September 2000 - Nr. 9
Views and Reviews
by Alidë Kohlhaas
The Madison, WI native, in her 81st year, gave a rivetting and highly nuanced performance in Donald Margulies’ two-woman play, Collected Stories. She played Manhattanite Ruth Steiner, a noted author of short stories, and a creative writing teacher. The play’s action covers six years, in which Steiner takes a graduate student, Lisa Morrison, under her wings. Lorca Simons gave a richly textured portrayal of the young, eager woman, who rises from naive student to published writer.
While one admired Simons’s well-handled passage from gauche, juvenile behaviour to not-quite self-assurance, it is Hagen, who captured one’s heart and fully engaged one’s senses. Youthful and vibrant at the start of the women’s relationship, she visibly aged with subtle gestures and expressions as it changed and then disintegrated. Steiner, facing a waning career, takes pride in her student’s success, that is until Morrison’s second book.
The play is very much about relationship, but is also a lesson on writing, and the art’s ethics. It questions ownership of story, and asks what is betrayal and what is a compliment. Most of all, Margulies’ story explores the mentor-protégée relationship to which anyone can relate. Stratford is to be congratulated for showing the play, and for enticing Hagen to come there. Her appearance at the festival has enriched us all.
This year Stratford celebrates in a variety of ways Oscar Wilde, who died 100 years ago this November. Gilbert and Sullivan’s Patience takes satyric aim at the once laudable Aesthetic Movement, which during Wilde’s time declined into affectation. Stratford’s take on the opera, staged in concert, is sheer delight, full of fun, good voices, and a must for anyone who is even slightly a G&S fan. Like all of their works, it is timeless. It takes little imagination to see a relationship between this former British cultural movement and some of the trends of our own time. Patience runs to Oct. 13.
Three CBC Records CDs have captured my fancy. First and foremost, there is the recording of the Millennium Opera Gala at Roy Thomson Hall last Dec. 31. It not only rekindles fond memories of a great cultural event, but it is a well-produced sampler of this country’s finest voices. The one letdown is that none of the three pieces in which Ben Heppner appeared have been included. He brought me close to tears while he sang the Prize Song from Wagner’s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, "Morgenlicht leuchtend im rosigen Schein. . .". His polished confidence, infused with great tenderness, simply gripped the heart. But, one can’t always have everything! There are 17 pieces, including a rousing O Canada, on the 77:51 minute-long CD. All are fine moments in our musical history.
Richard Bradshaw, who shared conducting duties with Mario Bernardi at the Gala, is also the conductor of the superb Opera Encores CD, with tenor Benjamin Butterfield and baritone Brett Polegato (the latter also appears on the Gala CD). Included on this CD are songs from rarely performed works, such as Wilhelm Kienzl’s Der Evangelimann, Friedrich von Flotow’s Martha, Albert Lortzig’s Der Wildschütz, and Leo Fall’s Die Rose von Stambul. Both Polegato and Butterfield show why they are sought in this country, and internationally. This 77:55 minute-long CD also features the Canadian Children’s Opera Chorus.
The
last in the group is Harry Somers, Celebration. It is just that, a
celebration of the composer’s works, released a little more than a year
after his death. Somers, one of Canada’s finest composers, sadly, did not
always get the recognition his music deserves. This disk features pianist
James Parker, mezzo soprano Jean Stilwell and the Esprit Orchestra under the
guidance of Alex Pauk. It is a wonderful combination of Canadian talent, and
one’s only wish is that this recording finds its way to an international
audience. The CD’s 60:30 minutes of sound are sure proof that this country
has spawned some outstanding musical minds. All three CDs are part of CBC
Record’s SM500 series.
Paul Romney has been writing about Canadian history for 25 years. In his latest book he takes a stab at some cherished, but perhaps skewered views on Canadian Confederation. Getting it Wrong is subtitled ‘How Canadians Forgot Their Past and Imperilled Confederation’. It is a very detailed study of our political history from pre-confederation up to the patriation of our constitution from Westminster. One may not always agree with his views, but he makes one point very clear, namely as long as Quebec teaches its children a different history from the one taught in the other nine provinces, we will remain divided. He quotes Archbishop Desmond Tutu, both at the beginning and end of his book: "If you don’t have some accepted history, the chances are you will not gel as a community." Tutu was, of course, speaking of his own country, South Africa, but as Romney rightly shows, the same applies to Canada. [Getting it Wrong, University of Toronto Press, 332 pages].
Abra is Joan Barfoot’s first novel, published in 1978
and now re-issued in paperback by L&OD. Barfoot uses rich language to
tell the story of the woman Abra, whom some reviewers likened to Margaret
Lawrence’s Hagar Shipley. Unlike Abra, however, Hagar is clearly the
conception of a mature woman, who had seen much of the world and knew its
pain. Abra, on the other hand, is very much a character created by a still
immature writer, who hasn’t quite done her homework. Yet Abra fascinates
the reader, albeit negatively. She is an unlikeable protagonist, who drifts
unthinkingly through life, and ends up caring only for herself. We all have
met such people, so it is easy to relate to the story. [Abra, L&OD, 208
pages, $19.95]
Comments to: alide@echoworld.com
