Gertsamtkunstwerk

Tamerlano Insight Evening

I attended this the other night at the Royal Opera House. Bit of a weird night, if the truth be told. For a start, it was the only event open to the public. The Sitzprobe was happening in the Main Auditorium. And of course, there was an elephant in the room. Well, more precisely, on the main stage, so we didn't get to see it!

The evening was moderated by Sandy Burnett, from the radio, who explained that it had been a slightly strange 24 hours, and in case anybody didn't know, Plácido had cancelled the role of Bajazet. (I suspect that just about everybody did know).

The opening session was delivered by Sarah Lenton, an enthusiastic and captivating speaker. She spoke about the historic background to the work, replete with slides of paintings from the time and pictures from the current production, from its outing in Madrid as captured on DVD. She spoke about the Tamburlaine, or Timur, an actual historic character, and the role of 'the East' including Turkey and Persia in drama and opera of the time.

I wish I had taken notes now because it was a very interesting lecture, and I can't possibly remember enough of it. She highlighted how this work marked a development in opera seria and she focused particularly on how the plot develops in a series of twos; how, unusually for its time, each solo piece is actually sung to someone rather than merely being a soliloquy to illustrate their thinking. It was also unusual in that it almost contains an on-stage death - in actual fact Bajazet disappears into a black hole, so that's a bit ambiguous.

Graham Vick, the Director, was next to speak. I have to confess that I didn't find him particularly interesting. He was followed by Ron Howell, the choreographer, who described quite vividly the thinking behind his contribution. He did not have a set idea of how any character should move, and developed the movements with the singers as they arrived for rehearsals - later in the Round Table, Christine Schäfer who plays Asteria, explained how she had been to rehearsals in big shoes and was finding it difficult to remember to be dainty - as the choreographer put it, to move fast but with small steps.

Ron's talk was interrupted by the arrival of some of the singers - Kurt Streit, Christianne Stotijn and Christine Schäfer - from a break in the Stitzprobe. I was rather amused by Kurt; he did seem very defensive, I don't know if maybe he thought he would get a hostile reception. He explained that he had been contracted as cover and scheduled to sing a couple of performances, and he seemed almost too adamant in his insistence that he hadn't poisoned Plácido and sent him only good wishes. I do hope people realise, that's showbiz, the show must go on, and so on!

The singers couldn't stay for long, because of the rehearsal going on beneath us, and, to be honest, they didn't have much of great significance to say, but they were warm and nice and so on, which is a good thing.

We finished with a demonstration by Rita de Letterlis, the Language Coach, David Syrus the cover conductor, and Gillian Webster, cover for Irene, of how a short phrase of recitative is built up. It's partly about getting the right phonetic sound of the language but far more importantly about the right cadences and emphasis, and then the continuo, from a very basic score, working out how to imbue that with meaning, bearing in mind that it is during the four minutes of recitative rather than the 7 minutes of aria that the drama moves on.

All in all an interesting and reasonably informative evening. This is only the third I have been to, because I so often forget about booking these 'fringe' events in my panic to book actual rehearsal tickets. I did attend one that was held in the Linbury, which meant that far more people could attend when held in the Clore Upstairs. I think maybe I was also a bit reluctant to attend knowing that I don't especially like formal lectures peripheral to main events, but I wouldn't consider them to be overly intellectual, and the tone always seem to be generally light-hearted.

Villajoyosa photos

Villajoyosa was a pleasant town to stroll around, spotting eye- catching sights to photograph.

On the last morning, or maybe it was the penultimate, Jimmy chanced to get up at sunrise and grabbed my camera for this:

Plácido definitely cancels Tamerlano - but not yet 'official'

Placido Domingo to undergo preventative surgery in New York

Plácido Domingo is scheduled to have preventative surgery after experiencing physical discomfort and lower abdominal pain for more than a week during his recent appearances in Tokyo.

Domingo, 69, has flown to New York from Tokyo, where he has already undergone one procedure, according to his spokeswoman, Nancy Seltzer. She said that Domingo decided to fly to New York for a complete physical and that doctors have determined that the tenor needs to undergo "medically recommended preventive surgery."

She declined to be more specific about the nature of Domingo's health problems.

The surgery throws Domingo's future appearances this season into question.

Seltzer said Domingo would miss performances of "Tamerlano" in London that were scheduled to begin March 5.

She said that it was "hoped" that the tenor would be able to return to his performance schedule in about six weeks. "Hopefully, he will be back even sooner," she said.

Domingo is scheduled to perform in "Simon Boccanegra" in Berlin on March 27 and at La Scala in Milan in April. He is also set to perform in "Die Walküre" as part of Los Angeles Opera's "Ring" cycle starting May 30.

"It is his intention to honor these commitments," Seltzer said. She added that Domingo's wife, Marta, and one of his sons were with him in New York.

