NEW YORK PERFORMING
ARTS, FILM AND OPERA by maximillien
de lafayette
A Tribute to
Elem Klimov and Larisa Shepitko: The Ascent.
Friday May 26, 2006. Walter Reade Theater at 4:00Pm
Photos from L to R: Elem Klimov, Larisa Shepitko.
If Larisa Shepitko had made only The Ascent , her name would still be accorded a place of honor in annals of contemporary cinema. A work of extraordinary emotional power and spiritual resonance, the film is set in snow-covered Byelorussian landscapes during the darkest days of WWII. Two soldiers are separated from their platoon and captured by the Germans, who take them off to a prison camp. Thus begins two parallel yet connected journeys, as each man struggles with the meaning and value of one’s own life when set against ideas of patriotism or simply commitment to others. Shepitko frames the film’s provocative philosophical debates within gripping dramatic sequences, giving even the most seemingly abstract moral or ethical arguments a startling immediacy. The Ascent was award the Golden Bear for Best Film at the 1977 Berlin Film Festival, along with the International Critics’ Prize and an award from the Catholic Film Office — a rare “triple crown” that promoted Shepitko to the front ranks of international cinema; tragically, she was killed in a car accident while working on her next film just months later.
THE
LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA. At Vivian
Beaumont Theater, at 8:00PM.
Photo: Cynthia Phelps
THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA takes place in Florence, Italy, in the summer of 1953. A surprisingly innocent and beautiful young tourist loses her hat in a sudden gust of wind. It lands at the feet of a handsome young Florentine. They fall in love. As their relationship develops, the girl's mother must reveal the truth that will surely test that love. This new musical is by Adam Guettel and Craig Lucas, and is directed by Bartlett Sher.
Maazel Conducts Mahler. Lorin Maazel conducts Mahler's First Symphony, and the Philharmonic's own Cynthia Phelps performs Berlioz's Harold in Italy. Peter Lieberson’s The World in Flower, originally scheduled to be premiered at these performances, is not complete at this time. Its premiere has been postponed until a future season. The estimated concert duration is 2 hours and 15 minutes. There will be no late seating break during the first half of this performance. Based on current availability, $10 Student Rush tickets are now available for the May 25-27 concerts online and will also be available beginning at 10am on the day of the performance, in person at the Avery Fisher Hall Box Office. Students may purchase up to two tickets per ID. For more information call the New York Philharmonic Customer Relations Department at (212) 875-5656. Seating is at the discretion of the New York Philharmonic, and is subject to availability. All Student Rush tickets must be picked up no later than 30 minutes prior to the scheduled performance at the Avery Fisher Hall Box Office. About the music: HECTOR BERLIOZ (1803-1869), Harold en Italie (1856-58). After Berlioz returned from his “year abroad” in Italy, Paganini asked him for a work to display his Stradivarius viola. The composer obliged, saying: “I wanted to make the viola a kind of melancholy dreamer in the manner of Byron’s Childe Harold. Hence the title.” But Paganini rejected it. “That’s not it at all! I am silent too long. I must be playing the whole time.” His protestations notwithstanding, Harold is colorful and imaginative, from tolling bells in “March of the Pilgrims” to frenzied “Orgy of the Brigands.” GUSTAV MAHLER (1860-1911), Symphony No. 1, “Titan” (1888). A heart-stopping masterpiece! Mahler dazzlingly recounts a hero’s life in his “Titan” symphony. Instructing the orchestra to play the first movement “like a sound of nature,” the composer has created a remarkable work—one so big, that it needs an augmented Philharmonic. And hang on, when seven horns—their bells turned up—proclaim the breathtaking finale. CONTINUES ON P53