I love the sheer
effrontery of his vision. I love the lush colouring of his work. I love the Renaissance
sounds that go with his Baroque shots. But I don’t
love Peter Greenaway. He is one of those great artistic people I’m supposed to
love, I want to love, but I just don’t.
There are moments in The Draughtsman’s Contract that seduce
me aesthetically. But aesthetically is not enough. If it is sexual, it has to
look, smell, feel sexual.
Having said that. The
soundtrack to that film, composed by Michael Nyman (Greenaway’s frequent collaborator),
is just astonishing. I don’t need the
film to enjoy the classical intensity of the strings and the brass that sound
like Henry Purcell resurrected for the 20th century. “The
Disposition Of The Linen” is my personal favourite, but it’s something else I will
post here.
Why? Only because of the picture that goes with the piece. It’s a special kind of picture
for me, and at some point I’m going to write a lengthy and very personal post
about it, but in the meantime…