Musical Criticism says:

News: Placido Domingo withdraws from ROH Tamerlano

In a press release, the company stated:

'Plácido Domingo has regretfully withdrawn from the role of Bajazet in Handel’s Tamerlano at the Royal Opera House which he was scheduled to sing on 5, 8, 11, 15 and 20 March.

'Although it is not customary Royal Opera House policy, in recognition of the withdrawal of such an exceptional artist in a rarely-performed opera, we will be contacting all ticket holders with details of a 20% credit note'

Meanwhile, the Royal Opera House website remains unchanged. It's like they're pretending it hasn't happened - or isn't important. So, they've issued a Press Release - but not put it in their 'Press Release' part of the site. And absolutely nothing on the front page, the 'What's on' page. Sod the bloody paying customer. As per bloody usual.

And, just for the record, of course I am hugely disappointed. I could write screeds  and screeds of emotional outpourings about how much I was looking forward to seeing him, on-stage and off-stage. But you know that. What more needs to be said.

I do so hope it's something very boring and ultimately trivial. People have sent me suggestions on Twitter such as gastric band (I don't think so) or 'prostate maybe, he is getting older'.

But I really don't like that statement 'he has already undergone one procedure' - I think that reads that that happened in Tokyo.

New York Times:

Domingo to Undergo Surgery After Suffering Abdominal Pain

As Ms. Seltzer put it in an e-mail message: “Please know he’s not having brain surgery, and, knowing Plácido, he will be working as they roll the gurney into surgery and again as he leaves recovery.”

And Intermezzo has recommended sending in the Clown Doctor

Plácido cancels Tamerlano

I am so hoping this isn't true.

I first read of this on Parterre and I was thinking that Parterre can be a scurrilous gossip site. However, I don't think La Cieca is in the habit of making up fundamental stuff like that.

I kept surfing round various websites to find out further. There was nothing on his website or the ROH website, but I know full well that means absolutely nothing.

Then I read this which claims to be from Associated Press

Opera star Placido Domingo to undergo surgery

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Placido Domingo is expected to undergo surgery later this week after the internationally acclaimed tenor suffered abdominal pain during a recent performance in Tokyo.

Publicist Nancy Seltzer said Monday that Domingo will undergo the surgery at a New York hospital. She would only describe the procedure as "medically recommended preventive surgery."

Seltzer says Domingo expects to resume his performance schedule after a recuperation period of about six weeks. He was on a world tour when he was stricken.

More later, I guess

Photos from Denia

We caught the train up the coast to Denia, a delightful journey. And we spent a pleasant day in Denia, although we decided Villajoyosa was a much nicer place:

 

Some holiday photos

We went away in mid September to Villajoyosa in the Alicante area of Spain. I took over 500 photographs. At that point I also had some photos taken previously but unedited. And, of course, I have taken many photos subsequently - another 500+

I have an aversion when editing photographs to going through sequentially, applying close attention to several really rather similar photos. So instead of editing them in the order 1, 2, 3...I edit them in the order 1, 11,21...6,16,26...9,19,29...etc.

The upside is that I can take a fresh approach to just about every photo I edit. The downside is that when I take nearly 1200 photos in 6 months a backlog of editing can build up, and, as I like to publish to in a chronological sequence, I have to wait until I have edited 90% of  the photos in the set before I can publish them in the albums you see to your right.

But I don't think that should stop me publishing a selected few in the body of the blog on an 'as and when' basis. And now is 'when'.

The sea looked rough but that didn't deter people from swimming, notwithstanding the red flag flying (we escaped to a nearby pub, fortunately it was fruit cake day and Countdown was on the TV, otherwise our holiday could have been ruined)

From opera star to TV star

I've read a fair amount of criticism about Rolando Villazón taking part in Popstar to Operastar, and to that criticism I feel inclined to say. "Hey! Look! The sky hasn't fallen in... it's only a Game Show!"

 At this point I am going to say that I am a huge fan of Rolando, and have been for six years, since seeing him in Les Contes D'Hoffmann at The Royal Opera House. I have seen him live several times, have several of his CDs and DVDs, and I have met him a few times, always in a fan-star context, and I like him tremendously from what I know of him as a person, too.

The major criticism of him has been that by appearing on Popstar to Operastar, he has given it an artistic credibility it otherwise didn't deserve. And by supping with the devil he has de facto surrendered the right to be called a serious artist (okay, I paraphrase slightly but not much).

To which I reply - who in this life can afford to turn down work?

Or, rather, who, having been unable to work at their chosen profession for the best part of a year,  would be foolish enough to turn down a no doubt lucratively rewarded position. It seems  it required relatively little commitment - Katherine Jenkins tweeted that it was taking up two days a week for her - and she has all that extra commitment on slapping on all that emulsion paint and squeezing into those dresses.

