After a fairly lazy Saturday morning, I made the toss up between the Tate Britain at Millbank and the Tate Modern at Bankside (which oddly enough is on the opposite side of the river to the Bank of England.) The fates decided in the coin throw that I would journey to the Tate Modern. This however turned out not to be quite the experience I was hoping for.
I was looking forward to seeing the Frida Kahlo exhibition, but decided not to spend £10 of my hard earned money on it and the queue was massive.
Apart from a couple of pieces and a few artists I had heard of, it was generally rubbish by people who could be anybody as far as I am concerned. There was a pretty cool Jackson Pollock,
a passable Damien Hirst
and a nice video project of rotting fruit by someone I can't remember.
After Army on Sunday, I went with some other people from the corps to the Royal Albert Hall, where Wynton Marsalis was playing his newest commission, All Rise, with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra and the London Adventist Chorale, all conducted by Kurt Masur. Principally I was disappointed because I was expecting Blue to be performing.
The other reason that I was a bit disappointed was because it was weird. The fusion between jazz and classical music is one that Wynton Marsalis himself has mastered, having a successful career in both markets, but didn't quite work in this piece.
The programme notes state that the work is in 12 movements, mirroring the 12 bar blues. I found that to be a few to many, and could have coped better with 8 movements. While the orchestral parts were excellently written, they didn't quite mix with the jazz sections. While the classical influences were noticeable, such as Stravinsky in faster sections and Gustav Mahler in the slower sections, it seemed to me that Marsalis, like the rest of his family, suits the jazz scene better.
Thankfully the jazz sections werephenomenall, taking in music from across the spectrum, encompassing New Orleans jazz, ragtime, salsa and samba. This, along with the encore of Embraceable You in Marsalis' inimitable style proved to be the saving grace of what would otherwise be an uninspiring evening.
Timmy "Glad I only paid £4 for the ticket" Magic
2 comments:
Timmy, you said "... Tate Modern at Bankside (which oddly enough is on the opposite side of the river to the Bank of England.) ... "
There's a good reason for Tate Modern to be at Bankside - it is in the old Bankside power station - bank as in river bank - and has absolutely nothing to do with the Bank of England.
I'd have thought a bright lad like you would have known that.
My bad! I would have known that had I not arrived too late for the guided architechtural tour!
I figured the double entendre would be something to do with the river, rather than money, but I chanced it anyway!
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