The fifty-first Classical Recording: #17 Thomas Tallis - Spem In Alium
Going back to older motets, this was written for 40 voices, which especially reveals itself as the different parts go their own way, the different vocals mixing more masterfully than you'd expect for a situation where several lyrics are sang together. This creates an effect of all of them mixing and in my head an effect of these parts of prayer ascending together.
The one hundred fourteenth album: #114 Leonard Cohen - The Songs Of Leonard Cohen
A contemporary folk album feels like it suits the slightly melancholic mood I have at the moment. Starting off with the famous Suzanne (which I more know from the Dutch version), there's something comforting in the sweet and soft lyrics. It's basically incredibly well executed and a treat to listen to throughout. The various instruments and harmonies help with this and I feel I had a lovely folk album here.
The fiftieth classical recording: #894 Aram Khachaturian - Spartacus
Part of our trip to Athens gave us a special treat - a performance of the Spartacus ballet in an ancient Greek theatre. We were sitting in the shadow of the Parthenon as a ballet was performed on a stage that was about 1800 years old, thankfully with some cushions to alleviate the trouble from sitting on a stone bench all day.
The ballet itself, then, sort of fit the environment - the events aren't that far off from when the theatre was built - and performed by leading Russian dancers really felt amazingly polished. The whole is a lot more modern than Sleeping Beauty, with some jazz influences in the music and the percussion from the dancer (very clearly heard on the wooden stage). The music is a big contributor to it - it's swelling and big in the right places, tender sometimes but mostly supports a lot of the military elements well.
It's a case where the music benefits from being more contemporary even where it follows classic elements and does it for that dance form - and creates an evocative story that's comprehensible all the way through.
The sixtieth book: #1012 Cecilia
Halfway through, I gave up on this. It’s another story of a woman too good for this world, surviving in society, being wooed by multiple men. It feels overdone and I don’t feel this adds anything, except for too much length. The writing is becoming more readable, but it stops really providing anything that was worth it.
The fourty-ninth classical recording: #564 Richard Strauss - Salome
Recently we went to see ENO's interesting version of Salome. If you've read the reviews, you might have seen that the production is misguided - an effort to modernize it without making use of the modernization and a haphazardly thrown together set of elements that never quite comes off. The music was still great and the performances good, but I do feel the staging may have distracted me from time to time.
The music sounded good, following the emotions of the (original) piece well. The dance of the seven veils sounds good, a nicely middle eastern influenced piece that creates its own images. It's clearly the highlight of the show and works as an amazing centre piece. The vocals weren't always as powerful in this version, but did well to tell its story - wtih some specific settings - which created a great piece of music.
The fourty-eighth classical recording: #119 Joseph Haydn - Symphonies nos. 6-8
A set of three pieces representing morning, day and evening, the pieces represent those times of day well. The morning is an upbeat, active piece, quite exciting and enticing. The second piece is larger, but slower, more leisurely, the evening is calmer. It's a good combination, the three pieces suit each other even if they are mostly separate. There's a liveliness to this that really helps set the mood and creates something to follow along to.
The one hundred thirteenth album: Jimi Hendrix - Electric Ladyland
After enjoying the previous Jimi Hendrix entry on the list, I had half forgotten what this was like by the time I got to it - life's been busy, delays happened, and an extra length album can be harder to fit into my days. Yet listening to it now, it's clear that what struck me before is there. A bluesy rock, the album has several long songs that let the improvisation stand and improve, as well as a number of standard length tracks. There are the psychedelic influences, but again in a way that enhance the song rather than dominating, and it turns into a slow journey through that stays quite gentle. This might well be one of my favourite albums so far, something I wouldn't have expected before starting this list.
The fifty-ninth book: #49 Confessions - Jean-Jacques Rousseau
One of the first autobiographies, Confessions feels like it works okay there from the start - better than Rousseau's other works. He's a decent storyteller, willing to make light of himself and with a bunch of interesting events described. I struggled with names sometimes, but it's mostly decently easy to follow and it feels more accepting to just jumping in. It sounds like a lot of this was fabricated, but really, for the most part that doesn't actually matter. Not having any philosophical questions to focus on, the result here feels like a better novel.
The ninety-second TV show: #828 Garrow's Law
I've struggled with historical drama before and have found that a lot of it comes down to the performance - mostly that they can become a bit too theatrical and over the top, which I can find more annoying than interesting. I've seen some on the list by now that don't do that, and play it at a more interesting level - sounding more natural, rather than an exaggerated Shakespeare play. Of course, Garrow's law falls into the more listenable camp, moving at a more modern pace in a way that makes sense. There are, of course, many formal courtroom proceedings, as a historical legal drama, but it makes sense.
Andrew Buchan does a lot for this. He's a compelling actor, imbuing Garrow with a spirit that remains compelling throughout. He cares, he's flawed but he wants to change a system that's not working for everyone and he's amazing at playing that passion. The cast that surrounds him does so as well - Southouse as the barrister keeping him on the right path, Silvester the prosecutor who goes for a win, but who respect each other when it comes to it, and Michael Culkin as judge who works with and against Garrow as the cases develop. The law side is interesting, then, that these are people working in a system, who are adversial because of the system, but respect each other and help when needed. The latter two, especially, pull off a balancing act really well.
But that half is about the reformer of the legal system. He combines many real lawyers, and so while he doesn't follow the historical figure, he probably has elements and represents the cases of everyone who pushed for this.
On the other hand, while Garrow's personal life stories in here are fictionalized as well, although more by embelishing the stories of the real life people they represent, they play a major part through the show as well. The actors involved - Lyndsey Marshal as Lady Sarah, his mistress, and Rupert Graves as Sir Hill, her husband (although she was just his mistress in real life) - play the roles incredibly well, again creating these amazing characters you care about. The storyline, however, isn't always as effective. The platonic relationship, striving for justice, in the first season, work well as an extra impetus to keep moving, but as it develops it has its ups and downs in the story telling. When done well, they're a compelling drive for Garrow to keep pushing, or they create an interesting dilemma on what side Garrow should go for. As often, however, it can feel like a distraction, a 21st century love story inserted into a modern drama where the seams show. I think they hit the balance better in the third season, when the high point of the plot has happened, but in the second season it's clear they have to set up the finale. It's a weaker part of the series, but still played so well it stays a great series.
The fourty-seventh classical recording: #53 John Blow - Venus and Adonis
Today's piece is an early opera, something we would have expected but I didn't quite expect to hear. The differences - English language, using older instruments - are surprising and it took me a while to realise that I could understand the lyrics. Still, it's the music that requires the bigger adjustment - operas so far have always seemed a bit more bombastic, but this makes it sound gentler. The story is fairly straight forward, but translates well to the music and the more delicate score really reflects that well.