Armenian State Symphony Orchestra at Carnegie Hall

Details

Parent Category: Film and the Arts

Category: Reviews

Published on Sunday, 30 June 2024 09:12

Written by Jack Angstreich

At Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium on the night of Thursday, June 27th, I had the immense pleasure of attending an amazing concert exclusively devoted to the seldom performed but brilliant music of Aram Khachaturian, presented by the extraordinary musicians of the Armenian State Symphony Orchestra under the sterling direction of Sergey Smbatyan. 

The evening began superbly with the revised version of the outstanding Triumphal Poem, an inventive, stirring work with an almost satirical interlude and a forceful conclusion. A remarkable soloist, Sergey Khachatryan, then entered the stage to admirably play the underrated Violin Concerto in D Minor from 1940. The initial movement—marked Allegro con fermezzo—is propulsive, with solemn, lyrical passages—it drew applause—while the Andante sostenuto movement that follows opens suspensefully and is song-like too, if in a more subdued manner. The Allegro vivace finale is exuberant but with quieter episodes, ending powerfully.

The second half of the event was even more memorable, starting with three wonderful selections from the popular ballet, Gayaneh, from 1942. (The Adagio from this score was used by director Stanley Kubrick in his 1968 film, 2001: A Space Odyssey.) The charming Dance of the Maidens preceded the mysterious and bewitching Lullaby and the lovely, waltz-like Aysheh’s Dance.

The program proper closed marvelously with five enthralling selections from another very famous ballet, Spartacus, from 1953. The spirited, delightful Introduction and Dance of the Nymphs was succeeded by the rhythmic, exhilarating Scene and Dance with Crotalums that finishes softly. The ensuing Variation of Aegina and Bacchanalia is exciting, and has a celebratory ethos. The enchanting, exquisite Adagio of Spartacus and Phrygia builds in intensity but concludes gently and the Dance of Gaditanae and Victory of Spartacus is haunting and then triumphal. An enthusiastic ovation elicited three fabulous encores: first, the Waltz from the 1944 symphonic suite, Masquerade, from incidental music for a play by Mikhail Lermontov, and then, the indelible Sabre Dance and Lezghinka from Gayaneh.

“Carnal Knowledge: The Films of Catherine Breillat” at Lincoln Center

Details

Parent Category: Film and the Arts

Category: Reviews

Published on Saturday, 29 June 2024 09:30

Written by Jack Angstreich

Fat Girl

From June 21st through the 27th, Film at Lincoln Center presented “Carnal Knowledge: The Films of Catherine Breillat,” a long overdue retrospective—programmed by Florence Almozini and Dan Sullivan—of the cinematic oeuvre of that extraordinary director, in anticipation of the release on the 28th—at this same venue—of her latest opus, the marvelous Last Summer, which had its local premiere at last year’s New York Film Festival.

Already a published author as a teenager, she began as a novelist and sometime actress, appearing in a small role along with her sister in Bernardo Bertolucci’s Last Tango in Paris in 1972—that pathbreaking movie, in its radicalism and explicit sexuality, would seem to be an important precursor for her own distinctive practice as a filmmaker. She collaborated with Federico Fellini in some capacity as a screenwriter on his interesting late work from 1984, And the Ship Sails On, and has co-written scripts for Marco Bellocchio and Liliana Cavani. Also significantly, she was the source of the original story—and co-wrote the screenplay for—Maurice Pialat’s powerfulPolicefrom 1985–this was already several years after she had begun to direct features.

The earliest of these that I saw was also the first one I encountered, the striking36 Fillettefrom 1988. I didn’t see her impressive next movie, Dirty Like an Angel—from 1991—until somewhat later. I’ve never seenCouples et amantsfrom 1993, but it’s immediate successor, Perfect Love from 1996 further intrigued me and suggested her assurance as a filmmaker. The following Romance—from 1999—was an audacious endeavor with some beautiful sequences but I thought it ultimately artistically unsatisfying. I look forward to revisiting all of these.

With her next feature,Fat Girl (2001)she seemed clearly to have emerged as a major director, if she was not one already. Brief Crossing (2001) and Sex Is Comedy (2002) were both excellent and further extended her range. The invaluable critic J. Hoberman described Anatomy of Hell (2004) as her “most radical film.” (He added, “But in its stunning dialectic between tasteful and tasteless, Romance is surely her most insolent.”) The Last Mistress (2007), based on a novel by Jules Barbey d’Aurevilly, seemed to me to be possibly her greatest work to date, along withFat Girl.I was unconvinced by her adaptation of the Charles Perrault fairytale, Bluebeard (2009) and have not seen Sleeping Beauty (2010), also based on Perrault.

