Nodame Live 2

Edo de Waart conductor
Wai-yin Wong piano
Michael Wilson oboe

ROSSINI William Tell: overture
MOZART Eine Kleine Nachtmusik K525, Romance Andante
MOZART Piano Sonata No 8, K310, 1st movement
MOZART Oboe concerto K314, 1st movement
NIELSEN Symphony No 4, The Inextinguishable 4th movement
DVORAK Symphony No 8, 1st movement
RAVEL Jeux d’eau
MOZART Symphony No.31 in D, K.297 Paris, 1st movement
RAVEL Bolero

Northern Sinfonia and Chorus

Feb 12
Colin Matthews … through the glass
Britten Les Illuminations
Sandrine Piau (Soprano)
Beethoven Symphony No 9 in D minor, Op 125
Lisa Milne (Soprano)
Harriet Williams (Mezzo-soprano)
Michael Colvin (Tenor)
Stephan Loges (Baritone)
Conductor: Thomas Zehetmair


Northern Sinfonia, with its Music Director Thomas Zehetmair, is one of Europe’s most exciting chamber orchestras with a repertoire that spans three centuries of classical music and includes specially commissioned new works. The orchestra plays to great acclaim and also regularly appears at leading international venues including the Berlin Philharmonie, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw and Vienna’s Musikverein. October 2008 marks the start of Northern Sinfonia’s 50th Anniversary Season, its fourth season as the orchestra of The Sage Gateshead, its own spectacular Norman Foster designed home for music.

Northern Sinfonia and Chorus will perform in two glorious evenings of classical choral fare: Haydn’s biggest and last large-scale mass, Harmoniemesse, and Beethoven’s choral Ninth Symphony. A splendid array of soloists will join the performances: Sandrine Piau, Lisa Milne, Harriet Williams, Michael Colvin and Stephan Loges.

National Ballet of China: The Peony Pavilion

Producer: Zhao Ruheng
Adaptation and Director: Li Liuyi
Composer and Arranger: Guo Wenjing
Choreographer: Fei Bo
Costume Designer: Emi Wada
Stage Designer: Michael Simon
Live Accompaniment: National Ballet of China Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Zhang Yi

Seven years in the making.
China's most passionate love story.
Raise the Red Lantern thrilled audiences in 2002 – don't miss the company's latest extravaganza.
“Irresistible in its integrity, artistry and huge potential” Financial Times
After the phenomenal success of the internationally-acclaimed Raise the Red Lantern, performed at the HKAF in 2002, National Ballet of China has adapted The Peony Pavilion from the most romantic story in Chinese literature.
The stellar international production team includes Academy Award-winning designer Emi Wada. Choreographer Fei Bo rises to the challenge of adopting stylised kun opera movements into Western classical ballet. This visually stunning piece retains the purity and drama of both forms and is enhanced by Michael Simon's starkly effective set design. With principal dancers who have received many international awards and accolades, this production is distinguished by excellence.
Tang Xianzu (1550-1616) wrote this classic tale about love, death and resurrection during the Ming Dynasty. Much more than a love story, The Peony Pavilion affirms the regenerative power of true emotions.

Pygmalion

Venue: Lyric Theatre, HK Academy for Performing Arts.

Lightweight entertainment? Not bloody likely!
Peter Hall's Revival of Bernard Shaw’s Comic Classic is a Triumph
“The finest Shaw in years.” Daily Telegraph
Exclusive Asian Premiere
Most people know the musical adaptation of Pygmalion: My Fair Lady; many sing along to the songs and most love the final scene, a happy ending of love and marriage. An ending, incidentally, that George Bernard Shaw derided as “damnable”. Shaw deliberately subverted Ovid's Metamorphoses when he wrote Pygmalion. In his play, the boy doesn't get the girl. Sir Peter Hall's “scintillating revival of Shaw's most famous comedy” (The Guardian) returns to the original text resulting in a wry comedy about class, language and emotion.
Arrogant, pompous and truculent Henry Higgins bets that he can transform guttersnipe Eliza from a Cockney flower-seller into a posh lady. She is eager for elocution lessons and he takes on the task with diabolical joy. He attempts to change Eliza's entire personality, oblivious to the consequences for her. While not overtly political, Shaw's play reflects his sympathy for the suffragette movement and has a distinct feminist bent. Rather than marry his transformation, as did Ovid's Pygmalion, Higgins is left forlorn as Eliza's metamorphosis gives her unexpected independence and strength of character, allowing her to leave him.
Pygmalion delighted both audiences and critics when it opened in Bath in 2007. This superb production is a triumph for Hall. Shaw had become unfashionable ─ his plays considered only lightweight entertainment. Hall's production rediscovers Shaw as a writer who merged the comic and the serious, writing about character and human destiny. Described as “astonishingly fresh and funny” (Sunday Times), Hall's rendition exposes the danger of being transformed into someone else's toy.
Eliza's scandalous exit line, “Walk! Not bloody likely”, continues to cause laughter; it is a comedy after all. But it is the seriousness of the play that remains powerful and contemporary.

