Gmar Hatima Tova

Posted on September 17, 2010 by admin

Tomorrow at sunset Yom Kippur begins. The service in the synagogues opens with Kol Nidre. Here is what wikipedia tels about this dramatic opening of the Day of Atonement:

Before sunset on the eve of Yom Kippur (“Day of Atonement”), the congregation gathers in the synagogue. The Ark is opened and two people take from it two Torah scrolls. Then they take their places, one on each side of the cantor, and the three (symbolizing a Beth Din or rabbinical court.) recite:

In the tribunal of Heaven and the tribunal of earth, by the permission of God — praised be He — and by the permission of this holy congregation, we hold it lawful to pray with transgressors.”

The cantor then chants the passage beginning with the words Kol Nidrei with its touching melodic phrases, and, in varying intensities from pianissimo (quiet) to fortissimo (loud), repeats twice (for a total of three iterations) (lest a latecomer not hear them) the following words (Nusach Ashkenaz):

“All personal vows we are likely to make, all personal oaths and pledges we are likely to take between this Yom Kippur and the next Yom Kippur, we publicly renounce. Let them all be relinquished and abandoned, null and void, neither firm nor established. Let our personal vows, pledges and oaths be considered neither vows nor pledges nor oaths.”

The leader and the congregation then say together three times “May all the people of Israel be forgiven, including all the strangers who live in their midst, for all the people are in fault.” The Torah scrolls are then replaced, and the customary evening service begins.

(source – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kol_Nidre)

(video source KlezmerGuy)

Beautiful music accompanies the declaration. Here is one variant filmed in a Reform synagogue in Texas, the name of the cantor is Stephen Saxon.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vkpsFwsQY4&feature=related

(video source fivnten)

Here we have the variant sung by the famous cantor Moishe Oysher in the 1939 Yiddish film “Overture To Glory”

(video source mariadelamor21)

The most famous instrumental variant belongs to Max Bruch – a cello composition here in the interpretation of Jacqueline du Pres.

(video source MooliX)

For folks who may bot know how Yom Kippur is celebrated in Israel, here is a fast-forward version of a crowded street corner in this unique day of the year. The whole life of the country stops, no planes come in or out, no cars (excepting emergency services) can be seen in the Jewish areas of the country.

Gmar Hatima Tova – May you be inscribed (in the Book of Life) for Good

Posted in judaism | Tagged , | Leave a comment

An European Vacation / 4 – On the Streets of Schaffhausen

Posted on September 13, 2010 by admin

After the visit in the Munster zu Allerheiligen we spent the next few hours of the second day morning in the streets of Schaffhausen. The city of 35000 inhabitants was mentioned first as a city state in 1045, and joined the Swiss confederation in 1501.

Metzgerbrunnen fountain

The old city streets must be quite crowded during the pick season, but during that cloudy last Saturday morning of August the crowds were not excessive. We started by admiring two medieval fountains ornate with statues – the first of a Swiss mercenary dated 1524 …

Mohrenbrunnen fountain

… and the second of a Moorish king from 1535.

zum Steinbock house

Most significant are however the houses in the old city that preserve the original shape, ornaments and exterior frescoes from the medieval times until today. There are around 170 such houses in the Schaffhausen old city, in a mix of Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque styles, 35 of them are listed as national heritage monuments of exceptional value. For example the zum Steinstock house is covered with Roccoco ornaments …

zum Ochsen house

… while the zum Ochsen house which was originally an inn during the Middle Ages was renovated in 1608 and Gothic ornaments and frescoes were added on the facade.

zum Grossen Kafig house

Most impressive are the frescoes on the zum Grossen Kafig house representing the triumphal parade of Tamerlane after having taken as prisoner the Turkish sultan Baiazid.

the Schwabentor

Nearby the Schwabentor built in 1380 represented in the past the Northern gate of the city and is nowadays one of the remains of the wall that surrounded the old city.

zum Ritter house

The zum Ritter (Knight) house has probably the most beautiful exterior fresco in the city. Actually the current painting is a copy, the original being preserved in the city museum, which we visited later. Painted in 1570 with a theme inspired by The Iliad heroes it is considered one of the most beautiful Renaissance frescoes North of the Alps.

a meeting with Giora Feidman

Wondering on the streets of the city we saw a poster announcing that Giora Feidman was scheduled to play here soon with the Gershwin Quartet. Giora is born in Bassarabia, emigrated as a child to Argentine and then to Israel, where each year is one of the major musicians animating the Safed festival of klezmer music. I hope to have time to write about him sometimes on the Catcher.

time for tea?

