Topic: TN: Night and Dreams with NDN
Author: Murray, Aus
Date: Wed Sep 5 16:38:59 2001
A nice gentle spring night and my mind meanders through the mire of mental musings of the menial, so to alleviate the illiterate and elevate the alliterate I think of inviting TGD’s Next Door Neighbour to lighten the night.

NDN arrives bottle in hand and we sit, bottles before us. He enquires, as always, of my health “I’m fine” I say. He responds “That’s nice, and tell me, in what way are you fine?”

The question hangs as I open his bottle and pour the wine. On smelling the wine I admire the rich old citrus and just a hint of kerosene that can define an aged Australian Riesling. The palate carries through the flavours, with a lift at the back palate. “There’s a nice lift here” I say, NDN says “Yes, a good wine can give you a lift; like a good dream, tell me more about your dreams”. I think that I’m dreaming about having more of this delicious 1995 Delatite Riesling from Victoria, but also considered that it is already showing plenty of development, and probably should be drunk over the next couple of years. NDN notes a hint of almond there on the palate, I agree there’s a bit of that about.

The other wine is poured gently into the glasses. The aroma indicates the potential for an oily character, but it’s not slick on the palate. It reflects a cool climate, which NDN confirms in a climate of cool. The green bottle and yellow label give it away as a Hugel wine. With the citrus/spice and hint of barnyard it certainly reflects it’s Alsatian roots; as opposed to an Alsatian bark, but perhaps that was merely a Labrador’s growl.

Some wine is spilt on the tablecloth, the spreading stain metamorphisising from an angel to a violin; an Amati reproduction, 1635; (Amati taught Stradivari how to make them), through to a screeching Banshee from the Pit of Despair. I mopped the spreading stain up.

“This Hugel wine is Gentil”, I muttered, “yes is it fairly gentle”, said NDN, “Sorry; a wine for fair gentiles?” said I. “No! Well, perhaps yes”, said NDN quite coolly. “It’s the 1998 Hugel ‘Gentil’”, I said, “is there any reason for your sangfroid?”

“Sang Freud?” said NDN in surprise.

There was a pause, then pours, then paws. “Pup; outside” I said to the caramel coloured furry object chewing the table. Our musings continued.

The glasses were emptied and as NDN walked to the door I noted that his emerging beard gave him an appearance reminiscent of one of the Fathers of Psychiatry.

We discussed that wine tasting with friends was good therapy, and with NDN heading back to his own version of reality he lost his footing for a moment on the back steps.

I think it was a Freudian slip.

Murray

Distinguished Tenor Gerald English performs Night and Dreams, a work especially written for him by composer Andrew Ford, as part of the 2001 Melbourne Festival. This work is described as “a dark and hypnotic, yet frequently very funny work about the last days of Sigmund Freud.” Following successful seasons in Sydney and Adelaide, Night and Dreams is being performed as part of this year’s Festival at Theatreworks in St. Kilda from 28th to 30th October. For further on this and the other Festival performances see the Melbourne Festival website.
posted with permission of board owner