Last Wednesday I saw an ad online for a theatre/dance performance of a work in progress and, being in the mood for new things, went with my flatmate to see what it was about. The group is called Dudendance and they create theatre and film works based in Northern Scotland in a heavily wooded area. They run theatre camps for children and most recently have performed at the Edinburgh Fringe. The piece I saw is called "This Side of Paradise" and it is a project that extends from another series they did called "Into the Wild" in a forest that was being cut down. They are waiting to hear back from some grant organizations and the piece I saw was only about 30 minutes of performance which will hopefully continue. It took place in a small room at a venue in the city centre called The Arches; there were about 15 people in the audience.
The work explores some ideas in 1940's film-noir, mainly the animal instincts that exist in all people; we need food and we need each other and we need to survive. "This Side of Paradise" had four characters spending much of the time rolling around on the floor with white pillow stuffing all around and inside their shirts. And when I say rolling, it was more like slow crawling and reaching. They had voice overs from 1940's films and the actors were lip-syncing with them; there was one couple who are on the run from the law, a girl trying to be an actress, and a man who's character I couldn't figure out. There was some interesting slow-motion fighting with background music and the piece ended with a bit of video from one of their other recent projects. Overall it was hard to figure out what was going on but I did enjoy it and felt drawn to the characters as they went through their small scenes of fright and un-knowing. At they end they told us we could talk to some of them if we waited in the bar area so I went up and started talking to two of the actors. They are one or two years out of high school and one is in college for theatre. I asked them about the general idea for this and they didn't have many good responses but they did enjoy doing it and have plans for a full length show using this material. Basically, the idea is to show pure human instinct and needs, which I think came across well and could make an interesting full length show.
Thursday was another concert of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. This season, they are paying special attention to music written 100 years ago, in 1911, and this concert had two pieces from that year. The first was "Two English Idylls" by George Butterworth. I thought the orchestra did a fantastic job with the pastoral quality of these pieces and really put me in the English country-side. The pieces included some folk songs throughout and were really pleasant to listen to. The first was calm and happy while the second had more of a melancholy feel. Though only a brief 12 minutes, this was the most enjoyable piece on the program for me.
The second piece was supposed to be Nielson's Violin Concerto written in 1911, which I was excited to hear, cause I'm not familiar with it. However, the soloists was sick and at the last minute they brought in Akiko Suwanai who flew in just hours before the concert from Paris to play the Sibelius Concerto (written a few years before 1911). A tall and sleek-looking Japanese woman, she had great stage presence and enthusiasm. Her sound was loud and forceful and often too harsh for my taste, especially in the lyrical sections. I hate to be so critical because it was a last minute performance, but I thought she was just too rough throughout. It was an impressive sound, but even in the slow movement I didn't feel relaxed or at ease. Her double stops, high-notes, and other technical feats were nearly perfect and strong, making that part of it impressive to listen to. The last movement had the feel of a demented jig and was fun to listen to but, probably because of the limited rehearsal time, it just didn't feel quite together.
The final piece on the program was Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony, which is one of my absolute favorites. The conductor, Andrew Manze, gave a pre-concert talk about this piece, focusing on the tradition of composers using the countryside for inspiration and the nature of Beethoven's music transforming the classical into the Romantic. Beethoven was particularly fond of nature and took many walks through country which you can hear clearly in the piece: walks along streams, bird songs, thunderstorms, and peasant dancing. As I was so excited for this piece, I was a little let down by the conductors interpretation and leniency. I thought he gave the orchestra too many specific gestures and dramatic tempo and dynamic shifts that took away from the natural beauty of Beethoven's writing. I was happy with the solos in the woodwind section because last time I saw this orchestra, that was the section that sounded less impressive to me. Overall, it was enjoyable but not my favorite concert performance.
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