Shostakovich 5th at the Proms
Aurora’s from-memory 5th Symphony Prom definitely lived up to its promise. And was hugely enhanced I felt by their really clever staging of the symphony’s tortured history. Aggressively dissected by Stalin’s Cultural Assessment Committee it was only finally ‘approved as suitable’ after a stout and crafty defence by its first conductor Yevgeny Mravinsky. In Aurora’s staging Mravinsky was ‘played’ by conductor Nicholas Collon while the terrified Shostakovich, in the person of a rubber limbed dancer, writhed around the stage, convinced that his symphony would be condemned and he would be banished to the gulag.
If you regret not having seen it, all is not lost as the whole performance, the staging and the symphony itself, is available on iPlayer here for the next 11 months.
Carnival!!
A very long way from the icy chill of 1937 Leningrad, Notting Hill was its usual heaving, deafening and joyful carnival self over the weekend. Inevitably, there are a few ugly incidents at every carnival but they are relatively few and usually at the end of the day. At lunchtime when I go there are just a huge mass of happy people having a wonderful time. If you get too near to the floats the deafening beat does thunder right through you but it is easy enough to escape up a side street for a delicious piece of jerk chicken with a fried dumpling – overseen by a prodigious number of very bored looking police persons.
So just to give you a feel for it all….
The Lord Chamberlain’s Men
Not much in the way of music, apart from the odd madrigal, but a great evening’s entertainment – the Lord Chamberlain’s Men performed Twelfth Night on the lawn at Kenwood on Sunday night. The company which tours the country over the summer months, present Shakespeare’s work as it was first performed: all male, in the open air and with Elizabethan costume, music and dance.
Stupidly I had not booked in advance but we showed up in the hope that we might get returns – which we did. But, not having expected to get it in we had totally failed to take enough clothes or any food or drink – everyone else was cracking open bottles of Prosecco and tucking into the most delicious looking picnics. So, hungry, thirsty and cold, we very regretfully beat a retreat at the interval. But my good friend Jeffrey Calvert who was also there very kindly snapped me a few pics and here is Malvolio in all the finery of his cross gartered yellow stockings!
If you just happen to be in Wales next week the Lord Chamberlain’s Men will be performing at a selection of Welsh castles. Otherwise I am afraid you will need to wait till next summer at Kenwood – but I advise you to book well in advance.
And for further outdoor entertainment – don’t forget our Jazz party next Sunday 31st
Join us in the garden any time between 1.30pm and 7.30pm next Sunday 31st. Sol Grimshaw and his group will be playing at 3pm and at 5pm.
Sadly we may have lost the heat of the sun but if it is too cold or even, perish the thought, raining…. – we can always retire inside.
Lots of bread and cheese, fruits, wines and beers on tap.
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