The best classical DVDs dating from this year to come my way were Kenneth Branagh’s World War I version of Mozart’s The Magic Flute (Lien Yin), Massenet’s opera Manon with Anna Netrebko and Rolando Villazon, with Daniel Barenboim conducting (Deutsche Grammophon), Karajan’s versions of Cavalleria Rusticana and Pagliacci dating from 1968 and 1970 (also Deutsche Grammophon), and a privately-issued recording of Bach’s B Minor Mass from Taipei.
Branagh’s Magic Flute film combines high-spirited elation with serious thoughts, exactly as Mozart’s original opera does. It succeeds against all the odds, using mostly young singers and combining them with spectacular visual effects. Branagh says on a bonus track that he hopes what he’s created will make people feel that love is still possible, and it certainly does that, setting sex against war — the adoration of bodies and the people who inhabit them against mankind’s worst habit, tearing them ritually apart.
Manon isn’t many people’s favorite opera, but why it was once so popular is revealed in Vincent Paterson’s exciting and colorful staging. Everything is unpredictable — Paterson a director from Hollywood, Barenboim a conductor who’d probably never been near Massenet before, and two charismatic and alluring singers as the doomed lovers. This product is full of brio, glamour and zest.
Karajan’s Cav and Pag are classic renditions that it’s wonderful to have at last on DVD. The first starring Fiorenza Cossotto, the second Jon Vickers, they’re characterized by their lucidity and inner strength. The images are intensely clear and memorable, and the music — well, this is Karajan, even if the scores are remote from his usual areas of expertise.
Taiwan’s Evergreen Symphony Orchestra and Philharmonic Chorus gave what was claimed to be the first ever Taiwan performance of Bach’s B Minor Mass on March 29 this year — astonishing, if true, as this is one of the summits of world music. It was a stupendous event, and was recorded by the Philharmonia technicians. It’s never been released, but a privately-made DVD is in circulation in Taipei, and if you can find one there could be no legal restriction on making a copy. Orchestra and chorus members are both probably worth a try, or even the Philharmonia administration. Believe me, it’s worth the effort.
In late October of 1873 the government of Japan decided against sending a military expedition to Korea to force that nation to open trade relations. Across the government supporters of the expedition resigned immediately. The spectacle of revolt by disaffected samurai began to loom over Japanese politics. In January of 1874 disaffected samurai attacked a senior minister in Tokyo. A month later, a group of pro-Korea expedition and anti-foreign elements from Saga prefecture in Kyushu revolted, driven in part by high food prices stemming from poor harvests. Their leader, according to Edward Drea’s classic Japan’s Imperial Army, was a samurai
Located down a sideroad in old Wanhua District (萬華區), Waley Art (水谷藝術) has an established reputation for curating some of the more provocative indie art exhibitions in Taipei. And this month is no exception. Beyond the innocuous facade of a shophouse, the full three stories of the gallery space (including the basement) have been taken over by photographs, installation videos and abstract images courtesy of two creatives who hail from the opposite ends of the earth, Taiwan’s Hsu Yi-ting (許懿婷) and Germany’s Benjamin Janzen. “In 2019, I had an art residency in Europe,” Hsu says. “I met Benjamin in the lobby
April 22 to April 28 The true identity of the mastermind behind the Demon Gang (魔鬼黨) was undoubtedly on the minds of countless schoolchildren in late 1958. In the days leading up to the big reveal, more than 10,000 guesses were sent to Ta Hwa Publishing Co (大華文化社) for a chance to win prizes. The smash success of the comic series Great Battle Against the Demon Gang (大戰魔鬼黨) came as a surprise to author Yeh Hung-chia (葉宏甲), who had long given up on his dream after being jailed for 10 months in 1947 over political cartoons. Protagonist
Peter Brighton was amazed when he found the giant jackfruit. He had been watching it grow on his farm in far north Queensland, and when it came time to pick it from the tree, it was so heavy it needed two people to do the job. “I was surprised when we cut it off and felt how heavy it was,” he says. “I grabbed it and my wife cut it — couldn’t do it by myself, it took two of us.” Weighing in at 45 kilograms, it is the heaviest jackfruit that Brighton has ever grown on his tropical fruit farm, located