Sunday, January 31, 2010

Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake - 白鳥の湖

マシュー・ボーンの「白鳥の湖」が6月に帰ってくる。彼らの初来日は2002年、僕はBunkamuraに「カーマン」を見に行ったが、その成功度は限定的という印象だった。対する「白鳥の湖」は翌年来日した舞台のチケットが完売だったし、この「白鳥」は今や古典と言っても良いだろう。
僕がこのいささか過激な「白鳥の湖」を初めて見たのは1999-2000年頃、DVDだったが、何しろ世界が変わるくらい画期的な衝撃を覚えた。白鳥の踊りでは、もちろんご存知のように全員男性で、力感に支えられた美というものを見た。今回はどんなだろうと期待は膨らむが、入場料は安くない。それに6月のほとんどは海外に出ている予定なので、今回は無理かな。


Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake is coming back to Japan in June. Their first stage in Japan was in 2002 with The Carman, I saw it at Bunkamura, and I thought the success was limited in contrast to Swan Lake which is already a classic. Swan Lake came to Japan the following year and the tickets were completely sold out.
When I first saw this Swan Lake around 1999-2000 on DVD, it was phenomenally, radically and outrageously an epoch. The dance of swans, male entirely as you may know, exposed the beauty of power. My expectation grows by itself for the new set, but the admission is not cheap. And besides, I will be in Europe most of June, so I may not be able to see it this time.

Friday, January 29, 2010

クリスマスの約束 - A Promise for Christmas

一月も終わる今となってはいささか旧聞に属するが、毎年年末になると「クリスマスの約束」という小田和正のコンサート番組がある。これが始まってもう10年くらいになるだろう。見逃せないと思いつつ見逃した年も何度かあるけど、小田とゲストのコラボがいつも新鮮で楽しい。大型化しつつも観客との距離感がうまく機能する会場作りも好感度を醸す要因のひとつだと思う。
とりわけ去年の「約束2009」は、のっけから「聖しこの夜」のハーモニーに心を奪われたが、その後の本題というのが若手中心にいろんなミュージシャンに集まってもらい、彼らの持ち歌をメドレーに組み立て、それを全員でコーラスするという、何だかとてもハードルの高い企画だったのだが、これが手放しで素晴らしかった。
みんな本番に強いプロたちだから、練習以上のものを出せたのだろう、ステージは不思議な空気で包まれているように見えた。歌われるフレーズの思いがけない始まりはドラマチックで、一人一人の歌い手としての個性的な力量とそれらを編み込んだハーモニーが作る合唱の力は想像以上に強くて、感動的でさえあった。この意味は大きいと僕が感じたのは、つまりこういうことだ。
普段は親しいわけでもなく、バラバラに生活している個人が、手を携えてひとつのことを目指してみる。困難も多いが、そこには思ってもみなかった達成感が待っている。選ばれた歌は愛と絆をテーマにしたものが中心というのも示唆的で、これは小田和正流ということもあるだろうが、動物でもあり人間でもあるヒトの生き甲斐と希望を作り出すことは一人ではできないと悟るところから始めるのが大切ということだ。
日本が今置かれている閉塞状況の問題の本質は、一人一人が分断され、孤立し、それを受け止める社会的機能が消滅していることにある。これを軌道修正するには、人口構成も、産業構造も、教育も、社会参画も、あれもこれも舵の切り直しをしなくちゃいけない。このことは別の機会にもっと論じてみたいが、「約束」のコーラスは何が大切なのかを示唆する光明のように思えた。


Now that January is about to end, this may sound like an old topic, but toward the end of every year there is a concert program of Kazumasa Oda on TV titled “A Promise for Christmas”. This started about 10 years ago, and I always think I must watch it (but have missed a few of them) because the collaboration with the guest musicians is always refreshing and enjoyable. The concert premiss keeps getting larger, but still helps the intimacy between the audience and the artists with its arrangement.
Last year’s “Promise 2009” was exceptional not only in that the harmony of opening Silent Night was just outstanding but the following main feature was a project with seriously high hurdle: He invited numbers of musicians, mostly from younger generation, arranging their hit song passages into a medley, and everybody sings in chorus.
The stage was far more than what they had performed in the preparation sessions probably because they were the true stars that shine in live, and the air that enveloped the stage seemed something unusual and miraculous. The way introducing familiar phrases of lyrics were abruptly dramatic and touching. There was the individual power of singers with unique appeals but weaving them into a harmony sung in chorus was even more powerful beyond expectation. The meaning of this whole thing was this, I thought:
Each person lives his or her days individually, not really connected nor known each other closely. And one day they reach their hands with others to challenge a common goal. Many hard difficulties in front, but an indescribable sense of achievement waits for them. The songs to compose the medley were mostly about loves or ties, as always favored by Oda. The implication is for identifying a human meaning of life and hope who is both a mankind and an animal one should start by realizing that it cannot be developed solely alone.
The core essence that caused Japan to have fallen in the blockade situation is in the fact that each individual is separated, isolated and that the social functions to relieve them became extinct. In order to recover our orbit, we need to change all the vectors in the generation balance that composes the demographics, industry frameworks to root more locally, education, engagement/commitment to community, and etc. The chorus of “Promise” appeared to me a bright arrow to suggest something essentially important to our problem.

