When did Mozart Become so Moody? by Lisa Li

            Wow. Having fallen asleep in classical music concerts for years, I was completely awake for the first time in the concert presented by Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO) on March 19^th. Surprisingly, the BSO presented compositions of Wolfgang Mozart, which normally puts me to sleep. We know Mozart for his archetype classical style, including steady rhythm and tempo, light-mood and graceful melody, clarity and balance between instruments in presenting melodies and harmonies. Listening to Mozart is like watching classical ballet; with musicians expressing courteous manner and applying strictly ruled techniques. The Mozart symphonies presented by BSO—Symphony No. 39, 40 and 41—were different. In these compositions, Mozart appears to be unexpectedly emotional, which constantly excites and surprises the audience. He no longer strictly applied the classical music format, introducing the audience to the prelude of the Romantic Era. Listening to BSO’s performance, we discover a new Mozart, who tries to break out of his classical shell and express his emotions freely in his compositions.

            The second piece presented in the concert especially pulled me into the dancing bows on the violins, leaving my heart still my heart vibrating 10 hours later. Although composed in a classical-style symphony—fast movement, slow movement, minuet, fast movement—Symphony No. 40 presents an unusually romantic and lyrical melody. The four movements work with each other to create conflicts and tensions, which is what makes this piece especially exciting. The symphony starts with a fast movement in the key of G minor, with a rhythm of 2/2. The movement is dark and intense, with full of dramatic changes in volume and tempo. The melody often drifts in and out from its original minor key to a major key, creating a sense of nervousness. Listening to the first movement, you feel like walking through a medieval European dungeon, dark and nerve-racking, with torches still burning on the wall. Then you are immediately brought into a relaxing garden in an open field by the second movement of the symphony. The movement is in E flat major, the only movement in a major key in this entire symphony. The melody is very lyrical, slow and soothing, with rather steady tempo and not very dramatic volume change. Sometimes tension is created from a sudden switch from major scale into a harmonic minor scale, but they are mostly quickly resolved. You may consider that as the breeze that blows by the field. Now, take a deep breath, because the third movement will accelerate your heart rate again. Although labeled as “minuet,” the constant twists and turns in the melody are nothing you would want to dance to. The minuet returns to the key of G minor, but has a 3/4 time. It starts in a very angry mood, with two counterparts knitting a discorded sweater together. The melodies of the counterparts sometimes complement each other, but most the time clash into each other like two arguing brothers. In one part the wind instruments would bring the melody to a major key, where the tension between counterparts resolves. The melodrama in the melody, however, quickly resumes, bringing you to the fourth movement, in which you will feel like driving up and down in the mountains. The fourth movement returns to G minor and 2/2 time, like the first movement. Sometimes the violin leads the melody, as if asking a question. The wind instruments and other strings would respond to the question in a loud, rebellious tone. The instruments also always play in 16th notes, or even 32th notes, creating the texture of a wind. So many tensions and imagery are portrayed in the Mozart’s Symphony No. 40. I was never bored listening to it because every movement of the piece present me a different surprise. It felt like I riding a rollercoaster of Mozart’s emotion, with my resonating with every twist and turn.

            After going to the BSO concert, I was genuinely surprised by how moody Mozart became in his late composition era. I was also very glad that he finally broke the strict format of classical music, realizing that his music should not just please the king or other people, but should also serve as his own emotional relief. I was incredibly fascinated by the live-performance of Mozart’s moody pieces, so I would recommend you to go to the concert. However, to be completely honest, the concert was almost three hours long, and if you are not a huge fan of classical music, you will feel so bored and struggle to wait for it to be over. If that’s the case, don’t come to the concert.

Be Inspired, and Beware of Bears by Lisa Li

 

           When I first got to Williamstown, the only thing I could see on the horizon were mountains covered with snow, rising against the sky. Breathing in the misty mountain air and feeling so close to the clouds, I was surprised that there were people who lived there. I was even more surprised at the beautiful art museum, Clark Art Institute (AKA The Clark), built just at foot of a mountain. Chartered by couple Sterling and Francine Clark, the Clark Museum was built in 1952 and opened to public in 1955. It collects a wide range of art styles and forms, including Old Master Paintings, 19^th century European Paintings, Impressionist Paintings, American Paintings, European and American decorative arts…you name it! Such a wide variety of arts resulted from the Clark couple’s expeditions around the world and their ardor for arts. Walking through the Clark museum, you could smell the scent of history and the luxury of artistry.

