Last week I went to see Peter Brook's A Magic Flute and loved it. Then I read the reviews and discovered that I shouldn't have loved it. The voices were weak, one of the singers was out of tune, the piano playing inadequate, the libretto hacked about hopelessly, the Queen of the Night a shadow, the whole thing was indulgent and hopelessly underplayed. Everyone's entitled to their opinion. I've never seen The Magic Flute, I found the recording hard work. That I think Mozart's Requiem is one of the greatest things I've ever heard doesn't entitle me to question the opinions of the classical reviewers who know what they're talking about so I'll just say this - Bollocks. Absolute bollocks.
It was great. A meditation on love, betrayal, death, hope, trust. And astute bugger that he is at the moment he thinks we might be getting a bit referential Brook puts the feast on a paint stained flight case - this is theatre, this is work, not a religious ceremony. He empties the stage and let's us fill it with our thoughts. We embellish his simplicity. And I thought the piano and the singers were excellent.
When my daughter was only a few weeks old I held her up between the speakers in the front room and said 'Listen. This is Mozart, this is Bruce Springsteen. Open your ears and enjoy.'
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