Critics vs Bloggers

An interesting piece on Radio Scotland Cafe programme this evening about who to trust when reading a review of a performance?     The professional critic, or the bloggers?

It is a good question.    I do read what critics say, and some I trust more than others.   It is a long-term relationship that one builds:   if you find one critic tending to agree with you over time, what they say can be very useful.    But not always, and I do find myself at odds with the general opinion at times - usually when all the professionals have given something 5 stars.

I do tend to find that the music critics can be especially hard on performances.   It is more complicated than theatre, and the critics do get down to technicalities fairly readily.     If I am giving my thoughts on music, I just tend to concentrate whether it was enjoyable, and if the rest of the audience had a good time.

So:  critics or bloggers?    I suppose both together give a good guide.   It is a bit like using Trip Advisor to find out about what a place is really like.    Although critics will win hands down on experience, perhaps bloggers have it on authenticity.    It’s a close call.

Carol Hogel - A Note of Thanks.

Carol Hogel is an American who has been living in Scotland for the past 25 years.    She has been a major sponsor of the arts in Scotland and the UK - to the tune of £20 million through the Dunard Fund which she set up.

She has contributed to the RSNO, most UK opera companies, the National Galleries of Scotland, Scottish Chamber Orchestra and lots more.    It is a big list, and adds up to a lot of money.

For Scotland, through her generosity, she has allowed us to be genuinely ambitious with artistic projects, like the building of the Playfair project at the National Gallery, like bringing Peter Stein’s Parsifal to Edinburgh, and so much more.      She helped rescue the Edinburgh International Festival from a financial black hole.   In short, she has made a major contribution to the UK arts, particularly in Scotland.

But now, faced with what she sees as a tax for bringing her wealth to the UK - the Brown/Darling  non dom tax of £30,000 pa, she has announced that she is moving to California, where philanthropists giving to the arts are appreciated.

Shamingly, it was not the tax itself which tipped the balance, but a chippy article written by Robert McNeil in The Scotsman which concluded by saying “The rich are leaving, and good ruddy riddance to them”.   Hogel wrote a letter back accusing McNeil of “taking ethnic cleansing to a whole new level” and calling him “destructive, spiteful and philistine”.    

A civilised country is measured in part by its artistic and cultural status and aspirations.     A vibrant arts sector contributes to the high quality of life we enjoy in Scotland.    It encourages others to visit, and it provides many jobs.

So, this is to say thank you so much to Carol Hogel for her generous contributions.      I am so sad it had to end like this.     NcNeil and The Scotsman should be hanging their heads in shame.

Arts Round-Up 2007

24 Plays seen - I can’t manage a favourite, so pick of the best:   Black Watch, All My Sons, Volpone, Wonderful World of Dissocia, Rhinoceros.      We have some really good theatre in Scotland.

9 Films:  best ones:   Lives of Others, Tell No-one, The Counterfeiters, Babel, Atonement.

15 Concerts:  Scottish Ensemble lunchtime concert with Toby Spence in Glasgow takes the prize, although RSNO Mahler 3 was good.

7 Operas:  Barber of Seville at Scottish Opera was great fun, but Albert Herring and Don Giovanni at RSAMD every bit as enjoyable.

3 major art exhibitions:  enjoyed Millais at the Tate, and more recently, the Joan Eardley in Edinburgh.    Also saw a huge amount of art in Paris this summer.

But I think my event of the year is one which straddles categories and was the wonderful production of The Soldier’s Tale seen recently in Glasgow.     Runner up was Rhinoceros at the Royal Court.

Looking forward to an equally interesting 2008.

  

Save the Fish - Royal Museum of Scotland

Anyone who has been to the Royal Museum in Edinburgh in Chambers Street - that’s the old museum, will remember the spectacular building.    If you were taken there as a wee child, you will remember the two floor-level fish tanks immediately in front of you as you enter the building.    You will probably remember the stuffed animals and the push-button working models of various bits of engineering, but the fish you pass on your way in, and on your way out.   You may have even added a penny or two to their pools.

Everyone looks at them.    I actually spent time watching people there last week, and it was amazing how many stopped to look at the fish.   Parents being guided by young children, older children crowding to point at the bigger more active fish, and people simply sitting down and passing the time of day - the fish provide much amusement and a focus to the ground floor.

The museum is closing in the spring for a massive refurbishment, and sadly, the fish are not to be part of the the new look museum when it reopens.

Which is a shame, I think.   

Millais

We went to the excellent Millais exhibition at Tate Britain.   It was Saturday morning, and really pretty busy to begin with, but crowds thinned out as we went on.   I did find taking the big print pamphlet for each room was very useful, as it saved having to get close enough to the wall read the captions for each picture.