Rolando isn't the first serious musician - and hopefully won't be the last - to have taken on an artistically dubious but short-term populist project.

 Straight actors do voice-overs for documentaries and adverts, and most top sports stars earn more from advertising than directly from their sports. With a few obvious exceptions,  it isn't often suggested that actors' or sportspeople's commercial activities interfere with their core business. And many people in the Arts have hobbies or personal commitments that are just as likely to distract them from work.

I would be annoyed if Rolando had cancelled performances specifically to do this, or if he was trying to fit it in during a run of performances, or skiving rehearsals to do it.

I would have been a bit concerned if he had done it straight after his operation last year, but he hasn't, and he's due back on stage in Vienna in March as Nemorino. That will be followed by a short tour of Handel, which I will be attending at the RFH.

There are people who have declared that Rolando's singing career is over. The dafter of those cite as evidence the fact that he has announced he has dropped roles such as Don Carlo and Don José from his repertoire.

There were plenty enough people saying years ago that these are not suitable for his voice and he should give them up lest he goes the way of José Carreras - a minor tenor whose entire career was a failure (I jest, in case you fail to see that!). Giving them up has attracted criticism, but keeping them and adding roles such as Cavaradossi would also have attracted criticism.

I don't know enough about vocal cord cysts or indeed about vocal cords to be able to guess whether there is an inevitable trajectory towards doom. I simply don't know.

Natalie Dessay had nodules on her vocal cords and as far as I can see is maintaining a decent career, notwithstanding Thursday night*. I think people who are predicting Rolando's utter demise are rubbing their hands together in glee. They should have the manners and common decency to at least wait and see.

I haven't managed to catch Rolando on many of the chat-shows he has appeared on, because they have been on during the day, when I have been otherwise engaged. I have caught some on catch-up player and it doesn't surprise me how he comes across. One of my many criticisms of Katherine Jenkins is how she seems to fill the quota for 'classical musicians' on chat-shows, because she actually retains someone as a 'TV-placer' and has nothing better to do than endlessly promote her album and her tour. Yet she never actually discusses music, except to diss opera singers and distort opera as being expensive and so on.

Classical musicians are harder to pin down, because of the long hours spent rehearsing, because International Stars rarely spend more than a few short weeks in London, and because many of them are foreigners and thus assumed not to speak English fluently by the air-heads that book guests for these shows.

So having Rolando on chat shows such as Loose Women and other such programmes is a good thing. I dismiss people who claim that something is elitist and inaccessible even though it's occasionally on the TV, but I do accept that many people won't instinctively turn to watch a full televised opera. (Sky Arts aside, two of the last three operas shown on British TV  - Don Carlo and La Boheme - starred Rolando Villazón).

Rolando is an enthusiastic and engaging person who, above all, displays passion. Mainly for opera but for other subjects too, such as philosophy and literature. A really good example of how it is possible to be intelligent and thinking, and fun and funny and down-to-earth - really inspirational.

He can 'talk opera' as well as anybody, knowing and understanding the music and the traditions, how to act and create a character, and how to connect over the footlights with an audience. He seems genuinely down to earth and not up himself, which I think always conveys well on TV.

His recent album Tenor is currently at Number 18 in the general Album charts. I don't think it's his best album, although I enjoy it and have played it several times. None of his previous, arguably better, albums have reached such a high position in the charts, which shows that a little marketing goes a long way.

I often wonder why serious musicians don't market their CDs more widely. The simple answer is that they don't have the time. (See above about long hours for rehearsals).

Unlike most of the commercially manufactured crossover stars, their appeal is international, so even if they had the time to promote their CDs in one market such as the UK, they can't necessarily repeat for each of France, Germany, Italy, Japan, etc. And yes, the same would apply to International pop and rock stars. But their entire careers, too,  consist of recording and promoting CDs to promote the tours that promote the CDs. 

I will confess that I have slightly mixed feelings about Rolando's sudden fame. I am certain that I was the first UK blogger (and possibly worldwide) to declare myself a fan of his. And it was he who made me realise that opera singers are capable of vanity googling.

I like it that when we meet we hug. (Don't get me wrong, I'm not deluding myself that's anything more meaningful than a fan-singer thing). So a part of me begrudges sharing him too widely, even when a bigger part of me is delighted at the positive response from the general TV viewing audience - at least as I see it from the internet and the odd conversation at work.

* Natalie had pharyngitis and had to cancel after the First Act of La Somnambula at Paris Bastille. Unbelievably, there was no cover, so the rest of the performance had to be cancelled - no arrangements even for a scarcely adequate nobody to sing from the wings or pit, with music stand, while Natalie mimed.

The worst thing, reportedly, was that the cancellation announcement came after serving of champagne and canapés - and no refunds!

If that happened in London, there would be barely disguised tutting: in Paris I'm surprised they didn't call a General Strike and eat the elephant in the zoo.

