Why so many gossips about our national targedy ?

What I see in media, both official and unofficial, social and non-social — about recent Polish crash – makes me truly mad.

Despite such calls like:

„Let's not hurt those who suffer with our renditions of the tragedy. Let's leave a detailed explanations of all contentious issues to competent commissions.”

wrote one of Polish bishops recently.

I wonder why so many people, particularly those, who should pay attention to such authorities – just ignore their calls for moderation ?

Unfortunately, so many conspiracy theories, malicious gossips and specious, pseudo-concerned "questions" circulate now, that it became unbearable to read daily news.

To those who impeach good intentions of hard working investigators of the crash — I kindly wanted to remind, that in some cases it takes years to find the truth of a plane crash. I almost witnessed the crash of TWA 800 when I was in States in 1996. Yet, It took four years of extremely hard work to discover the irrefutable truth of the cause of that crash ...

So - let us display more restraint in our opinions...

A week of mourning in Poland

The terrible tragedy happened in Poland. Yesterday, about 9 AM, the plane carrying most important Polish officials, including the country president has crashed while landing at Smolensk airport. The tragedy is of enormous proportions.



Even more immense is its symbolic meaning.



All the people on board were going to Katyn - the village in west Russia, where in 1940, Soviets have murdered more than 20 thousand officers of Polish army and Polish intelligentsia, including many Priests and Rabbies. Until freedom came to Russia, for almost 50 years Soviets denied the crime...



Because of this tragedy, I changed colour of this blog and will not post any review until next week.

Justice and tribute to Mahler

Leonard Bernstein Essay on Mahler "Little Drummer Boy" is this story about Mahler, you must see, if you want to know about the composer and his music. It is also far better story, than Ken Russell's one. Of course it is hard to compare the essay of famous conductor with a fiction of avant-garde film director. But, the "Little Drummer Boy" tells us the deep dramatic story of Mahler life, his internal struggle of his Jewishness, that he officially abandoned by converting to Catholicism, but that he also never had forgotten, and that is present in this way or another in his music. Bernstein shows, how this personal drama of Mahler - the drama of his pursuit of musical career to its top European heights of Vienna Opera, for which he sacrificed his religion - influenced his musical message - how this interplay between Judaism and Christianity stamped a tragic but also great mark on his life. Another fault line of Mahler's life marks the drama of life and death. Here Bernstein shows how important was Mahler's awareness of death - death of his beloved daughter, the death threat upon himself, death of many innocent people of his time.

What is great about "Little Drummer Boy" is the passion of Bernstein and his ability to show the meaning of Mahler music itself. He does not resort to music's "programme", but tries to explain the meaning of pure musical qualities. Strongly recommended movie.

Ken Russell Mahler - More then controversial - just going to far

Following my intereset in Gustaw Mahler, and his music, I ordered Ken Russell film about the Master. The film starts in a very interesting way - the entire action is set during a single train journey, as we can guess - a journey to home from the last of Maestro US trips. During the train journey with his wife Alma, Mahler goes through imaginative recollections of his life. The life, particularly the marriage with Alma, was not easy. First, he suppressed her musical talent, and initially, she gladly limited herself to loving housewife role. But over time, her disappointment grown into high level. We do not know if that was a reason of her fall into affair with Walter Gropius – but at least we can think it was... That affair, apparently well known to Mahler haunted him deeply over years.

However, I doubt that the way Ken Russell illustrates it, is justified. In one dream, Mahler is placed into a coffin with a window alive, and with absolute cynicism of his wife – is burned to ashes in crematorium. After the funeral his wife performs a perverse dance with Mahler head's marble statue...

This was quite obscene scene, I must say. We could find there a far reference to Strauss's Salome scenes with prophet's head - but it was filmed not in the way we could even try to accept as symbolic or artistic... And the facts of Alma “activity”, even after Mahler death, when she was really distorting his image – do not justify the imagery Ken Russell applied.

In the same way, the scenes of Mahler's dreams related to his conversion to Catholicism are going well too far. They suggest, that his conversion was a simple matter of business to become Vienna Court Opera director, what for a Jew was obviously difficult at that time. However, we are now sure, that Mahler's motives were much deeper and even if there was a tone of pragmatism in his decision - there was certainly no hostility to Judaism in it. The grotesque scenes in which he is hammering the Star of David into Germanic sword and play stupid games with Nazi-like perverse girl - are suggesting something that is just total falsification of Mahler's thinking, music and imagination. Even in so-called film-reality Mahler shows to Alma a rosary and calls it - "the key to opera" – it was just ridiculous. It's enough to recall that long after his conversion, he still suffered from anti-Semitism in Vienna and bore it with dignity...

The film could possibly be good, Ken Russell has a talent to underline some of Mahler's key attitudes to his music and to his life: in a dramatic scene of an argument with Alma over his "Songs on the Death of Childreen", he shouts out: "I do not choose what I compose - it chooses me".

However, I'm not very positive about the movie. I try to believe that it was not sheer stupidity or ignorance of Ken Russell, that made him to do the parts of the film in that way. I only hope, it was because in 1974, many artists pressingly tried to play the "avant-garde" to shock the audience by some “art for art's sake” - not by art for truth, for the deep meaning ....

The enduring power of ideals

It's unusual to write about political events on such blog.
But this event, event of November 4th, 2008 is unprecedented.

Let's keep in our memories two fragments from his speech, words that say more about America, than hundreds of some other opinions:

"If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible, who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time, who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer."

and

"Tonight we proved once more that the true strength of our nation comes not from the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideals: democracy, liberty, opportunity and unyielding hope."

G-d bless Obama, G-d bless America...

Now, as a kind of PostScriptum, Obama speach in my mother's tongue...