Lunch time had come, but we had a rich breakfast, so we decided to skip. We examined a tea stand in front of the zu Ritter house, and I bought some herbs tea – I always like to explore new tastes in tea from various parts of the world.

... or time for a cake?

Than we started to look for a coffee and cakes place …

smiling cakes

… and we settled for a pretzel and a cake and of course, a good espresso at a place in front of the St Johann church. I do not remember its name, but it had some beautiful smiling cakes in the window, hard to miss it.

St Johann Church

We decided that we have enough time to visit the Museum zu Allerheiligen (which will be the subject of the next episode also including the meeting with an old and dear friend), but before it we entered the St Johann church, the second in fame (but largest in size) church in Schaffhausen.

detail in St Johann (1)

detail in St Johann (2)

We encountered here a similar history as in the Munster and other churches in this area of conflict between Reformation and Catholicism. The original parish church may have been built as early as around the year 1000. Then, when the Reformation took control of the whole area, the church was transformed, many of the cult objects removed and maybe destroyed, and the beautiful frescoes painted over in white. The current architecture of the church and the tower dates from the 18th century, but recent restoration work brought to light beautiful frescoes dating from around 1500 and this work may not be over. Today the church hosts many concerts of sacred music, especially Bach.

Posted in travel | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book: Imre Kertesz – Detective Novel (Detektivtortenet)

Posted on September 12, 2010 by admin

Born in a Jewish family in Budapest in 1929, Nobel-prize winner Imre Kertesz is a Holocaust survivor. In 1944 he was deported to Auschwitz, and liberated in Buchenwald in 1945. Part of his work is a reflection of the Holocaust experience, but there is a more general humanist and anti-totalitarian voice that can be felt in his work, a rejection of any ideology that denies human rights.

source http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imre_Kert%C3%A9sz

The history of the creation of Detektivtortenet which I have read as Roman Policier in the French translation of Natalia Zaremba-Huzsvai and Charles Zaremba, illustrates this fundamental direction in the work of the Hungarian writer. It is more a novella than a novel, barely exceeding 100 pages, and was written in two weeks in the 1970s. Kertesz was trying to publish another novel in Communist Hungary of the time, and the editor was refusing to accept it because it was too short, below the ‘standard’ number of pages acceptable by the editorial policy. He had the idea and part of a text of what writers in the Communist countries of the time were calling a ‘drawer’ work, one of these texts of protest that had no chance to be published under the Communist censorship, a text about political power taken illegally and about the secret police not only supporting the totalitarian rule, but becoming the essence of it. In order to have his text published he accepts to change the setting of the story to an imaginary South-American country, hinting to Chile or Argentina, at that time under right-wing dictatorship regimes. It was a trick often used by East-European authors, and it worked – the Detective Novel was published.

source http://www.evene.fr/livres/livre/imre-kertesz-roman-policier-18516.php

As said, it’s not a novel, and it is not detective, although the principal hero and story-teller is a detective, one who had put himself at the service of the totalitarian regime, and now expects the punishment in jail, after the fall of his masters. Some of the best passages in the book are the dialogs between policemen, that catch the essence of the totalitarian state with its obsession on antisemitism (among other), and the transformation of the secret police into an autonomous monster that ends by dominating by terror the life of its subjects:

-Ecoute un peu. Descente, arrestation, interrogatoire, liquidation: d’acoord, c’est notre boulot. Mais pourquois est-ce que tu les detestes?

La-dessus il me retorque:

– Parce que c’est des juifs.

…

– Espece de connard, il y a dans ce grand pays tout au plus quelques centaines de juifs, si ca se trouve!

– Je m-en fous. Tous les mecontents sont des juifs. Et d’ailleurs qui d’autre que les juifs serait mecontents?

(pag. 20-21)

– …bref, a vrai dire je pensais que nous etions ici au service de la loi.

– Nous sommes ici au service du pouvoir, mon garcon …

– Je croyais jusqu’a present que c’etait pareil.

– Si on veut. Mais il ne faut pas oublier les priorites.

Et il m’a repondu avec son sourire inimitable:

– D’abord le pouvoir et ensuite seulement la loi.

