Quote Of The Day

"Victory goes to the player who makes the next-to-last mistake - Chessmaster Savielly Grigorievitch Tartakower (1887-1956)"
Showing posts with label Barbican Hall. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Barbican Hall. Show all posts

Tuesday, July 02, 2013

Laurie Anderson and the Kronos Quartet...

Last Friday Paul and I went to the Barbican Hall to see Landfall - Laurie Anderson's latest work - this time a collaborative work with the Kronos Quartet.

These two new musical colossuses joined for a 75 minute mildly whimsical and often diverting rag bag of pieces which were at times captivating but at times frustratingly brief.

Anderson's stories of Hurricane Sandy, her flooded archive and the frustration of other people telling you about their dreams were engaging enough but like the musical works all too brief.

It's almost as if Anderson was too deferential to the Quartet with their sublime fiddling and so lost her own captivating performance style.

One aspect that really worked though was when letters, symbols and words fluttered across a screen at the back, magically coordinated by some computer software to the sounds being played

Next time though let's have our Laurie back doing what she does best. Solo work.

Wednesday, November 03, 2010

Blackmail...

Last Sunday night Stu and I went to the Barbican Hall to see a screening of Alfred Hitchcock's black and white silent film Blackmail (1929). The film was actually made in two versions at the same time - one with sound and one without. Not all cinemas had sound equipment - hence the two versions. The two versions even had a slightly different cast.
Our heroine Alice has stabbed to death a man who tried to rape her. Her boyfriend Frank, a policeman, covers it up; but Tracey, the local petty thief, tries to blackmail the couple. This leads to Tracey’s attempted arrest and a spectacular police chase which ends on the roof of the British Museum.
The new music, performed live by the BBC Symphony Orchestra, was scored by Neil Brand and was a UK premiere.
Great film. Great score. Great performance.
Enhanced by Zemanta