            What fascinated me the most was Gallery 1, the first room you walk into in the classical wing of the museum. A rectangular room with grey walls and dim lighting, the room was simply designed. In the center of the room was a large cubic wall dividing the front and the back of the gallery. Artwork is displayed on each wall of the room and each side of the cube. The simply designed room makes artworks especially stand out to the viewers. The gallery mainly collects American oil paintings that portray the monumental power and mysteries of nature, which resonates with the museum’s close-to-nature location.

            When I walked into Gallery 1, a wall of paintings of the ocean by Winslow Homer gave me chills. Every painting portrays a different aspect of the ocean, but all are dark colored and consist of tumultuous waves, to show the graveness and monumentality of the ocean. Undertow, one of the few paintings by Homer has human figures, particularly caught my attention. Inspired by an accident in Atlantic City, New Jersey, in 1883, the painting depicts the image of two lifeguards saving two women from drowning in the ocean. In the center of the paining are two women, one of whom leans against the wave with her eyes closed, barely alive. To her right, other woman lies on her stomach against the wave, face down, hanging her arms on the other woman’s neck. Their bathing dresses are soaked wet from the water that has almost devoured their pale, fragile bodies. Two rescuers, each grabbing on to one woman, struggle to drag the women to shore. One of the rescuers’ clothes are torn into pieces by the relentless waves. On the left, the rescuer who leads the way has already lost his clothes and helmet, leaving him only in grey shorts. A huge wave, taller than he is, splashes into him from his right, engulfing his body. He raises his right arm and struggles to fight against it, but his brawny biceps seem too week comparing to the roaring wave. The ocean, painted in different shades of blue, appears so three-dimensional that it looks like it is coming toward us. It covers three-fourths of the painting, and seems like it has no end. Looking at the painting, I wondered, how vast is the ocean? How close is the shore to these people? Are they going to survive the attack of the undertow? All of these factors are unknown. Winslow portrays the vastness and strength of the sea waves and the vulnerability of men to show that men are always too small and weak compared to nature. The unknown factors of nature further provokes human’s fear for nature because it creates unstable situations that humans have no controls over. The painting reminds me that I do not have the control over my life and death. I cannot stop a lightening from hitting me, nor can I prevent cancer from growing in me; only nature can make these decisions. The series of ocean painting by Homer sets a serious tone to the museum. It wakes you up in the morning by reminding you of a significant truth in life.

             In Williamstown, a town that is so closely associated with nature, we spend a lot of time appreciating the beauty of nature. Gallery 1 of The Clark Museum reminds us the danger of nature with its collection of paintings that portray nature’s power and mystery. It reminds us that while the beauty in the Williamstown fascinates us, we always need to beware of bears that may attack us at any moment. Don’t be too scared and depressed by my review, however. The Clark Museum is not all about such serious topic. Right after you walk through Gallery 1, the light-colored impressionist art in Gallery 2 will lighten your mood. I highly recommend that you visit The Clark Museum. Both the design of the building and the artwork are very high in aesthetic value. It is so carefully designed and well crafted that it will not only inspire you, but also teach you to beware of bears.

MFA—A Feast For Your Eyes and A Brain Workout by Lisa Li

A gigantic beige building located just 10 minutes west of downtown Boston, the Boston Museum of Fine Art (MFA) is home to 5,600 works of art. It collects pieces in a variety of styles and cultures—from Ancient Egyptian Art, Chinese Art, Medieval European Art and American Art, all the way to contemporary art. Each style of arts is shown in different forms. The museum is organized by continent of where an art is from into different wings. Each wings contains 2 or 3 levels of exhibition galleries. In addition to these styles, there are always special exhibits displayed throughout the museum. You’ll be dazzled by the huge amount of art displayed. If you enjoy being artsy, the MFA is the place for you. It not only satisfies your craving to feast your eyes on brilliant artwork, but also enriches you with diverse cultures and encourages you to examine the artwork closely and think deeply about their true intentions and significance.

