Sicario is deeply unsettling in a way that few films are. A grisly crime thriller where most of the violence occurs just off-camera, it’s driven more by atmosphere than story, and its tone is implacable and hypnotic. It’s a two-hour dreamfilm — nay, a nightmare film — where logic is irrelevant, where everyone but the main character is sociopathic, where death’s scythe lingers … [Read more...]
Masterful new concerto, rousing Beethoven make splendid farewell for ACO’s Robertson
Conductor Stewart Robertson’s final concert with the Atlantic Classical Orchestra at the Eissey Campus Theatre in Palm Beach Gardens on Tuesday afternoon was a memorable occasion. It had a world premiere of an excellent violin concerto, two “Scottish” works to celebrate the land of his birth, and a rousing performance of Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony. Robertson was presented … [Read more...]
Masterful Beethoven, Mozart from Aspen Trio at Flagler
Taking their name from the famous summer arts festival where they meet every year in Aspen, Colo., the Aspen String Trio is made up of David Perry, playing a 1711 Venetian Gobetti violin; Victoria Chiang, on a 1996 Paris viola specially made for her; and Michael Mermagen, with a 1774 Galliano cello — which was stolen from his car parked on 67th Street in New York City. The … [Read more...]
Douglas masterful, RNO too plush at Kravis
Not so long ago, when the Russian National Orchestra was the house band at the Festival of the Arts Boca, one of the most notable things about the ensemble was its sheer muscle: Big orchestras tend to be plush and expansive, but this one had the striking force of an uncoiled snake. The young Vasily Petrenko was at the helm of the RNO this past Thursday in the second of two … [Read more...]
Masterful Bach opens Stringendo series
Perhaps it was Johannes Brahms who said it best: “Using the technique adapted to a small instrument the man writes a whole world of the deepest thoughts and most powerful feelings,” he wrote to Clara Schumann, describing the celebrated Chaconne of J.S. Bach. “If I could picture myself writing, or even conceiving, such a piece, I am certain that the extreme excitement and … [Read more...]
‘Invisible’ a masterful chronicle of ambition, mystery and loss
It would be too much to say that Paul Auster’s latest novel constitutes a comeback or even a return to form. His recent work, although sometimes roughed up by critics, has not exactly been inferior, or the product of an imagination grown slack with maturity and success. Yet for all that Auster accomplishes with, say, Man in the Dark (2008), it is a small book. Its effects, … [Read more...]