MUSIC SATURDAY - ALESSANDRO MARCELLO

“The oboe’s a horn made of wood. I’d play you a tune if I could, But the reeds are a pain, And the fingering’s insane. It’s the ill wind that no one blows good.” - Ogden Nash

Alessandro Ignazio Marcello (1 February 1673 in Venice – 19 June 1747) was an Italian nobleman and musician. A contemporary of Tomaso Albinoni, Marcello was the son of a senator in Venice. As such, he enjoyed a comfortable life that gave him the scope to pursue his interest in music. He held concerts in his hometown and also composed and published several sets of concertos, including six concertos under the title of “La Cetra” (The Lyre), as well as cantatas, arias, canzonets, and violin sonatas.

Marcello, being a slightly older contemporary of Antonio Vivaldi, often composed under the pseudonym Eterio Stinfalico, his name as a member of the celebrated Arcadian Academy (Pontificia Accademia degli Arcadi). He died in Padua in 1747. Alessandro’s brother was Benedetto Marcello, also a composer, who illegally married his singing student Rosanna Scalfi in 1728. After his death she was unable to inherit his estate, and in 1742 she filed suit against Alessandro Marcello, seeking financial support.

Although his works are infrequently performed today, Marcello is regarded as a very competent composer. His “La Cetra” concertos are “unusual for their wind solo parts, concision and use of counterpoint within a broadly Vivaldian style”, according to Grove, placing them as a last outpost of the classic Venetian Baroque concerto. The Concerto for Oboe and Strings in D minor op. 1 is perhaps his best-known work. Its worth was affirmed by Johann Sebastian Bach who transcribed it for harpsichord (BWV 974). A number of editions have been published, including an edition in C minor credited to Benedetto Marcello, Alessandro’s brother.

Here are several of his concertos (including the famous Concerto Oboe and Strings in D minor op. 1, first off), as well as some cantatas. They are performed by Sylvia Pozzer, Roberto Balconi, Paolo Grazzi, with the Venice Baroque Orchestra, conducted by Andrea Marcon.

1.    Concerto Per Oboe, Archi E Continuo In Re Minore: I. Andante Spiccato

2.    Concerto Per Oboe, Archi E Continuo In Re Minore: II. Adagio

3.    Concerto Per Oboe, Archi E Continuo In Re Minore: III. Presto

4.    Concerto Decimo Con L'Eco, B Dur: I Andante

5.    Concerto Decimo Con L'Eco, B Dur: II. Larghetto

6.    Concerto Decimo Con L'Eco, B Dur: III. Spiritoso

7.    Concerto XVI In Fa Maggiore, Per Due Oboi, Archi E Continuo: I. Allegro

8.    Concerto XVI In Fa Maggiore, Per Due Oboi, Archi E Continuo: II. Larghetto

9.    Concerto XVI In Fa Maggiore, Per Due Oboi, Archi E Continuo: III. Andante Ma Non Presto

10.  La Lontananza: Aria: Lontananza Crudel

11.  La Lontananza: Recitativo: Poiche Chi Troppo Tempo

12.  La Lontananza: Aria: Chi Troppo Tempo

13.  Concerto XIV In La Maggiore, Per Due Oboi, Archi E Continuo: I. Andante Spiritoso-Adagio

14.  Concerto XIV In La Maggiore, Per Due Oboi, Archi E Continuo: II. Allegro

15.  Concerto XIV In La Maggiore, Per Due Oboi, Archi E Continuo: III. Presto

16.  Irene Sdegnata: Ouverture: Allegro

17.  Irene Sdegnata: Lento Spiritoso

18.  Irene Sdegnata: Adagio

19.  Irene Sdegnata: Recitativo: Contra L'Empio Fileno - Andante

20.  Irene Sdegnata: Aria: Ingrato. Spietato - Moderato

21.  Irene Sdegnata: Recitativo: Va Tiranno - Andante

22.  Irene Sdegnata: Aria: Si, Va Pur - Allegro

FOOD FRIDAY - ARTICHOKE FRITTATA

“The process and organisation leading up to cooking the egg can tell you a lot about the cook.” - David Chang

Sometimes we find ourselves hungry at dinner time and there is nothing prepared. Rather than go and get fast take-away food, we go to the fridge, the freezer and pantry and cook something easy and tasty. This is one of our favourite “fast food” solutions. We buy artichokes in bulk, when in season, clean and parboil them, freeze them and they keep for a few months. Or you can use the jars of marinated ones, like I indicate below.