Thursday, January 28, 2010

FACTA – そして日経新聞電子版

満を持してか、遅蒔きながらか、日経が電子版の新聞を春に発行する。それがどんな使い方になるか、今日の朝刊でも1ページ割いて解説していたが、それではと日経のサイトに行ってみても「詳細は決まり次第案内します」としか書かれていないFAQ のお粗末さにがっかりする。その料金体系をスクープしたのは雑誌FACTAだ。最新の2月号によると、月額4000円、さらにプラス1000円出せば現在4300円の紙版も配達されることに決まったと書かれている。
FACTAには有馬頼寧日記を刊行した級友山本君が短文を連載していることもあって購読しているが、先日義父が訪ねてきた時、過去の数冊を貪るように読んで感服していた。確かに、表層ばかりを追う日本のメディアにあって、物事の深層に切り込もうという姿勢が光る。複眼的な視点を育ててほしい雑誌だ。


A bit too late or thoroughly prepared, whichever it would be, Nikkei is publishing their electronic news in the spring. In their today’s morning paper, one page was allocated to explain how functional and attractive this service would be, but once you get in their web site to find more details, they only give a disappointing note “to be informed when available” and that’s all of their FAQ’s! A Magazine FACTA had a scoop in the recent February issue in which it said Nikkei’s electronic subscription fee was decided to be 4000 Yen monthly and the additional 1000 Yen covers the printed version, too.
As for FACTA, I subscribe it partly because my classmate Yamamoto (the author of the book about Yoriyasu Arima’s diary) posts a series of short writings every month, but the magazine is unique in attempting to reach the real core of issues deep under the skin in contrast to typical Japanese media scratching the surface. My father-in-law recently visited us and seemed quite excited in reading past several issues for a while. I hope this magazine grows steadily offering and discussing multiple viewpoints.

Saturday, January 23, 2010

日航の破綻と飛行場の数 - JAL Bankruptcy and the Number of Airports

サービスに大きな不満があって、日航を使わなくなって久しい僕から見れば、木偶の坊が破綻するのは当然の帰結だ。機動力も活力も出せない日本そのものの行く末にそのままオーバーラップしないだろうか。

テレビ番組で、「日本の空港が多すぎるとは思わない」と解説者が言っていたのを聞いて、「そうなのかちょっと調べてみよう」と思った。ネットで見つけた統計を見ると、空港数の多いのは米国、豪州、カナダ、パプア・ニューギニア、ブラジルの順で、まずは面積の広さが基本のようだ。数だけ比較しても意味がないので、各国の人口と旅客数(2005年)を並べて、飛行場の浸透度と忙しさも俯瞰してみる。そうするともう少し状況が見えるようで、確かに英国やドイツと同レベルの繁盛ぶりと理解できるが、国の潜在的な経済力を考えると充分な数字が反映されていないという見方もできそうだ。
問題は箱物利権程度の知恵で増やしてきた地方空港の数ではなく、それを地域事業体系の歯車としてしっかり組み込めるかどうかの行政力だったのではないか。航空行政と観光立国を司る前原大臣、大丈夫?


I stopped using JAL years ago because of their poor services, and the blockhead’s bankruptcy looked to me a natural consequence. Does it overlap with the tread of Japan itself sans moving power and vitality?
In a TV program, a commentator said that the number of airports in Japan was not excessive, and so I wanted to find out some facts. Statistically, the countries with abundant airports are USA, Australia, Canada, Papua New Guinea, and Brazil: It appeared that the size of the land was one of the essential factors. The number of airports alone did not seem to explain much further, so I picked the number of passengers (in 2005) and also the population in order to get the overall picture how busy and penetrated the airports are in those countries. It could be said that Japan enjoyed the popularity in the same level as UK and Germany, but considering its potential power proportionate to the economy, the situation looked suffering below the level to be satisfied as reflected in those numbers.
Quite possibly, the problem is not in the growing number of local airports that tended to be promoted only by a superficial wisdom to have a solid hardware benefitting constructors, but rather in the governing ability to maximize the airport’s function as a piece of elements to rotated the entire business system of the region. Have you got some ideas, Minister Maehara, as you govern the air business and travels?

