Page 161 - Weiss, Jernej, ur./ed. 2024. Glasbena kritika – nekoč in danes ▪︎ Music Criticism – Yesterday and Today. Koper/Ljubljana: Založba Univerze na Primorskem in Festival Ljubljana. Studia musicologica Labacensia, 7
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music criticism in ireland
to be a devious character who manipulates (often vulnerable) people,
destroys careers (to the extent of driving people to suicide) and schemes
and lies all the time. So in a way the student is vindicated by the entire
rest of the movie, and one could argue that Tár has to stress the divisi-
on of art and artist (or better artistic and private persona) for otherwi-
se she could – at least subconsciously – never look into the mirror.
Secondly, at its heart this is not a film about music (although the “Death
in Venice” context of Mahler 5 provides interesting associations). We
never really get a meaningful picture of Tár’s artistry; those few clips of
at most 30 seconds during rehearsals are not enough to warrant that, as
much as some have talked about her funny conducting technique. Ulti-
mately we have to believe that she is a great conductor, it is not demon-
strated – and probably rightly so. (This reminds me of McClary’s argu-
ment that the better composers never included the song that gets Orfeo
back Eurydice in their operas – they knew that any attempt to realise
the divine music that swayed the gods would inevitably disappoint, so
they only had someone reporting about it. Only secondary composers
tried setting it, and their efforts did indeed always disappoint). The fo-
cus is entirely on the downfall of a complex and deeply flawed character
– her being a celebrated artist is “just” the backdrop for that, and the
rehearsal scenes part of the outline of her personality/character rather
than her artistry.
Finally, much has been made of Marin Alsop’s critique of the film, na-
mely that the first big movie about a female conductor does her gender
a disservice by making its main character a female equivalent of some-
one like James Levine. Yet Alsop is explicitly named in one of the first
lines Tár has in the movie (I think the second one) – and not for her ar-
tistry as such but as the first of four examples of women having made it
in conducting, so – according to Tar – no further special support of fe-
male conductors is necessary anymore. It seems therefore not only to
be expected but even appropriate if Alsop’s response focuses entirely on
that aspect; she was directly challenged – it’s almost a bait.
I would be interested in other people’s views of this fascinating movie.
It’s a highly complex character study, and as such very well made. As a
sidenote, I was surprised how much German dialogue during the rehe-
arsal scenes was left unsubtitled (Cate Blanchett’s umlaute are excellent,
by the way).
(L) Completely disagree with your first point. Even if Tar is off the
mark in her treatment of the student--frankly, I don’t think she
is, much--and wrong, *he* is desperately wrong and fucked up
himself. “I don’t have time for ‘cis male composers’ like JSB”? Stay
the hell away from music, schmuck! Thus I don’t view this sce-
ne as a synecdoche for her devious and ultimately disintegrating
character.
161
to be a devious character who manipulates (often vulnerable) people,
destroys careers (to the extent of driving people to suicide) and schemes
and lies all the time. So in a way the student is vindicated by the entire
rest of the movie, and one could argue that Tár has to stress the divisi-
on of art and artist (or better artistic and private persona) for otherwi-
se she could – at least subconsciously – never look into the mirror.
Secondly, at its heart this is not a film about music (although the “Death
in Venice” context of Mahler 5 provides interesting associations). We
never really get a meaningful picture of Tár’s artistry; those few clips of
at most 30 seconds during rehearsals are not enough to warrant that, as
much as some have talked about her funny conducting technique. Ulti-
mately we have to believe that she is a great conductor, it is not demon-
strated – and probably rightly so. (This reminds me of McClary’s argu-
ment that the better composers never included the song that gets Orfeo
back Eurydice in their operas – they knew that any attempt to realise
the divine music that swayed the gods would inevitably disappoint, so
they only had someone reporting about it. Only secondary composers
tried setting it, and their efforts did indeed always disappoint). The fo-
cus is entirely on the downfall of a complex and deeply flawed character
– her being a celebrated artist is “just” the backdrop for that, and the
rehearsal scenes part of the outline of her personality/character rather
than her artistry.
Finally, much has been made of Marin Alsop’s critique of the film, na-
mely that the first big movie about a female conductor does her gender
a disservice by making its main character a female equivalent of some-
one like James Levine. Yet Alsop is explicitly named in one of the first
lines Tár has in the movie (I think the second one) – and not for her ar-
tistry as such but as the first of four examples of women having made it
in conducting, so – according to Tar – no further special support of fe-
male conductors is necessary anymore. It seems therefore not only to
be expected but even appropriate if Alsop’s response focuses entirely on
that aspect; she was directly challenged – it’s almost a bait.
I would be interested in other people’s views of this fascinating movie.
It’s a highly complex character study, and as such very well made. As a
sidenote, I was surprised how much German dialogue during the rehe-
arsal scenes was left unsubtitled (Cate Blanchett’s umlaute are excellent,
by the way).
(L) Completely disagree with your first point. Even if Tar is off the
mark in her treatment of the student--frankly, I don’t think she
is, much--and wrong, *he* is desperately wrong and fucked up
himself. “I don’t have time for ‘cis male composers’ like JSB”? Stay
the hell away from music, schmuck! Thus I don’t view this sce-
ne as a synecdoche for her devious and ultimately disintegrating
character.
161