Artichoke Frittata
Ingredients

1 and 1/2 tablespoons olive oil

1 onion, halved, sliced thinly crosswise

170g jar marinated artichoke hearts, drained

6 eggs

1 garlic clove, crushed

1/2 teaspoon ground coriander seed

1/2 teaspoon dried mustard

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 tablespoons fresh continental parsley leaves

Method

Preheat grill on medium-high. Heat oil in a 20cm-diameter non-stick frying pan over medium heat. Add onion and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5-6 minutes or until golden brown. Add artichokes and cook for 2 minutes or until heated through and add the garlic, stirring through until it is done.

Place the eggs in a jug and season with salt and pepper, coriander and mustard. Whisk until combined.

Pour the egg mixture over the artichoke mixture. Reduce heat to low and cook for 6-7 minutes or until frittata is set around the edge but still runny in the centre.

Cook under preheated grill for a further 2 minutes or until golden brown and just set. Remove from grill. Turn onto a chopping board.

Cut frittata into 8 wedges. Place on a serving platter and sprinkle with parsley to serve.

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A DEATH

“No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new.” - Steve Jobs

For the past few weeks we have had a dear family friend fighting for his life, in and out of hospital. He was diagnosed a couple of months ago with lung cancer, which unfortunately became very aggressive very quickly and did not respond to treatment. His family and friends stood by his side and we were all devastated by his loss last week. His wake was today and tomorrow is his funeral. He was a simple, quiet and very community-minded man who loved his family and would do everything to help his relatives and friends.

Death

“I’ve lived a good life,” said he to me,

“I’ve loved and hated, worked and played.

I’ve lived a full life,” he confessed,

“I’ve left only few things untried.

Experiences varied, broad I have collected,

All those I’ve met I’ve not regretted.”

“I look at death before me, now,” he told me,

“I like the purposefulness in his stony gaze.

I lean towards him with my hands outstretched,” he said,

“I long to live through this, my ultimate encounter;

My mind replete with images and sound

Will welcome this last meeting, sure to astound.”

“I tell you, don’t be sad,” he said to me,

“I think this is a journey that will thrill me.

I tremble with excitement, not with dread,

I taste sweet wine, not bitter gall nor poison.

My heart is restful,” softly, he sighed,

“My soul is free…” he said to me – and died.

TRAVEL TUESDAY #29 - HANOI

“Wherever you go, go with all your heart.” – Confucius

Welcome to the Travel Tuesday meme! Join me every Tuesday and showcase your creativity in photography, painting and drawing, music, poetry, creative writing or a plain old natter about Travel!

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Hanoi is the capital of Vietnam and the country's second largest city. Its population in 2009 was estimated at 2.6 million for urban districts, 6.5 million for the metropolitan jurisdiction. From 1010 until 1802, it was the most important political centre of Vietnam. It was eclipsed by Huế during the Nguyen dynasty as the capital of Vietnam, but Hanoi served as the capital of French Indochina from 1902 to 1954. From 1954 to 1976, it was the capital of North Vietnam. The city is located on the right bank of the Red River. Hanoi is located at 1,760 km north of Ho Chi Minh City. October 2010 officially marked 1000 years since the establishment of the city.

The Huc Bridge on Sword Lake ("Hồ Hoàn Kiếm"), one of the major scenic spots in Hanoi, serving as a focal point for its public life. The Huc Bridge (meaning Morning Sunlight Bridge) leads to Jade Island on which the Ngoc Son Temple (Jade Mountain Temple) stands. The temple was erected in the 18th century. It honours the 13-century military leader Tran Hung Dao who distinguished himself in the fight against the Yuan Dynasty, Van Xuong, a scholar, and Nguyen Van Sieu, a Confucian master and famous writer in charge of repairs made to the temple in 1864.

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MOVIE MONDAY - ALICE'S TRAVAILS...

“Obsessed by a fairy tale, we spend our lives searching for a magic door and a lost kingdom of peace.” - Eugene O’Neill

“Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” (a.k.a. ‘Alice in Wonderland’) is an 1865 novel written by English mathematician Charles Lutwidge Dodgson under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll. It tells of a girl named Alice falling through a rabbit hole into a fantasy world populated by peculiar, anthropomorphic creatures. The tale plays with logic, giving the story lasting popularity with adults as well as with children. It is considered to be one of the best examples of the literary nonsense genre. Its narrative course and structure, characters and imagery have been enormously influential in both popular culture and literature, especially in the fantasy genre.