(pag. 29-30)

The book is almost written in one breath, and can be read almost in one breath. Beyond decomposing and describing in details the mechanisms as well as the typical characters that can be found in the service of the secret police in a totalitarian state – the  leader with intellectual aspirations who will eventually disappear with the fall of the regime and save his skin, the sadist brute that bad times allow him to put his bestiality in the service of the system, the passive technocrat who does not have the power to resist or to avoid becoming an instrument of evil. It also does include a beautiful story of a failed tentative of survival, a demonstration about how hard it is in times of dictatorship for anybody to stay away from becoming part of at least one of the circles of oppressors or of oppressed.

The advantages of brevity and fast writing are also the disadvantages of the finished work. There is more promise in this book than the quick creation process under the pressure of the time allowed as each one of the six key characters (the three policemen and the three members of the Salinas clan) could have been developed as a strong character in a full-bodied novel. Yet, this novella about times of oppression written in other times of oppression leaves a strong impression and was for me an invitation to continue to explore more of the work of the Hungarian Nobel-prize winner.


Posted in books | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

An European Vacation / 3 – The Schaffhausen Munster

Posted on September 11, 2010 by admin

Schaffhausen - Munsterplatz


Schaffhausen - solar clock in Munsterplatz


Day 2 of our vacation started with a tour of the center of the city of Schaffhausen. After finding a good parking place we crossed the street towards the historic old town, and found ourselves in the Munsterplatz. The style of the decorated buildings, some of them with exterior frescoes catches the eyes and I shall talk about some of the most beautiful of them in the next episode. One building however attracted our attention for the solar clock and the inscription indicating that the building was bombed in 1944 and rebuilt in 1945. This is related to one of the strange episodes of World War II – Schaffhausen being the only city in neutral Switzerland bombed by the allies during the war, on April 1st, 1944 and then again in February 1945. Although the allies claimed that the air force mistakenly bombed the town located close to the German border, is is suspected that the bombing may have been intentional, as some industries in the town were suppliers for the German army.

the Schaffhausen Muster zu Allerheiligen

The Munster zu Allerheiligen (All Saints Minster) was our first objective of the day. Believe it ir not, it is actually the first time I made the connection between the German word munster, the English minster and ministry, and the Romanian manastire. The first church on the site was built in 1049 under pope Leo IX, while the current building’s foundations were laid by the end of the 11th century, with the first part of the current building being finished by 1103. The next centuries saw the development of the cathedral, the building of the Romanesque tower and of the cloister in Romanesque-Gothic style, the largest in Switzerland.

Munster - West Portal bronze door


The access to the church is through a massive bronze door in the West Portal, created in 1959 by Otto Charles Banninger (1897-1973), representing the descend from the cross, and the symbols of the 4 evangelists, with a door handle in the form of a crown of thorns.

bronze bust of Albert Schweitzer


Immediately after entering the church, on the left, one can find the bust of the theologian, doctor and philosofer Albert Schweitzer (1875-1965), winner of the Nobel price for peace in 1952.

Munster - glass windows and tapestry


It’s a reformed church today, so the overall impression of of austerity and simplicity, enhancing the architectural elements of the building. 12 monolithic columns sustain the building, symbolizing the 12 apostles. On one of the them the capital has split and is held together with an iron brace – this is “Juda’s column”. The beautiful colored glass windows representing Jesus flanked by angels were made by Carl Roesch and below hangs a tapestry representing the Last Judgment by Lissy Funk.

Munster - detail of the Credo-frieze


It is however the few remains of the original medieval church paintings that deserve most of the attention for their beauty and originality. By the time of the Lutheran reformation in the 16th century most of the altars and cult objects were removed, and the original walls painted over. We were to meet this pattern of reformation taking over the Catholic churches and bringing essential changes to their appearance several times later in the trip in this area which was by the middle of the previous millennium on the line of conflict between Catholicism and Reformation. The little that was saved and restored in the Schaffhausen Munster has however the advantage of being authentic and has a remarkable artistic value. A Credo-frieze includes 12 beautiful medallions from the mid-15th century …

Munster - enthroned Mary with child


… and on one of the pillars a picture of the enthroned Mary with the child Jesus from around 1400 brings a striking resemblance to the Byzantine iconic representations and the later Russian icons descending from the same tradition.

Munster - squires cemetery in the cloister


We continued the visit in the interior cloister. Part of it hosts what was a cemetery in the walls of the minster for the noble squires of the city, with elaborated tombstones bearing witness of past times and men who were important enough to be buried here.