Don Carlo at ROH

Yeah yeah yeah, I know what you're saying - that was, like, five months ago and, indeed, it was.

The thing is, in an effort to catch up with my tail that's spinning round in a circle, I am in the process of going methodically through my PC. In doing so I have spotted some photos I took at the curtain call for the Don Carlo I attended in October.

These are now published in Performance

In the course of publishing them I had reason to look back at the blog reports I wrote at the time: Don Carlo - Instant Reaction and Don Carlo - Thoughts Upon the Opera . Together with the only solo photo I got of Don Carlo bowing, people might be mistaken for thinking that I was indifferent to Jonas Kaufmann.

Let me assure you I could never be indifferent to Jonas Kaufmann. I am kicking myself right now that I didn't write more about how superb he was. Far too long ago to write spiels of detail about how he executed this phrase or specifically coloured his voice in that way.

However, just for the record, I thought that Jonas was superb because he has a really gorgeous voice. It's not news that my favourite voice of all is the heavier/more dramatic/even slightly baritonal tenor voice, especially when it has beauty of tone such as Jonas has.

He has some very special tricks that he does with his voice. His pianissimi are extraordinary. It seems contradictory to praise them for being so audible, but that's trick - obviously pianissimi but placed with precision. I also love his messa di voce. And his musicianship is of the highest standard.

As important as singing is his stage art. I want to emphasise that I don't think 'looks' are particularly important in opera. I have noticed that Herr Kaufmann is DDG, but that is not my point. I do think, however, that an ability to act is extremely important. I don't expect opera singers to be comparable with the greatest of stage actors, but I do want their acting to be at least credible. Jonas Kaufmann is more than credible. He is convincing and he inhabits the part, so I don't see that he is acting, he is Don Carlo.

I also want to make it clear that Ferruccio Furlanetto and Simon Keenlyside were also superb. Marina Poplavskaya had sung Elizabetta in the original production in 2008. Those of us who clocked her potential way back in 2006 were somewhat disappointed in the initial run, which is, unfortunately, the one preserved for posterity - shown on the TV a couple of months ago. It was wonderful to see such an improvement - experience, maturity etc - that again demonstrated that her star is in the ascendancy.

Incidentally, my failure to praise Jonas Kaufmann was echoed a couple of months later when I failed to praise Gerald Finley as Iago. It's almost like I assume that you know how much I like these people so I don't need to tell you. But if you like them too, and you couldn't be there, I guess you'd want to read a bit more than passing references!

My new baby toy

I think I mentioned a few weeks I wanted a new camera. Well, yesterday I ordered one and today it arrived. In some ways it's very similar to my old, which is a Canon Powershot G3, universally acclaimed, in its time, and for many years after,  as the 'prosumer' camera.

For years, people lamented that the subsequent models didn't have the wonderful swivel screen of the G3, and I knew that, having used a swivel screen, I could never go back to a fixed screen. Just before Christmas, my brother mentioned he'd got a G11 and it has a swivel screen; just after Christmas, the zoom button finally seized up on the G3, as it had been threatening to do for several weeks. So, perfect serendipity.

Of course, when it arrived, I realised that not only was the battery different from the old one (but, at least, one was included) but it's a totally different memory card. That did annoy me, because I bought an 8 GB one at Gatwick just last September, and have now gone out and bought a 16GB. By the time I've bought a spare battery, a soft case and a remote switch, that's adding on £150 to the original price, all of which seems like redundant spend.

It took a bit of getting used to even doing basic stuff, although I was quite pleased that my hands have already started moving instinctively to certain buttons. I shall give it another couple of whirls in the next few days, taking photos that won't be irreplaceable. It seems smaller than the G3 although the main bodywork is pretty much the same size. But it doesn't have that Cyrano-type nose, or that annoying lens cap held on by a piece of string.

Anyway, I took some photos.

 

Jimmy, as usual being totally unphotogenic, but I almost like the way I framed this - in Franco Manca in Brixton market - that's my organic lemonade in the front

I took this, intending it to be an iconic shot of iconic Lambeth Town Hall - which I have never previously photographed from the outside - but rather than thinking these people and vehicles got in the way, decided they were more interesting than the clock tower.

After we got off the bus, we went to see Jimmy's sister-in-law Julie at New Park Fruiterers, so I took some pictures round the shop. These are my favourite:

 

For some reason, and this manifests itself most starkly in the red roses, the colour in the RAW file doesn't seem replicable in LightRoom - in the original they are more crimson, in this they look more scarlet

Update:  I finally got round to downloading the newer version of Lightroom and with no additional processing, I get this

Amazing!

