Anticipating MATMO
I continued to stay home as much as possible trying hard to shake off the flu, making only one exception by attending the lunch in celebration of a brother’s Silver Wedding Anniversary on National Day, but skipping another dinner appointment on Thursday. I also went for groceries shopping, as far away as Taste at Kowloon Tong. In the meantime, I had tried various concoctions which had worked on me in the past, but the symptoms and the discomfort lingered on, albeit not severely.
On Thursday, just after breakfast, we had an urgent delivery which turned out to be a second-hand vinyl of the 1960 musical version of Camelot featuring Richard Burton as King Arthur and Julie Andrews as Queen Guenevere, based on lyrics by Alan Lerner and music by Federick Loewe, and staged produced by Moss Hart. The vinyl was also billed as an Original Broadway Cast Recording and labelled as such on the cover. In an instant, I recalled that Su had ordered the merchandise from Amazon just a week ago when, at night, we were listening to the 1967 film version vinyl recoded by Richard Harris and Vanessa Redgrave, based also on Lerner’s lyrics and Loewe’s music, produced by Jack Warner and directed by Joshua Logan. I remarked that I would like to compare the two recordings, and there and then, Su placed an order through her phone. Such is the power of the Internet!
Which recording is better? They are both very good and pleasant listening. In terms of artistry and musicology, they are almost indistinguishable, primarily because the same people did the lyrics and music. In terms of articulation and diction, operatic and inflections, I find the musical version marginally and slightly more pleasing to the ear, but Su likes the film version better. I quickly found an answer for my preference or maybe bias. I was given a cassette tape recording of the music in the early 80s which I placed in my car and played almost by reflex when driving. Later on, I acquired a CD of the same version which became one of the six discs in a standard audio set for cars. The recording on tape and on the CD were both the musical version and they had probably grown on me and I have become accustomed to the arrangement.
In any case, many of the people involved were no longer around. Both Richards had passed away, Burton in 1984 at 58 and Harris in 2002 at 72; Lerner passed away in 1986 at 67, Loewe in 1988 at 86; while Moss Hart went much earlier, in 1961 at 57. In contrast, the two Queens are still around. Julie Andrews has just turned 90, on 1 October 2025; on which evening TVB Pearl put on the full length 1963 feature film The Sound of Music, which Su and I watched to the end; and Vanessa Redgrave is now 88, both very much alive, agile and alert. In her second memoir – Home Work – published in 2019 by which time all five had long gone, some longer, Julie Andrews made mention of her sadness over the passage of the five gentlemen, in particular of Moss Hart, during which time she was playing Guenevere in the Broadway musical. Such is life – one must live long to savor in full its sweetness and bitterness.
Still on Julie Andrews, she was interviewed recently and she said Edelweiss was special to her, for its musical beauty, describing it as a “glorious song” despite its apparent simplicity, and possessing “a deep and beautiful quality that she found compelling.” It was also significant because it was the final song written by the legendary lyricist, Oscar Hammerstein, who passed away in 1960, shortly after the Broadway production opened in 1959. I mentioned the music from The Sound of Music in my autobiography as part and parcel of the elements during my formative years, and they are still very much dear to me. Similarly, Su had found the film and the music special, even though she had not seen the film in cinemas, she was then too young and not in Hong Kong yet. It does seem that the universality inherent in some songs or music tend to and indeed could connect people of different ages and from different cultures.
This brings me to a subject I discussed with Su this morning, which was whether she would support me working on a sequel. Without much thoughts, apparently, she said no, and went on to explain. First, we still had a stock of the books in our storage. Secondly, many friends who had paid for or acquired the book had not read it or even begun reading. Thirdly, unlike Obama or even Boris Johnson, very few people would have an interest in the life of someone so common and ordinary. She then told me that my friend Philip CHEN Nan-lok had recently published a book on his recent safari trip with beautiful pictures and professionally put together that she had almost bought a copy. She went on to give other reasons that were not quite publishable for which reason I would spare you of them.
Even as I am typing away, the T3 was up in anticipation of MATMO gaining force and becoming more powerful. Su had assured me earlier that we had sufficient stock to last us for the weekend, whatever happened.
But let me wind up for now.
