Number Seventy News

Thanks to Robert (Bob) Gibson for inviting 3 of his jazz-loving acquaintance onto his Bradford Community Radio Jazz programme last week.  We each chose 3 favourite tracks, which resulted in an interesting mix.    My choices tended towards the saxophone, of course, and the Norwegian.  Interesting to be in a live studio for only the second time in my life, and to do it in such a relaxed and enjoyable setting.  I always fancied myself as a DJ back in my teens.

Sometime back in my youth I believe I saw Harold Pinter’s play “The Caretaker”; I certainly studied it at University and remained baffled.  ”The Homecoming” at the York Theatre Royal, although well reviewed, left me baffled too.  What is the point ?  I don’t leave the theatre feeling that I have learnt anything about human nature, that I have been much amused, that I have experienced any catharsis.  They’re not real people.  (And it’s not the acting)

The Pete in question being Pete Morgan, the poet, who seems to have lived in more places around Yorkshire than is entirely reasonable – but then, he is 70 and has had time to move about a bit. This celebration was at the Jack Lyons Concert Hall and was a very welcome opportunity to hear Pete read – his latest work is excellent on first hearing – and to discover he is now a fairly near neighbour.  May see him in our local deli !

It was really interesting to hear two very well known poets, Ian McMillan and Carol Ann Duffy relate the influence Pete had had upon them as young would-be poets.  He apparently tutored a number of courses and was unstintingly helpful.  Both the other poets read – including C.A.D from “The World’s Wife” and “Rapture”.  And Martin Carthy from Pete’s Robin Hoods Bay days brought Brass Monkey along to finish off the evening with some British oompah music.  Good to have a sell-out for a a poetry event.

CAROL’S COMMENT. John Fitzpatrick on the accordion and other instruments is hardly “oompah music”! Nor is Martin Carthy’s wonderful singing.

I think I’ve been put off “The Tempest” by John Geilgud’s misconceived film “Prospero’s Books”, and by never having studied it in any depth.  But this RSC production at Sheffield was superb, done in collaboration with a South African theatre company and using southern african mythology and costumes and spirits via puppetry. The magic works well in an African context.  There was the colonial framework too. Anthony Sher was superb as Prospero, as were Atandwa Kani as Ariel, John Kani as Caliban and Tinarie Van Wyk Loots as Miranda.  There was a lot of sympathy for Caliban, who was left as ruler of the island in the end, and had clearly been usurped and unfairly used by Prospero, an inconsistent and wilful ruler, quite close to being the tyrant that Caliban casts him as.  

To the Sage at Gateshead for some fiddle concerts.  Note 1. The Sage’s sandwiches have improved, though not tremendously. Note 2. The programme implied fairly constant entertainment in the foyer – in fact extremely sporadic during the time we were there, roughly 12 to 5. Note 3. There was supposed to be a non-stop “session” in the upstairs hall in a pub-style atmosphere – it seemed like the hope was that this would just happen – in the afternoon at least, it didn’t.  It could have done with a bit of nurturing / leadership.

Having said all that, the two concerts we attended were excellent, and both confounded expectations.  I know Annbjorg Lien from CDs like Aliens Alive, which is very much the folk-rock end of Norwegian traditional music.  However, this was an excellent acoustic solo set of traditional tunes on the Hardanger fiddle, introduced with just enough information.  Good to see where the roots are.

And then the Harald Haugaard Trio from Denmark.  We’d seen Harald as part of Hoirup and Haugaard at the Cambridge Folk Festival – an engaging fiddle and guitar duo doing traditional music so it was quite a surprise to have an amplified quite wild set here.  Good stuff though, mostly traditional based.

Kneehigh Theatre at Leeds – a 1970s Don Giovanni.  Just a little too much style and not enough substance.  I suppose it’s easy for a theatre company (or singer) to give a play or a song their standard treatment – and sometimes the treatment gets to be more important than the play, rather than shedding new light upon it.  I think that happened here, intriguingly bizarre though it all was.  It’s a sort of inverted tragedy – the hero deserves his comeuppance and descent to hell, but the tragedy rests in all the lives he has ruined before.

Kendell’s Bistro round the corner does an excellent pre-theatre dinner – though if you are going to put up the menu in French it would be as well to have staff who can understand at least the menu items in that language.  The quality of the food makes up for any defects in service.

ECM is the Munich-based record label which puts out many of the jazz artists I like best – Gabarek for a start, and Trygve Seim and Arild Anderson.  Serious Music had arranged a little festival at Kings Place to celebrate the 40th birthday of the label.  A concert featuring Trygve Seim (sax), Frode Haltli (accordeon), Garth Knox (Viola d’amore) and Agnes Vestermann(cello) was a delight – nice improvisations seeming to start from a selection of disparate notes and phrases and building to a tune.  As a duo, I prefer the 2 Norwegians, but as a quartet they were wonderful. A privilege to catch a one-off like this.  Garth Knox is an engaging gangly Irishman.

The second concert, the Julia Hulsmann Trio’s debut in the UK, was a bit disappointing.  There wasn’t really anything which made them stand out from the general run of piano drums bass trios – and I had hope for something a bit more inspiring.  Though her CD of pieces around poems by Emily Dickinson is really nice.

Both concerts in Hall 2 at Kings Place – excellent acoustic.

I can’t remember ever having been in the Wallace Collection before – and it’s actually quite offputting – so much STUFF !  Brings out my minimalist tendencies in a quite overpowering way – it’s just as well they have turned the courtyard into a really nice cafe.

We had actually gone for an exhibition of two treasure hoards from Germany, buried by Jews fleeing pogroms during the Black Death – masses of gold coins and trinkets, some of them absolutely exquisite – buttons and clothes ornaments, what would have to have been sewn on successive garments they were so valuable.  And Jewish wedding rings – with tiny gold buildings on. A coin from the Schwabisch Hall mint in one hoard.

The day before, to Constable’s Portraits at the National Portrait Gallery – pastoral portraits, in that many of them are country people, in their best togs, but nonetheless from their ruddy complexions and narrowed eyes, people used to the outdoors and weather.  There’s a picture of his father, one of the few where the sitter is looking directly at the artist, which is very powerful. There’s a new identification of an earlier picture as his father, but the sitter looks much older so I’m not convinced.  To my mind, these show a painter as accomplished as the one who produces the great popular landscapes – it rounds out his portrait, if you like.

I thought Lenny Henry’s Othello in the Northern Broadsides production at Leeds was pretty good.  He’s quite a big man, so managed in his military get-up (belted jacket, tall boots) to remind me of Idi Amin. His rages were quite convincing – the soldier frustrated – though sometimes it’s hard to believe how credulous he is.  Except that Iago (Conrad Nelson) is so convincing – and Othello believes him -wants to believe him – “honest”.   Good performance of Amelia too.  Barrie Rutter’s Brabantio was a bit too like all the other thwarted fathers that Rutter plays – I could almost predict his next gesture.

Not everything that Yoko does grabs me – but I like some of her participatory ideas – the peace trees, mending cups to mend the world, a meditation on Mums.  Less effective when she’s just telling you. Some of her ideas for things to do prefigure Goldsworthy – do something and let nature work on it.  I’m glad she does her stuff – but I’m sure I’d find her irritating if I ever met her.