Wozzeck, part 2

Wozzeck, BBC, SSO @ City Halls

Thomas J Mayer as Wozzeck at City Halls, Glasgow 2014. Photo BBC, Alex Woodward.jpg

There are many matters to consider in Buchner's unfinished script
Whether it is tragic, melodramatic or simply badly clipped
So the action is uncertain and the main protagonist
May be a dirty villain or just violent when he's pissed.

Other questions spring to mind, when listening to Berg:
Is this the beginning of theatre that's absurd?
Where life has no meaning and a painful godless despair
Is the legacy to which every man is heir?

Then there is the matter of the message that it brings.
Is Maria just a slut or victim of the men who pull her strings?
The main man in the meantime has a life that is a wreck,
Worst of all the problem of how you pronounce Wozzeck.

The music is atonal, experimental avant-garde:
(That's a way of saying that it is very hard).
Berg provides a soundscape that is harsh and frantic
But in poetic fallacies it recalls the late Romantic.

The SSO put it on, they call their approach 'semi-staged'.
This is, the singers act a bit, like when Wozzeck gets enraged.
An outline of a larger version which they could have produced
But despite the lack of scenery, this concert does not feel reduced.

The protagonist himself was done by Thomas Mayer
He portrayed a feckless man whose girlfriend is a player.
The pompous drum major seduces her in no time
We watch Wozzeck's descent to death despite he did no crime - 

Expect, of course, for taking to her throat a knife.
To pay her infidelity, she sadly lost her life.
Poor Wozzeck doesn't get away without punishment:
He is the victim of the carelessness of the establishment.

The music is Wagnerian in the way it works.
It provides subtext behind the singing as it menacingly lurks.
Wozzeck in the army is a lowly grunt:
He feels a fear of nature when goes on a hunt.

The orchestra's heavy and the musicians tight
They rumble in the darkness and rage during the fight
Between Wozzeck and his lady's lover.
And the sense of doom does always hover

In the scenes where his son is ignored by his dad:
Even the lighter moments have the threat of the bad.
Wozzeck claims that being poor means no morality...
He is paid back by his bird's disloyalty.

The SSO take it in their stride, 
whether roaring in the violence
Or bringing nuance to the glide
From the party scenes to the final death
They conjure an absurd world
Where misery comes with every breath.

It's not the triumph of the will
It's a Gesamtkunstwerk
Where words and music come together
To illuminate the story hidden in the murk
Of a world that does not care
About the human doings
And a man who wouldn't dare
To think above his station.

In the final doomy scenes
When poor Wozzeck comes to his end
The doctor who had him eating beans
Strolls past with his general friend.
They hear the drowning man
As he accidently dies
They stroll past chatting
And ignore his cries.

It's a magnificent piece
Given energetic show
By a sharp piece of playing
By the SSO.

We may talk of the triumph, the glory
Of the will and the soul
Of the music and the story
And recall the majesty of Sophocles,
But beyond all this, the man of the day
Is the conductor Runnicles. 

Miss Hill: Making Dance Matter

Apparently, there is another Martha who has helped define American dance. Martha Hill was the first director of dance at Juilliard (a school that has a dance ensemble good enough to get booked for the Edinburgh International Festival), and was part of the other Martha's company in the late 1920s and 1930s. 

At Julliard, between 1952 and 1985, when she retired, she had plenty of impressive students - check this list that I just ripped off from Wikipedia.

Paul Taylor, Muriel Topaz, Pina Bausch, Daniel Lewis, Lar Lubovitch, Dennis Nahat, Linda Kent, Bruce Marks, Mercedes Ellington, H.T. Chen, Martha Clarke, Susan Marshall, Jenny Coogan, Robert Garland, Mark Haim, Henning Rübsam.

Miss Hill: Making Dance Matter is a documentary that might bring Hill back into the limelight: she is pretty unknown outside of dance circles, but had a tremendous influence. And it is showing at the GFT this week...

Press release begins...

Martha Hill emerges as dance’s secret weapon, someone who fought against great odds to establish dance

as a legitimate artistic movement in America.

Through lively interviews with friends and intimates, plus rare footage of the spirited subject, the film explores Hills’s arduous path from her Bible Belt childhood in rural Ohio through the halls of NYU to her position of power and influence as Juilliard’s founding director of dance in the 1950s.

Peppered with anecdotal material delivered by dance notables who knew her, this revelatory story depicts her struggles and successes, including the battle royale that accompanied her move to the Lincoln Centre campus.
Director: Greg Vander Veer