Munster cloister - herb garden


The gardens also include the huge Schiller bell cast in 1486 (Schiller never visited the place but wrote a famous poem about it based on a mention by Goethe) and the herb garden – kind of a botanical garden with elegant arcades on one of its sides. The smaller St. Anna chapel used by the Catholic community was unfortunately closed the day our visit.

Posted in travel | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

An European Vacation / 2 – Stein am Rhein

Posted on September 10, 2010 by admin

Waldhotel Hohberg in Schaffhausen


The hotel where we spent the first night in Schaffhausen is worth a few words. It was the only hotel we booked fr from the center of the city, for the rest of the trip we preferred to pay more and assume risks for a noisier place but be located near the places we knew we were to visit. In Schaffhausen we knew that we shall spend only one night, and the next day proceed on our way after visiting the city, so we picked the Waldhotel Hohberg, located at the outskirts of the city. The choice proved to be a good one.

horse riding ... in the hotel


The hotel is quiet, located in what seems an industrial area and near a big supermarket (so if you are in shopping mode it’s a good place – we were not – yet). It does not offer a great view, but it is well equipped, enough parking space, good Internet connectivity, and one attraction that makes it fun if you travel with kids – a riding arena with horses and ponies inside the hotel.

crossing the EC border


As we had ‘won’ time by missing the museums in Winterthur we decided to go and visit the village of Steim am Rhein, something we had planned for the next day. It’s a 20km drive from Schaffhausen, but an interesting drive, not only for the landscape but also for the route which crosses twice each way the border between Switzerland and Germany (actually the European Community border). No border guards or customs officers were in view, and crossing the border is as simple as crossing the street or a wooden bridge across a small river as in the photo.

Stein am Rhein - old city gate


Steim am Rhein was mentioned as a fishing village one thousands years ago, when emperor Heinrich II moved the St. George Abbey to this place (in 1007). It is located at the extremity of the lake Constance (Bodesee) where the course of the Rhine starts towards West gathering strength towards the Rhine falls and then to Basel and Strasbourg (where we shall meet it later in our trip) and then North and West to Germany and the Netherlands.

Rathausplatz


The village is most famous for the houses painted at the exterior, some of the most beautiful in a style which is wide spread in this area of German-speaking Switzerland. Most of them date from the 16th century, although renovations and additions were made in the later periods. The majority of the beautiful buildings are grouped in the Rathausplatz, with the Rathaus building itself at the edge of the square, with the lower store built between 1539 and 1542, with additions from the 18th and 19th centuries.

Rother Ochsen and other painted buildings


The buildings on the left side of the Rathaus include the Roter Ochsen (Red Ox – also hosting the oldest tavern in the village where we had dinner), the Hirschen (stag), Krone (crown), Steinerner Traube (stony grapes), and Sonne (sun) – the names being descriptive for the themes of the paintings on the facades.

Adler and Weisser Adler buildings


On the opposite side are the Adler (eagle) and the Weisser Adler (white eagle) which offers to the viewer the oldest frescoes on the walls of the city, painted in Holbein-esque style between 1520 and 1525.

Venice on the Rhein


The place is said to be very crowded during the days of the pick season, but it was late afternoon when we got there, and the pick season was behind. Our choice to take the vacation at that time of the year proved itself – we avoided crowds, weather was pleasant most of the time, and most of the places were still open and happy yo receive guests (well, Winterthur excepted :-)).

Stein am Rhein and Bodensee at sunset


We took the last photos on the way back to the car, near the bridge at the gates of the city. The tranquility and beauty of the environment made us start to feel the tiredness of the previous night, so we returned to the hotel for a good rest before the second day of the trip.

Posted in travel | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

An European Vacation / 1 – The Rhine Falls

Posted on September 9, 2010 by admin

I am starting a new cycle of travel notes following the itinerary of the trip Liliana and me made in the last days of August and beginning of September this year. This trip started and ended in Zurich, lasted 11 days, and took us through the area in Switzerland North of Zurich, then to the Black Forest in Germany, to Lorraine and Alsace in France and back to Switzerland to Basel and the area around the lake of Gruyeres. Overall 1600 km.

A few words about how we planned for the trip. I always use the green Michelin guides when they are available. In this case I used the Germany and the Alsace, Lorraine, Champagne ones. For Switzerland I did not have a Michelin at hand, but the Rough Guide was an acceptable replacement. For hotels booking I used www.bookings.com – it worked perfectly, as it did in our previous similar trip to Catalunia.