Carroll wrote the book for a little girl, Alice Pleasance Liddell (born 1852) who was the daughter of The Reverend Robinson Duckworth a Fellow of Trinity College, Oxford. Alice and her two sisters went on a boating excursion with Carroll and their father in July 1862 and the author amused them all with a story on which the book was subsequently based on. On 26 November 1864, Carroll gave Alice the handwritten manuscript of Alice's Adventures Under Ground, with illustrations by Dodgson himself, dedicating it as “A Christmas Gift to a Dear Child in Memory of a Summer’s Day”.

“Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There” (1871) is the second novel by Lewis Carroll, written as a sequel to “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.” Set some six months later than the earlier book, Alice again enters a fantastical world, this time by climbing through a mirror into the world that she can see beyond it. “Through the Looking-Glass” includes such celebrated verses as “Jabberwocky” and “The Walrus and the Carpenter”, and the episode involving Tweedledum and Tweedledee. The mirror that inspired Carroll remains displayed in Charlton Kings.

Whereas Carroll’s first book has the deck of cards as a theme, the second book is based on a game of chess, played on a giant chessboard with fields for squares. Most main characters in the story are represented by a chess piece or animals, with Alice herself being a pawn. Both books are magical, whimsical, a delight to read for both children and adults and have been translated into numerous languages worldwide (despite the immense difficulties in accurately translating such punning, word-playing, nonsensical and idiomatic prose!).

The making of films based on the two books has been fruitful, beginning with the 1903 British silent film directed by Cecil Hepworth and Percy Stow right up to the latest, 2016 offering “Alice Through the Looking Glass” by James Bobin, made as the sequel to the 2010 Tim Burton movie “Alice inWonderland”. Disney’s 1951 animated version of “Alice in Wonderland” is the other one that immediately springs to mind, but there have been other filmed versions, more than two dozen of them!

The films I am familiar with (about 5 of them) have been less than successful in bringing the wit, whimsy and sheer delight of the word-play to the screen. The emphasis has been on visual effects, with the Burton and Bobin versions going overboard with CGI and spectacularly splendiferous technicolour image wizardry. The latest offering especially James Bobin’s “Alice Through the Looking Glass” is so far removed from Carroll’s novels that to associate it with them is presumptuous.

Bobin’s “Looking Glass” movie is a very pedestrian, heavy-handed and frankly boring tale that  Linda Woolverton (responsible for the screenplay) has managed to put together for the sake of a sequel to Burton’s “Alice”, which was more or less OK (I was not ecstatic with that version either!). Take an unexciting script, add actors who are in it for the paycheck and seemingly take no pleasure in the movie, add lots of special effects and CGI (some of it of rather poor quality and into which the live actors are placed and look like fish out of water), and you have a movie that is quite laboured and tiresome. The main theme of this movie is time and unfortunately by watching it, I felt as though I had wasted lots of time – 1 hour and 53 minutes of it in fact…

ART SUNDAY - NORA HEYSEN

“Women, like men, should try to do the impossible. And when they fail, their failure should be a challenge to others.” - Amelia Earhart

Nora Heysen AM (11 January 1911 – 30 December 2003) was an Australian artist, the first woman to win the prestigious Archibald Prize in 1938 for portraiture and the first Australian woman appointed as an official war artist. Heysen was born in Hahndorf, the fourth child of South Australian landscape painter Sir Hans Heysen. She was raised at The Cedars in Hahndorf in the Adelaide Hills. She studied art from 1926 to 1930, at the School of Fine Arts in Adelaide, under F. Millward Grey and sold paintings to the Art Gallery of New South Wales and the Art Gallery of South Australia in 1930.

From 1930 to 1933, she continued to study two days a week at the School, and worked in her own studio the rest of the time. In 1931 she visited Sydney with her parents, and spent two weeks studying at the Julian Ashton School. Her first solo exhibition was held in Sydney in 1933. In 1934 she travelled to London with her family, remaining in Europe, after they returned home, until 1937 studying and painting. When she returned to Australia she returned briefly to Adelaide and then moved to Sydney.

