Hommage a Van Gogh

Un rasoir decoupe la haie ou barricade
Des dents l'oreille guette un souffle criminel
La lanterne du tournesol sous les arcades
Affronte deux yeux blancs ainsi louche un tunnel.

Au bord de ce combat de coqs des mains exquises
Caressent le sang gras de l'estrade feu d'or
Tirfice furieux sur les places assises
Solennel ouragan des plumages de l'art

Que dire a ce bandeau si le bois de la pipe
S'avere incombustible et si le champ de ble
N'oppose aucune serpe aux siestes d'une equipe
De moissonneurs dormant un sommeil accable.

Jean Cocteau

Just to finish the Arles/Van Gogh theme :)

In case of writer's block

Prenez un mot, prenez en deux
faites cuire comme des oeufs
prenez un petit bout de sens
puis un grand morceau d'innocence
faites chauffer a petit feu
au petit feu de la technique
versez la sauce enigmatique
saupoudrez de quelques etoiles
poivrez et puis mettez les voiles

Ou voulez-vous donc en venir?
A ecrire
Vraiment? a ecrire??

Pour un art poetique (Raymond Queneau)

Concert trail

Have been sampling some of Lyon's finest recently:

Choeur d'Oratorio de Lyon's lovely concert including a suitably quicksilver Hebridean Overture; a new work by a contemporary Lyonnaise composer, Pascal de Montaigne (unfortunately the effect was slightly spoiled by the conductor's explanation of the piece that went on for longer than the piece for itself. I'm sure there's a rule against this) and Beethoven's op. 86, the Mass in C major with glorious soprano solos by a French singer, Virginie Pochon. Funnily enough, because the latter was in Latin, it almost sounded if it was in English. Latin versus French rather than English versus French(if that makes any sense at all?!)

Quatuor Leonis (formerly Esteves) lunchtime concert at the Ecole Normale Superieure, Lyon. Schubert's Quartettsatz ... happy mmmm. Lalo's string quartet in E flat from 1859 ... not so sure mmmm. Fantastic playing though, and an upcoming concert will include some of the BEST SCHUBERT EVER (no, really, they will be playing the Death and the Maiden Quartet).

Suspicious...

Yet another reason to watch Derren Brown. Channel 4 describes the programme thus:

"Episode 5:
This week Yshani, a young Sri-Lankan woman, is taught how to play the piano to
concert standard and perform a recital at the Wigmore Hall after only two weeks
of lessons with Derren."

Strange description, given that Yshani's played the piano for longer than a very long piece of string. Is Derren Brown faking it? Could he be the world's best piano teacher? Could he be the biggest disappointment in magic today? Or will there be a twist in the TV tale?

UPDATE: Programme going out on May 11th not 4th :)

Look into my eyes .... you're feeling sleepy...

Free publicity seems to be a bit of a theme at the moment: make sure that this Friday evening you are in couch potato gear, planted firmly in front of Channel Four at ten o'clock. Why? Because at Ten O'clock psychological illusionist Derren Brown is set to play with your mind on his new show Trick or Treat. And this Friday, May 4th, Derren's victim/subject/hypnotee is a good friend of mine, Yshani, - a fantastic pianist currently studying at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and fellow Derren Brown fanatic (she's definitely winning in the fan stakes!) The show's theme is "Trick or Treat": each week a participant picks a card, either trick or treat, and a series of events based on this choice subsequently unfolds. Without giving away anything in advance, Yshani ends up playing in the Wigmore Hall. So I'm doubly jealous now :) Meeting Derren Brown and playing in the Wigmore Hall. What else is there left to do?!

Hot off the press...

http://www.classicalmusic.org.uk/

Classical Musical UK describes itself as "the Online Guide for Classical Music in the United Kingdom" and if all goes to plan looks set to reorganise (revolutionize seems a bit strong) the online face of classical music, making it one of the only sites offering up-to-date jobs; quick guides to composers, UK orchestras and opera houses and most importantly exciting interviews with contemporary musicians. Now I realise that this sounds like a publicity plug and it is, because I have a vested interest in this site :) One of CMUK's features is that before each interview a group of performers/composers/people interested in classical music brainstorm questions for the interviewees. So as a member of this group, it's a given that I'd say it's worth taking a look! An interview with the Allegri String Quartet has just been published, and next up are the results of meetings with conductor-speaker-teacher Benjamin Zander and violinist, recently turned temporary busker, Tasmin Little.

Thought for the day.

You know, it's always useful to remember that in Lyon there's not one, but two rivers. Otherwise you might find yourself cycling up the wrong river for a good twenty minutes before you realise you want the Saone, not the Rhone. Not that I'd be stupid enough to do that... ehem.

Art in Arles

Following Van Gogh's footsteps to Arles doesn't, unfortunately, result in finding a treasure trove of his canvases. Quite the opposite: not a single one of the 200 paintings he completed during his 15 month stay in Arles remains there today. What you do find though is a gem of a museum full of art created to pay hommage to Van Gogh. Over fifty different artists-that the roll call includes David Hockney and Roy Lichtenstein gives you an idea of the scale of the project-contributed an assortment of art works in all shapes and sizes. Van Gogh's face and the iconic chair haunt the exhibition: his eyes follow you round each room; in one canvas the familiar face looms out from under his bed. The chair is transplanted into new settings, the seat sometimes filled - with shoes; with a man, despairing,-head in hands-; with paint pots or a wine glass. The cumulative effect is almost startling, certainly unexpected. In the place of coming away knowing more about Van Gogh, of learning by seeing him through other artists' eyes, the recurrent images-face, chair and dismembered ear- seem to distance him, as if somewhere behind these bold images hides another, more vulnerable, Van Gogh. Absolutely fascinating.

