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1992-09-24
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REVIEWS, Page 85Short Takes
CLASSICAL
Brooding Triumph
Imagine a symphony at once brooding and luminous, tragic
and triumphant, spun from a single unending melody in three
long, seamless slow movements. Here it is, the "Symphony of
Sorrowful Songs" by HENRYK GORECKI, newly released on Elektra
Nonesuch, with David Zinman conducting soprano Dawn Upshaw and
the London Sinfo nietta. The tenebrous string texture is
punctuated by Upshaw's ethereally intoning a 15th century Polish
lament and, later, a mother's dirge for her murdered son, whose
words were inscribed in 1944 on the wall of a Gestapo prison.
The result is chilling, moving, unique. With the collapse of
communism, Poland's reclusive Gorecki, 59, is just now finding
his way into the international spotlight. May it shine upon him.
CINEMA
Shear Bliss
Inspired by the seductive majesty of a coiffeuse's
half-exposed breast, 12-year-old Antoine discovers his vocation:
he will become THE HAIRDRESSER'S HUSBAND. Decades later, in
another barber chair, Antoine (Jean Rochefort) meets Mathilde
(Anna Galiena), "the woman with whom I knew I'd spend my life."
Mathilde knows it too; in his Basset eyes she sees erotic
ingenuity and unconditional love. Both are avid for the moment
the shop door closes "so we can drown in the ocean of peace we
love so much." French director Patrice Leconte, whose fine
Monsieur Hire also dealt with romantic obsession, has devised
a chamber fable about a man's infantile charm and a woman's
nurturing sexuality. The movie is like the couple's love: pure,
brief, passionate, heartbreaking.
BOOKS
Sorting Through The Maze
Oddly, he wasn't a great standup comedian. He was funny in
several Broadway roles, but doing the same thing every night
bored him. He was unbeatable at drinking and telling stories all
night in bars, but they don't pay you for that. Where Jackie
Gleason really was the Great One, as he called himself with no
undue bashfulness, was as the bus driver Ralph Kramden in his
long-rerunning TV show, The Honeymooners. In THE GREAT ONE: THE
LIFE AND LEGEND OF JACKIE GLEASON (Doubleday; $22.50), Time's
theater critic, William A. Henry III, sorts amiably through the
maze of lies the funnyman wove around his tangled life,
including one woozy story about two newlyweds and Gleason, all
drunk, and a goat that may have been sober.
POP MUSIC
Message Meets Beat
Originally the darlings of Manhattan's neo-disco scene,
the members of DEEE-LITE burst into the musical mainstream two
years ago with a debut album of thumping, synthesized rhythms
that sold more than 1 million copies worldwide. Infinity
Within, the group's new release, maintains the momentum. Super
D.J. Dmitry Brill and Towa "Towa" Tei produce exuberant mixes
that slam along at up to 130 beats a minute, and singer Lady
Kier Kirby handles the vocals with a newly polished
self-assurance. This time out, the trio has added some substance
to its style with politically correct lyrics on safe sex, voter
registration and the environment. The deee-lightful result: good
message, great dance beat.
TELEVISION
A Family Reveals Its Secrets
"I'm gay," Philip Benjamin blurts out to his parents. "I
just didn't think it was fair for you not to know such an
important part of my life." His mother responds, "Keeping
certain secrets secret is important to the general balance of
life." His father Owen cries quietly. He too has a secret; he
too is gay. Before THE LOST LANGUAGE OF CRANES plays out, Owen
will reveal that secret, permanently altering the family's
fragile balance. This BBC adaptation of David Leavitt's novel,
airing June 24 on pbs, transposes the setting from New York City
to London. Graced with intense, subtle performances, the tale
remains compelling, but the change of locale distances already
remote characters and undercuts the work's emotional force.