Category Archives: Cinema, video & DVDs

Nick Hamm nixes Will Tell ham

Posted on September 13, 2024 by barczablog

My headline is not just a nod to “Sticks Nix Hick Pix”. There truly was no ham to see in the gala World Premiere of William Tell, unless we include the man who wrote and directed, namely Nick Hamm speaking … Continue reading →

Posted in Books & Literature, Cinema, video & DVDs, Reviews | Tagged Ben Kingsley, Claes Bang, Friedrich Schiller, Gioachino Rossini, Jonathan Pryce, Nick Hamm, Rosmersholm, Steven Price, The Sound of Music, William Tell | Leave a comment

Thinking about Richard Strauss’s death in 1949

Posted on August 29, 2024 by barczablog

On September 8, 1949 composer and conductor Richard Strauss died after a long productive life. I think of him as a romantic composer carrying on the stylistic traditions of Richard Wagner. In Salome and Elektra he was the modernist pushing … Continue reading →

Posted in Cinema, video & DVDs, Music and musicology, Opera, Personal ruminations & essays | Tagged Akhnaten, Ariadne auf Naxos, Bill Shookhoff, Claude Debussy, Franz Liszt, Hart House, Mathieu Marcil, Percy Grainger, Philip Glass, Richard Strauss, Richard Wagner, Salome, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Venus in Furs | Leave a comment

The lessons of James Morris’s Wotan for this Canadian

Posted on July 1, 2024 by barczablog

It’s Canada Day. I live in Toronto and am a subscriber to the Canadian Opera Company. I was remembering examples I’ve seen south of the border at the Metropolitan Opera. Yes they import talent, bringing in Italians to sing Verdi … Continue reading →

Posted in Cinema, video & DVDs, Opera | Tagged Canada Day, Canadian Opera Company, David Ferguson, James Morris, John Tomlinson, Perryn Leech, Wotan | 8 Comments

Mourning Donald Sutherland

Posted on June 22, 2024 by barczablog

I am another Canadian mourning the passing of Donald Sutherland. When celebrities pass we may sometimes feel the loss more keenly than would seem reasonable for a stranger. I never met him even though I saw many of his films. … Continue reading →

Posted in Cinema, video & DVDs, Popular music & culture | Tagged Academy Awards, Donald Sutherland, Gary Oldman, JFK, Kiefer Sutherland, Oliver Stone | Leave a comment

Spaceman is lightyears away from Operaman

Posted on April 24, 2024 by barczablog

After a friend described Spaceman as Adam Sandler’s best film I had to have a look, especially given that nobody I know takes Sandler seriously, and quite a few grimace at the mention of his name. I recently quoted CS … Continue reading →

Posted in Cinema, video & DVDs, Dance, theatre & musicals | Tagged Adam Sandler, Anger Management, Claude Debussy, comedy, criticism, CS Lewis, Eddie Murphy, Franz Kafka, improv, improvization, Jack Nicholson, Operaman, Pelleas et Melisande, Robert Altman, saturday night live, Spaceman | Leave a comment

Korngold’s other film-score

Posted on March 26, 2024 by barczablog

On April 7th the ARC Ensemble present a concert “The Viennese in Los Angeles”, a happier title than what they might choose to call it, from composers in exile. In the promotion for the event we’re told that for the … Continue reading →

Posted in Cinema, video & DVDs, Dance, theatre & musicals, Music and musicology | Tagged A Midsummernight's Dream, ARC Ensemble, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Ernest Kanitz, Felix Mendelssohn, Kevin Ahfat, Leni Riefenstahl, Max Reinhardt, Robert Müller-Hartmann, Royal Conservatory of Music, Simon Wynberg, Triumph of the Will, Warner Brothers | Leave a comment

Jerskin Fendrix scores Poor Things

Posted on March 18, 2024 by barczablog

Every year in the aftermath of the Academy Awards I’m left wondering how they do it. Yes I should be in awe of the creations: but I was speaking of the awards process. Why this film and not that one? and … Continue reading →

Posted in Cinema, video & DVDs, Music and musicology | Tagged Adventures of Baron Munchausen, Billie Eilish, Black Panther, Danny Elfman, Emma Stone, film music, Good Will Hunting, Jerskin Fendrix, John Neville, Kinds of Kindness, Leonardo DiCaprio, Ludwig Göransson, Mark Ruffalo, Martin Scorsese, Michael Kamen, Poor Things, Richard Strauss, Terry Gilliam, The Fisher King, Till Eulenspiegel, Uma Thurman, Willem Dafoe, Yorgos Lanthimos | Leave a comment

Robbie Robertson’s Killers of the Flower Moon

Posted on February 26, 2024 by barczablog

I watched the last hour of Killers of the Flower Moon today. I had heard terrible things about the violence in this film, although the same was true of Taxi Driver, another Martin Scorsese film with a brilliant orchestral score … Continue reading →

Posted in Cinema, video & DVDs, Reviews | Tagged A Midsummernight's Dream, Academy Awards, Erich Korngold, Felix Mendelssohn, John Williams, Killers of the Flower Moon, Ludwig Göransson, Martin Scorsese, Max Reinhardt, Oppenheimer, Oscars, Robbie Robertson | Leave a comment

30 years since Derek Jarman died.

Posted on February 19, 2024 by barczablog

It’s the anniversary of Derek Jarman’s passing, February 19th 1994. He was 52 years old when he passed. I was looking at Jarman’s IMDB entry, where there are a pair of pictures with him with Amy Johnson, listed on IMDB … Continue reading →

Posted in Cinema, video & DVDs, Opera, Personal ruminations & essays | Tagged Amy Johnson, Aria, David Ferry, Derek Jarman, Franz Schubert, Frederic Chopin, Leontyne Price, Pet Shop Boys | Leave a comment

Days of Happiness / Les Jours heureux #tiff23

Posted on September 12, 2023 by barczablog

It’s a pleasure and privilege to watch a film at tiff followed by a talkback, where directors and performers respond to our questions. A woman in front of me asked writer & director Chloé Robichaud the question I would have … Continue reading →

Posted in Cinema, video & DVDs, Music and musicology, Reviews | Tagged Ariel Méthot, Arnold Schönberg, Barbara Hannigan, Chloé Robichaud, Days of Happiness, Gemma New, Gustav Mahler, Keri-Lynn WIlson, Les Jours heureux, Norm Wilner, Nour Belkhiria, Pelleas und Melisande, Sophie Desmarais, Speranza Scapucci, Sylvain Marcel, Tár, TIFF, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart | Leave a comment