h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

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you are not alone
MO'B@Harrow2

you are not alone
MO'B@Harrow2

Greetings and thanks for your message, fellow space hiker.

You've probably discovered by now that music is one of the most important things in my life. Come to think of it my best friends are those who, though they may not love quite the same music books etc, are people for whom the arts in all their various forms are of vital importance. My best friend and I went to a movie recently and she said, jokingly, "time for church". For me that was at least partially true. And I mean really good movies, not Hollywood fluff. America can produce good movies, but they're mostly the independents...but that's another topic. When the house lights went down before The Merchant of Venice started I got the biggest rush adrenaline. It's been a couple of months since I've been to the theatre, but it took me by surprise.
This rambling paragraph is meant to answer your question that no, you aren't alone. On this side of the world are people for whom the greatest achievements of this mass of humanity are more than digital watches, economic rationalism and sport. (though I do like tennis

I really like tennis too, and must confess that I'm a bit of a Cinema junkie - but not for most of the American rubbish! I'm a great fan of Von Sternberg, the man who made the films of Marlene Dietrich, Orson Welles (particularly his "Othello"), and Hitchcock (have you seen the new print of Vertigo?) But my favourite film maker is probably Ingmar Bergman, for the "Magic Flute" and "Fanny and Alexander" alone. Cinema is SO fast today, that it is refreshing to be drawn into a world where time is more malleable, as with a great piece of music.
In fact, the brilliant psychologist Bruno Bettelheim devoted a chapter of his "Recollections and Reflections" to the idea that Cinemas fulfill the same function as Churches did in the past. And you don't have to listen to patronising sermons!!
I'm so glad the arts are a way of life for you. If only vegetable man knew that there was a life outside football and Lager.

Football and lager...isn't that all there is????ha ha ha But I'm slightly depressed at the moment as Pat Rafter lost at the French Open. Ah well, there's always Wimbledon. At least our cricket team is still in the World Cup, if only just.

I did see the new print of Vertigo, for the first time on the big screen, last year. Hitchcock's films are amongst my favourites, but I don't have any one film that stands above all others. I thought Rope was really good and I liked The Trouble With Harry a lot too. And of course Rear Window. And The Lady Vanishes. I have favourites for artistic reasons and favourites for sentimental reasons and favourites for no reason at all. When I saw The Matrix the other night, which did have its enjoyable elements, I realised that for me to truly enjoy a film i have to be emotionally touched by it. Characters with some semblance of a "life". Even some semblance of charm will do it for me. And a decent screen-play too. The Matrix was so much visual and some interesting ideas (which were stated over and over and over again), but when the lead female character declares her love Keanau Reeves' character you (a) don't believe there's anything in either of them capable of giving or receiving such an emotion and (b) what is the point of it in the film's context? If there was one I missed it. I'm not sad I went as I got a cheap ticket and the special effects were certainly interesting.

Think I will come back to this later today as I'm still not awake yet. Bye for now.

Its Interesting that you are a Hitchcock fan, as BBC 2 at the moment are doing a Hitchcock season. At the weekend there was a fabulous series of documentaries, with interviews with Tippi Hedren and Hitch's colleagues - he seems to have been a bit of a control freak (like Scottie in Vertigo). They also showed Rear Window, and what a remarkable work it is - the microcosm viewing the macrocosm and eventually becoming part of it, a world which on the surface is ideal and picturesque, yet fraught with human grief and neuroses.
One of the reasons Vertigo is a personal favourite is that incredible score by Bernard Hermann, who picked up the Wagnerian theme of the story so graphically, as the original French story was fashioned after Tristan und Isolde. I think it is possibly the finest soundtrack of all time, rush out and buy the recording with the Scottish National Orchestra!

I first discovered Hitchcock films through tv years ago when an incredibly camp guy called Bill Collins used to present a movie show Saturday nights, showing the Hollywood classics. He showed all the Hitchcock's he could get his hands on, except for North By Northwest, the rights for which were apparently owned by another tv station. My brother and I used to watch them religiously and although I know there were subtexts which were (and maybe still are) completely beyond me, I was always drawn into them. Interestingly, the Sydney Symphony Orchestra recently played some of the music from Vertigo in a concert I heard on the radio. I love the link that is forged between the visual and aural imagination - hearing the music can bring back images as clear as crystal long after you've forgotten plot/character details.