Drumming

I went to the Queen Elizabeth Hall this evening for a nearly perfect week-night concert. £12 the ticket, an hour and five minutes of music, even allowing for the start being delayed by ten minutes, and biff bang boom home in time to make something of an evening at home. I mean, these operas and that are all very well but don't they go on? By the time you've shuffled and barged your way out of the opera house and into Covent Garden Station lifts (or given up on that and limped down to Leicester Square), you could be home and dry from a concert with the actual real composer alive and in attendance.

The piece performed was Steve Reich's 'Drumming' performed by The Colin Currie Group.

As the piece began with four percussionists each banging a bongo with one stick I began to draft a satirical blog post along the lines of 'all they did was bang their bongos with one stick - a child in nursery school could do that!'.

I do know the piece and I already knew that it was soon to gain momentum, and very soon I was sitting entranced by the repetitive rhythm - or, more strictly speaking, phased. I suspect that Steve Reich is a Marmite composer. I loved his music the first time I heard it. As I sat slightly rocking I did wonder if there is something in the music that appeals to the slightly autistic part of my personality.

I love the sense of rhythm and I love the music that is created from that. The bongos are different pitches (the man behind me joked rather sneeringly about them having to tune them), then the music is taken up by marimbas and voices, and then by glockenspiels, piccolo and whistle, and finally Tutti. Very clever, very mesmerising, and acoustically amazing.

The performance was amplified, not in a rock gig way but sufficient to give some feedback, especially from the glockenspiels. I was fascinated by the echoes bouncing off the lighting rig and round the hall , and the sounds I imagined to lie within them  - the aural equivalent of seeing definite shapes in abstract patterns on curtains and so forth. At one point I swore I heard the waves of a rough sea, another time human voices, as if a party is going on down the corridor and behind a closed door.

The whole thing was very civilised (I didn't stay for the discussion afterwards), just a shame about the miserable wet weather. In summer a short sojourn by the river on the way home would be perfect.

The only downer was the man behind me. He spent the 20 minutes or so before the concert started by trying to remember all the football trivia he had once known, probably as a set of exercises to try and halt the inexorable decline of his mind (years of drug abuse rather than Alzheimers, I suspect). That which he remembered he was getting wrong (the England manager is called Angelotti, no Ancelotti), and he was forgetting things like the name of that dark-haired Belfast boy who played on the wing for Manchester United and that manager of Liverpool who declared football to be more important than life or death.

Then he started snoring very loudly down my neck, causing the woman three seats away from me to look round and smile, well, trying not to laugh, nearly making me laugh. I shouldn't laugh, it's sad, maybe we'll all end up like that. Maybe the only thing that will keep us functioning is our little trips out, firmly escorted by our much older friend, who didn't look like he'd spent his entire life recovering from a bad LSD trip. I don't think you'd get that at an opera house.

Another thing that annoyed me. The thing about this piece is that it can end whenever the ensemble can decide it's going to end, not like a standard, say symphonic piece when anyone with half an ear for music can hear the climax being approached and keys being resolved and the end approaching. The end is really quite sudden. And then always has to be one, just one, arsehole who starts their clapping that fraction of a second too soon, as if he has been waiting poised to be the important person who can show off how clever he is to be the first to clap, rather than allowing for the music to end, the heart to beat, and then to clap.

Irresponsible headline

It shouldn't surprise to me find some so-called journalist distorting a story in order to get a sensationalist headline. It also shouldn't surprise me to find these journalists running a distorting headlines without a thought for the consequences of their actions.

I would like to say that it surprises me that this has happened on the BBC News web site, but I am afraid that the BBC News website is a watchword for poorly - hastily - written pieces. Normally, I just spot grammatical errors, paragraphs in the wrong order or references to something 'above' which has subsequently been edited out. Irritating, indicative of sloppy standards, but, ultimately inconsequential.

Then I see the headline

'Rape victims to blame' - survey.

I click to the story, headlined in  bold:

Women say some rape victims should take blame - survey

The opening paragraph says

A majority of women believe some rape victims should take responsibility for what happened, a survey suggests.

There is a massive difference between 'some...should take responsibility' to 'Rape victims to blame'

It's not just semantics to point out the massive difference between the initial headline on the front page and the actual substance of the story.

If you read the initial headline, you might subconsciously read it as ALL victims are to blame. 'Blame' is not 'responsibility'.

In reality most women - and men - take some responsibility for their own personal safety. Accepting our own personal responsibility can, I suppose, logically be transferred to criticising people who don't take that responsibility. But it's a very big leap of (illogic) to turn that into 'blame',  and a very very big leap to imply that all rape victims are therefore to blame.

When a crime is committed, the criminal is always to blame. We all have the opportunity from time-to-time to commit a crime against another; most of us don't.

There are many crimes of sexual violence where any detached observer can say "If she hadn't got into Situation A, Scenario B wouldn't have happened, and therefore Act C, the rape or assault wouldn't have occurred". Avoiding Situation A is about taking responsibility. Suggesting that the victim is to blame, because Act C is a direct and inevitable consequence of A, is downright irresponsible.