The famous pictures were there, like Bubbles, which was used for Pear’s Soap, and Ophelia.    But the breadth and depth of his work was amazing, and the detail in some paintings breathtaking.     I learnt a lot, including that Millais was instrumental in setting up the Portrait Gallery in London, and he persuaded Henry Tate (of Tate and Lyall fame) to found the Tate Gallery.

I also had not appreciated the Scottish connection.   Millais used to rent property round Dunkeld every autumn and paint, as well as hunt and shoot.    The final room of the exhibition was of Perthshire landscapes - mostly round Dunkeld.   

The final picture of the show is called “Blow Blow Thou Winter Wind” - it is a bleak wintry scene near Perth.   In the foreground is a woman sitting on the ground cradling her baby wrapped against the cold.    Her bundle of clothes is beside her.     In the background, a man is walking away into the sleet, flat cap turned against the wind:   he has abandoned them.   In the middle, between the man and the woman, a collie dog points its muzzle to the sky and howls.    The rest of the quotation, which comes from “As You Like It” is  “Thou art not so unkind as man’s ingratitude”.   It was one of my favourite paintings there, and is on loan from Auckland.

The Naked Portrait

We went round The Naked Portrait exhibition at the Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh today.    Almost 200 portraits of people in the nude - paintings, photographs and so on.     And all shapes, sizes and ages were on display.

It was quite a challenging exhibition.    We are presented with endless sexualised images of scantily clad beautiful people everywhere.   Advertising, magazines, newspapers and so on.   So to appreciate  all sorts of people in their natural state required a rather different mindset.

Most portraits were of people the artists knew really well;   themselves,  their partners or close relatives.   There were some others:  Peter Howson’s portrait of Madonna was there,  the iconic photo of Christine Keeler in that black chair by Lewis Morley and David Bailey’s portrait of Jane Birkin.

There was a lot to enjoy in this.    However, all in all, in the end I think I prefer people with their clothes on.   And I did ask myself as I went round how I would feel trying to paint a nude.   I can’t draw/paint for toffee, but I imagine  the outline would be OK, but the details would be …. difficult.   How on earth do you go about painting all the detail on those hairy bits?

Pixar - 20 Years of Animation

Caught this exhibition at the Chamber Street Museum on Sunday.    I think that we are now supposed to call it the National Museums of Scotland - have they ditched the Royal title?

The exhibition was pretty crowded, and featured lots of Pixar artwork, with explanations about how characters are developed, and stories storyboarded.    I can’t say I’ve seen many Pixar films:  I did not like Toy Story, but liked The Incredibles, and might have enjoyed this more if I had seen more of the films.   I was hoping to learn much more about the actual process of animation - how the characters are made to move, how the voices are chosen, how the backgrounds work and so on.

Pixar clearly have moved animation on to a different plane, but I wanted to know more.    I am a big fan of animation, particularly films that address serious subjects, as you can often say things there that would be simply impossible  using natural photography.     Clever though Pixar are, I think I actually prefer the attractiveness and childlike quality of simpler techniques.

Best thing in the exhibition was the Toy Story Zoetrope - a revolving sort of merry-go-round of animated characters which go faster and faster until they are a blurry whirl.   A strobe light is then turned on and the whole thing animates.   It was great to just stand and hear the gasps of astonishment from the crowd.

Probably worth it if you are a Pixar fan.   If you want more, this is a bit disappointing.

Edinburgh Festival

Edinburgh is Festival city for a month every summer.   People travel from all over the world to put on, or see shows and take in the unique atmosphere.

Underneath the surface though, the duck’s feet are paddling like mad to keep the show running.    Losing a long-time director Brian McMaster will be a blow, especially when he is off with his connections and expertese to advise on the new Manchester International Festival which launches on 2007.    

There are ongoing squabbles between the various festivals and Edinburgh Council over amount of financial support.     The Fringe Festival and the International Edinburgh Festival chose to run in different though overlapping three week slots a few years ago.    There are ongoing concerns about the cost of bringing shows to the Fringe - now so expensive that genuine new and innovative shows are being stifled in favour of the well proven money spinners, or loss-leaders as previews for London.

It is high time a few heads came together to ensure that all involved with the planning begin working better as a team.    They don’t need to reinvent the wheel, but they need to make subtle year on year changes to ensure that Edinburgh retains the cutting edge as THE must-do Festival Experience.     And that’s ALL the Festivals.

Ron Mueck

Great news! - the National Galleries of Scotland have extended the Ron Mueck exhibition for a week until 8th October.    It is even open until midnight on the 7th.   

This is an exhibition of huge oversized sculptures and is really unusual.    I thought that I was going to miss it, but will be able to see it now.