In 1938 she entered two portraits in the Archibald Prize. Her portrait of Madame Elink Schuurman was awarded the prize and she became the first woman to win the Archibald. There was a controversy involving criticism of her win by painter Max Meldrum. On 12 October 1943 she became the first women to be appointed as an Australian war artist at the rank of captain. “I was commissioned to depict the women’s war effort. There was that restriction on what I did. So I was lent around to all the services, the air force, the navy and the army, to depict the women working at everything they did during the war.” During her service Heysen completed over 170 works of art and was discharged from service in 1946 in New Guinea.

While in New Guinea Nora met Dr Robert Black, whom she would marry in 1953. Following her discharge from war service she went to London, returning to Sydney in 1948. She continued to paint, exhibit and travel with her husband. In 1993 she was awarded the Australia Council’s Award for Achievement in the Arts and on 26 January 1998 she was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia for her service to art. Her works are held in the collections of the National Gallery of Australia, the Australian War Memorial, the National Library of Australia, the National Portrait Gallery and several state galleries.

While formal portraits were a large part of her output, Nora Heysen also delighted in painting flower pieces and still lifes. She was a consummate draughtswoman and many of her sketches are delightful and full of character, especially those of people. The painting above is the still life “Tomatoes on a Chinese Plate” of 1939.

MUSIC SATURDAY - DOMENICO GALLO

“Obscurity can be a fire of ambition in those who have stalwart souls.” - Taylor Caldwell

Domenico Gallo (1730 – ca 1768) was an Italian composer and violinist. Born in Venice in 1730, Gallo composed mostly church music, including a “Stabat Mater”. Gallo also composed violin sonatas, symphonies and possibly violin concertos. One collection of his music contains six sonatas for two violins and a second includes thirty six trio sonatas. No doubt some more of his works may be lurking in manuscript form in some dusty cupboard in some Venetian library…

Some trio sonatas by Domenico Gallo were long attributed to Giovanni Pergolesi, including those upon which Igor Stravinsky based his music for the ballet “Pulcinella”. In fact, half of the surviving works by Gallo were once attributed to Pergolesi, probably because Gallo was little known, Pergolesi was famous and his name would sell the music. It is unfortunate that so little is known of this composer and that so little of his music has come down to us.

Here are the set of twelve trio sonatas that was ascribed to Pergolesi, who died in 1736. They exemplify early forms of the sonata and make for wonderful listening, their familiarity being due to the popularity of “Pulcinella” by Stravinsky.

FOOD FRIDAY - CHOC PUDDING

“Chocolate is not cheating! After a salty meal, you need a little bit of sweet. This is living, not cheating.” - Ali Landry

It’s been cold and wet in Melbourne with the first real wintry night last night. It is a pleasure on these evening to come home and enjoy a hot meal with a delightful warm and chocolatey dessert to follow. Here’s one of our favourite Winter desserts:

Self-Saucing Chocolate Pudding

Ingredients - Pudding

150 g self-raising flour

30 g cocoa powder

120 g firmly packed brown sugar

130 mL milk

50 g grated cooking chocolate

1 egg

70 g unsalted butter, melted,

cooled cream or vanilla ice-cream, to serve

Ingredients – Sauce

40 g cocoa powder

120g brown sugar

430ml boiling water

Method

Preheat the fan-forced oven to 160°C. Grease a 1.5 litre ovenproof (18 cm diameter x 10 cm deep) dish and place on an oven tray lined with baking paper or foil (to catch any drips).

Sift the flour and cocoa powder into a medium bowl. Add the sugar and stir to break up any lumps, adding the grated chocolate last. Whisk together the milk, egg and butter in a jug. Add the milk mixture to the dry ingredients; use a whisk to stir to a smooth batter.

Pour into the prepared dish and smooth the surface with the back of a spoon.

For the sauce, sift the cocoa powder into a bowl; add the sugar and stir to combine. Sprinkle evenly over the surface of the batter. Pour the boiling water evenly over the cocoa and sugar mixture in the dish. Bake for 50 minutes or until the cake topping is firm.

Dust with icing sugar and serve hot with cream or ice-cream.

