Fischer Conducts Shostakovich

It has been a fun and busy week and I capped it off with a Utah Symphony concert with my friend Angela.  It is so nice to have a friend who likes classical music as much as I do and we had an absolutely wonderful evening.  After the lovely concert featuring the music of Dmitri Shostakovich we walked to the Cheesecake Factory for dessert and met with some rowdy fans who had just come from seeing the Jazz beat the Thunder to advance to the next round in the playoffs!  So much fun!  The orchestra began with Piano Concerto No. 1 featuring Boris Giltburg on piano and Travis Peterson on trumpet.  I found this piece to be a bit mercurial because at times it was very stirring but one of the themes played by the trumpet was so mournful.  Boris Giltburg joined the orchestra once more for Piano Concerto No. 2 and this was my favorite piece of the evening.  The first movement was bold and dramatic with all of the strings playing in unison.  The second movement was almost unbearably romantic and it brought spontaneous tears to my eyes.  The third movement was very playful and lively.  I really loved this and I enjoyed Giltburg's performance because he was so energetic.  After the intermission the orchestra concluded with Symphony No 10 which was incredibly moody and atmospheric.  I especially enjoyed all of the themes played by the woodwinds throughout and I loved the almost plaintive theme played by the solo horn in the third movement.  I was also very moved by the triumphant ending!  I love the Russian composers so much and, because Shostakovich is a particular favorite of mine, I enjoyed this concert immensely!  The same program is being performed again tonight and tickets may be purchased here.  I highly recommend it! 

Note:  I've been spoiled this season with so many concerts featuring Russian composers.  My final concert of the season will feature my favorite: Rachmaninoff!

Avengers: Infinity War

Last night I saw a Thursday preview of Avengers: Infinity War with a large and rowdy crowd and to say that it is epic would be an understatement!  All of the movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe have been leading up to this point and it certainly did not disappoint.  Thanos (Josh Brolin) is on a quest to assemble all of the infinity stones so that he may destroy half of the population of the universe, believing that it will preserve resources and, thereby, ultimately preserve life.  He, along with his followers, battle against various groups of Avengers, Dr. Strange, Spider-Man, the Guardians of the Galaxy, and the people of Wakanda in order to retrieve the stones.  The stakes in this movie are real with serious consequences and there are scenes of great pathos but the humor that we have all come to love and expect is there, as well.  I particularly enjoyed the interactions between Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) and between Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.) and Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch).  I really liked Thanos as a villain because in many ways he is very sympathetic.  The battle sequences are incredible and the CGI is actually quite amazing.  In my screening there were cheers and applause as every character came on screen and there were audible gasps at some of the more poignant scenes.  I really have no words for my reaction to this movie except to say that it lived up to my expectations in every way and I suspect that I will need to see it again!

Note:  The ending...

Beirut

My Dad and I are both big fans of espionage movies so I took him to see Beirut last night.  This movie is the type of old fashioned political thriller that Hollywood doesn't seem to make any more and we both loved it!  It is 1972 and Beirut is the Paris of the Middle East.  Mason Skiles (Jon Hamm) is a U.S. diplomat living the high life in Beirut when an incident with his friend Cal Riley (Mark Pellegrino), a CIA agent, leads to a personal tragedy.  Ten years later Skiles is an alcoholic working as a labor dispute negotiator in the U.S. when he is asked by the CIA to return to Beirut, now engulfed in a civil war, to negotiate the release of Riley who has been taken hostage.  There is much unfinished business between the two men as well as uncertain loyalties within the state department set against the backdrop of unrest in the Middle East which makes this movie incredibly intense and suspenseful.  One of the reasons I love espionage movies that are done well is that you have to pay attention to the subtle clues and it is so satisfying when you figure something out.  At one point, my Dad leaned into me and asked, "You know where this is going, right?"  I answered him and then we gave each other knowing looks when my prediction proved accurate!  I still didn't know how the events would ultimately be resolved so I found it to be very compelling until the final scene.  Hamm gives a great performance, one of his best to date, as a man who is forced to confront his past and Rosamund Pike does a nice job as a CIA officer who decides to trust him.  This movie doesn't do anything new for the genre but I found it to be very entertaining and it made for a fun night out with my Dad (we discussed it the whole drive home).

The Music Man at HCT

Last night I went to Hale Theatre's production of The Music Man and I had a huge smile on my face during the entire show because it is just so delightful! There is something so comforting about the old favorites and I eagerly anticipated every familiar song: "Ya Got Trouble, " "Goodnight My Someone," "Seventy-Six Trombones," "Marian, the Librarian," "The Wells Fargo Wagon," "Gary, Indiana," and "'Till There Was You." I tried very hard not to sing along but the adorable older gentleman sitting next to me told me he didn't mind if I did! Hale does a fantastic job of staging this show to make it interesting and fresh. I especially loved the choreography in "Seventy-Six Trombones," "Marian, the Librarian," and "Shipoopi."  This new stage may be bigger and more technologically advanced than the old one in West Valley but it still impresses me what the choreographers can do with such a large cast in a relatively small space. The sets are absolutely amazing! The train in "Rock Island," the multi-level library with wrought iron spiral staircases in "Marian, the Librarian," and the foot bridge in "'Till There Was You" were my favorites. Addison Welch is incredibly charismatic as Professor Harold Hill and Rachel Woodward Hansen has a beautiful voice as Marian Paroo. There are a lot of funny characters in this show and I thought they were very well cast especially Janae Gibbs Cottam as Mrs. Paroo, Brandon Suisse as Mayor Shinn ("Not one poop out of you madame!"),  and Sharon Lynn Kennison as Eulalie MacKecknie Shinn ("One Grecian Urn.").  Ryder Mason and Christine Bernards are adorable as Winthrop and Amaryllis, respectively.  Finally, the barbershop quartet (Luke Shepherd, Juston Lebaron, Jason Baldwin, and Ricky Parkinson) is fantastic! If you are a fan of the classic musicals, then this will definitely put a smile on your face like it did me.  It runs at the Mountain America Performing Arts Centre until June 9 (tickets may be purchased here).

You Were Never Really Here

You Were Never Really Here was the very first film that I saw at Sundance this year and it has haunted me ever since.  I knew that I would need to see it again. Luckily it is being screened by the Salt Lake Film Society and I got to see it yesterday afternoon.  Joe (Joaquin Phoenix) is a brutal and ruthless hit man, whose weapon of choice is a hammer.  He is clearly tormented, attempting suicide multiple times, and through flashbacks we learn that he is suffering from PTSD from a violent childhood at the hands of an abusive father, from combat duty in Iraq, and as a former FBI agent.  He is hired to rescue the daughter of a New York State Senator who has become the victim of a sex trafficking ring.  The operation to rescue the girl goes wrong and everyone involved in her rescue, except Joe who manages to escape, is brutally murdered which prompts him to seek revenge.  What I loved about this film is that a tragically flawed character is ultimately redeemed by the very person he sets out to save.  This is a theme that really resonated with me because, while this film is dark and gritty, it does end on a optimistic note.  Joaquin Phoenix gives a brilliant central performance.  There is not a lot of exposition or dialogue but you can instantly feel Joe's pain and desperation.  One scene, in particular, is incredibly powerful when he realizes that the girl he has been hoping to save will now be as damaged as he is and I was almost in tears as she attempts to comfort him.  Jonny Greenwood's pulse-pounding score adds to the almost unbearable tension and Lynne Ramsay's script is a powerful exploration of suffering.  It is beautiful in its brutality.  It is profound in its simplicity.  It is a masterpiece!