            A painting in the European Wing, Slave Ship, by J.M.W. Turner, especially caught my eyes and kept me awake at night thinking about it. When I first noticed the painting, standing far away from it, it looks like just a beautiful painting of sunset at the ocean. Indeed, a yellow sun and its orange rays are in the center of the painting. Along with the red evening cloud, the sun covers the majority of the canvas, and is the brightest object of the painting. This image of a beautiful sunset is the first thing that caught my eye because of its bright color and central location. This is only Turner’s trick, however. Painted in 1840, the painting portrays an image that is the opposite of beautiful. It is based on a true story in 1781, when a British slave ship, Zong, is caught in typhoon, the captain of the ship deliberately threw the slaves into the ocean to attain insurance money. In the painting, on the left of the beautiful sunset, a grey slave ship is overwhelmed in the rushing waves. Behind the ship is a dark cloud, sending forth white lights almost like lightening, indicating an approaching storm. A gust of whirlwind, painted in white, knocks the slave ship into the waves. In front of the ship are numerous pairs of hands, caught in shackles and buried in the green waves dyed brown by blood, shouting for help. On the left, a shackled leg is bleeding, becoming the dinner of thousands of carnivorous fish. Through these violent images, Turner conveys the extreme inhumanity of slavery, pushing people to feel the painful struggles of the slaves. He made the “beautiful” sunset more obvious than the drowning slaves to remind people that the struggle of the slaves was overlooked. He sets such big contrast between the beauty of sunset and the ugliness of slavery so that he could show that humanity of not perfect. He encourages people to recognize that slavery is a mistake and should be abolished. The bloody image of drowning slaves in Slave Ship will never leave my mind. The thought of humans being abused because of their social or racial status makes me cringe in my sleep. The painting reminds me of the flaws of humanity that are constantly being ignored because they are too ugly to look at.

            There are so many more fantastic pieces of artwork like Slave Ship throughout the MFA. If you are curious about what they are, come visit yourself! Whatever style, form, or culture of art you like, you will find in the MFA. I encourage you to bring a map, just in case you get lost in such a big museum. If you do not have much knowledge about art history, don’t worry. An audio guide is provided at the front desk, and there is an introduction posted next to almost every piece of art. No matter who you are, what you are, or how old you are, I encourage you to go to the MFA and have your favorite piece of work stuck in your head.

Good Play But The Directing? Meh by Lisa LI

Unfortunately, The Glass Menagerie is not a fairytale about a collection of glass animal figurines. The Glass Menagerie is a story of a broken family narrated by an ambitious young man, whose mother doesn’t give him enough attention and whose sister is disabled, under extreme pressure of family responsibility. It is a memory play originally written by Tennessee Williams. A recent production of this play was presented by the Trinity Repertory Company and shown from Feb. 26^th to Mar. 29^th in the Trinity Repertory Theatre Chase Theatre in Providence, Rhode Island.

            The storyline of the play is very simple. It involves four major characters, Amanda Wingfield, her daughter Laura, her son Tom and Tom’s friend/Laura’s old crush, Jim O’Connor. After Amanda’s husband has left her to persuade his big dreams, she alone raises her son and her daughter, who is physically disabled. She focuses on letting Laura live a normal life, have a decent job and marry a rich and responsible man. Meanwhile, she tends to neglect Tom, who is constantly drunk because he is so stressed from the family pressure that is put upon him. Tom introduces his friend, Jim O’Connor to Amanda and Laura, and Amanda really wishes that Jim would marry Laura. However, Jim is already engaged to another girl. The play ends in a sorrowful tone, with Laura reserving herself in her obsession with her glass menagerie, Tom leaving home for his own ambitious dreams, and Amanda agonizing for her son’s disloyalty and her daughter’s disability.

What make the story interesting are conflicts within the characters between their own idealistic desires and reality. Amanda wants her son to be successful and reliable, but in reality he is a drunk. She also creates a false image in her mind that Laura is normal and will marry a rich and responsible man, but in reality Laura is unconfident and unloved, and communicates with no one but her Glass Menagerie. Laura is stuck in her old crush on her high school classmate, Jim O’Connor, but in reality she is too timid about expressing her love, and when she finally has enough courage to do so it is too late because Jim is already engaged with another girl. She ultimately returns to her reserved self, obsessed with her glass menagerie. Tom has ambitious desires for his career, just like his father, but in fact he is an unskilled worker, who feels bad leaving his beloved sister behind and whose mother puts the entire family responsibility on him. These conflicts in characters make the audience wonder what is going to come next, and whether dreams can eventually defeat reality. With this constant wonders in audience, the play is never boring.

