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Franco tells all

August 29, 2008 By

An afternoon with Zeffirelli in the garden of his Roman villa, a stone's throw from the Cinecitta studios, brought back memories of a bygone age when directors flitted easily from opera to film and back. Franco was brought into the business by his lover Luchino Visconti but soon cut a dash in his own right. He talks to me uninhibitedly about growing up a bastard, fighting with the partisans, seeing Mussolini hung in the piazza and making his mark on showbiz with Maria Callas, Jesus of Nazareth, … [Read more...]

08/29/08 9:49 AM | filed under: main |

In a critical condition (5)

August 27, 2008 By

When the versatile writer Alan Brien died in May this year, obituarists reminded us that he was the first person to be hired in 1960 by the new-founded Sunday Telegraph, in the post of drama critic. 'On this we can build,' the editor is supposed to have declared as, around Brien, he formed a team of witty, incisive and never-too-sententious Sunday writers. Couldn't happen now, I hear you say. No paper would ever construct itself around an arts critic, and no critic could ever … [Read more...]

08/27/08 5:37 PM | filed under: Uncategorized |

Getting brought to book

August 8, 2008 By

A nice journalist on The Scotsman rings up to say his editor is banging on about well-known authors, me included, whose events have not sold out at next week's Edinburgh Book Festival. 'Give us a chance, guv!' I cry. 'I haven't got on the train yet or done a stroke of publicity. By three pm next Tuesday, they'll be banging down the doors of my yurt.' Just in case any of you are going to be in Ed next Tuesday, do drop in. Here's the … [Read more...]

08/8/08 4:03 PM | filed under: main |

In a critical condition (4)

August 6, 2008 By

Twenty years ago, I got taken to a convention of music critics in Washington DC. Isaac Stern depped as keynote speaker for a sick Lenny Bernstein and the atmosphere was chummy and convivial until the session was thrown open to the floor and the gripes began flowing thick and fast. 'My editor wants me to interview pop stars,' complained one critic from the midwest. 'My review space has been cut to 300 words,' grouched another. 'My boss has never been to a concert in his … [Read more...]

08/6/08 12:38 PM | filed under: main |

Brigitte Fassbender tells it how it really is

August 1, 2008 By

Few singers have been subject to more idle gossip than the wondrous German mezzo, now a theatre intendant. In Monday's Lebrecht Interview, she speaks out for the first time about the real Brigitte. Catch it here http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/lebrechtinterview/   and if you check in before Monday night you can still catch Steve Reich talking about the importance of being Jewish. … [Read more...]

08/1/08 2:26 PM | filed under: main |

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