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

修理のこと - MacBook Air Repaired

MacBook Airの片方のヒンジが壊れて、開閉がうまく行かないばかりか、バラバラになりそうだったので、修理に出した。まず銀座のアップルストアに行ってみると、修理の相談はGenius Barへと誘導されたが、すべて予約制となっていてその場では受け付けてもらえなかった。ここで予約を取って出直すか、ネットから予約が必要で、歯医者みたいだなあと思う。これが予約できても混んでいて10日先とかだと問題だが、幸い翌日1コマ空きがあった。
応対してくれたスタッフはこちらが話を切り出すなり、「ヒンジですね」と心得た感じで、おそらくこの問題はすでに多くこなしているのだと思う。費用も取らず修理してくれるというのはこちらにとってはうれしい限り。言ってみれば強度不足を設計上の欠陥として対応しているようなものだと思う。しかも取り替えるのはヒンジの部分だけでなく、ディスプレイを含むアセンブリーごと交換というのにはいささか驚いた。さすが儲かってるアップルと言うべきか、今や修理は部品コストより労賃の方が高くつくという昨今の傾向も反映しているようだ。いずれにしても半分新品再生されて戻ってきたマシンは好調だ。


My MacBook Air was broken with one of its hinges causing not only difficulties to open and close properly but also a risk of breaking apart into two pieces, so it needed a repair. I went to Apple Store in Ginza and guided to Genius Bar for consultation, but the fact was everybody had to get a reservation for a 15-minute slot first but it was completely sold out for the day. I could only arrange an advance booking here or try the same on the Internet. I thought this was like visiting my dentist’s. It would have been miserable if I managed to book a slot 10 days later, but I was more lucky to have found an open slot the next day.
The staff who received me immediately understood the trouble when I started explaining, and I thought that he was well aware of the hinge’s problem already. I was extremely happy when I heard that the repair was free of charge, and again it indicated that this issue was handled as their design failure without sufficient strength mechanically. In confirming some more details further, I recognized to my amazement that they would not replace the hinge only but the entire assembly including the display! Indeed, Apple makes some money!! And these days, the labor tends to cost more than components. Now my MacBook Air looks comfortable with 50% new body.

Thursday, January 7, 2010

ノーベル賞コンサート - Nobel Prize Concert

ガーディナーが一昨年のノーベル賞コンサートで地元の王立ストックホルム管弦楽団と競演したという話を耳にして、早速そのDVDを年末に注文しておいたのが昨日届いた。
このDVDは幸いなことにリージョン0で、PCMステレオの他に5.1ミックスもあって、細部まで明瞭でなかなかの録音だった。ロイヤル席には皇室も来るし、観客も相応に着飾ったホールの雰囲気は華がある。ガーディナーの演奏でモーツァルトのハ短調ミサを聴くのは2006年のアルハンブラ以来かな。いつも思うのだが、三重唱や四重唱の部分を聞いていると、ミサ曲なのにモーツァルトはオペラと同じ世界観で歌を作っているように聞こえる。それが魅力でもある。
昨年のコンサートではアルゲリッチがラベルの協奏曲を弾いてすこぶる評判が良かったらしく、これもディスクが出たら買ってみようと思う。


I happened to know that Gardiner conducted Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra in Nobel Prize Concert the year before last, and quickly ordered a DVD before the end of the year. The disc reached me yesterday.
Luckily, its region code was “0” and it had 5.1 mix in addition to PCM stereo.
The recording was quite pleasing with transparent details. The audience was properly dressed and among them were the royal people, all of which elevated the atmosphere elegantly. I think Mozart’s C-minor mass conducted by Sir Gardiner is for me since my trip to Alhambra in 2006.
I always think when I hear the passages sung in trio or quartet that Mozart composed this church music with an identical look of the world to operas musically, and it effectively makes the music charming.
I also learned the rumor that the performance by Argerich of Ravel’s concerto in 2009 Concert was highly reputed, and I wish to get the disc when it is released.

Friday, January 1, 2010

元旦 - 2010 New Year's Day

去年と同様、美しく穏やかな元旦の朝。


A beautiful, calm weather of the new year's day, same as a year ago.