Speaking of movies, have you seen Tom Stoppard's Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead? Don't know why I thought of that film now...must be because I was reading bits of Hamlet the other night. My favourite lines (unfaithfully remembered) "if if be now, 'tis not to come; if it be not to come, it will be now; if it be not now, yet it will come; the readiness is all". Wonder what it says about me that those lines strike me each time I see it.

Take care, Catriona

I suppose one could paraphrase this quote with the words "the eternal now", a concept which is poignant to many theosophists, who believe that all time exists at the present moment. And if we could even comprehend this idea, are brains would most probably explode! Typical of Shakespeare to imply such dazzling complexity with simple grammar!
Do you know anything about the Elizabethan philosopher Sir Francis Bacon, Possibly England's most underrated genius? It is highly possible that he was involved with the Shakespeare plays, as were other poets of the period. The name Shakespeare, rich with alchemical symbolism, is something which Hitchcock would have called a "McGuffin", or false lead. It was in fact Bacon who completely transformed the English Language (and Stratfordians get understandably tetchy on this one) - and it saddens me that most people who are interested in language and theatre have never heard of him! Oh well.
Although I've drifted off the point, the authorship of the Shakespeare plays would have made a great Hitchcock picture as the greateset conspiracy theory in the history of cinema!!
It is absolutelty true what you say about the Vertigo score and the images of the movie, as they seem to be married to each other in a way that is closer to ballet or music theatre than conventional cinema. The most remarkable example of this is the scene where Scottie tails Madeleine, with the tryptich of Flower Stall, Church and Graveyard so powerfully underlined by the score and so mesmerically shot. There is nothing quite like this in the history of cinema; firstly the heavy, slow pace of the sequence, and secondly the dream like quality of the images and music which are more realistic than life itself, although a theatrical montage. In the hands of a lesser director it would be camp and laughable, but with Hitchcock it is beautiful, symbolic, disturbing and timeless.
Now where's theat soundtrack CD gone ? .............................

I have actually heard of Bacon, but will admit to knowing virutally nothing about him. Apart from reading a small satirical novel about this period, and damnit can't even remember the name of it now, my knowledge is lacking. The only thing I really remember about the book is the quote in the front "This book is fundamentally unsound". Amuses me. But that Hamlet quote...I had never really analysed what it was that draws me to it. It's too pat to say "living in the moment" - that's a Hollywood cliche. Though I do believe that we can only live "now". Arghh I'm not a philosophy student in any way shape or form. I'm better at emotions, and don't believe that too much dressing up our true impulses with "rationality" works for anybody. Hmm will have to think about this and get back to you when I really know what I mean.

I have to see Vertigo again I think. In really good film there is just so much to see. One of my hobby horses is the idiotic comparison people make between books and movies. It's an irrelevant comparison - books and movies are so fundamentally different, they work entirely differently for their audience. The example a teacher once gave is really it. Give different people the sentence "He punched him in the face" to read each person is going to visualise different things. One will see the fist conect with the face, the blood etc etc, while another will see the assaulted fall over. This is self evident. A film, can't do that - what's there is there. Having said that, Hitchcock like few other film makers, plays with us, and you can "read" a film of his almost the way you read a novel. Still don't think you can or should compare books and movies though. But I've rambled long enough. Gotta go work. My email is [email protected] should you ever feel the desire to just write a letter. It happens that way sometimes. Talk to you later my friend, Catriona

We filled the Purcell Room for "Carmen", which went surprisingly well!
The dialogue, which was awful, got a lot of laughs - which is no bad thing!
I start Figaro tommorow so its back to the drawing board for me. Thanks for your e-mail, I'm also at Yahoo -
I agree with you about the comparisons people make between art forms, and while this is human and inevitable, it is often futile. Everyone compares Theatre to Opera, while forgettig there are Bad Operas and Bad Plays, and always coming down in favour of the most pure, whether the quality of it is good bad or indifferent. One to ponder.