Here we were after an event-less flight to Zurich (well, if you take out the longer than one hour line at the check-in counter at the Ben Gurion airport). The plans for the first day included a visit of the museums in Winterthur – advertised in the guide as some of the best in Switzerland, and the Rhine falls, close to the end-point of our trip in Schaffhausen, were we booked our hotel for the night.

closed for summer vacation

A big disappointment was expecting us in Winterthur however. All museums in the city were closed that week, the last exhibition having wrapped-up during the weekend prior to our arrival. They could have warned us on the Web sites at least 🙁

elevator from the castle to the falls


We had not too many options but to have lunch (in a nice and reasonabled-priced Italian restaurant) and proceed to the next point in the itinerary. The Rhine Falls (Rheinfall in German) are the largest plain waterfalls in Europe. If you come without Niagara falls expectations, they offer you a splendid experience. Just ignore the parking recommendations and drive close to the Rhine falls castle, if not in pick season there are good chances that you will find a parking spot and spare some 10-15 minutes of useless walk each way. Then pay the fee and enter the castle which has little to offer but the access to the falls. Best and fastest way is by using the spectacular glass-walled elevator, and this is how you get closer to the view on the falls.

the Rhine prepares to reach the falls


And here they come. After running under an elegant bridge the Rhine waters seem to gather energy for the falls experience.

the Rhine falls


The view is amazing. At 23m height only they may not compare with the Niagara falls, but the setting with the outskirts of the city of Schaffhausen in the background are truly beautiful. An observation deck completes the viewing experience for those who want to get a closer look …

boat in the mist


… and tourist boats get you until under the falls and let you feel the mist on your own skins.

Rheinfall by Leonhard Trippel - 18th century


We had already read in the guide that the better view may be the one on the opposite shore, by the city. The confirmation was received the next day when we visited the art collection in the Museum zu Allerheiligen Schaffhausen. Half a room in the Switzerland without Switzerland exhibition (I will write about it in a future episode) was dedicated to paintings representing the falls and most of them were made on the other shore. First I remember is one made in the 18th century by the Schaffhausen native artist Leonhard Trippel (1745-1783).

Rhine falls painted by Philipp Hossli - 1916

Next comes the view immortalized by another Swiss artist – Philipp Hoessli in 1916.

Rheinfall mit Kanzel und Springer by Michael Lio - 2005


And here is the 21st century view – from the same shore we visited – of the observation platform (and a jumper in stormy waters!) painted by Michael Lio in 2005.

Posted in travel | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Shana Tova

Posted on September 7, 2010 by admin

Rosh HaShana – the Jewish New Year is celebrated starting with this Wednesday evening.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIiPqYUe3Bw

(video source TheSpeedyMedia)

First, here are some basics about the holiday…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjlnTh26lyk

(video source birthrightisrael)

… and a less conventional way to celebrate using animation and rap music …

(video source itaihermelin)

… and the shofar blown in an unexpected place …

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgOmKqob-bA

(video source fivnten)

… and in more traditional one, in one of the few Yiddish films ever made, staring the great cantor Moyshe Oysher …

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hk6X8yGGME

(video source uscompass)

… and for the end – apples and honey for a traditional wish for a sweet New Year!

SHANA TOVA – A Happy New Year, with Peace for Israel and for the whole world, with good health, friendship and joy for everybody!

Posted in holidays, judaism | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Documentar: The British Blues Explosion

Posted on August 24, 2010 by admin

Imi plac programele de vara ale canalului franco-german de televiziune ARTE. Este acolo cineva in directia de programe care are aceleasi gusturi muzicale ca mine, care este fascinat de perioada muzicala a anilor 60, cea in care mi-am format gustul muzical cu urechea lipita de radioul din care se auzea vocea lui Cornel Chiriac si muzica pe care acesta o dezvaluia tinerilor din Romania acelor vremuri. Impreuna cu alte perle cum ar fi documentare despre Janis Joplin sau festivalurile pe insula Wight, am vazut acum documentarul lui Philip Priestley despre The British Blues Explosion.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1FK620bS7A

(video source Radge1965)

