Wednesday, November 23, 2016

ÎLES-DES-BOUCHERVILLE PARK




  

                                      
  

Bucolic Beauty in November

                              
                                                             
                                                                         photos by Cindy Thomas

The Saint Lawrence River has gifted us a treasure where water and land intercept, forming a natural island basin for accessible terrain and aquatic enjoyment. Welcome to Iles-de-Boucherville National Park! A much beloved Sépaq park, it prominently nests in the middle of this great river – which together with the Great Lakes – forms a hydrographic system that penetrates 3,058 km into North America! Running northeast from Lake Ontario towards the Atlantic, where it forms the Gulf of St. Lawrence, the waterway is 10,000 years old; it formed when the glaciers began retreating, exposing a giant gash in the Earth’s crust. This geological transformation brought about its own upheaval, and today, one of its phenomena’s is this superb park of many splendors. This is the place I chose to explore on a November day.



Founded in 1984 and only a few kilometres – south of downtown Montreal, Îles-des-Boucherville is wild in feel. In fact, it is home to a great number of mammals, including  an exorbitant number of colourful birds - partridges, hawks, herons on that list - along with an awesome variety of amphibians, reptiles and fauna. The season you go, tells its own animal story.  So, I asked my talented  photographer friend, Cindy Thomas to accompany me. As I discovered, her eagle eye and camera knowledge enabled her to capture the myriad of nuances and vistas that were vividly revealed to us as we explored the variety of paths traveling some 25 kilometres amidst the park’s five islands.


November in this park proved to be a surprise for us, for despite the loss of leaves and the absence of a shining sun, the gentle blend of end-of-fall colours, the dramatic vegetation contrasts – no longer hidden by summer’s overgrowth, revealed pathways of subtle secretive nooks and groves.  

Indeed, it was a tapestry of subtle seduction unique to November – a poignant palette pleasingly positioned for photographer, cyclist and walker alike.





At the reception centre, we met Robert Renaud (AKA “Bob the fox” – just change the ‘u’ in his last name to ‘r’, and ‘fox” is what you get). 

Robert Renaud

 He was incredibly friendly, and helpful. He advised us to walk eastward on Île Sainte-Marguerite (it actually opened in 1982) to begin our 7-kilometre tour of this island. 






November’s muted hues and the silence of nature had its calming effect. We came to a birch grove and a bench that seemed to beckon us.
To our delight, we were greeted by a family of  black-capped chickadees. 



We stayed for a while to enjoy their company. 









Note that at this time of year, people are scarce, though we came across some stray fishermen and the odd cyclist. My senses were overcome with the simplicity of nature unencumbered by human traffic. 







November’s magic meant peace and silence – a rarefied sensatory epiphany that I found inspiring.













However, we did meet up on two occasions with jovial Pierre Bureau – a Sépaq man who travels on his bike to assist and guide. He also makes the cross-country ski trails in nearby Mont Saint Bruno. 


Pierre Bureau


Pierre suggested Cindy and I explore the western side of the island. It was wonderful to simply stumble upon him, for we ended up traveling parts of the walking path of La Grande Riviere, La Petite Rivière with its grassy path, and a few side benders that border channels, wondering where exactly we were.  A ferry appeared, but no one was using it today.







Lost in this network of paths with map in hand, we realized the sign could have been more specific, but part of the fun was simply the nearby surprise. On land or near the water, discoveries abound.






Best of all, the park is flat, so one can see it all with eyes looking outward rather than watching one’s feet for tricky inclines. I loved our day here – the Sépaq warmth, trees, flowing water, the casts of light and shadow scenically brought to further life with occasional birdsong. I could  gaze , sit and stroll here forever!














Projected for the end of 2017, is the erection of three bridges to connect visitors year-round between the islands of Sainte-Marguerite to Île à Pinard, and to Île la Commune to Île Grosbois (the latter two offering 7km.of trails).

Call: (450) 928-5088
The website is: www.sepac.com/pq/bou


Monday, November 21, 2016

MANCHESTER BY THE SEA (Directed by Kenneth Lonergan) ****






No doubt about it, the superb acting in this realistic film is second to none. Casey Affleck in the role of Lee Chandler cleverly manages to make major depression no yawn for the viewer. Lee is going through permanent shock, depression and PTSD after not only losing his older brother, but his own children in a tragic accident for which he was at fault.                     

He’s a loner janitor in a Boston apartment complex, but his life is put on hold there when he finds out that he has been charged with acting as the guardian to his brother’s 16-year-old son, Patrick – perfectly  played by Lucas Hedges. 

