Last night, 25th May 2011, I watched a film about the last years of the life of Ludvig van Beethoven centering on the completion and performance of the 9th Symphony and his writing of the Grosse Fugue. I was reminded once more of the occasion of first hearing a live performance during my first and only season of attending promenade concerts at the Royal Albert Hall with a half season ticket.
I was reminded that whenever I heard The Symphony No 9 in D minor, Op 125 "Choral" (1824) my soul revels in an ecstasy of emotion and memory at the wonder of my own experiences and at the capacity of talented and inspired human beings to create for the enjoyment and betterment of everyone and anyone willing to listen.
I went to my collection to CD’s and was shocked to find that I do not posses a copy and I was immediately too lazy to transfer the record player console from next door to this room, or sit next door listening. Fortunately I live in this increasingly wondrous but also horrific technological era when it is possible within seconds to conjure a full version of the Symphony via the Internet. In this instance a Live Performance on 17th May 1956 with Otto Klemperer conducting the Concertgebouw Orchestra. The sound reproduction via the internet speakers of this 50 year old recording was not good but nevertheless bought back my reactions to the film and previous listening.
Afterwards I decided that it was stupid to keep the present location of the audio player next door because I rarely, if ever, go just to listen so the next task was reorganise which involved a dusting and move the player to the small table behind me placed against a middle wall of the building so what while the sound will fill this room it will have less of an impact on neighbours. I have a pair of large Sony speakers which have to be attached by wire to the back of the unit with patient skill but once connected they produce a rich deep enveloping sound which underlines the limitations of the Internet and TV reproductions. I am listening to the 5th Symphony - bon bon bon, and the sixth, known as the Pastoral. I did find my copy of the 9th but the crackle was such to confirm that I do need one of those Internet connect units which removes the surface noise. I have the noble intention of converting all my video film, tape recordings to the CD and DVD as part of the artwork project, as well as reading all the books and then making written notes. At present I lack the physical strength and the will to complete all the tasks I have set myself as well as continue to experience “new” experience, but listening to the great Master composer I am fired with the fresh determination.
This was also the basic theme of the fictitious films called Copying Beethoven, and MGM 2006 production with Ed Harris giving an excellent performance of the aggressively deaf Beethoven and Diane Kruger as the female composer who persuades her father to allow her to go on her own to Vienna to study at the conservatoire and live at a local convent. She is a fictional character and the convent aspect is a gesture to the reality of the times 1824 1827 when apart from courtesans and the proletariat an educated middle/upper class woman would not be allowed to travel unaccompanied. The other concession to modernity is that she has a boyfriend and although kiss is a chaste one this again would not have been permitted.
The purpose of this fictional character is to expose the temperamental genius of the Maestro who was totally deaf and could not hear the music he was creating and communicated mainly by notepads. And the theme? The nature of creative genius and the inspiration which the young woman experiences by undertake work for Beethoven and which at one point he declares “you want to me.”
In the film story the young woman knows/studies/is related to the man who acts as copyist and assistant to Beethoven who because of illness asks her to step in for a session and she grasps the opportunity and sticks with the position despite the dust and chaos in which he lives, including rats. He is attracted, in a nice way, to her individuality recognising a fellow spirit whose creative abilities need to be unlocked from the conventional upbringings of the day.
In the build up to the completion of the ninth Symphony there are two sub stories. The first is the relationship between Beethoven and a nephew who has gambling debts and comes to Beethoven for financial help. Beethoven adores the young man and wants him to become a concert pianist but the young man knows he has no talent and wants to become an officer in the military. The second story is that of the relationship between the young copyist and her engineer boyfriend who has designed a bridge for a competitive selection contest. The bridge is a great disappointment to the girl who pretends otherwise but Beethoven who attends smashes the work with his stick because it has no soul, something when pressed the young woman agrees. The boyfriend issues an ultimatum that she must have no contact with Beethoven or lose him and she chooses Beethoven because in her the creative drive dominates all others.