            Despite an interesting plot, it is not well executed by the Trinity Repertory’s production. The set design of the production was very unique, which makes it appealing, yet it can also distract the audience from paying attention to the plot of the play. A wooden stage was in the middle of the front of the theatre, with all the props and instruments surrounding it. The stage crew and musicians also worked directly on stage. This kind of set was transparent to the audience, letting them see what would normally be the backstage operations. However, it can be very distracting. The visibility of music and stage crew working on stage sometimes took away the audience’s focus on the monologue or dialogue between characters. There is a piano put in front of the stage that served as a patio of the house, which is rather pointless because it was almost never played and also, when the characters stand on it, the audience worried about them falling off rather than the dialogue between characters. Putting props around the stage, also, can pull the audience’s attention from stage, leave them wondering what the props are for.

            The actors for this production were all very talented and committed. They interpreted their characters in their own way and engaged themselves fully into the performance. The director, however, inserted many distracting elements into the production, and wasted the actor’s talents and hard work. In one scene, Tom is having an intense conversation with Amanda, and Laura is singing in the background in a booth on stage where the violinist occasionally plays. Laura has an amazing voice that the audience really wanted to hear, but they can hardly hear it. As the audience tried to focus on Laura’s voice, the important conversation between Tom and Amanda was missed. As a result, the audience heard neither Laura’s voice in a comfortable volume, nor understood the conversation between Tom and Amanda. The director should have separated these two events to make them both clear to the audience. In another moment, when the four actors line up on stage and sing “let’s go to the movies,” Laura comes in with an inflatable plastic giraffe. The giraffe makes an appearance and never comes back again. We learned in the Q & A session between the audience and Mia Ellis, the actor who plays Laura that the giraffe is supposed to represent Laura’s glass menagerie.  The director could not decide whether to use real glass animals or inflatable plastic animals as the glass menagerie, so he decided to keep both. Bad mistake, director, because now the audience are just wondering about the meaning of the giraffe instead of focusing on the scene!

            The directing made the characters confusing, especially Tom. Tom first appears with red nail polish on both his finger and toenails, and talks in a non-sense manner, which makes me think that he was insane. My assumption was proven even more by his constant talking about movies and his unrealistic ambitions. However, Tom is not supposed to be insane, he is just drunk and stressed out. Nevertheless, in this production, Tom speaks in a manner that makes him seem mentally ill, and dresses in pajama styled clothing that makes him seem like a loafer. He appears to be the disabled one in his household, more ill than Laura, who is actually physically disabled. Such confusion can make the audience misinterpret the play.

            This production definitely does not present the best and most classic version of Tennessee Williams’s The Glass Menagerie. I would suggest not wasting your money on it, unless you really have nothing better to do. However, if you are a theatre teacher of a middle school or high school, please bring your students to see the show. It will incite an intense class discussion about the quality of the production. It will also allow students to practice criticizing set design, character interpretation and directing. Such activities would make theatre students better actors and directors.

A Sniff of Chinese Subtropical Fragrance in New England By Lisa Li

A Sniff of Chinese Subtropical Fragrance in New England

            When I walked into Yin Yu Tang, my nose is filled with an oddly familiar fragrance, a scent of humid stonewall that only exists in the subtropical weather of Southern China. Yin Yu Tang was originally built in Anhui, a Southeastern province in China, by a local family named Huang. It was built in the late Qing Dynasty, when the American Revolutionary war was only over for around 20 years. After surviving the storms and floods in Southern China for 200 years and housing 8 generations of the Huang family, Yin Yu Tang was brought to the US and reassembled in Peabody Essex Museum in mid-1980s. A two-level house well-crafted with woods, limestone and marbles, Yin Yu Tang resembles the luxurious artistry of Ancient China. It is a historical landmark of the diplomatic relation between China and the US, and a great opportunity for Bostonians to emerge into the traditional Chinese culture.

            Walking into Yin Yu Tang, you are drawn immediately into the traditional culture and history of China. Stepping into the gate of the house, you may notice a wooden “step” under your feet. This “step” is the typical threshold of a traditional Chinese House. In the center of the house is a courtyard with limestone floor and two fish ponds. Standing in the courtyard, you can almost hear the Chinese women summoning the chicken into their pen, a house chore common for women in the 19^th to 20^th century. You walk into the reception hall across from the gate, where you see fruits and candles on the tables that are placed under the pictures of the Huang family’s ancestors hanging on the wall. This is where people worship their ancestors, a tradition that originated from Shang Dynasty, 17 B.C. You may also notice a portrait if Chairman Mao hanging on the wall next to the ancestor portrait. “Worshipping” chairman Mao is a practice required by chairman Mao himself in the 1960s during the Chinese Cultural Revolution. If you turn around, you will spot some doodles of Chinese characters on the wall where two traditional Chinese watercolor paintings were hung. The characters are odd in shapes and mean nothing when they’re put together, which implies that they are done by children who are just starting to write. The Yin Yu Tang, therefore, brings you on a time-travelling adventure in China, displaying the Chinese history and cultures through the perspectives of different generations.