It is a responsibility Lee does not want. It would seem that Lee’s time with happiness is over, and he just can’t recover. The back story is told in episodic flashbacks in a sophisticated manner that keep the viewer intensely interested in the journey Lee is embarking on both mentally, emotionally and physically. I am not sure what the point of this film is, but it is an excellent piece of drama.



Sunday, November 20, 2016

MADAME B, STORY OF A NORTH KOREAN (Directed by Jero Yun) **




Despite the incredible fortitude of this North Korean woman who the smuggles people out of North Korea, and ends up with two husbands – one in China to whom she is sold when she first left North Korea in furtive circumstances; the other her first husband with whom she has two sons, and for whom she gives up her Chinese husband to live with her now being estranged husband in South Korea, this messy documentary is so badly edited and utterly confusing in following her movements from Korea and China. 

The viewer is left in longing to figure out the labyrinth in which Madame B lived as she juggled so many twists in her peripatetic life. What an amazing experience in one life plagued with an obsession to be with her sons and reunite with her Chinese husband. This unique film was screened at RIDM.

Wednesday, November 16, 2016

AUSTERLITZ (Directed by Sergei Loznitsa) bomb



Boring beyond belief. Who wants to watch a half--hour's-worth of tourists traipsing into the gate to take photos with their cell phones?  I walked out after 40 minutes. We did not know what spaces or rooms they were taking pictures of. This film could have been riveting given the subject of the Holocaust. Black and white  in a film has never been so bland. Screened at RIDM.

Tuesday, November 15, 2016

THE AMBASSADOR TO BERN (Directed by Atilla Szasz) **





A pseudo- political thriller, somewhat biopic, chronicles the day of August 16, 1958, when two Hungarian resistance fighters now living in Bern break into the Hungarian embassy there and take the ambassador hostage. He is viewed as being pro-Russian, and they wish to avenge the death of the killing of Imre Nagy president of Hungary during the 1956 Hungarian Revolution.

They also want the safe combination. As the Swiss police surround the building and a group of Hungarian immigrants shows up on the street to demonstrate, a tense, twist-filled hostage drama plays out behind the closed doors of the embassy. The screenplay by Norbert Köbli (author of last year EUFF Hungarian film The Exam) is based on a true story about the aftermath of the 1956 Hungarian revolution. A tad too melodramatic with a low budget tone. The beginning was confusing. and the attempt at creating suspense fell flat. 
Screened at New York Film Festival.


Sunday, November 13, 2016

IL SOLENGO ... THE LONER (Directed by Matteo Zoppis & AlessioRigo De Righi) **



 

Mario Marcello was a hermit that the old village men talk about in this film that takes place in the valley of bush and caves in Italy. It is rumored his mother killed his father. She was said to be a witch, and had told her son never to talk to anyone. He never did. living in the cave. He had a temper and was completely self sufficient 

 The men in this film are more       captivating than the Mario myth.


   


Mario had a temper and was completely self sufficient.




The men ruminate on why Mario was the way he was. This film is boring and repetitive by atmospheric in a bucolic way. It was screened at RIDM (Documentary Film Festival).

                                              

THE COMIC SIDE OF BAROQUE IN AN UNFORGETTABLE CONCERT WITH LORENZO COPPOLA AND THE ARION BAROQUE ORCHESTRA





 Bourgie hall, November 13th

A uniquely exuberant, entertaining and educational performance

Last night in an Arion Baroque Orchestra concert - cleverly titled, “Operas Without Words --- Or Nearly” (English translation), the audience was treated to the genius of Lorenzo Coppola – a consummate clarinettist whose masterful playing obviously matches his passionate if not comical character. He completely captivated us as he interpreted using highly expressive verbal explanations what the characters were saying in two wordless opera works.  He did this by showing us how the instruments emulated the characters’ dialogues, inner thoughts, whimsical ways, obsession, doubts and anger. Indeed, the music became the characters featured in the program’s opera boufe/comedia dell’arte genre so popular in the mid 18th-century. 



This music that took centre stage last night, and with Mr Coppola as our enthusiastic teacher and a conduit for the characters he conjured – thereby exciting our imagination. Suffice it understate that his showmanship and amazing musicality proved delightfully funny, freewheeling and refreshingly gregarious. He interacted with the orchestra, the soloist and us. No shyness here!

