14 書香人生 B O O K S & R E V I E W S SUNDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2009 • TAIPEI TIMES Hardcover: UK Classical DVD reviews The long day wanes

Inez Hollander examines her family’s tragic history in Indonesia and places it against the background of how Dutch society has dealt with the loss of its empire

By BRADLEY WINTERTON Contributing Reporter

or almost 400 years the former Dutch East Indies, Publication Notes F now Indonesia, attracted Europeans in search of escape, FALSTAFF KARAJAN BRAHMS — ANDRE RIEU LIVE AT THE TOSCA quick money, exotic color and Metropolitan Opera, New York THE SYMPHONIES ROYAL ALBERT HALL A film by Benoit Jacquot easy sex, among other things. Plishka, Freni, Horne, Bonney, Herbert von Karajan Special Music Edition Gheorghiu, Alagna, Raimondi Levine Berlin Philharmonic Andre Rieu Studios KULTUR D4010 These imperial possessions DGM 73-345320 differed from British India DGM 73-43869 174 362-5 or French Indochina in being islands, and besotted and drunken Dutchmen, incapable of returning to a cold, gray Holland, stagger through the pages of Joseph Conrad and Somerset Maugham alike. The empire had been established in the 16th and 17th centuries on the spice trade, By Bradley Winterton moving on to coffee, and then, Contributing Reporter with the invention of the internal combustion engine, rubber. To SILENCED VOICES here was great excitement but he also delivers passionately at night in Windsor Forest. The leading the dancing in the aisles as the Dutch it was simply “Yava” By Inez Hollander among opera fans earlier committed renditions recorded with stage is ablaze with fireworks and arranged, and that the right kind of (Java), and during the 1860s its this year when the rumor hi-tech fidelity. And Brian Large has multi-colored lights, plus perhaps hilarity was going to take over at governor-general made twice 278 pages got around that Deutsche long been the one to beat for video 200 performers. just the appropriate moment. the salary of the president of the Ohio University Press Grammophon was about versions of live opera performances. This month I also much Lastly, this month I belatedly US, while its remittances home to issue the New York Nothing fails to please in this enjoyed the DGM DVD of Karajan discovered the DVD of Tosca in the constituted 34 percent of state Metropolitan Opera’s Falstaff from magnificent DVD. Plishka gives a conducting the Brahms symphonies film version from Benoir Jacquot. It revenues. By 1930 the region was T1992 on DVD. This was a legendary superb reading of Falstaff himself, with the Berlin Philharmonic back may not please purists — there are producing nearly half the world’s production, with such stars as as good an actor as he is vigorous in 1973, at the peak of his career. moments when the characters are rubber supply, and coffee was plans to return, a move agreed Mirella Freni, Marilyn Horne and a singer. Freni is unimprovable as The picture is highly traditional, heard speaking their words rather worth eight times its equivalent to at the Potsdam Conference Barbara Bonney, and Paul Plishka Alice Ford, and though Marilyn mostly Karajan himself in close- than singing them, and the church weight of oil. and supported on the ground in the title role. It duly appeared Horne is really too great an artist to up, plus various featured soloists, procession that normally concludes With the cheapness of by British soldiers (the actor in July, and confirmed the stellar undertake as modest a role as Mis- also in close-up, from time to time. Act One so memorably doesn’t servants, the warm climate, Dirk Bogarde was one of them). reputation of the performances it tress Quickly, she still enters into The sound, too, is slightly boxed- feature at all. But all in all I found it the un-Protestant attitude to Sukarno’s youthful supporters, records. the comic spirit of the occasion and in, but very forceful nonetheless. a powerful experience. the erotic and the chance of who he was unable to rein in, Other great names grace the gives her all. Bonney is sumptuous Karajan had the power to raise Antonio Pappano conducts the amassing a substantial fortune took to the streets of Surabaya enterprise. James Levine conducts, in the lovely music Verdi wrote for performances to an ever higher Royal Covent Garden orchestra in as little as 10 years, it felt in October, vowing to rid the Brian Large is in charge of the video Nannetta, while Frank Lopardo and level simply by his participation, and chorus in London’s famous like paradise, despite the heavy, city of the British and killing recording, and the stage production Bruno Pola are more than adequate and this plus the stature of Brahms’ Abbey Road studios, and you see languor-inducing humidity. By almost at random, though some is by Franco Zeffirelli. as Fenton and Ford, respectively. four ever-rich symphonies — none them from time to time, filmed in 1900 more than 200 Westerners Indonesians also tried to help Zeffirelli’s New York staging was Falstaff is a connoisseur’s piece, of them inferior to any of the others monochrome, and then return to the were arriving every week. their former colonizers. Many old even in 1992, but then that is the musically subtle with a quick-silver — makes this a very attractive set drama itself taking place in color. Many foreigners kept a local Chinese died, together with way with opera. New productions vitality far removed from the sturdy of two DVDs. Angela Gheorghiu proves far more concubine, popularly depicted around 200 occupants of the get created and run for maybe 10 melodramatics of Verdi’s middle Is Andre Rieu getting cynical, powerful as Tosca than you might in the literature of the day as ambushed trucks containing the performances over a month or years, wonderful though those are taken over ever so slightly