This isn't directly related to the discussion at hand but I just heard it and wanted to share it with you. An historian being interviewed this morning quoted Walt Whitman as saying "We are the instruments and music plays us." I like that.

All the finest musicians I know would wholeheartedly agree. However, there are the egomaniacs who are just there for themselves - unfortunately!

I'm afraid an awful lot of the jazz I've encountered seems to be exactly that - musical naval gazing. Only there for themselves and communicating nothing. But I do admit that I'm just not drawn to a lot of jazz.

Hi Giles - I was in the Mid Wales Chorus for Carmen a couple of years ago (Bob Edwards, bearded fruit seller).
I stayed in a tent at the back of the Dolau Inn at Mochdre and had a terrific social time!

I have been with MWO chorus every year since the start - we did a very enjoyable "Faust" this year. Michael Pearson stands out for his portrayal of the Devil, but the other principals were good as well.

Great to hear that your musical career is doing well. I am always impressed with the folks that I meet who have given up reliable secure jobs to pursue a career in music, which has to be one of the less secure careers. Still, life should be more about fun and following your dreams than worrying about corporate profits. My personal dream at the moment ( which I am actively working on) involves learning to play bass guitar.

Hope to see in Mid Wales agin sometime!

I would enjoy recommendations in music, as I have only this past year discovered classical music and have no clue whatsoever. I'd really like to know more about opera; I have a cd of Mozart's The Magic Flute, but that's it, and I have never seen anything. If you don't consider free verse treasonous to poetry (as some do) the poet Mary Oliver is marvelous. I agree that most modern music sucks (to put it bluntly). Last year in the lunchroom I told the other girls at my table that I didn't like pop music because all the songs were about (something that is called, at least) love. They vigorously protested, until I challenged them to name me one that wasn't, and they couldn't (he he he)! Really, you can only hear so many variations on "baby, I'm gonna love you till the end of time" before you start making involuntary neck-wringing motions (at least I do.) Wow, this is long-winded. Well, RSVP.
silversolstice (e-mail [email protected])

Hi - a few of my own thoughts on operas etc which might point you in some interesting directions

Before you go to an opera try to read up a little about the composer and the opera itself. (The programme will have a synopsis of the story, but programmes are usually overpriced!)

Magic Flute is a good starting point. Like all really good operas, even if it is produced badly, the music will carry the show.
It's an opera that is open to lots of different interpretations, but I think the trick is to just enjoy the story and the music.

Any of Verdi's operas - stirring music and Verdi always has some great work for the chorus to do.
Othello, La Traviata, Rigoletto, and Aida stand out in my mind.

Puccini's Turandot is a must; bear in mind that he died shortly before finishing the opera; a colleague (musically inferior) penned the end bits.
Some productions will do the completed work; some will stop at the point where the girl dies.
Believe me, the unfinished Turandot works much better than the finished one. It is so emotional - I was part of the chorus a couple of years ago for Mid Wales Operas production, and I think we all had tears at the end.

Wagner is a bit heavy; you could probably afford to leave him till later. My personal opinion is that most of his stuff could do with being trimmed.

Amateur operatic groups tend to go for lighter stuff, such as that by Lehar, Strauss, and of course Gilbert and Sullivan. All are worth a visit, and have their own appeal to different people.

If you can ever manage to go to rehearsals, grab the chance (a lot of folk don't like visitors during rehearsals - you might need to twist a few arms, but if you tell the producer/musical director of your interest, you may strike lucky)

Offer to act as usher, programme seller etc for local operas - you get to see the show free, and it may lead to other offers.


Don't close your mind to other types of music - just because you like classical stuff doesn't mean that you can't listen to other types of music. I know a lot of classical musicians who also like (for example) rock, blues, jazz. My personal likings outside classical music include Spike Jones, Ella Fitzgerald, Fairport Convention, and much more.

Have fun.