.The highlight of the film is the first performance of the Symphony where the Director has skillfully fused the opening of the work with opening of the choral fourth movement. Beethoven officially conducted but in reality the Orchestra was required to follow the directions of another, in a less conspicuous location and ignore those of Beethoven. He had male assistants on the platform giving him the tempo so he could attempt to synchronies his hand movements with the orchestral sounds. In the film the young woman is placed among the musicians enabling him to give a perfect rendering. Her boyfriend is in the audience and responds to the situation with a mixture of admiration and jealousy. Also in the audience is the nephew who is emotionally affected and appears to be remorseful for his recent behaviour.
What is authentic is that the Viennese high society was ecstatic in their appreciation of the new work. In fact the response of the audience was such as to cause concern because it exceeded what was permitted by the conventions of the day.
This reminds of the different reactions in the USA and the UK to when Tony Blair was invited to address the joint House of the State and President Obama’s address to the joint Houses of Parliament in Westminster Hall. His speech to Congress as with the Presidential State of the Union speech there are prolonged applause interruptions, up to a score of occasions. The addresses at Westminster Hall, the previous being Nelson Mandela, The Pope and Her Majesty the Queen are greeted in respectful silence with prolonged applause at the end. Yesterday there was one unscheduled interruption when he referred to the own background and becoming the President. Whether he had intended or not at the end of the speech instead of quickly departing he moved into the long hall and made a slow walk shaking the hands with as many people as he could including a surprised and joyous Nicholas Soames, the grandson to Winston Churchill to whom the President referred in his speech several times. I will comment more on the speech and the visit later.
Returning to the film there were two other aspects worth recording. The first is the reaction of Beethoven to the first musical composition presented by the young woman which ridicules. He makes amends later by commenting favourably having made generalizations about the death of female composers who have made it in the past an observations which remains valid, although this has as much to do with the musical establishment and with any lack of abilities.
This brings me to the other subject of the film, we mostly if not all, end our lives in a sense of failure, and in his instance the Grosse Fuge, the Grand Fuge, which was one the last works he created as a single work for a string quartet without a break for individual movements and is a combination of “dissonance and contrapuntal complexity.” In the film the audience walks out to a man and woman leaving him alone with the young woman who also admits she also does not understand the music. Ivor Stravinsky declared the work an absolute contemporary piece of music that will be contemporary for ever. Along with the Ninth considered by many to be one of the greatest symphonic works of all time, the Fuge is regarded as one of his greatest works, and as with all genius the work is often so ahead of its time to be unappreciated and even ridiculed in the day. I followed the Symphonies with a recording of the sound track of the film about the life if Jacqueline Du Pres which ends with a full performance of the Elgar Concerto in E Minor for Cello and Orchestra and which ended just in time for the commencement of the third day’s play at Edgbaston only to find the start was delayed because of rain. Similarly the first Test Match is delayed because of rain. This is the first day the season when matches have been affected by the weather generally. Durham are in an excellent position as Warwickshire have only one first innings wicket left are over 400 runs in areas so there is still prospect of a great win..
I break off to arrange the MOT of my car and manage to do so for 9am tomorrow morning which is excellent at the short notice. Sadly what used to be a dedicated A A garage , then taken over by Nationwide and now by Halford’s to which the centre is attached, here is no longer a discount for A A Member although I have been offered 10% off the standard £54 fee.
I have watched two other films over past couple of days staying up longer that I needed or wanted to do so. The first was the 1974 thriller (!) with Michael Caine called The Black Windmill. I have a family interest in Windmills and the work of Society for the Preservation of Ancient Buildings in this respect.
Michael Caine plays Michael Caine as an individualistic law unto himself MI6 operative working to uncover an international arms syndicate known to be providing terrorists with weapons in Northern Ireland. His contact is a woman who is believed to be associated with the head of the organization. Caine is required by his boss, played by Donald Pleasance, to attend a meeting of the intelligence committee at the county house home of the head of service Sir Edward Julyan to give a progress report on his mission. While there he is contacted by his wife from whom he is separated to say that their son is missing from school with another boy and she is has been contacted by someone who will wring back that afternoon and expressed a wish to have phone contact with him.