Chicago Symphony Orchestra

Program
Mozart Symphony No. 41 in C, K551
Richard Strauss Ein Heldenleben


“Sweeping energy and clarion brilliance” The New York Times

With an international conducting career spanning more than five decades, Bernard Haitink is one of the world’s most celebrated conductors. He has made frequent guest appearances with both the Berlin and Vienna Philharmonic Orchestras and has led many of the world’s top orchestras, including 25 years as Principal Conductor of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. His immense catalogue of recordings include the complete symphonies of Mahler, Bruckner, Brahms and Schumann.

One of the best orchestras in the world, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra is distinguished by its unique tone colour and artistry. Since the era of legendary Fritz Reiner and Georg Solti, the orchestra has amassed more than 900 recordings and earned 58 Grammy awards – more than any other orchestra in the world. In 2006, Haitink was appointed Principal Conductor of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, marking the “ beginning of an historic musical era for the orchestra . . . With Haitink and the CSO, a great musical partnership has been born” (Chicago Tribune).

Haitink and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra promise two exciting evenings of monumental canon. On the first evening, Mozart’s Jupiter Symphony is followed by Strauss’s autobiographical Ein Heldenleben. On the second evening, the spotlight falls entirely on Mahler’s Symphony No. 6.

失望

電影節的簡介沒騙人，《鐵木真》的確比Oliver Stone的《Alexander》好，但亦實在想不出有那套歷史片能比後者更差。

事實上，電影的頭半段很好看。一開始，不過十歲的鐵木真跟著父親去選妻，老爸教他一定要選腳粗而有力的，這才能令男人快樂，觀眾都樂透了。後來父親被毒死，鐵木真遭仇人追殺，每每都能找到方法逃脫，亦不失趣味。唯一是天神像背後那隻狼的出現開始，便以慢鏡來表達，鏡頭一黑，再開始那頸上的鎖便自動打開，用點想像力亦可說成是比喻他後來東佂西討，本性像頭狼吧。

一直到仇人來搶妻，鐵木真一個不留神被射中，又是用慢鏡加悲情音樂來表達，已感到導演有點技窮了。怎料電影的下半部，居然幾乎全用慢鏡來交代劇情，還要交代得不清不楚，甚至比《No Country for Old Men》下半還要亂，令整套戲變得虎頭蛇尾。鐵木真被西夏人關起來，忽然有個和尚因為預知這人會滅夏，為了保護佛寺，便自告奮勇到蒙古找他妻子孛兒怗來求，怎料半途累死。妻子居然無端在睡夢中驚醒，在茫茫大漠中找到和尚的屍首，隨商旅千里去救夫，居然又讓她救到。鐵木真剛從獄中脫身，便別過妻兒獨自回蒙古，鏡頭一轉，他已擁千軍萬馬了。最後一場戰役本是高潮所在，卻來了一個前所未有的反高潮。雙方本殺得興起，怎料天有不測之風雲，忽然開始打雷下雨，由於鐵木真是蒙古人中唯一不怕行雷的，於是便打了勝仗。雖然之前下過了伏筆，但也太離譜了罷？

對於鐵木真的真實歷史，我所知不多。印像最深刻的，莫過金庯先生在《射鵰英雄傳》後記寫下那數十頁的故事，其實跟電影也相差不遠。唯一是被賣到西夏那段，想是導演的自由發揮，但亦實在想不通其在電影中的重要性。

整套戲唯一能讚的，要數那美輪美奐的實景拍攝了，攝影實在一流。雖然對淺野中信有偏愛，而他亦演得不壞，可惜因為外型所限，令人難以入信他就是後來攻下了半個世界的霸主。總的來說，其實電影亦不致很壞，還可以看。不過可能期望過高，難免有點失望罷了。

Plot Hole

又一套未能在香港上影的滄海遺珠。記得去年在溫哥華時見此片好評如潮，在Rotten Tomotoes上高見90分以上，便曾爭扎過應先看它還是大有機會在香港上畫的The Assasination of Jesse James。結果還是因為Brad Pitt選了後者。放棄了這套Afflect兄弟合作的電影。

可惜現在只可把它淪為Home Video了。電影拍得很實在，在電影院看效果應更好，令我對Ben Afflect的印象完全改觀。而且劇情緊湊，扣人心弦，弟弟Casey的演出亦恰如其份，教人受落。

唯一出現的問題，卻是劇情難以教人入信，失了可信性，便再不能投入。特別是Morgan Freeman演的警角色，雖然死了女色，但要冒上這樣大的險來拿了人家的，還掀涉到要殺人滅口，實在太過份了罷？好了，弄了一個大頭彿出來，不得不提早退休。成功搶了人家的女兒，神不知鬼不覺，幹嗎還繼續住在舊址，最後讓人找到？Ed Harris的Remy更離譜，當了幾廿年差人，最後竟戴上面具到酒吧扮打劫，實在有點說不過去。

其實看電影時，我亦被它一浪接一浪的揭秘弄糊塗了，先是有點驚訝，冷靜過後才發現Plot Hole所在。何況，那個所謂非常具爭議性的結局，對我來說反沒甚麼。Casey沒有可能不把事情揭發出來的，女友要離開他，亦實在太看不開了。在現今女多男少的年代，相信正常沒有女孩子會這樣做的。