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Seiji Ozawa conducts Rimsky-Korsakov, Tchaikovsky, Borodin, and Stravinsky Click here to watch The "captivating, transformative" conductor Seiji Ozawa (New York Times) died last week at 88, following a barrier-breaking career at the top of his profession. A one-time student of Herbert von Karajan and assistant under Leonard Bernstein, Ozawa became the first Japanese conductor to attain superstar status and lead the world's greatest ensembles, including a record 29-year tenure at the head of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. It would take hundreds of thousands of words to begin to express Ozawa's importance in the classical music landscape—the listeners inspired, the artists empowered, the prejudices shattered—so we will let his gifts speak for themselves in this 1993 All-Russian concert with the Berliner Philharmoniker. A perfect match for the spirited repertoire, Ozawa's energy is as invigorating as the percussive finale of the 1812 Overture, echoing into eternity. Frans Hals: Strokes of Genius - Rijksmuseum Click here to watch Here is a gorgeous new look at the Dutch painter, Frans Hals, this time from what we might call his home base, the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. Joanna Lumley narrates this beautifully made film about Hals, his life, his work and his influence. Table Top Shakespeare – Forced Entertainment Click here to watch This project sounds completely mad but watching it is strangely compelling. For 40 years a company called Forced Entertainment has been travelling the world telling the stories of Shakespeare plays. A single actor, the storyteller, sits at a plain wooden table and illustrates his or her monologues with everyday articles such as sauce bottles and matchboxes. I know, I know, but just give it a chance. I couldn’t understand their description of what they did so I watched their version of my favourite play, Much Ado About Nothing, and became totally hooked on their bizarre method of performing Shakespeare. To celebrate 40 years of tearing up the rulebook, Forced Entertainment wants to share their landmark project with online audiences. From today, anyone can stream any of these plays online for free. It’s weird but infinitely watchable. Beethoven Cello Sonatas lecture/recital - Stephen Isserlis Click here to watch I treated myself this week to a lovely wallow in Beethoven Cello Sonatas and learned a lot at the same time. You can too. It turns out Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) only composed five cello sonatas and these two are from the beginning (1796) and the end (1815) of his working life. I learned this from the cellist, Steven Isserlis, who loves to talk about music. In this lecture/recital from Wigmore Hall he took the opportunity not only to perform, with pianist Mishka Rushdie Momen, the Cello Sonata in F Op. 5 and the Cello Sonata in C Op. 102, but to talk about them. It is a revelation, musically and pedagogically. Even if you think you know these works I’d bet you’ve never examined them forensically as Isserlis does here, fluently and knowledgably, as only a musician who has been playing them for his entire career and knows every note as an old friend, could. Suddenly, with his guidance, you can see how Beethoven changed and developed during the 16 years between the writing of these sonatas, and learn how to listen to the specifics as well as the whole with a depth you may never have done before. Memphis - BroadwayHD Click here to watch His vision. Her voice. The birth of rock 'n' roll. Set in the underground clubs of the segregated '50s, a young white DJ named Huey Calhoun (Chad Kimball) falls in love with everything he shouldn’t: rock and roll and an electrifying black singer (Montego Glover). Memphis is a Broadway musical with an original story about the cultural revolution that erupted when his vision met her voice, and the music changed forever. The show is loosely based on the true story of Memphis disc jockey Dewey Phillips, one of the first white DJs to play black music in the 1950s. Bursting off the stage with explosive dancing, irresistible songs and a tale of fame and forbidden love, this emotional journey is filled with laughter and roof-raising rock ‘n’ roll. Memphis delighted audiences at Broadway’s Shubert Theatre for more than 1,200 performances. It was the big Tony winner of 2010, winning 4 Tonys for Best Musical, Best Score (David Bryan), Best Book (Joe de Pietro), and Best Orchestrations (Daryl Waters). Montego Glover and Chad Kimball were nominated for Tonys too as was director Christopher Ashley and just about everybody who had anything to do with the show. This film version won the 2012 Emmy for Outstanding Technical Direction. Memphis can be rented for 5-days for $9.99. After you start watching, you will have 120 hours to finish viewing the show. Christine Andreas - Why Did I Choose You? Click here to watch People are often confused about cabaret - the artform, not the Broadway show. Many assume that the word ‘cabaret’ is a portmanteau term, taking in any form of entertainment that isn’t a play or concert, often conflating it with drag, comedy, girly shows, and many others. But when I talk about, and write about, cabaret, what I mean is the unique experience of hearing a great singer singing a great song, alone in a spotlight. No show, no script, no dancing girls or other means of support, just a singer singing a great song. That, in its purist form, is cabaret. Here's what I mean. Christine Andreas at 54 Below in New York, accompanied by her husband, Martin Silvestri, singing one of the great songs. For those of you lucky enough to be in New York when she’s performing try to catch one of her shows on March 8 and 9. Sadly, 54 Below won’t make their livestreams available at a time which would allow us, the international online audience, to join. But just to illustrate my point about the essence of cabaret, here is a supreme cabaretist singing a superb song. What more could we need? Pocket Review The Merchant of Venice – Criterion Theatre This production of The Merchant of Venice begins and ends with two scenes that Shakespeare never wrote, one a Passover dinner, the other a rousing call to arms against Fascism. If it were not closing soon I would urge you all to see it without fail because this play, written 400 years ago, set in London 90 years ago, and given electrifying immediacy by Tracy-Ann Oberman’s Shylock, is the best illustration of, and cure for, the anti-semitism we see all around us right now. We don’t know whether the overt Jew hatred that Shakespeare wrote into his play reflected his opinion or his disgust, but we know that a good director, Brigid Larmour, and a brilliant performance from Tracy-Ann Oberman, can make his words sing directly into our current zeitgeist and persuade a packed house of jaded Londoners on a rainy Thursday afternoon to rise to their feet, shouting the famous slogan of the anti-Fascists in the ‘30s, at the Battle of Cable Street and in the Spanish Civil War, “No Passeran” “They Shall Not Pass”. In this production Tracy-Ann Oberman is at once the Jewish moneylender of Venice’s Ghetto and the doyenne of the East End of London in 1936, when the entire East End rose up together to combat the scourge of Sir Oswald Mosley’s Fascists in the Battle of Cable Street. Mosley’s Blackshirts were beaten back by the decency and solidarity of the community. The final moving scene of this production of a 400-year old play reminds us of how to combat tyranny whether the anti-Semites are 16th century Venetian merchants, 20th century Fascists, or our own home-grown racists who are threatening the Jewish community today.
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AuthorRuth Leon is a writer and critic specialising in music and theatre. Archives
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