USA 2014, 1h24m, N/C 12+

BBC in GFT & CCA

The BBC has today announced details of a brand new arts documentary festival. Taking place as part of the Glasgow International Festival, Art Screen will showcase some of the world’s best arts documentary films and include highlights from the BBC archive.   Art Screen will showcase a wealth of arts documentaries in two of Glasgow’s renowned art spaces, the Glasgow Film Theatre and Centre for Contemporary Arts from the 10th-13th April 2014. The diverse four-day programme will include screenings of documentaries on art forms including visual arts, architecture, music and photography alongside accompanying events and discussions. Kirsty Wark and Tim Marlow will chair interviews and participate in panel discussions offering conversational sessions across the four day festival.   Art Screen will include Arts in the Archive, a strand dedicated to the many hours of extraordinary arts footage in the BBC’s own archive. Arts in the Archive, screening at the CCA, will provide access to many hours of rarely seen footage, from throughout the BBC’s history.   Art Screen is a national partnership created by the BBC and delivered in collaboration with Glasgow International, British Council, frieze, LUX, Glasgow Film, CCA and BFI. It is supported by Creative Scotland.   Jonty Claypole, Head of Arts for BBC Productions said: "The BBC is delighted to launch Art Screen, a place for audiences, artists and film makers alike to be inspired by a selection of some of the best arts documentaries from around the world. This is a unique collaboration that brings together a range of creative organisations from across the UK to curate and produce the first Art Screen programme."   With the full programme due to be revealed on 19th March 2014, organisers have today revealed a taster of what Art Screen will bring to the city. Highlights of the festival programme include two world premieres that will screen in Glasgow’s GFT.   Our Glasgow One of the programme highlights, Our Glasgow, produced by frieze magazine co-editor Jennifer Higgie and part of their frieze Video strand, leads the celebrations of Glasgow as a unique hub of creativity. This screening will be followed by a discussion exploring the reasons for Glasgow’s extraordinary creative success.   Featuring a cross-section of local artists, writers and curators and exploring the evolution of Glasgow from industrial heartland to artistic centre; in Our Glasgow we visit studios, contemporary galleries and the famous Rennie Mackintosh designed Glasgow School of Art, a masterpiece of the Arts and Crafts Movement.     Facing Up to Mackintosh And in the week the new Reid Building at The Glasgow School of Art is officially opened Art Screen will show the world premiere of the BBC documentary Facing Up to Mackintosh, which charts the ultimate architectural challenge – how to design a building to sit opposite a Mackintosh masterpiece.  The screening will be introduced by the film’s director, GSA graduate and BBC Scotland Director, Louise Lockwood,  and will be followed by a discussion which will explore the themes of the documentary.   Merging interviews with architects Steven Holl and Chris McVoy and footage of the design and build filmed over three years, Facing Up to Mackintosh also features the creative responses of four recent GSA Design graduates, and weaves their reactions into the body of the film. The Reid Building, designed in partnership with JM Architects of Glasgow, is Steven Holl Architects first ever building in the UK.    Janet Archer, CEO of Creative Scotland commented: “We are delighted to support these events in collaboration with the BBC, British Council, frieze, Glasgow International, LUX, BFI, Glasgow Film and CCA.  It’s hugely exciting to be a part of this celebration.We are working to identify two key learning, collaboration and networking opportunities for the creative sector in Scotland to engage with the filmmaking and artistic talent present at Art Screen.”     Christine Bardsley, Programme Manager - Film, from British Council said: “Our business is cultural relations and we are excited to be a partner in Art Screen. Film is the seventh art and a wonderful medium through which to celebrate the richness of the artistic landscape at home and abroad.”   Allison Gardner, Head of Cinemas at Glasgow Film Theatre, said: "We're delighted to be partnering with the BBC on this unique arts documentary celebration. GFT has been leading the way in specialised cinema since 1974. This year we are celebrating three anniversaries; 10 years of Glasgow Film Festival, 40 years of GFT and 75 years of a cinema on our Rose Street site. We continue to expand and diversify for audiences and Art Screen is a fantastic way of bringing new arts documentaries to our audience."   Ainslie Roddick from CCA Glasgow, said: “The curators of Art Screen have put together a brilliant programme of events, allowing us the chance to watch and discuss some of the most remarkable artist documentaries and revisit pivotal moments in visual culture. As well as talks and screenings, CCA and Saramago Cafe Bar will be hosting special guest DJs each night in the cafe, and visuals from Glasgow artist Torsten Lauschmann. It's a great opportunity to uncover some provocative footage and a great addition to the city's arts programme."   Sarah McCrory, Director of Glasgow International said: “Art Screen is a unique and exciting partnership project and is a fantastic addition to 2014’s Glasgow International programme.  Art Screen will allow artists and their work to be seen from an alternative perspective, through the medium of the arts documentary, and will contribute to Glasgow’s renown as a place of great creative endeavour.”   Jennifer Higgie, Co-Editor, frieze said: “frieze magazine has been exploring the medium of video for over a year with a variety of formats and approaches. For Art Screen we have developed on an earlier strand of city reports from around the world and produced a documentary exploring the past and present of the lively Glasgow art scene. We are honoured to be included in Art Screen, and applaud this great and much-needed initiative to highlight contemporary documentaries focusing on the wealth of art and design produced in the UK.”   Benjamin Cook, Director of LUX said: “LUX is very excited to be partnering on Art Screen and showcasing our Artists in the Archive collaboration with BBC Arts as part of the weekend.”   Marcus Prince, BFI television programmer said: “The BFI is pleased to be involved in helping to make some of its great collection of BBC Arts programmes accessible to audiences through the Art Screen festival. The BFI National Archive collection is one of the world’s largest and most important, and we are pleased to be working with Art Screen to bring some of these great treasures to the screen.”