            The architecture of Yin Yu Tang represents one of the most luxurious artistry in Ancient China. Please do not deny its beauty when you see its dull-colored stone floor and wooden windows. Colorful paints were not prominent in 200 years ago, and people at the time appreciated the beauty of nature more than artificial colorings. Also, since the house has survived for 200 years without renovation, the quality of the materials of the house deserves a round of applause. If you pay attention to the lower walls of the courtyard, you would see of dragons and phoenix carved delicately on the limestone. On the second level, there are wooden windows that open to the courtyard in the balconies. On the windows, different traditional Chinese patterns are carefully carved—floral, bamboos—you name it! The delicately crafted details of the house often bring awe to your face. Such artistry rarely survived after the Cultural Revolution in China in the 1960s, which is what makes the existence of Yin Yu Tang so precious.

            If you are not from China and do not recognize the cultural values behind Yin Yu Tang, it is totally fine. An audio guide is provided for anyone who needs help with understanding the cultural depth that Yin Yu Tang portrays. It introduces you to the history of the Huang family, the details of the house, and the functions of each room. With traditional Chinese music playing in the background, the audio guide emerges all your senses into Chinese culture, which is what makes this experience fascinating.

            If you are tired of seeing 3 feet of snow on the New England ground, come and breath in some subtropical scent of Yin Yu Tang. Take a walk through this scope of Chinese culture, where you will find infinite beauty in the traditional Chinese aesthetic values.

 

A Moment of Leisure Amidst a Restless City by Lisa Li

            Walking through a staircase with a glass wall displaying the scenery of Boston, you won’t feel tired when you reach the third floor. Following the gentle breath of the flute, you will be drawn toward the entrance of the auditorium of Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. Decorated with dim, yellow lights and cushioned red chairs, the auditorium has four floors, with the stage located in the middle of the first floor and the audience seats located in the balconies that surround the stage. This is an optimum arrangement for chamber music. Once you pick a seat, you may close your eyes and experience the unprecedented leisure and peace in the In-And-Out Concerts, presented by flutist Paula Robison and Pianist/Celeste player Bruce Brubaker.

            The music will slow down your heart rate, lighten the pressure in your brain, and block you from the chaos, distress, and ugliness of reality. The music does not have a specific rhythm or melody. It is a fusion of dissonance—a combination of unresolved and unrested non-chord tones—between the three instruments, which brings a rather unearthly and mysterious tone to the listeners’ ears. The soft whistles of the flute may bring you to a mountaintop surrounded by clouds and bamboo or a shore with gentle waves and dim sunlight. The warm dissonance of the piano interacts with the flute, as if two heavenly creatures are enjoying a leisurely cloud-gazing conversation. The innocent sound of the celeste interludes between the flute and piano, like the shimmering stars in a restful night and the pure morning dews that perches on the grass in a foggy dawn. Musically, the amiable interactions between these three instruments create a perfect heavenly dissonance, building a simple world for the audience to meditate in, and setting humans free from the stress, turbulence, and pain in the human world.

            Although the music is brilliant, there are some distracting movements on stage. The piano player, especially, opens his mouth and widens his eyes constantly, as if he is aghast at his music score. He also squints at his score once in a while, as if he has a hard a time finding his place. When he presses down his keys, we understand that he needs to be careful, but he presents a combination of grin and frown on his face that looks very painful. If you were to see the concert, I recommend you not to look at the piano player because he WILL make you laugh.

            Just like the name of the concert, In-And-Out, you may feel free to come and leave at any moment. If you are seeking for a moment of leisure, even for five minutes, you are welcome to come to this concert. If you are experiencing some hardship, stress, and depression, I highly recommend you to attend this concert because it helps you to clear your mind. If you live in the city and have a busy job, I especially encourage you to attend this concert and experience a slower pace of life. This concert, however, is not recommended for young kids who would be bored by the slow pace and the lack of melody of the music. If you’re interested, the concert will be held in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum on March 16^th and 23^rd, so make sure to mark your calendar.