BOHEMIAN CONTESSA: TOO BEAUTIFUL FOR WORDS--Gypsy Strings

THE TINY BUBBLES ARE BETTER THAN THE BIG ONES

Opening a new blog seems rather like opening a bottle of champagne. It makes one feel fizzy. I never imagined myself writing a blog--the word itself gives me shivers--but I find myself in concert with those who find contemporary life somewhat lacking in originality and imagination--the sheer quotidienne bother of progress, the multi-tasking (another shivery word), the chillingly rapid encroachment on our privacy.

Let's celebrate the past! Let's celebrate the personalities, the design and and the fashion and intrigues of 20th century Paris, Venice, London and Berlin--and let's not stop there--let's go further backwards and revisit the France of Louis XIV, XV and XVI--and their extraordinary influence on the way we live and decorate today. Just ponder this for a few moments, and then think about taking a short trip with Casanova through the streets of 18th century Venice. All in good time, mes petits choux.

I've always been enthralled with the spirits of lost places, the decoration, the music, literature, couture and wit
(How Dorothy Parker would have skewered Political Correctness!). Of course it all begins with those larger than life--or sometimes smaller than life-- personalities who wait and languish in the past unless we summon them. Today we are inundated with copies of those originals, copies which are, with notable exceptions, unremarkable. Where are Cecil Beaton and Pauline de Rothschild, may I ask, when we need them? Where is the new Diaghelev or Nijinsky? Vreeland? And where the hell is Josephine Baker?I just give thanks for Michael Feinstein.

We shall never live in the Paris of the 1920's. We shall never gaze into the eyes of our lover in a cafe in Montmartre as wild new creative forces are unleashed around us. Picasso will not sketch our head on the back of a napkin as he did my godmother's, nor will we stop by for tea with Madeleine Castaing. And believe me, there are no White Russian Princes driving taxis--at least in New York.

And England! It appears that our chances have slipped away to be a Vionnet-robed or Savile Row dressed guest at an English country house weekend, during which someone much like Hercule Poiret will arrive at the last moment to solve the murder of our host and save us from the gallows! Sigh. All gone now. But not in our hearts and imaginations.

Allora--No more sad cellos. Times are hard now. We must bang on. I call not for latte, but for splits of Veuve Clicquot or Billecart-Saumon! (Much better to have a few sips of the real thing than lots of plonk). Slip into your kimono or dressing gown and assume a languorous position on your lit de repos (or Mies' leather lounge) and let's see where we go from here.

Cheers!

Amanda

June 12, 2009

TOO BEAUTIFUL FOR WORDS--Gypsy Strings

I emerged from the haze of studying something like "Boggle Your Friends With Your Command of Italian," when I realized that I had become completely enraptured by the gypsy violin music that was playing. The piece was "Bulgarian Lament" from Gypsy Strings, Adam Summerhayes and Bulgarian violinist Emil Chakarov, (The London Concertante, Chandos 2008). (Perhaps I should be contemplating studying Bulgarian--or at the least, learning to dance like a gypsy) Truly a haunting and sensual work.

I went to Amazon.com to hear some selections from the album and they are without doubt absolutely luscioius--something to contemplate adding to your collection. Would I trust an almost perfect stranger to recommend a CD to me? I don't know--perhaps it depends on whether it was music that I already enjoyed. Why don't you click on over and listen to a few samples--it's free.

Here are some words of praise by Glyn Pursglove of MusicWeb International:

More than once in the last couple of years I have had the good fortune to attend performances by the extraordinary band that trades under the name of ‘Zum’, a band which fuses Eastern European gypsy music with the Argentinian tango, elements from jazz and much else (salsa, klezmer, Irish fiddle music – you name it!). A leading spirit in that band (make sure that you get to a performance if you possibly can) is violinist Adam Summerhayes. Summerhayes is an accomplished classical violinist and on this present recording he is joined by Bulgarian Emil Chalakov, another classically trained violinist with a passion for gypsy fiddling. One of Summerhayes’s several musical hats is worn as leader of the London Concertante, and it is the twelve strings of that fine chamber orchestra which support thtwo soloists in this compelling and entertaining selection of thirteen numbers . . .

. . . This is a CD to raise the spirits, full of energy and commitment, richly expressive and inventive, but rooted in age-old traditions, traditions which Summerhayes re-presents in a fashion that is both respectful and original. Whether you already love the gipsy music of Bulgaria and Romania and are happy to see it reinterpreted in a distinctive and accomplished fashion in which the players are true to themselves as well as to their sources; or whether you value fine violin playing whatever the musical genre; either way this is a CD sure to give you lots of pleasure.