In any case, this only covers the fraction of rapes that are commonly known as 'date rapes'. If by writing that, I make it seem that a 'date rape' is trivial, I don't mean that. As long as it's properly defined.

Waking up in the morning regretting that drunken shag and calling it rape post-hoc is almost never justifiable, and that's where personal responsibility matters.

But to be on a date and to be violently assaulted, sexually or not, or to be violently assaulted within a long-term relationship. Well, we can all take a superior attitude, call it 'bad judgement', and so on, but to suggest that the victim is to 'blame' is generally unsustainable and unjustified. And, in any case, what we as individuals may say in private conversation, with the chance to discuss context for hours on end, is really quite different from writing a headline on the BBC News front page, especially when large numbers of the people who read the headline won't read the story.

Isn't it about the time that the BBC News online start taking responsibility or else I will blame them for reinforcing the widely-held belief that women are always to blame for being raped.

Splishy-splashy

There is a bit of a swimming crisis in South London. Unfortunately, the epicentre is pretty close to me.

So, let us take stock.

• Streatham Pool: closed, for Health and Safety, should have been completely rebuilt years ago, but the finance was via a deal with Tesco, who have been dilatory and recalcitrant;
• Clapham Pool: closed in order to be knocked down and rebuilt;
• Brockwell Lido and Tooting Bec Lido, both outdoors and unheated, and open only to members in the winter;
• Brixton Recreation Centre: currently having the Wetside changing rooms refurbished, meaning that swimmers have to change in the cramped conditions on the 6th floor and descend by stairs to the Pool on the 4th floor, also leading to limited opening hours - although not as limited as the propagandist agitators would have you believe*

Knowing that Brixton is a bit crowded, and not especially wanting to parade around in public half-naked**, I thought I would try:

•  Queen Mother Sports Centre which is near work, but closes at 7.30pm, no good for me if I finish at 6.30
• Balham, which is a little bit out of my way: closes at 6.30 pm

I thought to myself it's always better to go to an open pool than one that is closed, for whatever reason. So I went to Brixton. And it was okay. For the first two lengths. Then the disco music started, loud, so loud that people started shouting to each other. The Aquarobics arrived and took over the entire 'recreation' lane, 40% of the pool for 10% of the users. Stupid bloody activity anyway, Aquarobics. Learn to swim, not ponce around!

And the 'music' has a beat. I don't know about you, but whenever I hear a persistent dominant beat, I have to move in time to it. It's a fairly well observed phenomenon of crowds walking/marching etc. Trouble was, it was a bit too fast for my comfort, so there I was swimming faster and faster.

And just for good measure there was a man. It wasn't really his fault; by rights he should have been in the recreational swimming area, but he was slow. But I kept getting stuck behind him. Overtaking shouldn't have been a problem, because he was that slow. But he was so splashy, and then there was such a wake from the Aquarobics class that I felt like a little boat being buffetted on the sea, conscious that if I didn't get a move on, faster than the beat of the music that was too fast for me, anyway, there'd be someone coming up behind wanting to overtake me overtaking him.

Still, I got my arse into gear, refused to believe the lies of those with an agenda, and it's so easy once you get back into the habit! And I feel good.

* someone is Twittering as 'Brixton Recreation Centre' and claiming it's only open for one hour in the morning; that isn't true. What is true is that it is limited to schools and other lesons during the rest of the day, but re-opens for general admission at 6.30, and closes, I think at 10.00 pm (but why let facts  spoil a good story!)

** it's not actually a problem, it's down the back stairs, not the main ones, and you only encounter other people parading half-naked

Simon Boccanegra in the cinema

So many people have said to me how lucky I am that I was able to spend my birthday evening watching a live broadcast of Simon Boccanegra live from New York beamed into my local cinema - a performance of Simon Boccanegra starring my hero, Plácido Domingo.

I don't feel lucky. I ended up having my birthday meal at 4pm, and it was a bit rushed, and not necessarily in a place I would have chosen for a special birthday meal, but moaning about that would be churlish.

Put it simply, I drunk before, during and after. I was never steaming drunk, and wasn't even particularly drunk until much later. I was squiffy. I was able to concentrate on the performance, appreciate what was worth appreciating, and criticise that which needed criticising, but by the next day I was suffering memory loss.

In some ways I am kicking myself, but I am trying also to be wise. Better to have this amnesia now than in relation to a live performance. I know that I thoroughly enjoyed the performance (and myself), and in my 'live for the minute' philosophy that's what matters. Ultimately, it doesn't matter than I can't remember sufficient detail to write intelligently about it. It will appear on TV and/or DVD at some point, so it is not lost for ever; perhaps when I watch it again I will have my memory refreshed, or else I will be able to savour it anew. Either way, I have a future win!