The film has commenced with the two boys flying a model plane given by Caine as a present. The location is an abandoned base when they are taken into custody by two men in RAF uniform. When the kidnapper contacts, under the name of Drable the presence of Caine’s immediate boss is requested and in the subsequent conversation the kidnapper shows knowledge of the acquisition of half a million pounds of uncut diamonds which is demanded as ransom for release of the son. This information known only to Pleasance and other members of the Intelligence committee indicates inside information and the service understandably suspects Caine, a major flaw in the story because in the film Caine only learns of the purchase of the diamonds when attending the meeting at which he is notified of the disappearance of his son.
He subsequently contacted and told to take the diamonds to Paris and wait at a café where he will be contacted. He is also contacted when Pleasance is present and although Caine is again told to take the diamonds to Paris the location is a different one. This does not make any difference because the head of service has already told Pleasance that the government will not allow the diamonds to be used in this way. Pleasance then appears to allow Caine to obtain the deposit key from his office during lunchtime and Caine imitates the voice of his boss to get the bank to give him access to the box at the bank. In the meantime Caine has been framed for the kidnapping with false passports and a photograph of the woman contact of her naked on the bed of his bachelor flat.
In Paris he is met by the same woman who demands that he hands over the diamonds and tells him that when he has done the boy will be released from the Black Windmill location in England. Caine manages to get the woman to return to where her boss is waiting but his plan to force the first release his son backfires literally. Earlier Pleasance, with Bond films in mind, is seen at the special weapons development centre with a leather brief case which contains a once firing weapon without affecting any contents. Caine takes one of these cases from the office of his boss to transport the diamonds to Paris and to force the kidnap boss to reveal his son but the plan is thwarted and the boss escapes leaving Caine unconscious and to wake up in the same room as the murdered female contact who has served her purpose. Pleasance goes to Paris with other British security and Police to bring Caine back to the UK but the vehicle is hijacked with an attempt made to kill Caine, who escapes, returns to the UK and makes contact with his wife meeting up at the Dominion Theatre in the Tottenham Court Road where he arranges for her to try and locate the whereabouts of the Black Windmill, hence the visit to the offices of SPAB. Having done this, Caine contacts all the members of the Intelligence Committee, pretending to be Drable, announcing that he has escaped and on his way to the Windmill. Caine lies in wait and finds that the traitor is the head of the service who is retiring on official pension and with a wife with expensive tastes, cooked up the kidnap plot to add to his retirement fund. Caine rescues his son and make his way to wife with whom he has become reconciled. His wife is played by the actor Janet Suzman. As with several Caine films of this era it never rises above that of a B picture.
I have experienced the third film before, in theatre and through the original British Television series. State of Play is an expertly crafted political, media, thriller with a good end twist.
Russell Crowe is an excellent choice to play the award winning do it my way or not at all newspaper man of a major newspaper recently taken over by a media corporation who decides to investigate the death of man carrying a brief case in Washington DC who also shoots a Pizza delivery man who is a witness and left in a coma. This is a side show to the main event which occurs when a prominent crusading Congressman breaks down at an open hearing investigation into the activities of an international arms manufacturer and security firm. His research assistant appears to have committed suicide by falling under a train a Metro station platform. The media immediate correctly suggests that the married Congressman was having an affair with the assistant much too understandable shock horror of his wife. This is where Crowe has he conflict of interest because he roomed with Congressman at college and dated the wife before. It is the Congressman who first turns to Crow for help in providing a refuge after his wife refuses to talk to him and the media assemble outside the family home. The wife also approaches Crowe expressing the view hat she had made the wrong decision but Crow has become sufficiently worldly to recognise there is no going back.