He embodied a theatrical performance and Arion played the game with him, - sometimes purposely having a viola or bass player play a lone long note after a musical phrase was completed. This evoked exclamations of disdain and rebuke from chair violinist, Chantal Rémillard (who did all this in good fun).  She shouted: “Nous sommes en concert!” and “Mais non!” This evoked much laughter from the audience.


Keeping in spirit with this light-hearted music, Mr Coppola informed us that opera boufe avoided the pomp and circumstance of royalty, such as in a coronation or the austere religiosity of the church. Rather, the program’s opera music brought to life the petty concerns and flaws of the mundane – specifically the bourgeoisie living at the time.  These operas often had no words; the music was the words.

Sometimes jumping on and off the stage or creeping along it, even imitating  via gesture, voice and instrument - the feminine against the masculine, we were utterly amused if not more at home with the music we were hearing. After all, it was the orchestra that had to create the scenes of the daily life of these people. As Mr. Coppola said; this was this music was like the cartoons of Bugs Bunny or the cinema music of today – full of surprise, spontaneity and character. It is visual music in essence.

There were two pieces by Mozart that featured words – through the warmth and expressive ease of soprano, Andréanne Brisson Paquin who performed an extract as Lucilla. Once again, Mr. Coppola gave us the back story. The character of Lucilla is from Martin y Soler’s opera Il bubrero di buon cuore and was used for the two arias by Mozart which were performed in Arion’s program. These arias were composed for the soprano Louise Villeneuve for in 1789. Lucilla was a manipulative woman who chose between two men; she wanted the one who had more money. That was the first topic in the first number performed. It was called, “Vado, ma dove?” 

 In another piece, Mme. Paquin reprised Lucilla, as she sang the air, “Chi sà, chi sà qual sia”. Of course our favourite teacher for the evening pointed out the instruments that emulate her husband who is angry at her for spending so much of his hard earned money, while she demurely appears innocent and wondering if he is jealous of suspicious. Mme. Paquin was enchanting in the role, so much so that we fell in love with Lucilla (despite her silly flaws, including her excessive love of money).  Mme. Paquin is an international multi-award winning soprano. As a singer, she could seduce any angry husband with her utterly pleasing high register and winning stage presence.

In the encore piece, “Parto, parto!” from la Clemence di Titus, both “dueted” – Mr Coppola played his clarinet d’amour which he called a “ridiculous-looking instrument” (it resembles a huge peace pipe) while she sang in harmony to it. Both related to one another in character- clarinet stealing the show too. The scene was beguiling both to the ear and eye.



In Haydn’s Symphony No. 73 in D major “The Hunt”, the theatrical style continued as Mr. Coppola crept across the stage stooping over like on-foot hunters quietly tracking the deer, then running like the deer, feigning rifles as the hunters, galloping like the horses in pursuit. He more or less re-enacted the entire “Chasse”. In so doing, he vividly put the music into context; the horn, clarinets and more musical instruments pumped up the scene following the cue of our actor/clarinettist cum animal/hunter  impersonator.

He truly showed off his virtuosity as a clarinettist in Mozart’s Concert for clarinet k.622 in A major. Amazing dynamics were accomplished as he played his clarinet d’amour. His clarity and dexterity was amazing. Here is an artist whose profound emotional breadth matches his technical prowess.
And let us not forget, that throughout the entire concert, there was no conductor there to hold it together. Instead, Mr Coppola decided to take his own seat in the audience and watch the musicians perform – when he was not required to play. After all, as he pointed out, there was no such thing as a conductor until 1820, and this wonderful music was written in the 1700s.

It was a concert of “firsts”. It was the first time this sterling clarinettist had ever performed with Arion, and perhaps the first time Arion performed an entire program without any conductor. Moreover, one must highlight yet another first for the orchestra: it is launching a brand new CD, Bach: Magnificat on the ATMA label. Recorded last summer, the long anticipated CD features the orchestra and five magnificent vocal soloists under the masterful direction of Alexander Weimann. More works are also on this CD, including two sacred masterpieces dedicated to the Virgin Mary. It’s Christmas-relevant for sure. Note that the works were performed during the closing 2015 Bach Festival concert held in Montreal’s Notre-Dame Basilica.

Arion’s next concert will take place on January 12th to the 15. The works of Telemann, Geminani and Bach are featured. Alexander Weimann on harpsichord and Vincent Lauzer on flute will “adorn” Arion’s adored- by-us all orchestra.

The website is arionbaroque.com
Call (514) 355-1825.