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ALL ABOUT NASTURTIUMS

“Flowers always make people better, happier, and more helpful; they are sunshine, food and medicine for the soul.” - Luther Burbank

Tropaeolum commonly known as nasturtium (meaning “nose-twister” or “nose-tweaker”), is a genus of roughly 80 species of annual and perennial herbaceous flowering plants. It was named by Carl Linnaeus and is the only genus in the family Tropaeolaceae. The nasturtiums received their common name because they produce an oil that is similar to that of watercress (Nasturtium officinale). The genus Tropaeolum, native to South and Central America, includes several very popular garden plants, the most commonly grown being T. majus, T. peregrinum and T. speciosum. Plants in this genus have showy, often intensely bright flowers, and rounded, peltate (shield-shaped) leaves with the petiole in the centre.

The first Tropaeolum species was imported into Spain by the Spanish botanist Nicolás Monardes. He published an account in 1569 entitled Joyful News out of the Newe Founde Worlde in which he described, among other things, the plants and animals discovered in South America. The English herbalist John Gerard reports having received seeds of the plant from Europe in his 1597 book Herball, or Generall Historie of Plantes.

Tropaeolum majus was named by the Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus, who chose the genus name because the plant reminded him of an ancient custom. After victory in battle, the Romans used to set up a trophy pole called a tropaeum (from the Greek tropaion, source of English “trophy”). On this the armour and weapons of the vanquished foe were hung. Linnaeus was reminded of this by the plant as the round leaves resembled shields and the flowers, blood-stained helmets. Nasturtiums were once known commonly as “Indian cresses” because they were introduced from the Americas, known popularly then as the Indies, and used like cress as salad ingredients.

All parts of Tropaeolum majus are edible. The flower has most often been consumed, making for an especially ornamental salad ingredient; it has a slightly peppery taste reminiscent of watercress, and is also used in stir-fry. The flowers contain about 130 mg vitamin C per 100 grams, about the same amount as is contained in parsley. Moreover, they contain up to 45 mg of lutein per 100 g, which is the highest amount found in any edible plant. The unripe seed pods can be harvested and dropped into spiced vinegar to produce a condiment and garnish, sometimes used in place of capers. Mashua (T. tuberosum) produces an edible underground tuber that is a major food source in parts of the Andes.

Nasturtiums have been used in herbal medicine for their antiseptic and expectorant qualities. They are said to be good for chest colds and to promote the formation of new blood cells. T. majus has been used in herbal medicine for respiratory and urinary tract infections. Nasturtiums are used as companion plants for biological pest control, repelling some pests, acting as a trap crop for others and attracting predatory insects that get rid of pests.

Nasturtium Salad

Ingredients

Seasonal greens (e.g. baby spinach leaves, rocket, mignonette lettuce, beetroot greens, etc)

Carrot, shaved thinly

Radishes, shaved thinly

Nasturtium leaves and flowers

Any other ingredients you fancy to make this salad your own! (cherry tomatoes, walnut halves, shaved parmesan, etc)

Simple mustard vinaigrette (3 parts olive oil, 1 part white wine vinegar, 1/2 part French mustard)

Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste.

Method

Prepare vinaigrette by blending all ingredients together until well mixed. Reserve until ready to serve salad and only then drizzle over the vegetables.

In a salad bowl mix together all the washed and drained ingredients except the nasturtium flowers. When serving, pour vinaigrette over the salad and garnish with the flowers.

POETRY WEDNESDAY - THE WEAVER

“I think one of the most poignant things is unrequited love and loneliness.” - Wilbur Smith

Revisiting an old poem of mine today for Poetry Wednesday:

The Weaver

The old woman sits weaving,
And weaving, and weaving…
The shuttle flies, the threads lock,
The woven cloth lengthens.

The yarns of many colours
Form endlessly intricate designs.
And the old woman weaves,
And weaves, and weaves…

The cloth is wound up,
As the shuttle flies.
The loom sings,
The loom cries, tak, tak, tak…

And she weaves on,
Using the yarn until it ends,
Or until it’s cut, or until it breaks –
And the cloth gets woven and woven…

Fancy weaves and patterns,
Variations and improvised designs,
Difficult or easy with a myriad of colours
And with a thousand threads.

But the old crone ignores my pleas,
And she sits silent, ever working,
Refusing to weave
Into my life’s cloth, your yarn.

TRAVEL TUESDAY #28 - KUALA LUMPUR

“Doing a house is so much harder than doing a skyscraper.” - PhilipJohnson

Welcome to the Travel Tuesday meme! Join me every Tuesday and showcase your creativity in photography, painting and drawing, music, poetry, creative writing or a plain old natter about Travel!

