Nodame Cantabile - a bright star in classical music
Since my original post about Nodame Cantabile was entirely in Russian and many English-speaking readers would like to read it, I decided to write about this interesting series again - this time in English.
I came across Nodame Cantabile by accident. I think I’ve seen in somewhere in Livejournal and it caught my eye immediately. The picture was rather unusual - it was a girl playing a piano. I thought it was really unusual. I’ve never seen any cartoons connected with music in Russian or English (at least I don’t remember anything like that). So I started digging.
At first I thought that this whole manga was written by some kind of a musician turned comic-writer, but it was not the case. A very talented lady Tomoko Ninomiya was actually an accomplished manga creator, when she got an idea to write about musical school. She saw a picture of some girl’s apartment that was really messy and created this magical character - a talented, eccentric and slovenly girl, who is a gifted pianist. Then came an aspiring conductor and all the other incredible characters.
I should say that I was relatively new to anime and sometimes I found the style a bit strange and not really understandable, but later I got hooked and watched the animation and live-action adaptations of the manga.
The story was romantic and exciting. But what impressed me even more was the attention to musical details. Being an opera singer myself and working as a director of an young opera theatre Russian Opera I am closely connected with international musical life and I was surprised to see how well the authors managed to represent all the small things that make classical music great. It was done in a very nice way with great respect to the music.
Recently, I took part in a Russian talk-show “Culture Revolution” where many professionals discussed the modern state of opera. The main question was - Should we modernize the opera? Do we need to make it hip and trendy to attract younger viewers? Some singers said that directors today make classical operas a little too modern, create performances with flying singing monkeys, Red Army soldiers and God knows what else only to shock the audience. I personally think that this is a horrible way to go. You can and you should make experiments, but you have to respect the original, you have to understand the music to make it all work and portray and incredible power of the composer’s vision. Same is true for classical music in general. And this is where Nodame Cantabile does everything right. It’s a great example of a very intriguing and smart experiment that still makes you wait for every note and cry sincerely after every great piece.
I guess as a manga Nodame Cantabile was more of a reading experience, it was more a story, rather than anything else. But after it became and animation it turned into an incredible educational project. It’s not just entertaining. It gives you an understanding of how does an orchestra work, how much do you need to study to succeed, how difficult competitions can be and all those things. It gives people not familiar with works of classical composers, an opportunity to hear some of the best pieces of music in the world. And there was lot of music written by Russian composers too. Great!
I am truly surprised that this show became a huge hit on television. Its nice to know that young people today see the power of classical music and are willing to learn more about it. I just feel sorry, that many people still haven’t really heard of Nodame Cantabile. It’s a shame really, go and watch it right away! I’m also a little disappointed that TV-producers in Russia, Europe or USA don’t see the potential in classical music, as much as their Japanese colleagues.
I hope that someday I’ll be fortunate enough to see a live adaptation or an anime based on the opera-arc in Nodame Cantabile. And my congratulations to Tomoko Ninomiya on having a baby! Many thanks to all Nodame fans and all the fans of classical music and opera out there for supporting this show.
I came across Nodame Cantabile by accident. I think I’ve seen in somewhere in Livejournal and it caught my eye immediately. The picture was rather unusual - it was a girl playing a piano. I thought it was really unusual. I’ve never seen any cartoons connected with music in Russian or English (at least I don’t remember anything like that). So I started digging.
At first I thought that this whole manga was written by some kind of a musician turned comic-writer, but it was not the case. A very talented lady Tomoko Ninomiya was actually an accomplished manga creator, when she got an idea to write about musical school. She saw a picture of some girl’s apartment that was really messy and created this magical character - a talented, eccentric and slovenly girl, who is a gifted pianist. Then came an aspiring conductor and all the other incredible characters.
I should say that I was relatively new to anime and sometimes I found the style a bit strange and not really understandable, but later I got hooked and watched the animation and live-action adaptations of the manga.
The story was romantic and exciting. But what impressed me even more was the attention to musical details. Being an opera singer myself and working as a director of an young opera theatre Russian Opera I am closely connected with international musical life and I was surprised to see how well the authors managed to represent all the small things that make classical music great. It was done in a very nice way with great respect to the music.
Recently, I took part in a Russian talk-show “Culture Revolution” where many professionals discussed the modern state of opera. The main question was - Should we modernize the opera? Do we need to make it hip and trendy to attract younger viewers? Some singers said that directors today make classical operas a little too modern, create performances with flying singing monkeys, Red Army soldiers and God knows what else only to shock the audience. I personally think that this is a horrible way to go. You can and you should make experiments, but you have to respect the original, you have to understand the music to make it all work and portray and incredible power of the composer’s vision. Same is true for classical music in general. And this is where Nodame Cantabile does everything right. It’s a great example of a very intriguing and smart experiment that still makes you wait for every note and cry sincerely after every great piece.
I guess as a manga Nodame Cantabile was more of a reading experience, it was more a story, rather than anything else. But after it became and animation it turned into an incredible educational project. It’s not just entertaining. It gives you an understanding of how does an orchestra work, how much do you need to study to succeed, how difficult competitions can be and all those things. It gives people not familiar with works of classical composers, an opportunity to hear some of the best pieces of music in the world. And there was lot of music written by Russian composers too. Great!
Click to viewI am truly surprised that this show became a huge hit on television. Its nice to know that young people today see the power of classical music and are willing to learn more about it. I just feel sorry, that many people still haven’t really heard of Nodame Cantabile. It’s a shame really, go and watch it right away! I’m also a little disappointed that TV-producers in Russia, Europe or USA don’t see the potential in classical music, as much as their Japanese colleagues.
I hope that someday I’ll be fortunate enough to see a live adaptation or an anime based on the opera-arc in Nodame Cantabile. And my congratulations to Tomoko Ninomiya on having a baby! Many thanks to all Nodame fans and all the fans of classical music and opera out there for supporting this show.