HE WENT WHERE?

Okay, so my antipathy to all things opera is well known in select circles.  I have walked out on a performance at La Scala.  Had to be restrained from leaping from the balcony in Sidney.  Steel-willed my way through L.A. productions.  I just can’t stand the screeching, artificial-sounding operatic voice.  What is not so well known is that I really like massed voices:  choruses and chorales.  I guess those are one and the same.  So, while perusing the offerings in the latest email from Goldstar, the discount-ticket broker, I stumbled upon the Los Angeles Chamber Singers & Cappella performing “The Three Great Services,” a collection of pieces centering on the “Magnificat” from those services.  All are from the Tudor Era.  The first was by John Sheppard (c. 1515-1558), the next by Robert Parsons (c. 1530-1572), and the last by William Byrd (c. 1543-1623).  They sang today at the First Presbyterian Church in Santa Monica, six male voices and four female.  Mesmerizingly gorgeous.  Actually, I most enjoyed a fourth piece they included, Robert Wylkynson’s (c. 1475-1515) “Salve Regina” from the Eton Choirbook.  Talk about the rapture!  No cool-aid needed here. 

This is a top-rank group, which won a Grammy at the 49th edition a few years back for it’s

which you can sample here.  They were recording our performance of the Great Services, but it won’t be available for some time.  Anyhow, I’m not just a rock-n-roll or jazz guy.  I got kultcha, I tell you!  And no, I didn’t all of a sudden get religion.  I’m still a shallow guy:  I like the trappings without the message.

RETURN OF THE GRATUITOUS CRITIC

I won’t waste time on the junk novels I wish I hadn’t wasted time on, but while wandering through a Barnes & Nobel recently I came across another compendium (I like getting multiple books in one volume) that looked interesting:

So far I’ve read The Time Machine and am halfway through The Invisible Man.  Considering they were written over a hundred years ago, they hold up pretty well.  The latter was made into one of my favorite late-night movies that I watched as a kid, filmed back in the 1930’s with Claude Rains as the visibly challenged one.  I loved the effects when he peeled off the bandages.

Anyway, Wells is still a good read.

Another old favorite is Woody Allen, whose movies bounce along between sublime and awful, with many stops in between.  However, his latest, Midnight in Paris, definitely hit the sublime bell for Loni and I. 

 

Nothing heavy here, the “message” is hung out for all to see, the conclusion can be seen from Topeka, but it’s great fun getting there.  The scenes of Paris are nostalgic, sentimental, and gorgeous.  I think he cast the thing perfectly, with all sorts of cameos popping up throughout, and the principals are pitch perfect.  I liked the time travel device, altho even a casual rethinking reveals some inconsistencies.  Regardless, we smiled throughout and joined the rest of the audience in applauding at the end.  This was pure enjoyment.

Full disclosure:  Of course, we are a bit prejudiced at the moment, so take the review with the usual grains.  We last were in France (well, Europe for that matter) exactly 45 years ago as students.  We have great memories of starving our way through the place, not having two nickels to rub together.  I still have my copy of Europe on $5 a Day, and boy did we make good use of that tome.  Now we’re poised for a revisit in the Fall, and Woody’s movie came along at precisely the right time to whet our appetites.  We’ve let a flat for a month in the Montmartre district, and can’t wait.  I think we’ll have to budget a bit more – probably more like $5 per hour each.  C’est la vie!