Dear Art and All;
I will answer yourquestion with an anecdote, if I may :
In September, here in Paris, in search of both authenticity
and the exotic, I underwent a sublime « dépaysement » when I went to
see the Korean national theatre production of "Le Jeu du Kwi-Jok ou
Le Bourgeois gentilhomme" in Korean. http://www.opera-comique.com/
spectacles.swf
The Baroque ballet, was a beautiful amalgam of oriental and western
Baroque,
with lightning speed, curves and arabesques : the final « ballet turc
», the Koreans
performed, was nothing other than outstanding.
In contrast, these "dancers" shown on YouTube are reduced to nodding
wooden dolls on springs
(but to be fair, it is not always possible to judge a stage
performance from a small reduced size video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crgelhKxz34&eurl
There were weaknesses in the Kwi Jok, but certainly not in the
ballet, and not in the acting.
As a phonetician I was particularly struck by the Korean, principle
actor, Lee Sang-Jiks
performance of Molières exercise in phonetics, which is probably
familiar
to you in French. The vocalizations in Korean were both unbelievably
discordant,
but astoundingly musical, reminding me of my favourite contemporary
Baroque opera, Peter Maxwell-Davies « Eight Songs for a Mad King ».
I am very glad to have seen and heard this twice here in Paris.
(seeing this opera is in deed as essential as hearing it.)
http://www.maxopus.com/works/8songs.htm,
Fasten your straight-jackets before you listen, if you haven't heard
it before!
The Kwi-Jok performance of the 'Bourgeois Gentilhomme' included the
music of Lully played on authentic historical instruments. However
wait for it
these were authentic ancient Korean instruments!
I can think of no better and more Baroque fashion of raising the
question: what is authenticity?
This oriental-French fusion may even make the Sting-Dowland
Pop-Renaissance cultural interplay seem a little meek.
Needles to say, the theatre was not full
Regards
Anthony
Le 4 déc. 06 à 22:04, Arto Wikla a écrit :
>
> Dear lutenists,
>
> I do not want to set light to make a fight, but I would like to make
> an artistic, aesthetic poll. Everybody is right and everybody is
> wrong,
> as always in aesthetic questions.
>
> So how would you set the aesthetic quality of the (parts) of
> Bourgeois Gentilhomme setup by Jean Marie Bigard, pointed us by
> Roman:
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crgelhKxz34&eurl
>
> Let the scale be: 1=horrible, 2=..., ..., 5=great.
>
> You can answer to the list or privately to me - I promise to keep
> the secret! In a week or so I'll publish the results.
>
> I already have one 5 (me) and one 1. To me those dances and the music
> (with the drumming) represents modern Frech style of making these
> things. But in very much in the same spirit Lully and Moliere made
> their play in their days. To me that really works!
>
> If you write some explanations in private, my possible quotes will
> also be anonymous. But then to the poll: Please vote! :-)
>
> All the best,
>
> Arto
>
>
>
> To get on or off this list see list information at
> http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