Abuse of Weaknessfrom 2013—which was screened at the New York Film Festival—if slighter than her very best films, demonstrated that she was still a force with which to be reckoned. Film at Lincoln Center’s summary reads as follows: 

In 2004, at the age of 56, Catherine Breillat suffered a serious stroke. Her left side was initially paralyzed, and after five months in the hospital she worked like a demon to walk again. Not long after, she prepared an adaptation of her novel Bad Love and decided to cast the notorious “swindler of the stars,” Christophe Rocancourt, fresh from a jail term for fraud. Over the next several months, Rocancourt took advantage of Breillat’s condition and stood by her side as she wrote him checks amounting to €650,000. She later took him to court and won her case, and chronicled the experience in a book that she then adapted into this uniquely haunting film, with a bold, tough performance by Isabelle Huppert as the Breillat stand-in and French/Portuguese rapper Kool Shen as the con man. 

Huppert is indeed dazzling and her realization of the role is a true tour de force, remaining one of the most compelling components of this pleasurable film.

Last Summer, a remake of a Danish movie from 2019, is another outstanding achievement, and it was on Cahiers du Cinéma’s list of the ten best films of 2023. It stars Léa Drucker and the luminous Samuel Kircher, a relative newcomer.

Orchestra of St. Luke’s Bach Festival Day Three

Details

Parent Category: Film and the Arts

Category: Reviews

Published on Friday, 28 June 2024 10:17

Written by Jack Angstreich

Photo by Richard Termine.

At Zankel Hall on the night of Tuesday, June 25th, I had the great privilege to attend this year’s extraordinary third of three amazing concerts in the Orchestra of St. Luke’s annual Bach Festival, under the outstanding direction of the conductor and celebrated fortepianist, Kristian Bezuidenhout.

The event began splendidly with a superb account of Johann Christian Bach’s marvelous Symphony in G minor, Op. 6, No. 6, W.C 12. In a useful note for the program, Steven Jude Tietjen commented as follows: 

Christian's Symphony No. 6 in G minor was written for and first performed at one of the Bach-Abel concerts in 1770, along with the five other symphonies comprising his Opus 6. It's considered by many scholars to be one his most dramatic and ambitious symphonies, recalling the tempestuous and exciting Sturm und Drang style of his contemporary, Joseph Haydn, with his own refinement and expressive theatricality.

The opening Allegro is suspenseful while the ensuing slow movement—markedAndante più tosto adagio—is grave in mood but surprisingly forceful, and the Allegro molto finale is propulsive and intense. 

Also excellent was an outstanding performance of Johann Sebastian Bach’s magnificent Fugue in 3 subjects fromThe Art of the Fugue,BWV 1080, presented here in an astonishing arrangement for strings. The annotator explains: 

J. S. Bach'sThe Art of the Fugue,a collection of fourteen fugues and four canons, is a testament to the composer's endless imagination and inventiveness. Each piece is based on the same theme in D minor that is then transformed through seemingly infinite permutations, repetitions, reversals, and embellishments. This Fugue in 3 subjects was unfinished when Bach died and is often included as the fourteenth fugue in the collection. 

The first half of the evening closed memorably with a sterling version of Carl Philipp Emmanuel Bach’s wonderful Piano Concerto in D minor, Wq. 17, H. 420 featuring Bezuidenhout as soloist. A dynamic Allegro precedes a lyrical slow movement—with an Un poco adagio tempo—concluding exhilaratingly and virtuosically with another Allegro.

The second part of the program was comparable in power, starting with an awesome realization of C.P.E. Bach’s exquisite Symphony for Strings in C Major, Wq. 182, No. 3, H. 659. The initial movement (Allegro assai) is vibrant and ingenious while the succeeding, solemnAdagiois arrestingly strong in contrast. The Allegretto finale is animated and brisk in rhythm.

The concert ended delightfully with a fabulous rendition of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s remarkably precocious Piano Concerto No. 9 in E-flat Major, K. 271, the “Jenamy,” again with the conductor as soloist. The Allegro first movement is ebullient and sparkling. Next is a weighty, elevated, and serious Andantino that has a sense of urgency. The work finishes with an energetic and brilliant Rondo.

The artists were deservedly rewarded with enthusiastic applause.