Entre mis recuerdos (4)
Música
Anna-Maria Hefele in Light&Abyss by Y. Pouget
Nixon in China - John Adams
Nixon in China - John Adams
Adams, John. Nixon in China. Opera. Libretto by Alice Goodman. Orchestra of St. Luke's / Edo de Waart. Audio. YouTube (M0fax) 12 Sept. 2015.*
https://youtu.be/y_kVc8mrElg
Time: February 1972.
Place: In and around Beijing (then known as Peking)
Act 1
At Peking Airport, contingents of the Chinese military await the arrival of the American presidential aircraft "Spirit of '76", carrying Nixon and his party. The military chorus sings "The Three Main Rules of Discipline" and "The Eight Points of Attention". After the aircraft touches down, Nixon emerges with Pat Nixon and Henry Kissinger. The president exchanges stilted greetings with the Chinese premier, Chou En-lai, who heads the welcoming party. Nixon speaks of the historical significance of the visit, and of his hopes and fears for the encounter ("News has a kind of mystery"). The scene changes to Chairman Mao's study, where the Chairman awaits the arrival of the presidential party. Nixon and Kissinger enter with Chou, and Mao and the president converse in banalities as photographers record the scene. In the discussion that follows, the westerners are confused by Mao's gnomic and frequently impenetrable comments, which are amplified by his secretaries and often by Chou. The scene changes again, to the evening's banquet in the Great Hall of the People. Chou toasts the American visitors ("We have begun to celebrate the different ways") Nixon responds: ("I have attended many feasts"), after which the toasts continue, as the atmosphere becomes increasingly convivial. Nixon, a politician who rose to prominence on anti-communism, announces: "Everyone, listen; just let me say one thing. I opposed China, I was wrong".
Act 2
Pat Nixon is touring the city, with guides. Factory workers present her with a small model elephant which, she delightedly informs them, is the symbol of the Republican Party which her husband leads. She visits a commune where she is greeted enthusiastically, and is captivated by the children's games that she observes in the school. "I used to be a teacher many years ago", she sings, "and now I'm here to learn from you". She moves on to the Summer Palace, where in a contemplative aria ("This is prophetic") she envisages a peaceful future for the world. In the evening the presidential party, as guests of Mao's wife Chiang Ch'ing, attends the Peking Opera for a performance of a political ballet-opera The Red Detachment of Women. This depicts the downfall of a cruel and unscrupulous landlord's agent (played by an actor who strongly resembles Kissinger) at the hands of brave women revolutionary workers. The action deeply affects the Nixons; at one point Pat rushes onstage to help a peasant girl she thinks is being whipped to death. As the stage action ends, Chiang Ch'ing, angry at the apparent misinterpretation of the piece's message, sings a harsh aria ("I am the wife of Mao Tse-tung"), praising the Cultural Revolution and glorifying her own part in it. A revolutionary chorus echoes her words.
Act 3
On the last evening of the visit, as they lie in their respective beds, the chief protagonists muse on their personal histories in a surreal series of interwoven dialogues. Nixon and Pat recall the struggles of their youth; Nixon evokes wartime memories ("Sitting round the radio"). Mao and Chiang Ch'ing dance together, as the Chairman remembers "the tasty little starlet" who came to his headquarters in the early days of the revolution. As they reminisce, Chiang Ch'ing asserts that "the revolution must not end". Chou meditates alone; the opera finishes on a thoughtful note with his aria "I am old and I cannot sleep", asking: "How much of what we did was good?" The early morning birdcalls are summoning him to resume his work, while "outside this room the chill of grace lies heavy on the morning grass".
—oOo—
Amahl and the Night Visitors
From the early days of TV, an opera by Gian Carlo Menotti, ’Amahl and the Night Visitors’ (1951). I’m watching it on Stephen Jay Gould’s belated recommendation (he also much loved Gilbert and Sullivan).
PS. Well, some idiot has erased the original TV version. Here’s a staging of the same.
—oOo—
Arrow
Time Since Einstein
Retropost (2006): La estatua del Jardín Botánico
La estatua del jardín botánico
Publicado en Música. com. José Ángel García Landa
La estatua del jardín botánico
Un día más me quedaré sentado aquí
en la penumbra de un jardín tan extraño
Cae la tarde y me olvidé otra vez
de tomar una determinación
Esperando un eclipse
me quedaré
Persiguiendo un enigma
al compás de las horas
Dibujando una elipse
me quedaré
entre el sol y mi corazón
Junto al estanque me atrapó la ilusión
escuchando el lenguaje de las plantas
Y he aprendido a esperar sin razón
Soy metálico en el Jardín Botánico
Con mi pensamiento sigo el movimiento
de los peces en el agua
Un día más me quedaré sentado aquí
en la penumbra de un jardín tan extraño
Cae la tarde y me olvidé otra vez
de tomar una determinación
Esperando un eclipse
me quedaré
Persiguiendo un enigma
al compás de las horas
Dibujando una elipse
me quedaré
entre el sol y mi corazón
The Statue in the Botanical Garden
I will stay sitting here one more day
In the half-light of such a strange garden
Evening falls and once again I forgot
I had to make a determination
Waiting for an eclipse
I'll stay
Pursuing an enigma
To the beat of the hours
Drawing an ellipse
I'll stay
Between the sun and my heart
Close to the pond I was trapped by illusion
Listening to the language of plants
And I have learned to wait for no reason
I am metallic in the Botanical Garden
With my thoughts I follow the motion
Of fishes in the water
I will stay sitting here one more day
In the half-light of such a strange garden
Evening falls and once again I forgot
I had to make a determination
Waiting for an eclipse
I'll stay
Pursuing an enigma
To the beat of the hours
Drawing an ellipse
I'll stay
Between the sun and my heart.