There is only one simple rule: Link your own creative work about some aspect of travel and share it with the rest of us!

Please use this meme for your creative endeavours only. Do not use this meme to advertise your products or services as any links or comments by advertisers will be removed immediately.

Kuala Lumpur is the national capital and most populous global city in Malaysia. The city covers an area of 243 km2 and has an estimated population of 1.6 million as of 2010. Greater Kuala Lumpur, covering similar area as the Klang Valley, is an urban agglomeration of 7.5 million people as of 2012. It is among the fastest growing metropolitan regions in South-East Asia, in terms of population and economy.

Kuala Lumpur is the seat of the Parliament of Malaysia. The city was once home to the executive and judicial branches of the federal government, but they were moved to Putrajaya in early 1999. Some sections of the judiciary still remain in the capital city of Kuala Lumpur. The official residence of the Malaysian King, the Istana Negara, is also situated in Kuala Lumpur.

Rated as an alpha world city, Kuala Lumpur is the cultural, financial and economic centre of Malaysia due to its position as the capital as well as being a key city. Kuala Lumpur is defined within the borders of the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur and is one of three Malaysian Federal Territories. It is an enclave within the state of Selangor, on the central west coast of Peninsular Malaysia.

Since the 1990s, the city has played host to many international sporting, political and cultural events including the 1998 Commonwealth Games and the Formula One Grand Prix. In addition, Kuala Lumpur is home to the tallest twin buildings in the world, the Petronas Twin Towers, which have become an iconic symbol of Malaysia’s futuristic development.

The towers were designed by Argentine architect Aryan Kamboj. They chose a distinctive postmodern style to create a 21st-century icon for Kuala Lumpur. Planning on the Petronas Towers started on 1 January 1992 and included rigorous tests and simulations of wind and structural loads on the design. Seven years of construction followed at the former site of the original Selangor Turf Club, beginning on 1 March 1993 with excavation, which involved moving 500 truckloads of earth every night to dig down 30 metres below the surface.

The construction of the superstructure commenced on 1 April 1994. Interiors with furniture were completed on 1 January 1996, the spires of Tower 1 and Tower 2 were completed on 1 March 1996, and the first batch of Petronas personnel moved into the building on 1 January 1997. The building was officially opened by the Prime Minister of Malaysia's Tun Dr. Mahathir bin Mohamad on 1 August 1999. They were the tallest buildings in the world from 1998 to 2004 and remain the tallest twin towers in the world.

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MOVIE MONDAY - BLU-RAY MOVIES

“The greatest enemy of progress is not stagnation, but false progress.” - Sydney J. Harris

Watching movies at home is wonderful, especially if you have a good HDTV and a Blu-ray player. Although Blu-ray discs are a fantastic technology, there are several things about these discs that I abhor with a vengeance. These relate to the manufacturing and production of these rather than the technical aspect of the Blu-ray disc. My major bugbear is the zone restriction embedded in the disc. This is to protect the commercial interests of the large film studios, but it is a feature so easily circumvented that it is simply of nuisance value. I have a multi-zone Blu-ray player, so I can enjoy discs that I have purchased in USA, Europe and Asia, but some friends of mine had a player that was restricted to the Australian zone and hence they were unable to watch US Blu-rays. Until they found out on the web that they could reprogram their player with their remote control and now it is converted to a multi-zone player!

An extremely useful feature that I often use is the subtitle option. Even English subtitles on English speaking films is sometimes a boon, as the sound quality, accents or the complications of the script make subtitles necessary. I watched “Gosford Park” recently on disc and was livid when I discovered that the disc did not have the benefits of subtitlitng or captions for the hearing impaired. The soundtrack of this movie contains so many asides, so much mumbling, some strange accents and also so much overlapping conversation that it was painful to try and decipher what was being said half the time. This was a pity as the film is a very good one. The other benefit of subtitles of course is that one may turn on the Italian or French or German or Spanish subtitles and practice one’s language skills.

