A less tacky post!
After yesterday's crappy effort today is rather cultured!
On about Friday I had thought we had nothing 'on' today but then Frances was offered a couple of tickets to a string quartet at the National Gallery. We thought it might be nice to take in the Tobruk exhibition at the Australian War Memorial (AWM) en route. So we did, and we'll start off there.
Before getting down to comments about what is there, noting:
It is not a 'fun' exhibition. It is a good one, nay, an excellent one, but it isn't fun. With most museum exhibits about the history of indigenous Australia there is a warning that you may see depictions of people who have passed away. In this one, most of the people shown in the photographs did not make it to the end of WW2. They didn't all die at Tobruk, but add in El Alamein and PNG and not many survived.
A film is shown and I initially passed on it, until Frances said it was very good. Indeed it was, although I didn't see it all the way through (I started towards the end and then saw the beginning: must go back to see the middle. It was made by the British Army Film Unit. Again there is very little material to link to this Unit! The start - with a dark line mit swastikas jabbing away at Tobruk -reminded me of the intro to Dads Army. By the decisive engagement, with images of guys carrying rifles walking off into the smoke of a battlefield, it had got to the harrowing conclusion of "Oh what a lovely war".
As we left the AWM I snapped this image of the bridge of HMAS Brisbane, now part of the Memorial.
Most of the rest of the ship is a dive site, but a bit is also in the garden of a former captain of the ship, not far from our house!
Frances commented, when we had the misfortune to watch a Toronto Maple Leafs game that you can tell if a team have basically got stuff or not. This Quartet, unlike the Leafs of 1991, had got their stuff. (As an aside, noting that the Leafs lost their last game in 2011 to the Habs 1-4, c'est la meme chose.) For those who think that referring to Ice Hockey is not much of an advance on the roo -poo of the previous post- I hear your pain!
Of course any tradesman is only as good as the material they are provided. This group offered 3 pieces:
On about Friday I had thought we had nothing 'on' today but then Frances was offered a couple of tickets to a string quartet at the National Gallery. We thought it might be nice to take in the Tobruk exhibition at the Australian War Memorial (AWM) en route. So we did, and we'll start off there.
Tobruk
The catalyst for visiting was an ABC Radio program with Louise Maher about a map (see the linked page) showing an associated event. It is a very. very good exhibition and anyone in Canberra is urged to see it!Before getting down to comments about what is there, noting:
- the current world order,
- Tobruk's location in Libya , and
- the town's iconic status in Australian military history
A film is shown and I initially passed on it, until Frances said it was very good. Indeed it was, although I didn't see it all the way through (I started towards the end and then saw the beginning: must go back to see the middle. It was made by the British Army Film Unit. Again there is very little material to link to this Unit! The start - with a dark line mit swastikas jabbing away at Tobruk -reminded me of the intro to Dads Army. By the decisive engagement, with images of guys carrying rifles walking off into the smoke of a battlefield, it had got to the harrowing conclusion of "Oh what a lovely war".
As we left the AWM I snapped this image of the bridge of HMAS Brisbane, now part of the Memorial.
Most of the rest of the ship is a dive site, but a bit is also in the garden of a former captain of the ship, not far from our house!
String Quartet at NGA
The specific quartet were the Tinalley string quartet. Cutting to the chase, they were extremely good as should be expected from their CVs! Frances commented, when we had the misfortune to watch a Toronto Maple Leafs game that you can tell if a team have basically got stuff or not. This Quartet, unlike the Leafs of 1991, had got their stuff. (As an aside, noting that the Leafs lost their last game in 2011 to the Habs 1-4, c'est la meme chose.) For those who think that referring to Ice Hockey is not much of an advance on the roo -poo of the previous post- I hear your pain!
Of course any tradesman is only as good as the material they are provided. This group offered 3 pieces:
- Haydn: String Quartet Opus 20 no 3 in G minor. Most melodic and enjoyable. In a warm room, dressed for Winter, rather difficult to maintain concentration but very good.
- Shostakovich: String Quartet no 12. Given the reputation of the composer, and reference in the program notes to 'atonal twelve-tone techniques' I approached this with some loathing. I recall ringing ABC radio in Adelaide, many years ago, at a time when some conductor had said the local Symphony couldn't play in tune, and suggesting that they should play Schoenberg, the king of 12-tone and no-one would know if they were in tune or not! In fact this piece was excellent. Frances drew parallels with a song from "Into the Woods" while I was reminded of my reaction to Jimi Hendrix Blues Album. Specifically I was following the interesting patterns in the music and would suddenly think "How the heck did they get here from there?"
- Debussy: String Quartet Opus 10 in G minor. Pretty, but boring! Comparing this with the preceding item reminded me of a season at NYC Opera where we had looked forward to "Carmen" expecting to tolerate "La Boheme" and found we loved the latter but walked home kvetching about the former!
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