by have expected, her voice more seducing her European catch by author’s relatives. so. When the time comes for a too. This sublime version does it his own organizational machine? mellow and rounded than previously. magic, and then poisoning the The British then bombarded revival of the opera with different justice in every way — as the New Universal Music in Taiwan has Roberto Alagna, too, is a very foreign bride who’d routinely the city from the sea, but the singers, there’s rarely a question York Times commented at the time, re-issued an old Rieu concert, Andre strong Cavaradossi, while Ruggero replace her. European males Dutch withdrew from the of commissioning new sets, let the entire undertaking represented Rieu Live at the Royal Albert Hall, Raimondi makes an openly sexual who failed to take advantage country anyway four years alone costumes — a notoriously “a milestone in the history of unavailable for the last four years. Scarpia. of this opportunity (with or later under American pressure. expensive business. And in the case operatic production in this city.” It’s Visually the concert is all colored Each act is slightly less good without “shrimp poisoning,” Conditions were such that few of Zeffirelli’s Falstaff, little would wonderful to have it available at last lights and tinted hair, a confection than the one before, but that’s the or syphilis) tended to hit the of the planters had returned to have been achieved. His name, after on DVD, with a BluRay option and of pink and blue. But even back case with Puccini’s original. Nothing bottle, though many ended up their estates. all, was a selling-point in itself. subtitles in Italian, English, German, then it was possible to catch a sober is as lovely as Act One where the embracing both options. None of this is taught in James Levine as conductor French, Spanish and Chinese. look is those ever-smiling eyes, as if impending tragedy is still mixed Yet today almost nothing is modern Dutch schools, says is also a huge asset. Not only The Zeffirelli production Rieu were carefully checking every- with the sense of possibility, and said in the Netherlands about Hollander. Students learn about is he unfailingly faithful to any climaxes, as all productions of this thing was going according to plan, the joyful hopes of young love, its colonial past, according to the Holocaust and Anne Frank, composer’s original intentions, opera must, in the last scene, set that the plants in the audience were before politics intervenes. US academic Inez Hollander. but not about the end of their On one level it’s become an country’s colonial experience. unexamined cliche that the Situations where events can Dutch were up to no good, be presented in black-and- and on another the debacle white terms, she says, are easy Hardcover: US that accompanied their final to teach. Those where blame departure in the 1940s — totally cannot be so easily attributed, different from the lack of British and that might tarnish something fatalities in India when engaged essentially worthy (such as in a similar operation during the Indonesian independence), are Taiwan marches to a different drummer same period — has been deemed by contrast bypassed. too grisly to reexamine. This sane and largely factual Hollander has determined to book makes no attempt to draw Rambling political machination gets in the way of logical argumentation in ‘The Second Long March’ look at the record more closely. up a moral balance sheet. The Many of her family had been in privileged lives of the colonizing By J. Michael Cole area” — nevertheless continued to Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) victory democracy, efforts that surely Java, and in Silenced Voices she Dutch, the cruelty of many STAFF REPORTER adhere to the ROC Constitution, Publication Notes in 2008 was a “severe warning” would take us closer to war in sets out to examine what remains of the occupying Japanese, Modern Chinese history, Yu which in his view has worked sent by the “majority” of voters in the Taiwan Strait than anything of their testimony, and place the random violence of some Peter Kien-hong argues, can be quite well in its “struggle” against the pan-blue camp “that the ROC the Lee and Chen administrations it against the background of a young Indonesian freedom divided into two defining periods the CCP. [i.e., Taiwan] cannot abandon ever did in the name of wider history. fighters — all are displayed, — the First Long March, led by While not shying away from mainland sovereignty.” We all Taiwanese independence. Toward She focuses on her great and sources cited. Indeed, the Communist leader Mao Zedong criticizing the Chiangs and Lee, know, of course, that the majority the book’s end, Yu himself admits grandfather’s brother who ran book’s greatest use to future (毛澤東) to “liberate peasants Yu shows his true political colors of people who voted for Ma that the CCP prioritizes its hold a remote coffee and rubber researchers may well be its and farmers,” and the Second in his description of Chen, whose did so because he promised to on power and only sees the plantation where he lived with his bibliography and footnotes. Long March, in which non- and election engendered a “political revive the economy and improve possibility of democracy “with wife and three children. When the I have some minor quibbles. anti-communists sought to mess plus scandals of one type or relations with Beijing, not because Chinese characteristics” at some Japanese invaded in January 1942 At one point the author wonders “promote full-fledged and mature another,” and who did a “terrible of some deep-felt desire to claim distant point in the future. He many of the Dutch thought they whether dressing young constitutional democracy” in China. job” as president. Yu’s problem, sovereignty over China. also