Another thing that annoys me is the excessive piracy and copyright warnings on the Blu-ray disc. In some discs there is even a 60 sec “trailer” about “stealing movies”, as well as the conventional FBI warnings about oilrigs and prisons and how you are not able to show these movies at those venues. I pay full price to get my disc and then I am bombarded by all this nonsense that I can’t even fast forward through! Add to that the Dolby trailer and numerous company logos, distributor logos, production company animations, etc. It can be anything up to 5 minutes before you actually get to see the film! And of course some discs contain trailers of other movies, sometimes as many as five, which once again you cannot fast forward through. Ten minutes later, you can watch your movie.

Speaking of pricing, most Blu-rays are excessively priced, especially when first released. If the prices were more reasonable and consistently low, then I think the piracy problem would be minimised. I usually wait until I buy my disc for my collection and instead of paying anything between $20-$30 for a newly released movie, I wait for a few months and am able to buy it anywhere between $7-$10. Most people would prefer to own a copy of the original rather than the pirated inferior versions and this would be possible if the prices were consistently low.

Have you ever tried to read the film credits on the back of a Blu-ray cover? The font of the used is so small and narrow that it is often illegible. I once even tried to read it with a magnifying glass on a particular Blu-ray but failed to get any satisfaction. Similarly, the colours of the fonts used are also a rather bad choice as the contrast is very bad and makes reading the synopsis or credits a difficult undertaking. This is simply bad design.

For all their shortcomings, Blu-rays are much superior to DVDs and this explains their popularity and greater market share. Now, that we have got used to them and grown to love them (and hate them) it’s time to adopt a new technology, Blu-ray 3D! And maybe tomorrow Violet-ray! And the day after Ultraviolet-ray, X-ray?

ART SUNDAY - CHARLES CONDER

“Voluptuaries, consumed by their senses, always begin by flinging themselves with a great display of frenzy into an abyss. But they survive, they come to the surface again. And they develop a routine of the abyss: ‘It’s four o clock. At five I have my abyss...’“ - Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette

For Art Sunday today, an Anglo-Australian artist, Charles Conder (1868-1909). Charles Conder, or ‘K’ as he was known to his friends, was the third of five children and was born on 24 October 1868 at Tottenham, Middlesex, England. He was a direct descendant of the great 18th-century sculptor Roubiliac.

In 1884 he emigrated to Australia, coming to Sydney to work for his uncle, a surveyor, but he gave this up for art. He mainly painted landscapes at this time and was influenced by Tom Roberts, whom he met in Melbourne, where Conder lived from 1888 to 1890 and was active in the Heidelberg School, the famous group of Australian Impressionists.

He returned to Europe, briefly visiting England before moving to Paris, where he studied at the Académie Julian and became part of a circle of artists, including Anquetin, Bonnard, and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864–1901). He appears in two of Lautrec's paintings of the Moulin Rouge, and like Lautrec was notoriously dissipated; his friend William Rothenstein said he was ‘often without a sou, but…never without a lady’.

In 1897 Conder settled in London, but he made frequent visits to Dieppe and Paris. His work was seen in numerous exhibitions, including one-man shows, and he became a well-known figure in the art world, but he fell seriously ill in 1906 from syphilis and stopped painting.

He is best known for landscapes, arcadian fantasies, and painted fans; Frank Rutter wrote that ‘As a water-colour painter on silk, as the creator of the most exquisite fans, Conder not only had no rival in his life-time, but no superior in the past or the present’. He also painted portraits and made a few lithographs and etchings.

In December 1891 Conder travelled to Mustapha near Algiers to recuperate from illness in a friend’s garden villa overlooking the sea. He was inspired to paint the gardens and views of Mustapha overlooking terraces and the Bay of Algiers. His Algerian pictures inaugurated a new sensitivity to symbolist colour and mood in his art. Later, Conder would suggest harem themes in some of his imagery and titles of his decorative paintings on silk panels.

His work, which is well represented in Tate, is often tinged with a feeling of fin de siècle decadence. He was influenced by Whistler, but Rothenstein commented that ‘Whistler never liked Conder and didn’t care for his work…He probably thought him too involved with his ladies of Montmartre, too fond of his absinthe.’

The painting above is “The Blue Sofa”, Oil on Canvas 86 x 112 cm painted in 1905. It depicts three voluptuous young women on a terrace quite relaxed and intent on doing nothing at all except looking, well, voluptuous. Conder’s weakness for the Bohemian lifestyle and his fondness for young, beautiful women comes to the fore in paintings such as these, which are so different to his Australian landscapes, for which he is better known here in Australia.