I realise I don't know the opera as well as many other Verdi works, but I have seen it live and on TV. So I can't plead total unfamiliarity. The plot is a bit convoluted to explain, and I did realise I have misunderstood a few small details - for example, I thought somehow that Fiesco's daughter, Boccanegra's lover, and Amelia/Maria's mother died in childbirth. But I don't think that my mistaken assumption or the seemingly complicated nature of the plot is an excuse. Indeed, there are elements to the story that are absolutely compelling; the father/daughter recognition scene is one that people refer to constantly when discussing this opera, and I find it amazing every time I see it!

I do not advocate that all good operas need a tune to hum on the way out. When they do have a tune to hum, they aren't  necessarily operas (think of the number of rarely performed operas that have produced one memorable aria or duet!).

But I do think it's worth persevering with and getting to know better. I think it's on at Covent Garden this summer, so I suppose I might as well try and get a ticket for a performance or two. Although, dear reader, it will be shown on BBC TV, so I don't feel that you need bother getting tickets to see it live, when you can enjoy it from the comfort of your own home.

I found the supporting cast (ie all but the lead role) a bit ordinary. People had written that James Morris is past it, part of the voice gone, forcing him to speak the role. I noticed that and it didn't bother me greatly; he had impressive gravitas in the role . Adrianne Pieczonka was so-so. I thought her very squawky, especially when she was first singing in the garden. She got less squawky and did a decent job, but I can't see myself rushing to hear her again. Her facial acting was non-existent, her physical acting was largely a case of going through rehearsed roles.

I was pleasantly surprised by Marcello Giordani. I have never heard him live, and don't especially wish to. This was the best I have heard him in televised etc productions; I was a bit shocked to read that many people thought that this was one of his best performances ever. It was, just, okay. He hit the right notes with the right tone and dynamics, and I guess the core of the voice is essentially beautiful. But it's forgettable, and lacks subtlety, nuance, any real attempt to colour it or to project any sort of character.But I did find his diction clear and easy to follow (yes, I know he's Italian, but I don't always find Italians easy to follow in Italian any more than I find English-speakers necessarily easy to follow in English).

I thought the production was as dull as dishwater and flatter. I did like the garden scenery, but one decent set doesn't a production make. I can't really pull it apart and say - this was wrong, this was wrong, because there was no 'this' there. It was in effect a cast of characters in rather risible gowns moving fairly meaninglessly around the set, except for when they stood still. To some extent it was little more than a concert performance with scenery and costumes. (But I don't think the ROH production is any better).

I thought the Council Chamber was spectacularly tacky. In fairness, it was designed to be seen from afar within the house, rather than close up in HD on a cinema screen, but I was a bit gobsmacked when the audience applauded. I can kind of see the point of applauding the scenery on the first night of a new production, when the designers are in the house to hear it, but after so many years, such ill-timed applause simply drowns out the music which is supposed to be making an impact at the time.

I haven't much to say about the orchestral playing, and thus conducting. I had a very favourable impression at the time, but, in actual fact, notwithstanding my general memory loss, the most forgettable aspect was the music. In any case, I think this is where the cinema does fall down. Jimmy remarked, without my prompting,  that he missed the sound of a live orchestra, it sounded muffled; I had already decided that the resonance of the timpani was killed.

But of course, the highlight for me was Plácido singing Simon Boccanegra. I am very much looking forward to hearing and seeing him perform this live in London - which seems a long way off. He's also doing it in Berlin (again), Zurich, Milan and Madrid, but, with regret, I decided not to book for any of these, largely for financial reasons!

There has been criticism of the idea of him taking on the role, and some criticism, mainly from 'the usual suspects' of his actual performance, but overall the intelligent comment has been very positive. I do wonder why there is such a big deal about the difference between a tenor and a baritone: sopranos become mezzos and vice-versa, and take on each other's roles. There are roles that are performed by light baritones, 'Verdi' baritones, and bass-baritones. I do accept that there is a difference in tone and even colour between what one would expect from a baritone and hear from a tenor.

I suppose if I was mostly interested in the sounds that singers make, I would have grounds for criticising. But I don't ever see opera as being a display of sounds.

What was very striking about Plácido's performance was how he gets the basics absolutely right. The right notes in the right order, on pitch, without wobble, scoop, swoop or compromise and in delightful phrasing that is intrinsically musical. And it builds from there, vocally, yes, with lots of expression and variety, but also physically.

I felt he was a natural in the role. He did joke in the interview after the Prologue - apropos the rest of the opera being set twenty-five years later - that he would be getting closer to his real age. And, obviously, that helped. I didn't think much of the Act 1 sword fight, on the other hand, the final death scene was glorious. I am in awe of the way Plácido just falls to the floor. In contrast, the rolling is easy.

