Concettina Died and Other Stories of the East Side
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"First Entry: Salome is Pretty in Pink" posted April 13, 2004 at 06:45 PM

Everybody diggin' the pink? Good, me too. My friend Joe Burke--that's Joseph X. Burke--is responsible for the design & structure of all this loveliness. Joe, you've a keen eye and big heart, and, lord knows, plenty of patience.

This diary will basically be about my experience of culture. That ranges from my reflections on the many cultural events I go to (here in NYC and elsewhere), to books, movies, music, etc. I'll probably also be unable to contain my, uh, enthusiasm for politics at times--though I know how tedious that can become, so I'll try to restrain myself a bit (and it'll surely subside after the fall election).

The big news about this site, and one of the main reasons for its existence, is my father's section of the site. See that link above that says "Concettina Died and Other Stories of the East Side"--go 'head, click it--you'll be treated to family stories as told by the family member who knows them best and tells them best. Dad won't be updating nearly as often as I will be, so if you want to "feel the Zazaura"--and I know you do!--you should sign up for the mailing list back on the home page. I won't be sending out very frequent announcements, but I will be letting the list know when Dad updates with a new story. So don't worry about me flooding your inbox. I'll be plenty busy just writing entries.

I encourage you to leave comments at the end of the entries. Interactive-like, and all.

I'll get right to it... Paula & I went to see Strauss's Salome last week at the Met. It had gotten rave reviews, especially for Karita Mattila who sang the title role. It's true she was great--a lovely voice, and a very out-there performance full of acting, dancing, and raw raw emotion. But the production, I thought, was silly in the extreme. My friend Aidan said that the production was summed up by the on-stage champagne drinking: ginger ale in plastic glasses. I couldn't agree more. It was a contemporary-dress production, but without any real thematic reason for it. I can only imagine that Mattila's over-the-top performance would have carried a heck of a lot more weight if it was nestled into the traditional kind of production the Met does best. Anyway, the root of the problem for me is the opera itself. I had never actually listened to it before, and I am not convinced it's a great opera. The libretto is a German translation of Oscar Wilde's amazing play. But the music does not match the sidelong attitude of Wilde's text--the push of twisted speech that approaches but never becomes irony, the circular almost baroque sense of repetition that turns Salome's overwrought emotions into pure poetry. Instead, Strauss writes with dissonance and long lines. Whenever John the Baptist speaks of Christ, the music turns to large, round, major-key chords (i.e. simple church music). Anyway, I enjoyed hearing it, but will I ever go see another production of it? I don't know. Perhaps I'll fall in love with it if I see a better production. I would, however, love to re-read Wilde's play (and see again the funny and great Ken Russell film of it).


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