Crowe has been required to work with a young female journalist who provides the online news service at the behest of the Editor played by Helen Mirren and who is torn between the commercial requirements of the new masters and the journalistic standards of inquiry and independence which brought her to the position she now holds. Over the course of the film Crowe and Rachel McAdams untangle what appears to be a major conspiracy by the Defence contractor Points Corp. It emerges that they financed the young research assistant to provide information on the work of the Congressman and the Committee. Moreover she was placed with the help of a senior member of the Political party of which Ben Affleck the crusading Congressman is a member. The affair between the two became serious and the girl decided not to go through with her role, particularly when she became pregnant although she had not disclosed this to Affleck sacred at his reaction when he found out the truth of how they came together. It is believed she was killed because she refused to assist further and those involved were afraid of what she would reveal in the new situation.
It also emerges that the Corporation has been winning almost all the $40 billion of new domestic defence contracts under the Government’s new policy of out sourcing security operations in the homeland. It has done this by a series of shell companies and bribery of politicians. However just before the story is about to be printed Crowe works out that the killer is someone arranged by Affleck who had suspected and then found out that the young woman was a spy. Understandably he is shattered when discovering that she was pregnant. The killer is an ex soldier who owed his life to Affleck while serving in the military. He nearly kills Affleck at the end of the film but is shot dead by the police after refusing to surrender. On the final moment of the film the story is printed under the name of the young female reporter with Crowe in effect her assistant. The two go off hand in hand suggesting a serious romance is in the offing. Affleck’s screen wife is played by Robin Wright Penn the now divorced wife of Sean Penn.
I have been disappointed by the performance of Barrack Obama in terms of his World role particular the failure to make progress in the conflict between Israel, Palestine and some of her Muslim neighbours. I have appreciated that domestically he has been handicapped by his party losing control of Congress and the Senate and the effective campaign waged by those on the right against any progressive policy. The lead has been taken by Fox News which is so prejudiced against the President that it virtually ignored his visit to Europe preferring to give attention to the continuing environmental catastrophes that is causing many deaths and much destruction of property out through the Mid West states.
It is also debateable if anything will be achieved by the State visit that will not have been already agreed through the ongoing contacts between the governments of the two countries. The purpose of the visit is primarily one of good will and to enhance the status of the two leaders in their own countries and in the world at large. This was clearly achieved on the part of the President and those I wonder what he and his wife, together with other invited USA dignitaries made of the State banquet in which the former Prime Ministers and their spouses together with current members of the cabinet and opposition joined Members of the extended Royal family, members of the court and a few Anglo USA celebrities in a three course, five wine meal for 400 with a single set of gold cutlery, glassware and dining service. I wonder how many of those attending really enjoyed the experience although the honour of being invited is of course something most people will wish for.
The decision to invite members of the armed forces who have performed exceptional service to their respective to a barbecue at in the garden of number ten was another good aspect of the visit and the film opportunity of both men serving the food would have carried more weight had they done so for everyone for the meal.
I also thought the speech which the President made to both House of Parliament showed an appreciation of British history and role in the world and of the relationship which developed through our respective involvements in two World Wars, in Korea, in Bosnia, in Iraq and Afghanistan and in the fight against Terrorism. He was also honest about the danger of hypocrisy in highlighting common interests in advancing freedom from and to, given the respective history of both countries towards indigenous people, slavery and racism, the friendly association with dictators and governments who suppress civil rights and have no regard for the rule of law, or enable the development of corporations who sell arms regardless of their potential use or exploit the indigenous population of other nations by paying minimum wages or in the provision of inferior or defective or dangerous goods and services. On the credit side there is the extent of positive intervention and assistance given to help economies develop and in tackling natural disasters and in advancing health provision and education. The President was also honest about the mutual need of both countries to protect national interest as well as the interests of others in addition to recognising the changing nature of the world following the emergence of the Chinese, Indian and Brazilian economies.
One of the media commentators made the point that it was evident from the response of those attending the event that the President has a charisma which transcends the realities and limitations of his ability to change things within the USA and that perhaps he ahs recognised as most leaders do in time that they can more effective in their international role and in developing bonds with those who are in a similar position to themselves
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