{"id":31099,"date":"2015-10-18T22:06:13","date_gmt":"2015-10-19T02:06:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/?p=31099"},"modified":"2016-03-26T18:00:07","modified_gmt":"2016-03-26T22:00:07","slug":"scrutiny-meryl-streep-and-the-takacs-quartet-explore-life-and-death-at-koerner-hall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2015\/10\/18\/scrutiny-meryl-streep-and-the-takacs-quartet-explore-life-and-death-at-koerner-hall\/","title":{"rendered":"SCRUTINY | Meryl Streep and the Tak\u00e1cs Quartet Explore Life and Death at Koerner Hall"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Meryl
RCM Gala with Meryl Streep and The Tak\u00e1cs Quartet (Credit: Lisa Sakulensky)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Royal Conservatory of Music: Meryl Streep and the Tak\u00e1cs Quartet at Koerner Hall. Saturday, Oct. 17, 2015.<\/h3>\n

[Originally published in the Toronto Star<\/a>]<\/p>\n

There are few people who need as little an introduction as three-time Academy Award winner Meryl Streep. An actor\u2019s actor, with a career that spans theatre, cinema and film production, she originally wanted to be an opera singer. Streep abandoned the idea after watching coloratura soprano Beverly Sills\u2019 debut at New York City Centre.<\/p>\n

Last night Streep took to the stage at Koerner Hall with the Tak\u00e1cs Quartet<\/a> to perform a series of readings from author Philip Roth\u2019s death-obsessed 2006 novel, Everyman<\/em>. It might not have been a singing voice, but it was a voice worth listening to.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s best to give while your hand is still warm,\u201d Streep read.<\/p>\n

Excerpts were paired with four works from composers P\u00e4rt, Britten, Shostakovich and Schubert, performed by the Tak\u00e1cs Quartet at Streep\u2019s side.<\/p>\n

\"Meryl
Meryl Streep reads from Philip Roth’s “Everyman” (Credit: Lisa Sakulensky)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It was a solemn, meditative evening devoted to the examination of life through death. It explored the bittersweet process of growing old and weighing the marks of life\u2019s purpose against death\u2019s ultimate finality. As a writer, Roth writes exceptionally well for women. The words transcended to become stories about all of us; Everyman<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Before settling into the opening Psalom<\/em> by Arvo P\u00e4rt, the star-struck audience gave the 66-year old master soubrette a standing ovation before she even spoke a word.<\/p>\n

The highlight was Shostakovich\u2019s searching Recitative and Romance<\/em> from his String Quartet No. 2. Staggered bow strokes marked the climax at the midsection and raised chills against a wandering melody in the first violin. Like the other interludes, this was distressed music, an unfinished hem whose imperfection makes it all the more beautiful.<\/p>\n

Closing the musical interludes was the Andante con moto from Schubert\u2019s powerful “Death and the Maiden.” An indictment of death, and written shortly before the composer died broke and young, the theme follows Roth\u2019s words closely.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy God, he thought, the man I once was!\u201d<\/p>\n

Lyrical and wandering, the Tak\u00e1cs Quartet maintained a controlled release of energy of the second movement, which is about death\u2019s words, rather than the struggle against the terror of it.<\/p>\n

This combination of words and music is no accident. It\u2019s a compelling relationship that represents the most successful marriage between seemingly separate art forms.<\/p>\n

While Streep didn\u2019t sing any arias, the spoken words \u2014 along with the dimming of the stage light and the softer side of the string quartet repertoire \u2014 left a weight upon the audience, who rose slowly and receded into the night.<\/p>\n

\u201cOld age isn\u2019t a battle,\u201d Streep read. \u201cOld age is a massacre.\u201d<\/p>\n

A brief pause, then silence.<\/p>\n

#LUDWIGVAN<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

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Three-time Academy Award winner Meryl Streep takes the stage with the Tak\u00e1cs Quartet for RCM’s sold-out Season Gala event. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":31102,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[118,76,19,38,52],"tags":[5640,5641],"yst_prominent_words":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2015\/10\/Streep3.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9bakr-85B","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31099"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31099"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31099\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31109,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31099\/revisions\/31109"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31102"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31099"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31099"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31099"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=31099"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}