So, as I say, I enjoyed it while I was there, but there's no use me trying to make out I remember more than I did, when I didn't! I wish there was a 'replay' in the UK but as far as I can tell from the web, there isn't. I'm hoping it will be on SkyArts eventually, but that won't be for months.

Do check out remarks by commenter P-Dingo on the 25 January performance live in the house.

When we were away...

A couple of weeks ago, Jimmy and I went away for a few days, taking advantage of discounts available in the down  season of late January!

We didn't want to go too far afield; a bit of searching the internet found us the Flackley Ash hotel outside Rye. In the village of Peasmarsh; I only subsequently learnt that this is the village where Paul McCartney lives. We didn't see him walking round the village and there was no evidence of him in the village pub.

In retrospect it would have been slightly easier if we had stayed in the town of Rye, or had had a car. However, the hotel was excellent, we really couldn't fault it. We had a garden room ie one with French windows opening onto a private patio and a lawn/putting green surrounded by trees.

Being January we didn't really utilise the 'garden' aspect of the room, even so, it was a nice. The hotel had a pool, jacuzzi, gym etc. We took advantage of the pool and jacuzzi, although none of the other health club facilities. It's funny, I've stayed many times in hotels with saunas but I've never had a sauna in my life. I think part of the reason we didn't was because there were separate male and female saunas - why spend time apart when we could be together!

I know I spent the first evening tweeting the selection of 80s style liqueurs etc available in the hotel bar, but in fairness, no one makes a point of drinking in hotels. We couldn't really fault the food or wine selection.

On the first night I had grilled halloumi served on  roasted vegetables. I can't quite remember what the main course was - except that it was fish, halibut maybe. I suppose our biggest criticism was that the so-called 'local seasonal' vegetables were in fact French beans, mange tout and asparagus. There was an item on the local news saying how there is now an enormous greenhouse complex in Kent that can produce green beans even in January. But I'm not sure there is any 'green' advantage in these over asparagus and mange tout flown in having been grown in the sun in Kenya or wherever.  Vegetables have to be local and seasonal to really count as green; it also helps one to be in touch with nature and the turn of the seasons! But as a criticism, good quality well presented vegetables is minor!

My pudding, a butterscotch tart, was gorgeous, and I got lucky taking a snapshot of Jimmy's pudding - he's so predictable, he almost always goes for ice cream, as long as he can be confident that it's good quality.

On the second night, we ate at The Fish Cafe in Rye. The less said about that the better - or perhaps I should devote an entire blogpost to it. Suffice to say, when a restaurant cares more about an image or a concept than its customers, all its good work goes down the drain, and it just comes over as desperately small-town. I have never before had an arrogant waiter sneering at me. I don't really give a flying fuck that he's worked with Raymond Blanc; I've worked with some bloody good people, doesn't necessarily mean I'm good at my job.

On the third night we tried several restaurants in Rye that had been recommended repeatedly. One was closed on Wednesdays, one was closed on January weekdays for refurbishment, and one was just closing as we arrived, I would guess for lack of customers.

None of this was surprising in an out-of-season holiday town, and I certainly wouldn't hold it against the businesses. Nevertheless it was disappointing.

We got the taxi back to the hotel for last service. Thankfully, we had another good quality meal: I seem to recall I had scallops, then sea bass, finished with a chocolate fudge cake. Again, very good quality. No criticism of the hotel food, but part of the fun of being away, especially in a foodie town, is the chance to eat in different places. And, obviously, hotel dining rooms in down-season don't have the most sparkly exciting atmosphere.

On our two full days we caught the bus from the village. We learnt on the second day that we could ask the driver to drop us off opposite the hotel despite the lack of bus-stop; I suppose it might be possible also to flag one down, there, too. Just a bummer if it sails past and the next one isn't for a while!

On the first day we strolled round historic Rye and on the second we went to Winchelsea Beach via Hastings...as we entered the village of Winchelsea Beach we asked for the best stop for the beach and he didn't bother telling us, so off we went to Hastings, got a coffee and got another bus back! Daft day and we barely snapped at each other at all!

A serious case of neglect

Dear Blog

I have sorely neglected you. I am sorry. I have been distracted by other things, on the PC, and in real life. I have been unfaithful, flirting with Twitter and yet imposing Twitter on you.

Paul Newman said, on the subject of infidelity, 'why go out for hamburger when you have steak at home'.

I don't eat meat, but in blogging fidelity terms, I have not only gone out for hamburger, neglecting the steak at home, but I have actually procured takeaway hamburger to eat out of the paper wrappings at home while the steak watches forlorn and neglected.

Enough of stretched meat-based metaphors: people might get funny ideas about what goes on in my personal life!

There, it wasn't so difficult to open up the editing panel and write something. The key to curing writer's block is to write something, anything. Not worrying much about quality, the key is to write something, anything, that vaguely makes sense, and then, in the famous words of Wellington "Publish and be damned"