La statue du Jardin Botanique
Encore un jour je vais rester assis ici
Dans la pénombre d'un si étrange jardin
Le soir tombe et j'ai encore oublié
Qu'il fallait prendre une détermination
En attendant un éclipse
Je resterai
À poursuivre un énigme
Au rythme des heures
À dessiner une ellipse
Je resterai
Entre le soleil et mon coeur
L'illusion m'a attrapé un jour près de l'étang
En écoutant le langage des plantes
Et j'ai appris à attendre sans raison
Je suis métallique dans le Jardin Botanique
Avec ma pensée je suis le mouvement
Des poissons dans l'eau
Encore un jour je vais rester assis ici
Dans la pénombre d'un jardin si étrange
Le soir tombe et j'ai encore oublié
Qu'il fallait prendre une détermination
En attendant un éclipse
Je resterai
À poursuivre un énigme
Au rythme des heures
À dessiner une ellipse
Je resterai
Entre le soleil et mon coeur.
Un día más me quedaré sentado aquí
en la penumbra de un jardín tan extraño
Cae la tarde y me olvidé otra vez
de tomar una determinación
Esperando un eclipse
me quedaré
Persiguiendo un enigma
al compás de las horas
Dibujando una elipse
me quedaré
entre el sol y mi corazón
Junto al estanque me atrapó la ilusión
escuchando el lenguaje de las plantas
Y he aprendido a esperar sin razón
Soy metálico en el Jardín Botánico
Con mi pensamiento sigo el movimiento
de los peces en el agua
Un día más me quedaré sentado aquí
en la penumbra de un jardín tan extraño
Cae la tarde y me olvidé otra vez
de tomar una determinación
Esperando un eclipse
me quedaré
Persiguiendo un enigma
al compás de las horas
Dibujando una elipse
me quedaré
entre el sol y mi corazón
(Radio Futura)
The Statue in the Botanical Garden
I will stay sitting here one more day
In the half-light of such a strange garden
Evening falls and once again I forgot
I had to make a determination
Waiting for an eclipse
I'll stay
Pursuing an enigma
To the beat of the hours
Drawing an ellipse
I'll stay
Between the sun and my heart
Close to the pond I was trapped by illusion
Listening to the language of plants
And I have learned to wait for no reason
I am metallic in the Botanical Garden
With my thoughts I follow the motion
Of fishes in the water
I will stay sitting here one more day
In the half-light of such a strange garden
Evening falls and once again I forgot
I had to make a determination
Waiting for an eclipse
I'll stay
Pursuing an enigma
To the beat of the hours
Drawing an ellipse
I'll stay
Between the sun and my heart.
La statue du Jardin Botanique
Encore un jour je vais rester assis ici
Dans la pénombre d'un si étrange jardin
Le soir tombe et j'ai encore oublié
Qu'il fallait prendre une détermination
En attendant un éclipse
Je resterai
À poursuivre un énigme
Au rythme des heures
À dessiner une ellipse
Je resterai
Entre le soleil et mon coeur
L'illusion m'a attrapé un jour près de l'étang
En écoutant le langage des plantes
Et j'ai appris à attendre sans raison
Je suis métallique dans le Jardin Botanique
Avec ma pensée je suis le mouvement
Des poissons dans l'eau
Encore un jour je vais rester assis ici
Dans la pénombre d'un jardin si étrange
Le soir tombe et j'ai encore oublié
Qu'il fallait prendre une détermination
En attendant un éclipse
Je resterai
À poursuivre un énigme
Au rythme des heures
À dessiner une ellipse
Je resterai
Entre le soleil et mon coeur.
—oOo—
Retropost (2006): Guess Who
Guess who
Publicado en Música. com. José Ángel García Landa
Vagando vagueando me he acercado por la FNAC y me he mercado este disco de Nancy Wilson que ahora me escucho.
Guess who I didn't see today...
Ghost of yesterday
Stalking 'round my room
All night long you stay
Walk around profound gloom
When the darkness falls
When I've gone to bed
Weirdly come your calls
Mournfully, scornfully dead
Folly of a love I strangled
Pulsing heart I thought was gone
Gives no peace
Will not cease
Prowling 'round till dawn
Ghost of yesterday
Every night you're here
Whispering away
Might have been, might have been, oh, my dear
Foolish heart must pay
Ghost of yesterday
Yesterday
Stalking 'round my room
All night long you stay
Walk around profound gloom
When the darkness falls
When I've gone to bed
Weirdly come your calls
Mournfully, scornfully dead
Folly of a love I strangled
Pulsing heart I thought was gone
Gives no peace
Will not cease
Prowling 'round till dawn
Ghost of yesterday
Every night you're here
Whispering away
Might have been, might have been, oh, my dear
Foolish heart must pay
Ghost of yesterday
Yesterday
(Irene Wilson / Arthur Herzog Jr.)
—oOo—