Cumpana deceniilor 50 si 60 a insemnat o perioada de schimbare in viata Angliei. Daca anii 50 sunt dominati inca de greutatile perioadei postbelice si ale generatiei care a trecut razboiul, la inceputul anilor 60 se aproprie de maturitate o noua generatie care nu cunoscuse ororile si rigorile celor traite de parinti si care isi cauta identitatea si mijloacele de exprese. Una dintre sursele de inspiratie este muzica americana, in special rock si blues. Mari blusmen cum ar fi Howlin’ Wolf ajung in turneu in Anglia. In sala in care canta acesta s-a aflat in una dintre seri si un tanar pe nume Brian Jones. Greu de crezut pentru cine cunoaste Londra cosmopolita de astazi ca la inceputul anilor 60 existau doar doua magazine de muzica in capitala engleza care importau discuri cu muzica de blues sau jazz americana, si ca daca intalneai un adolescent intr-o statie de metro cu un disc de blues sub brat sanse bune era ca el sa fie Mick Jagger (asa s-au cunoscut zice filmul Brian Jones si Jagger, restul este istorie, adica istoria lui Rolling Stones).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmdPQp6Jcdk

(video source Hamish500000)

Influentele nu intarzie sa se vada. De la muzica comerciala grupurile de foarte tineri muzicieni englezi evolueaza spre repertoriul american. Iata-i pe The Animals preluand House of the Rising Sun.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NghfjuxvPnw

(video source mariomartino82)

In anii 62-63 grupurile engleze care se orienteaza spre blues devin din ce in ce mai populare, incep sa domine scena cluburilor londoneze si sa faca turnee in toata Anglia. Se impun nu numai prin muzica, dar si printr-un stil de viata, vestimentatie, tunsoare care devin emblematice pentru intreaga lor generatie. Printre cele mai interesante grupuri ale perioadei se afla The Yardbirds, unde canta succesiv Eric Clapton, si apoi Jeff Beck si Jimmy Page.

(video source johngpayne)

Au fost desigur multe formatii interesante rivalitatea cea mai pronuntata a epocii este fara indoiala cea dintre Beatles si Rolling Stones. In iarna dintre 1962 si 1963 Beatles devin deja celebri, in timp ce Stonesii pregatesc in apartamentul din Chelsea al lui Brian Jones campania care in jumatate de an avea sa-i aduca la varful piramidei. Un an mai tarziu Rolling Stones pleaca in turneu in Statele Unite, dar si aici Beatlesii ii devansasera cu cateva luni. Valul de popularitate al rock-ului si blues-ului englez cucereste America, si paradoxal readuce in atentia publicului alb de pe noul continent muzica originala a negrilor care era marginalizata intr-o nisa in America inca incomplet segregata. Formatii precum The Animals folosesc ocazia turneelor lor pentru a-i cauta in orasele indepartate pe adevaratii si originalii bluesmen, pentru a invata de la ei si pentru a canta impreuna cu ei. Se poate spune ca revolutia muzicala engleza, a carei origini stau in blues-ul american se intoarce in America si contribuie la revolutia nu numai muzicala dar si sociala americana din a doua parte a anilor 60.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzAEtLPSzRg

(video source hitomi1968)

Ultima secventa a filmului preia un fragment din concertul din Hyde Park al Rolling Stones-ilor din 1969. Multe se intamplasera cu Stones, printre care moartea tragica cu numai cateva zile in urma a fondatorului formatiei Brian Jones. Multe se intamplasera si in muzica si cultura intregii lumi. Generatia adolescentilor de la inceputul deceniilor isi impusese stilul muzical si de viata. Libertatea lor in a face muzica a germinat dorinta de libertate si schimbare sociala a generatiei de pe baricadele lui 1968 la Paris, Chicago si Praga. Muzica se schimbase si lumea se schimbase in urma ei.

Posted in documentary, music | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Film: L’Armee des Ombres (Jean-Pierre Melville, 1969)

Posted on August 22, 2010 by admin

I was writing a while ago that when Quentin Tarantino was making Inglorious Basterds he was not so much making a film about the Second World War and the Holocaust, but more a Tarantino film that happens during the Second World War and happens to have the Holocaust as a subject. Would this be a fair characterization of Jean-Pierre Melville‘s L’Armee des Ombres (Army of Shadows)? Is this merely a Melville film which says more about the director than about the war and the French Resistance?

source www.cinemapassion.com

Well, not really. It is true that L’Armee des Ombres has a very strong Melville touch. Made at the pick of the maturity of the director, it has an amazing familiar look with Le Cercle Rouge made one year later, the gangster story that was shown two weeks ago at the Herzlya Cinematheque, and about which I wrote about on the blog at that time. We are in familiar territory, with the director focusing on the characters and letting his splendid actors all the freedom they need to create great roles. His heroes have their own code of honor, and although we do not know much about who they are and where they come from we are led to recognize and respect their motivation and deeds, even when they may seem questionable on the sale of the accepted morality. There is also shared scenery between the two films – deserted roads and empty streets which seem a visual style mark of Melville.

