Howard Goodall's Great Dates, Music Behind the Scenes & Armadillo

This column first appeared in the Age on October 19, 2002

Having just returned from the land of musicals, and still tapping my toes after seeing the latest Bollywood hit, Kabhi Khusi Kabhie Gham (Sometimes Happiness, Sometimes Tears) anything that gets you moving is fine by me. And for the musically inclined it's been a busy week, what with the Aria's live from Homebush last Tuesday, complete with alcohol to encourage the rock n' roll vibe. It felt like a pseudo vibe, really, if you buy the argument on Howard Goodall's Great Dates (Sunday night, 9.30pm) that music is a direct product of its time, place, culture and politics. As those who saw last week's episode, Wagner, 1874 will know, Wagner's music was informed by philosophy and the architecture, among other things and went on, ingloriously, to inspire Nazism. This week, it is the gorgeousness of Mozart in 1791, and music that was fermented during the French Revolution.

It is Wagner, according to Goodall, who developed the Leif motif that has so informed movie music. You know what I mean: bad guy coming is indicated by rising jittery music; light happy music lets us know the girly love interest is trilling down the road, and swelling deep music is reserved for our hero. If you want to know more about that kind of thing watch Music Behind the Scenes on Sunday at 2pm which looks at the way music has become integral to movie making. Last week's episode (the first) looked at the history of music for love scenes. This weeks it suspense and the movies looked at include Chinatown, The Godfather and Halloween.

What sets Howard Goodall's Great Dates apart from the pack is not just his subjects, it is Goodall himself. His awkward walk undercuts any attempt to create him as a man in need of swelling music. He's more the comic relief, with the accompanying 'uh oh' music to indicate dorkdom. Last week he explained to us how music was put together in Wagner's day as if it were a crepe - 3 basic ingredients, flour egg and water, which is then made syrupy and sweet with cream, chocolate and jam. He then scoffed it, metaphor and all. This week he sets out to explain musical structure by taking some theatrical train journeys to a place called D Minor.

One of my favourite performers, Babba Maal opens the credits on Armadillo, a 3-part thriller that started last Sunday (ABC, 8.30pm) and is based on William Boyd's bestselling novel. It has a hot cast - James Frian, Stephen Rea and James Fox, but the real star of the show is the appallingly good Hugh Bonneville. You don't usually expect African music to lead into a gritty British crime piece, or the recurrence of the song 'Nature Boy', which becomes Insurance Loss Adjustor Lorimer Black's Leif motif. But there is a lot about this series that is unexpected and it makes a nice change from straight realism. Unfortunately, it stops short of having dance numbers.

Posted by Sophie at 09:58 AM