Roshan Kumari's Famous Dance from "Jalsaghar"

The famous Kathak dancer Roshan Kumari in an early appearance in Satyajit Ray's "Jalsaghar" (The Music Room). It just gets better and better as it progresses. Note how the bells on her ankles provide part of the rhythm...

(I made this clip by stringing together the dance scenes, removing other shots that are interspersed through the dance, so there are a few jerky splices.)

Bernarda Fink SIngs Bach's "Schlafe, Mein Liebster"

I find it hard to imagine a performance of this aria with more beauty of voice or performer...

Wolf and Pig

Excellent stop-motion technique

Early Cambodian Dance

From the Albert Kahn collection comes the earliest footage of Cambodian dance, photographed in the private quarters of the king of Cambodia. I've assembled this clip from a documentary, but have not edited the soundtrack, so there are some abrupt cuts...

You Are the Peace

It is cause for rejoicing that there are currently several mezzo-sopranos and altos of a calibre approaching and sometimes equalling the late Janet Baker. My own favourite at present is Bernarda Fink, who in some ways reminds me of Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, a singer of great poise and lyrical sensibility.
Here's her beautiful rendition of "Du bist der Ruh" from her CD of Schubert Lieder. Play it loud and revel in the full and warm tone. As one critic so rightly says, "Fink's voice has an affecting fondness that makes one listen when perhaps the innate familiarity of the music might otherwise lend to distraction. The old becomes new, and the new is perceived in a more favorable light."

"There is an amazing tension in this work. Rückert’s language wells with passion and is plainly a composition of temporal love. But Schubert has transposed the work into an ethereal world of spirit and faith with music which is a marvel of simplicity, classical and romantic at once–music that soothes like a balm applied to an open wound. The song is haunting." http://snipurl.com/pis3u

Below, an original translation of Friedrich Rückert’s poem.

Du bist die Ruh,
Der Friede mild,
Die Sehnsucht du
Und was sie stillt.

Ich weihe dir
Voll Lust und Schmerz
Zur Wohnung hier
Mein Aug und Herz.

Kehr ein bei mir,
Und schliesse du
Still hinter dir
Die Pforten zu.

Treib andern Schmerz
Aus dieser Brust!
Voll sei dies Herz
Von deiner Lust.

Dies Augenzelt
Von deinem Glanz
Allein erhellt,
0 füll es ganz!

You are the calm,
The restful peace:
You are my longing and
what makes it cease.

With passion and pain
To you I give
My eye and heart
Are yours to live.

Enter here and close
Quietly behind you
the gates of your
Gentle embrace.

All other grief
You dispel from my breast:
My heart swells
With the love of you.

Your brightness alone
Lights the canopy of my eyes
Oh, fill it fully!

–Friedrich Rückert, Du bist die Ruh (1822)

Essence of Funk

The funkiest thing I've heard in ages: Tord Gustavsen Trio playing for Silje Nergaard.

More Beautiful Tarkovsky

I've made a short clip of remarkable footage from Tarkovsky's film "Nostalghia" whose protagonist is a Russian refugee in Italy haunted by his memories of childhood and Russia, in other words Tarkovsky himself.

Exquisite Tarkovsky

1000-Armed Kannon... version 2

Here's a later version of this remarkable troupe of Chinese dancers, all of whom happen to be deaf..



Here's the earlier version, somewhat different, but also spectacular!

Magdalena Kozena at her best

So few people know and appreciate Bach's Cantatas, the 200 or so of which constitute one of the greatest treasure troves of western music. I am particularly fond of many of the arias for the soprano and alto voice, and none so embodies the depth and beauty of Bach's vocal/ensemble writing as this aria from Cantata 199, "Tief gebuckt und voller Reue".

I can't get enough of this performance of it by the outstanding Czech mezzo-soprano, Magdalena Kozena. I wish I could find the words to describe the feeling it conveys: resignation-cum-compassion-cum-joy? It's all there somehow in the main motif, the A-F#-E-D-D cadence.


To quote (as a composite) comments from reviewers:

"But the real surprise was Gardiner and Magdalena Kožená...Good lord, what a lot of feeling she pours into the singing! ...Gardiner..doesn't rush this aria--or she doesn't LET him rush. It's slow and gorgeous..., since there's no vibrato to artificially thicken the texture. It's like pure sunlight cascading through stained-glass. I can imagine Kožená gesturing with her hands as she sings --so much emphasis does she put into particular words, it's heartrending. I have never heard Gardiner accompany an aria with more sensitivity...for once he laid aside his very British stiff upper lip, and wore his heart on his sleeve. I have never, ever heard Gardiner play like this. It was a shock, and a delightful surprise..."

Please play this as loudly as your neighbours can tolerate, to get the full quality of her vibrant and pure voice, and the warmth of the ensemble playing. Please also pay particular attention to the arc from 4:12 to 5:33. Brings tears to my eyes every time, as indeed do many subsequent moments...and it's nothing to do with religion, despite the church setting.

The whole cantata is wonderful; ask me even a little bit nicely, and I'll make more if not all of it available.....