ignores the impact that more were safer in the East than in European boys in what look to Yu, a professor at Ming Chuan however, is that in the 35 pages For all his opposition to Chen’s than 110 years of separate rule German-occupied Holland. How us like girls’ clothes was normal University, posits that Taiwan and he dedicates to the Chen march, efforts to create a Republic of has had on identity in Taiwan wrong they were to be proved. Of at the time or the result of her “mainland China” are both part he fails to show us why his Taiwan — which like the PRC and people’s desire to link their the family studied in this book, particular family’s paranoia. of the Republic of China (ROC). tenure was so terrible, relying on could arguably be seen as a destinies with a regime that, to only two of the five survived the In fact it was traditional, at Both Taiwan and the People’s the 2004 shooting incident — a “successor” of the ROC — Yu fails all, is an alien one. appalling events that soon began least among the middle classes. Republic of China (PRC), though favorite of deep blues in their to mention that in 1954 Beijing Sadly, the relatively simple to unfold. And, though a Dutch speaker, they have engaged in different, attacks on the former president adopted its own Constitution of — and by no means original The head of the family was she never learned Indonesian lesser marches since, are bound — to somehow make his point. The Second Long March: the People’s Republic of China, — theory at the core of The incarcerated first, on suspicion (Bahasa Indonesia) and by the same destiny, in the form Here, as in many books written by Struggling Against the Chinese which rather than draw from the Second Long March is marred by of making preparations for an didn’t visit the region when of the ROC Constitution, to KMT sympathizers, the pan-blue Communists Under the Republic ROC Constitution, is modeled damnably poor editing and the American invasion. He was undertaking her research. “reunite” at one point. As the ROC camp’s scorched earth tactics of China (Taiwan) Constitution after the Constitution of the author’s tendency to jump from interrogated and tortured by the Silenced Voices, though was never dissolved, the PRC is a in the legislature, which often Soviet Union, written in 1936. one point to another without any Kempeitai (KPT), Japan’s secret modest in its aims, has the derivative of, or partial successor prevented the executive from By Yu Peter Kien-hong We can therefore argue that the seeming connection between police, one of whose techniques virtue of bringing a neglected to, the ROC. In other words, it did governing, are papered over. 205 pages disconnect that obviated the ROC them, which is distracting and was a form of water-boarding. topic into the limelight, and of not completely replace the ROC, It is more likely, therefore, that Constitution was not caused by often confusing. Outrageous He died later, and was probably allowing private family archives meaning that it can only claim Yu’s unfavorable characterization Continuum the Taiwanese independence passages, such as his claim executed. Soon afterwards his and large-scale public history sovereignty over Taiwan as part of of Chen lies in the fact that the movement, but rather by that 650,000 natives of Taiwan wife and children were interned to throw light on one another. the ROC. latter was the leader who came the enactment of the PRC — or one-tenth of the population in abysmal conditions. They Even more, it succeeds in To make his point, Yu walks closest to abandoning the Constitution, the latest version of — were slaughtered by Imperial survived, but two of the children breaking what is apparently a us through the marches led by so-called Second March by under much different times in which was adopted in 1982. Yu Japanese forces during the were killed when their transport taboo in the Netherlands itself Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石), Yan forsaking the ROC Constitution 1947, it is possible to hope, as would be extremely naive if he colonial period (the figure is got caught up in armed violence — a country that, after decades Chia-kan (嚴家淦), Chiang Ching- in his efforts to create a Republic Yu does, that at some point in thought that “reunification” would closer to 30,000, according in Surabaya in 1945. of exceptional enlightenment, kuo (蔣經國), Lee Teng-hui (李登 of Taiwan (ROT). Doing so would future it will be possible for the occur under terms other than the to many experts, while only This final incident marks has recently exhibited a darker 輝) and Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), have destroyed, once and for all, two sides to “reunite.” As this is PRC’s — that is, under the ROC Chinese propaganda supports the most horrifying point in the face in matters related to race. arguing that despite great contests the theory — now on life support ostensibly Yu’s preferred scenario, framework he advocates. such numbers), serve to discredit narrative. Sukarno had declared You can’t help feeling that the of power and changing times, the — that “mainland China” and Chen’s pro-Taiwan ideology was Equally unpersuasive is Yu’s Yu and raise questions about Indonesian independence days sooner there’s a translation of leadership in Taiwan — which Taiwan are two parts of the ROC. therefore a threat. This prompts argument that the KMT should the intentions of his badly after the Japanese capitulation, this illuminating book into Dutch throughout the book the author As long as Taiwan adheres him into reminding us, though join forces with like-minded written, flawed and ultimately but the Dutch government had the better. annoyingly refers to as “Taiwan to the Constitution, written he is wrong, as it turns out, that elements in China in fostering full unconvincing his book.