pope Benedict XVI!) and the “Canon Law” itself is to be blamed for the cover up of the sexual abuse Roman Catholic Church scandal. Excellent!

Everybody has a Plan – Argentine director (co-production Argentina-Spain-Germany). Shot in the Tigre’s delta (we visited that area near Buenos Aires in 2008 or 7). With Viggo Mortensen. Falls flat – disappointing!

Roman Polanski: Odd Man Out– Doc of latest, silly, Swiss episode of this everlasting drama in/of the life of Polanski!  Directed by Marina Zerovich who had done Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired 4 years ago, and who credits herself and her first doc as the main reason for that loufoque episode!

 

Sunday, Sept 9

The Last Supper – Chinese historical drama – first Han Emperor who defeated China unifier Qin (“The Banquet at Hong Gate” – the signature event in Chinese history)   Directed by Lu Chuan (we saw his City of Life and Death – Nanjing’s massacre – at the 2009 Festival). China, Hong-Kong, Taiwan actors... Grand deployment; lots of CGI (Emperor Qin’s Palace)...Well done!

A Royal Affair (first half-hour) – Danish historical drama – late eighteen century; Very polished. Main protagonist (as guilty, social reformer, queen’s lover, court physician):  Mads Mikkelsen (the “baddy” in Casino Royale against James Bond). Music by Gabriel Yared.  Danish director  Nikolaj Arcel also screenwriter for The Girl with the Dragoon Tattoo (Swedish version!)…

The Act of Killing – Doc (American Joshua Oppenheimer and Christine Cynn, working as a team); how killers did their deeds (very graphically – illustrating the use of metal wire to kill, to avoid spilling too much blood!) during 1965 revolution in Indonesia, on the back of “declared” communists and Chinese.  A documentary about an amateur film made by and with some of the executioners themselves. Chilling and gruesome!

Passion – De Palma’s latest (long career – Scarface; The Untouchables; Casualties of War; Mission Impossible; Femme Fatale) . With beautiful Rachel McAdams and Noomi Rapace (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo). Very Hitchcockian! Very slick! Enjoyed.

 

Monday, Sept 10

Jayne Mansfield’s Car – “star power”: Robert Duvall, John Hurt, Kevin Beacon & Billy Bob Thornton (who also directs and wrote the script in collaboration).  Family drama; generation colliding: father-son opposition; two cultures (American and British) clashing as well, exposed through their clichés.

A Fitzgerald Family Christmas – Ed Burns’ film (he directs his own screenplay, and plays main protagonist). Family drama – father returns to abandoned wife and 7 children after 20 years for last Xmas (he is dying of pancreatic cancer); amongst each kid’s personal drama and mother’s opposition. Sentimental but in the end “feel-good” movie. Enjoyed!

In The house – Ozon’s latest (Swimming Pool; Potiche). Fabrice Luchini; Emmanuelle Seigner (Polanski’s wife) ...and the admirable Kristin Scott Thomas (she is here, with Ozon, gracing the stage!) Is it Hitchcock or Chabrol – never quite! In the end, it’s the relationship between the young intruding writer (nouveau venu German Earnst Umhauer) and the teacher (Luchini) that defines the picture...

 

Tuesday, Sept 11

Cloud Atlas (parts) – Big ticket item: Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Jim Broadbent, etc...Based on landmark book by David Mitchell; 5 or 6 stories in parallel. It is suggested to read the book first – that does not say much for the movie!

Capital – latest Costa-Gavras. An illustration (and condemnation) of how banks/bankers work, unscrupulously. Weak ending. Not as good as some of his previous films (such as the iconic Z, going back to the late sixties)

Sons of the Clouds: The last Colony (parts) – Javier Bardem’s personal crusade to raise public awareness (and the UN into action) to deal with human rights violations occurring for decades in the contested Western Sahara (by Moroccans) against the Sahrawi people

Song of Marion (parts) – little human interest story, involving iconic actors: Vanessa Redgrave and Terence Stamp who is the main protagonist. Tender...

What Maisie Knew (parts) – The trauma of a young girl “shovelled” between two divorced parents. Julianne Moore as the rocker musician woman, and Steve Coogan as the unstable father...Predictable, if well-played...

The Reluctant Fundamentalist – Great movie, based on remarkable book by Mira Nair, who directs the film! How a young brilliant Pakistani’s career in US finance world is shattered after 9/11…the incomprehension (and its consequences) that developed between Islamic and Western cultures...

9.79*(End) – Ben Johnson 1988 Olympic story and broaches by athletes with drugs. Did he or did he not take the infamous drugs? Was he set-up?...

Hannah Arendt – German-Jewish philosopher and political theorist attending and commenting (article in the New Yorker – which raised quite a controversy and criticisms from Jews) on Eichmann’s trial in Jerusalem (1961). Directed by Festival’s habituée Margarethe von Trotta (“Rosa Luxembourg”, “Vision”, etc.) Revealing…

Thérèse Desqueyroux – last film of French longstanding director Claude Miller (he died earlier this year – his widow, along with main protagonist Audrey Tautou, were there to present the film).  Pretty dry melodrama – just like Mauriac’s book – a triumph of the provincial-convenience-marriage-turned-sour! Beautifully filmed though, “dans les Landes”.

 

Wednesday, Sept 12

Free Angela & All Poloical Prisoners – Documentary on Davis’s jail time and trial in the late 60s /early 70s, World Première (as many of the other films presented at the Festival!) Riveting! Her intellectual association to the nascent Black Panthers movement. Struck by the international reach of the events...Interviews with her – now and then – and other players.

