Lynne's Theatre Notes

  WHY  do companies and filming directors do it? You are trying to watch a performance online and you get - a side shot , a shot from the other side , an aerial view , a close up , back a bit and a closeup of the conductor ( say) , a horizontal view of the entire ensemble , and and and ... ( repeat ) It completely kills the atmosphere , is MOST distracting and at times almost makes you ill with motion sickness!  The viewer is trying to watch the performance not be driven mad by the annoying photography!!

 Another book review for Sydney Arts Guide  https://www.sydneyartsguide.com.au/french-connection-by-alexis-bergantz/ FRENCH CONNECTION BY ALEXIS BERGANTZ 22 JULY 2021   LYNNE LANCASTER   LEAVE A COMMENT   Author Alexis Bergantz With an introduction and epilogue, this book is divided  into six chapters and also includes an appendix, notes, a bibliography and an index, plus some illustrations. It is not too large and bulky and is densely crammed full of information with many layers of meaning. The main time frame it examines is roughly from the 1850’s up to 1914 but it also continues a little to this day. Bergantz jumps backwards and forward a little and interweaves timelines and details… Bergantz looks at the role of the French here in Australia, and our interaction with them in Europe, and how attitudes have changed over the years. From interactions with early French explorers, for example Bougainville and La Perouse, to haute cuisine and  couture and ...

  Here's my review for Sydney Arts Guide https://www.sydneyartsguide.com.au/elysian-fields-fika-melbourne-digital-concert-hall/ ELYSIAN FIELDS : FIKA @ MELBOURNE DIGITAL CONCERT HALL 18 JULY 2021   LYNNE LANCASTER   LEAVE A COMMENT Elysian Fields The latest concert streamed by the MDCH is Elysian Fields in FIKA. It is avante-garde Scandinavian jazz at its best, with most of the works selected from their album of the same name. Led by  Jenny Eriksson  the founder of Elysian Fields, for this concert the ensemble consisted of  Matt McMahon  – piano ,  Matt Keegan  – sax ,  Susie Bishop  – voice/violin ,  Jacques Emery  – double bass and  Dave Goodman  on drums in an exciting, challenging concert magnificently played. The album and this concert of FIKA is an expression of  Eriksson’ s Swedish heritage and the devotion that she and her Elysian Fields colleagues have for Scandinavian music in a striking way. Fika,...

My thoughts for Sydney Arts Guide  https://www.sydneyartsguide.com.au/paul-stratherns-the-florentines-the-magical-city-of-florence/ PAUL STRATHERN’S ‘THE FLORENTINES’ : THE MAGICAL CITY OF FLORENCE 14 JULY 2021   LYNNE LANCASTER   LEAVE A COMMENT   Lorenzo de Medici Michelangelo’s ‘Pieta’ Galileo Meticulously researched, Paul Strathern’s book is crammed full of intriguing detail and vigorously written, covering four centuries in the history of the city of Florence. Strathern’s book is of medium size and thickness divided into nineteen chapters with a prologue and epilogue. A map, bibliography, Medici family tree and index are also included and there are illustrations embodied in the book in two separate places. Strathern examines in depth life in Florence from the late fifteenth century to the early seventeenth century as the city itself as the melting pot of the Renaissance.. Florence’s peak times under the Medici and its slow periods during war and plague are chart...

 https://www.sydneyartsguide.com.au/aco-studiocasts-tchaikovskys-serenade/ My thoughts for Sydney Arts Guide  ACO STUDIOCASTS : TCHAIKOVSKY’S SERENADE 10 JULY 2021   LYNNE LANCASTER   LEAVE A COMMENT The latest Studiocast performance by the Australian Chamber Orchestra, led by maestro  Richard Tognetti  opened with a bang – straight into  Tchaikovsky’s    Serenade for Strings , Op. 48.  This was written in 1880 at the same time as his 1812 Overture. It was used famously for Balanchine’s ballet, and  also has been incorporated into films and other events including footy games and, of all things,  a 1945 countdown for an atomic bomb test! It is now regarded as one of the major works of the late Romantic period. In the first movement Tchaikovsky deliberately attempted to write a piece in the style of Mozart. The Seranade opens with the chords of a Chorale which acts as both a shaping melody and a theme that is taken and reworked. ...

  Here's my review for Sydney Arts Guide  https://www.sydneyartsguide.com.au/the-countess-from-kirribilli/ THE COUNTESS FROM KIRRIBILLI : A NEW BIOGRAPHY BY JOYCE MORGAN 8 JULY 2021   LYNNE LANCASTER   LEAVE A COMMENT Elizabeth Von Arnim She was ‘amused, cynical, ironic, loving, gay, ferocious, cold, ardent but never gentle’. She was a whirlwind. She created around her the atmosphere of a Court at which her friends were either in disgrace or favour, a butt or a blessing. ’She was ‘a rare and fascinating combination of dove and serpent’. During the late nineteenth and early twentieth century,  Elizabeth von Arnim,   31 August 1866 – 9 February 1941),  was a hugely popular author yet today she is almost unheard of. Meticulously researched, Joyce Morgan’s biography has both a prologue and epilogue, is divided into twenty one chapters and has a bibliography and index. A selection of black and white photos is included in the middle.  Morgan is a former...