Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Double bill
A few days ago scored what I think might be a first for us. Went to see Tamara Drewe within days of its release, in a proper cinema. Rather than grabbing a senior session at the small & hard seated Epsom Playhouse, some months or years after the event. But no more punters in the Odeon than in the Playhouse, say less than a dozen. Hard to see how they make a crust at that rate. We could hardly have paid the staff costs never mind anything else. Film itself both good fun and with some good hot spots, if a little long and marred, for the BH anyway, by liberal use of the vernacular. Bit like a glossy version of Midsomer Murders. Some good swipes at best selling authors and writers' retreats - which might be why the TLS was a little po-faced in its praise. Bit too close to the bone.
Followed yesterday by a follow-up trip to Holy Trinity in Sloane Land (see August 25) where we heard an excellent young pianist, Gareth Owen, do some show off pieces on the piano, part of the Chelsea Schubert Festival. A Bach Partita transcribed by Rachmaninov. Late Schubert sonata, D958. Chopin Ballade, Op. 52. All sounded rather good - considering both that I had not heard any of it before and that I am not usually very keen on show off pieces - on a small grand, a Bluthner I think, with a very clear tone, well suited to the venue. BH observed that there were magical moments. Which indeed there were, some of which in my case were mixed up with the splendid east window.
The window is arranged in two parts. A relatively plain bottom half with 48 little panels containing saints. Then a relatively fancy top half, maybe in what the French would call the Flamboyant style. For the first two pieces we still had some light and I was struck how the designer of the glass had put a narrow clear border around each section, a wheeze which really brought out the tracery in this particular light. Deep black tracery against the glowing glass. A good balance between the tracery and the stained glass. An organic and balanced whole of which I think Pugin would have approved. See May 3rd. Excellent backdrop to the music.
Then the light faded and the window went dull. Just a flat end to the chancel. No life in it at all. The tracery stopped being part of a window and was reduced to being a bit of fluff spread across a bit of brown board across a hole in the wall. But then, as the Chopin picked up, it came back to life with the tracery giving the illusion that the window was not flat at all and the tracery was not that of a window but that of a complicated apse. Great sense of depth. A sense which faded between the Chopin and the encore, but came back, piano, during the encore.
After which came back to earth in the middle of a cloud burst in Sloane Square. Decided to forego a second round at 'The Antelope' and headed down into the tube station and onto Wimbledon. A convenient way home if one happens to be in west London.
# posted by Jim @ 3:18 AM 