 

Thursday, Sept 13

Lines of Wellington – from Chile, Valparaiso-born director Valeria Sarmiento (Raul Ruiz’s widow – he had started on the preparation of the film before dying, but it is truly hers!). Napoleon’s invasion of Portugal in 1810, seen from the struggling ordinary people trying to survive (although a few “apparitions” of stars – Malkovitch, as a non-flattering Wellington; Piccoli, Deneuve and Hubbert, as a gluttonous expat Swiss family!) Film “à grand deployment”; an historical “fresque”.

Beyond the Hills – from Cristian Mungiu, director of “4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days”, winner of the Palme d’or at Cannes a few years ago. Harsh and bleak story of nuns (and a possessed woman!) in a poor, austere, orthodox monastery in Bulgaria (with wintery, snowy scenes to “top it off “...) Not exactly, needless to say, “joyful”...

 

Friday, Sept 14

Penance – 270 minutes! By Kiyoshi Kurosawa (no, another Kurosawa!) A suspense, a long one: 4 hours and a half! 5 chapters.  A revenge (against the 4 girls that have witnessed the killing of the main protagonist’s daughter) mixed to a mystery and a secret! Based on, we are told, a best-selling novel “Confessions”; was shown as a mini-series in Japan (does make sense!)– TV potential in North America or Europe?...

Emperor – what a subordinate to General McArthur goes through in Tokyo, immediately after the war, to avoid a public condemnation (and likely execution) of Emperor Hiro Hito (as a war criminal). Great theme, rather poor execution! That in spite of the presence amongst the crew at the Premiere of UK director Peter Webber and Tommy Lee Jones... I am reminded of a much better film on Hirohito (made by Russian Aleksandr Sokurov (his trilogy), “The Sun” in 2005, following “Molokh “ (about Hitler, Eva Braun and their entourage) and “Telets” (about the last days of Lenin – we saw the latter at the Singapore Film Festival in 200?)...

Saturday, Sept 15

The Sessions – the story of a totally handicapped male (victim of polio) and his professional sex “surrogate” – with whom he eventually loses his virginity)! Very “authentic” and polished. Great performances by John Hawkes (the handicapped man – Mark O’Brien), Helen Hunt (the ‘surrogate”) and William H. Macy (the confessor). Based on a true story – O’Brien died in his 40s, back in the late 90s...

End of Watch  - cinema-vérité type of film about 2 LA partner cops, their personal life,  their daily patrol...and at times gruesome  encounters/discoveries in the city’s squalid underbelly . Until they fall! With Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Pina).

 

Sunday, Sept 16

Dormant Beauty – Italian; director: Marco Bellochio – he did Vincere, about the early years of Mussolini which we say at TIFF in 2009. A drama around euthanasia that created a political crisis in Italy a few years ago – the Enlargo case, 17 years in a vegetative state! Isabelle Huppert plays in it (supporting role). Well done.

Gebo et l’ombre – Portugal. Directed by 103 years old Oliveira – he must be the world’s oldest living filmmaker! We saw his previous film, The Strange case of Angelica, at TIFF in 2010. With Michel Longsdale, Claudia Cardinale, Jeanne Moreau and other usual local favorites of Oliveira. Based on a Portuguese play of the 20s, about a missing prodigal son who only comes back to ruin the family, in spite of the father’s concealment for the benefit of his wife…

That caps up the Festival for me – this is actually one the few films shown at the festival, passed 9pm!

 

Films that were premiered / presented at TIFF 2012, but that I waited to see when they came out commercially shortly after:         

Looper (Bruce Willis) (Ch Oct 1; Cy wants to see)

Seven Psychopaths (Farrell, Harrelson, Walken) (Ch & Cy, Oct 14)

Argo (Canadian  capper in Iran... Affleck tells a different story..) (Ch & Cy, Oct 20)

The Paperboy (McConaughey, Cusack, Kidman) Ch Oct 21

The Master (Joaquim Phoenix; Philip Seymour Hoffman) (Ch only, Oct 27; Cy wants to see)

 

Midnight’s Children (Dir: Deepa Metha; Salmon Rushdie) (TO Oct 26; Cy to see)

Great Expectations (Finnes, Bonham Carter) (in TO Nov/Dec; Cy not sure)

Anna Karenina (coming to TO Nov 16; Cy wants to see)

Silver Linings Playbook (coming to TO Nov 21)

Hyde Park on Hudson (the British king’s visit to Roosevelt) (in TO Dec 7; Cy to see)

On the Road (coming to TO Dec 21; Cy wants to see)

Amour (Trintignant, Huppert, Emmanuelle Riva) (in TO Dec 28; Cy wants to see)

 

The company you keep (Dir: Robert Redford)  

Seen later on

Much Ado About Nothing (Seen in June 2013)

 

Missed out at TIFF (and so far…)

West of Memphis (Doc; Johnny Depp)

Me and You (Bernard Bertoluci)

The Patient Stone (dir: Atiq Rahimi – war; Middle-East)

 Perks of being a wallflower (USA; contemporary comedy)

Thermae Romae (Korea. Comedy)

Camp 14-Total Control Zone (Doc on North Korea prisoner)

Far out isn’t far enough: The story of Tomi Ungerer (US; sex)

Show Stopper –The Theatrical life of Garth Dabrinski

Peddlers (India)

Miss Lovely (India)

To the Wonder (Affleck, McAdams, Bardem) – will likely be in TO’s theaters in the fall

Leviathan