Events around and about Dartmouth College and Hanover, New Hampshire
Another quiet and very pleasant concert at Spaulding, with a small but appreciative crowd. The introductory Beethoven sonata was great, and then Sally introduced the second piece by her teacher at Brandeis, Harold Shapero. She is doing a CD of his works, and this was quite interesting.
The second piece after intermission “Faschingsschwank aus Wien” by Schumann was very beautiful, especially the final Finale movement.
A musical in Moore Theater based on a play written in 1891. The set was spare with musician sitting at the back half below the floor. The setting was as in the original, so male students were wearing knickers and girls wore frilly dresses.
However it was certainly a modern play in the areas it touched on: masturbation, teen pregnancy, teen suicide, sex education, homosexuality, … Hard to believe it was written in the Victorian era.
The high point was the singing – there were some great voices and songs.
This was a bit of a risk from the sound of it, but I tried it anyway. There were 2 large screens showing film of people doing various kinds of manual labour in Vietnam. Below the screen, Phill was on the left behind some Mac laptops and equipment, and 5 guitarists sat in front and played what sounded like the same loud note. There were very subtle shifts in sound, but it would be stretch to call it music.
The guitarists stopped playing, but there was very little difference after they stopped, as electronic sounds continued, accompanied by a saxophonist who walked around Rollins Chapel bellowing the same note. I had forgotten how loud a saxophone could be
I left early, and I wasn’t the only one who did.
This was 5 live action short films nominated for the 2014 Oscars. Each film was interspersed with interview from famous directors talking about the importance and value of short films.
Helium
A Danish film about a young boy dying in a hospital. He is befriended by a quirky janitor who tells him a story about the magical land of Helium. This land is wonderfully brought to life in the movie with a great magical ending.
The Voorman Problem
Martin Freeman (Hobbit, Sherlock) is the only name actor I recognized, and he starts in this funny and very short movie. There is a great scene where he asks his wife about Belgium and she wonders if it is a type of cheese. Clever concept.
Avant que de tout perdre (Just Before Losing Everything)
This was my favourite. This starts off as a kind of mundane story of a boy skipping school, but the tension gradually and inexorably builds as you learn that he is part of a family fleeing an abusive father. The mother’s sympathetic colleagues at the store where she works help cover for her. Her boss fires her instead of accepting her resignation so she can have access to more benefits. They also talk about the “prud’homme” which is a third type of court unique to France specific to employee/employer litigation. What I liked is that they turned a domestic story into a kind of thriller, where you were really rooting for the family, and the father remained a vague but menacing threat.
Aquel No Era Yo (That Wasn’t Me)
This was another intense movie that takes place in an unnamed African country where two aid workers are posing as doctors to save child soldiers. They end up being caught, and in the violence that follows between battling factions, the woman escapes, handcuffing herself to one of the killers, but still just a young teenager. It is a powerful moment when she says “Now you are a cripple.”
Pitääkö Mun Kaikki Hoitaa? (Do I Have to Take Care of Everything?)
Fortunately, the set ended on a very funny note with the frantic scrambling of a disorganized Finnish family trying to get to a wedding on time. It was a great (and familiar) moment when the mother realizes that the party dresses are still in the washing machine. The daughters then return in their other “party” dresses, which are Halloween costumes as Pippi Longstocking and a witch. But there is no time to change so off they go!
The English Concert played to a packed house at Spaulding on Friday night. There was a correction to the program in that the first piece was titled Suite for 2 Horns, 2 Oboes and Strings in F Major by Telemann (and not the Suite in D Major as listed). I particularly enjoyed watching the double bassist, who looked like he was really having fun, especially with the last Fanfare movement.
The Bach Orchestral Suite was a surprise in that it was a small chamber group: 2 violins, viola, cello, harpsichord and transverse flute (flute traversière). My recording must have been with larger chamber groups, but it still worked well. The flautist was amazing, especially the last movement.
For the Trumpet Concerto, the soloist played a natural trumpet. In the Q&A, he demonstrated how he played a scale by shaping his lips, and not using valves. There is one hole that is used to adjust some notes that are slightly out of tune. In the baroque trumpet, they changed sections to adjust the length (to change key from D to F, for example), while the new ones use valves. During the piece, the horn players did in fact do this, as they had 2 different sized loops hanging from the their music stands. They also were removing the mouthpiece and shaking the loops to drain condensation.
The Oboe Concerto was played with an “oboe d’amore”, a baroque oboe with a large bottom bulb and an unusual deep round sound.
For the last piece, a “windmaker” was used for the “Suite des vents”. This was a box about the size of a small organ with a hand crank on the side. The operator turned the crank which rotated a spindle against a green sheet making “windy” sounds.
After the show, there was a Q&A section with the conductor and 5 performers. They all play on baroque instruments. For the strings, the bow is different, as it bends out (like a bow and arrow) and not in like a modern bow. Modern bows give a more even sound, but the older bows allow them to “shape” the notes, with a different down on up and down bow. The ribbon is much thinner too. When playing they do not use very much vibrato, which makes tuning very important, and they did spend a lot of time on tuning between pieces. Another interesting instrument was the heorbo, like a giant guitar or lute with 17 strings. The long strings are bass strings that provide a continuo through resonation.
The performers had all started on modern instruments and then transitioned to baroque. The oboist was the exception. When she started, she had a lot of trouble playing, so her teacher had her use the oboe d’amore, which is easier to make a note on.
And as I left, I saw the charter bus outside with the group getting on, setting off at 10:30 pm for their next venue.