Take a look: http://www.fondationvangogh-arles.org/fran/index.htm

Arles: Part Two

 

Roman amphitheatre, roof-tops, Roman ruins, view out of the cloisters.

Arles

Did you get it? All of the pictures were in fact taken in Arles, the southern French town famous for Van Gogh and bull fighting, but the bottom right picture is the odd one out being as it is the only one not related to the hot topic of the moment: the French election. In the others we have the French flag, the Arles Hotel de Ville where voting took place, and my paparazzi photograph, subtly edited, of a real-life French voter. Moving on.

To be continued...

Have I Got News For You

 

Here are your four pictures for this week's game (we're starting at beginner's level!) Which picture is the odd one out and why?

Un Radical barbu

Sometimes when I'm learning French I feel like I'm acting: exaggerating my accent, trying to articulate each word clearly, and even creating a new French persona to match the new language (although I often end up feeling more English than ever, a bizarre side-effect of living abroad). Given this, maybe I shouldn't have been that surprised that actually acting in French would be such a good method for learning languages, but when my French teacher announced that we would be spending a term working on a play to be performed in French in May, I wasn't convinced. A few weeks later, and I'm a complete convert to the idea. 'Un Radical barbu' - a little-known, short play by Boris Vian (a French writer, poet, singer and musician) was chosen for, guess what, its political theme (!), and follows the quick drunken demise of a political hopeful. Our production includes boxing, drinking, a hommage to Tintin in the form of two pairs of actors playing one role and repeating/splitting lines in the manner of Messieurs Dupont and Dupond, as well as unscripted mayhem midway to the music of Boris Vian. And you know what, despite the feeling that the audience might understand the play better than the actors, acting in a second (or in some cases) third language is fantastic fun. Even if I never have the chance to say "Et ensuite, c'etait pendant la guerre et il fallait bien se devrouiller pour gagner sa croute" or "C'est la tete haute que je me presente aujourd'hui devant vous pour me laver des accusations...." in 'real life' it beats role plays about buying petrol hands down.

Music and politics...

French politics. After being drip fed slowly but surely over the past year, life has suddenly become flooded with the subject as the elections loom. But it's only today that they've really got down to the nitty-gritty: music. :) Music website Altamusic posed three questions to the presidential wannabees, including the perennial favourite: "It's often said that classical music is elitist. What do you think about this?" Royal somewhat side-steps the issue, saying that she doesn't really like to oppose a popular/mass culture with an elite culture, but Bayrou and Sarkozy give pretty convincing answers. Bayrou suggests that it's not the music itself which is elitist, but its system of distribution. Fair point surely? Sarkozy gives the fullest answer, stating that "The music often called "classical" is often by definition the most popular because it is that which has descended time, fashion and society to reach us. Mozart and Beethoven's music was perhaps revolutionary, even elitist in the time of its contemporaries, but how can one pretend it isn't popular? The number of people who have listened to this music over many centuries is simply incalculable! Even the music that certain cultural functionaries name "musiques actuelles", even the music of the most contemporary rock groups, draw their harmonies from the tonal system invented by Bach and Rameau. And I'm not even talking of films and adverts which resort to Schubert, Shostakovitch or Fauré to create an atmosphere or to make their products liked. In truth, this music is universal." (Click here if you want to see more or read the original French.)

Introducing ... the velo'v.

London has red buses, red phone boxes and red guards outside Buckingham Palace. Lyon has red bikes, otherwise known as velo'vs. These chunky grey and red contraptions are designed to get you round town cheaply, quickly and in a eco-friendly way. You find a velo'v station, print a velo'v card, choose a shiny red velo'v, et voila, c'est parti! However, velo'v-ing is much more than an easy three-simple-steps-and-you're-on-your-way-process; it is indeed an art itself. Perfect velvo's are like gold dust and finding one requires masterly juggling of running between velo'vs to check they work and swiping your velo'v card before someone else jumps ahead in the queue, as well as the fine tuning of your ability to avoid the "for-some-mysterious-reason-this-velo'v-doesn't-appear-on-the-computer-even-though-I-can-see-it-with -my-very-own-eyes" velo'vs which lay in waiting to trap unassuming cyclists. (Or maybe this is some sort of French philosophical problem in practice along the lines of the tree falling down in the wood but nobody hearing. Does the velo'v really exist if it isn't shown on the computer?) And choosing your trusty stead is just the start; velo'v-ing should really be a verb in its own right (albeit in a less punctuated form); just five minutes on a velo'v will demonstrate that veloving is certainly not the same thing as cycling... But despite all their quirks, their inability to go up hills or to transform pedal power into speed, I say three cheers for the Lyon velo'vs, and who's for the first tour de france en velo'v?!

When in Rome...

Did you know that the road leading to The Savoy is the only road in the United Kingdom on which cars drive on the right-hand side? No? Neither did I.