(video source mongfu37)

And yet, there are more differences than similarities in my opinion. For Melville the Second World War and the Resistance were not just another theme, but a period that he lived through and a cause he participated actively in – to the point that a scene that seems completely benign today with De Gaulle decorating the fighting heroes of the Resistance let to a great outrage from some political circles and critics in a year 1969 when De Gaulle was close to the end of his political career and perceived as a conservative or even ‘reactionary’ president. Making a story about a group of fighters making the hard choices and putting in danger their own lives to do what is maybe today the obvious, but what so few people did in the real history is not just another heroic story about the war. It shows that war means not only risking own life, but also crossing the limits of accepted morality. The code of honor of the characters in this film exceeds the common judgment. While the behavior of the characters in permanent hiding and playing cat-and-mouse games with the Gestapo may remind the behavior of the heroes in the gangster movies of Melville, their motivation is totally different.

(video source luvgod)

The story building in this film is not the best. The underground work of a group of fighters of the Resistance led by Luc Jardie (the actor Paul Meurisse), Philipe Gerbier (Lino Ventura), and Mathilde (Simone Signoret) is followed in the interval of an year, between 1942 and 1943. The plot has many points of discontinuity filled in by off-screen comments, and building the story is not really what seems to have interested Melville. His focus was on the situations, on the permanent tension and danger the characters live in, on the choices that they must make which are never easy – killing a traitor, risking their lives to save an imprisoned comrade, commit suicide or kill their fellows if their lives cannot be saved and endanger the continuation of the fight. There is only one choice which is not questioned – the choice to fight which seems out of doubt the right thing that needs to be done. The magnificent opening scene with the German soldiers parading on Champs Elysees is the moral background for everything that happens afterward. The defeated and humiliated France had to fight back. The question about why so few did the obvious was postponed by Melville for a film that he never got to make.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5D1nfIJ632o

(video source yaknbo)

Beside the opening there are many other memorable scenes in the film – mostly built on the relations between the characters and on the acting of all the actors in the team. Shining over the whole distribution are Lino Ventura and Simone Signoret, two splendid actors belonging to a golden generation of the French cinema who helas is gone now.  Their presence enriches a film which stays in memory for many reasons.

Posted in movies | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Monteverdi’s L’Orpheo at Theatre de la Monnaie

Posted on August 21, 2010 by admin

Monteverdi’s rendition of the story of Orpheus is a milestone in the evolution of opera, one of the first works that definitely crossed the barrier of the oratorio into a fully defined stage representation. It includes remarkable musical moments, arias and recitatives with fine instrumental backing, it has a clear story line and a duration that makes it fit to modern representations. No wonder it has been part of the repertory of big opera houses for many years, as one of the most representative and most popular pieces of the early baroque style.

(video source ladiszka3)

The version that I have recently seen on the Mezzo TV chain was put on stage at the Theatre de la Monnaie – the opera theater in Bruxelles which has a fascinating history of its own. I hope to have the time to write about it separately in a separate piece on the blog. The musical direction belongs to Rene Jacobs and the main role was sung by Simon Keenlydeside.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3S3glu7Em3s

(video source FILMS7)

It is however the stage direction which is remarkable in this representation. Theatre de la Monnaie has a long tradition of supporting innovative ballet. Maurice Bejart was a ballet master here from 1959 to 1992, and I have seen one remarkable work of the ballet troupe in Tel Aviv a few years ago. This version of the L’orpheo is directed by Trisha Brown, one of the remarkable American choreographer of our times, and the result is as it can be expected a wonderful combination of music and movement, which fills in the recitative and instrumental parts with dance and acrobatics. It’s not an easy task for the performers, as the solo and chorus singers are required to sing and dance to fulfill the vision of a complete performance. Here is one example of the scene where Orpheus tries to cross the gates of the underworld.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBqVk0kcNcY

(video source votregali)

Luckily I also found on youTube the final scene, with Simon Keenlydeside – the overall concept of music, dance, sets and lights can be well enjoyed in this sequence.

Posted in opera, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment