Metanoia
A film by Paul Smaczny
Filmed 2021
Excerpts of performances by Manon Galy, Ensemble K and Sequenza 9.3 conducted by Simone Menezes
Region: All
ACCENTUS MUSIC ACC20550 DVD [81]
This is a documentary which tells the story of the concept behind an album of the same name, which was released at the start of 2022 (ACC30567). It wasn’t reviewed on this site, possibly because any potential reviewer would have found the seemingly random content (see below) an unappealing prospect. It would seem that it is the purpose of this documentary, released eight months after the album, to explain what connects these apparently unconnected works. On that basis, it would seem to have been far more sensible to have released the documentary and album at the same time, possibly in the same package, because it is asking a lot of a purchaser to spend £20 on a CD with a runtime of 51 minutes, and then another £30 on the DVD (or £40 for the Blu-ray).
But I am getting ahead of myself, because if you are like me, the word metanoia is probably unfamiliar to you. According to the driving force behind the album and documentary, Brazilian conductor Simone Menezes, it means “beyond intellect”, and that it “invites us to transformation and elevation”. That didn’t help me much, so I consulted a dictionary: it said “a change in one’s outlook”. We are invited on a journey around Italy to explore the aspects of music that transcend the intellect (or at least that is how I have interpreted it).
In her introduction in the booklet (which is basically the same as for the CD), Menezes cites a quote from Arvo Pärt “the most sensitive instrument is the human soul” as being key to her musical outlook, and that the “the values of authenticity, identity and truth” were fundamental. Were you to ask any professional musician whether these values were important to them, I’d be surprised if any said no.
The film is best described as a series of conversations between Menezes and a number of people, mostly creatives including Sir Antonio Pappano, in some beautiful historic Italian settings, with Menezes adding her own commentary. The conversations are very philosophical in nature, connecting music to spirituality, painting, movement of the body and so on. Excerpts of music from the CD, performed in some of the settings, are woven in through the conversations. Menezes is clearly very passionate about these topics, and that in itself is a real positive for the film, as she is an engaging and attractive presence on screen. However, is it enough to carry the whole eighty minutes?
I don’t intend to provide a description of each scene, because if your interest and wallet are sufficiently stimulated, then you will want to see them for yourself. However, to help you make such a judgement, let me outline a few sections.
Arvo Pärt’s In spe is performed in the Brancacci Chapel in Florence, illustrating a discussion of introspection and spirituality with Leipzig-based painter Michael Triegel. In the beautiful walled Lombardy town of Sabbonieta, we meet a group of young dancers and their choreographer Valerio Longo in the Teatro all’Antica. Following a conversation about the importance of body movement in music, and how it has been lost to an extent, we have a performance of Borodin’s Polovtsian Dances (in a very unconvincing, overly saccharine instrumental arrangement for chamber ensemble). Towards the end, the dancers move among the players, swaying and twisting to underline the topic of the conversation. In each of these, we do get a fairly good proportion of the music performed without interruption, but that isn’t always the case.
One section was filmed in the room of the Santa Maria della Grazie in Milan which holds da Vinci’s The Last Supper. Triegel talks to Menezes about Renaissance art and its influence on music, and the conversation makes its way to Bach, and how he and da Vinci are so alike. At this point, I assumed that this was going to lead into the performance of Bach’s Sarabande, which is on the album, but no, the next scene is the two continuing their conversation in the garden outside the chapel, and then Triegel is gone and we are in Sabbonieta with the dancers and Borodin.
The film concludes with two sections using music from Ennio Morricone’s soundtrack for The Mission, which was not included on the CD (despite there being at least thirty minutes of unused space).
The CD was recorded in March 2021, and the film was probably made during the summer of the same year (lots of mask-wearing people in the background). I have no way of knowing whether the film was an afterthought or an integral part of the concept from the start. The cinematography is very good, the subtitling clear and the sound quality is excellent.
I was drawn to request this for review because it was a film about music, but also by the trailer which you can see on
Youtube. Looking at it again, after having watched the film, the music, scenery, art and architecture shown remain very alluring. However, it doesn’t prepare you for the amount of conversation. I am a documentary aficionado, and music ones in particular. I have seen some absolutely brilliant ones, but this isn’t one of them. By way of comparison, Yo-Yo Ma’s The Music of Strangers also mixes beautiful locations, music performances and plenty of conversations about music – it is one of the best films I have seen. With Metanoia, the music, performed very well it must be said, and the beautiful settings don’t compensate for a story that didn’t hold my interest. Nor was I encouraged to purchase the album as I remain unconvinced that the programme would work as a purely listening exercise.
David Barker
Music (CD)
Puccini - Messa di Gloria (excerpts)
Pärt - In spe
Bach - Sarabande from Partita No. 1 for solo violin
Villa-Lobos - Prelude from Bachianas Brasileiras No. 4
Borodin - Polovtsian Dances
Other music on documentary
Morricone – The Mission (excerpts)
