This is the second of my Quick Thoughts/Short Takes series, this time a concert, a museum and some great eating.
Messiah…Refreshed! On a nasty, cold and rainy Sunday afternoon a couple of weeks ago, we attended the Distinguished Concerts Orchestra and Concerts Singers International performance of the Messiah at Carnegie Hall. Our seats were in the first row of the Dress Circle, a heart-stopping perch toward the top of the hall. I do not know enough about the various versions of this well-known piece to comment knowledgeably, but this one is based on a symphonic orchestration by Sir Eugene Goossens and apparently only recorded once—by the Royal Philharmonic. Along with the orchestra were four soloists—a soprano, a mezzo, a tenor, and a bass-baritone, and a huge composite choir comprised of singers and choirs from Hong Kong, Sweden, Australia, Kuwait, Canada, and elsewhere, as well as all over the U.S. Talk about the power of music to bring the world together! For the Hallelujah Chorus, singers fill several of the balconies as well as the stage and the entire audience stood and joined in. But not us—from our seats, there was no way we were standing up any more than we had to. A magnificent and joyous start to the holiday season.
Montreal Restaurants revisited. In any earlier post (see A few Montreal restaurants), I described a number of my favorite Montreal restaurants. A week or two ago I visited our daughter in Montreal and have a few additions to that list. It is a great restaurant town and undoubtedly, I could add to the list regularly without running out of great places to eat.
On Friday night, we had dinner at the bar at Nora Gray. I love eating at the bar–the subject of a longer piece yet to come. The food was well-executed, focused and just delicious. They have an strong list of mainly organic and biodynamic wines, small producers, a range of varietals. The great young guy behind the bar and his colleagues were engaging and extremely knowledgeable and thoughtful about the wine. We had a great time chatting with each other and with him, sharing some glasses and some wine stories, and enjoying some great “farm-to-table” food.
The next day, we met up for lunch at L’Express because, for the somewhat sentimental reasons I described earlier, no trip to Montreal is complete without at least one meal there. And the food is consistently good, on point, and satisfying.
That evening we had a late dinner reservation, so stopped first at the Pullman wine bar for a bottle of wine and a few small nibbles. The place is warm and welcoming, with a good list–a range of styles, prices, and varietals. Once again, the server was extremely knowledgeable. From our seats I could look longingly into the small, glassed in wine room. By the time we left, the place was jumping, but we had dinner ahead.
We met up with several of my daughter’s friends for dinner at Maison Publique, in the Plateau. The menu is a chalkboard and while there may be a wine list, it is not written anywhere we could find. But the servers steered us toward a couple of wines we really enjoyed, and the food—served family style as the dishes were ready—was spot on yet again. We ate and drank and talked happily and, I am delighted to report, helped close the place down.
Museum of Contemporary Art (“MAC”). Just so you don’t think all we did in Montreal was eat, we spent a wonderful Saturday afternoon at the MAC. In all the years I have been visiting the city, I am embarrassed to say this was my first visit to the MAC. We spent several hours immersed in art in various media—painting, photographs, film, and combinations of all of the above—and probably did not do them all justice. Particularly outstanding was a work by South African artist William Kentridge—video animation addressing apartheid and its aftermath comprised of a succession of continuously erased and reworked drawings on pages from the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary and set to music by South African musician Neo Muyanga, and a large room full of multiple screens displaying a series of almost 20 short films of Children’s Games (also the title of the work) from all over the world by Francis Alyss. He started the series in 1999 and continues to work on it. It is touching, joyous, and a bit melancholy. And somewhat overwhelming.
Next up: Lionel Loueke at Zankel Hall and Broadway Meets Bowery 2 at the Bowery Poetry Club. Plus a few books.
I also love eating at the bar. What is that about?
A longer response is required, but I think a conviviality that can be different than sitting at a table, and a sense of a shared experience which is also a bit different. When I started doing it very few places offered bar seating on a regular basis. Now it seems almost an exception not to see a bar set for a meal.