Friday, April 14
Abridged Beethoven? I Don't Think So! "Speed kills. That used to refer to the dangers of driving too fast, and sometimes to the drug. Now it more ominously refers to the unhealthy pace at which we live our lives, coerced by rampaging technology into cramming as much as possible into our waking hours. This isn't good for an individual's well-being. But even if you're indifferent to everyone's need for a little wa, the bean counter in you should appreciate this: It's also counterproductive." Wired 04/13/06
Posted: 04/14/2006 7:08 am
Is Boredom Good For Kids? Sure, If You're An Adult. "Parents worry a lot about keeping their children entertained. In the holiday season especially, the thought process goes: we are a lot older than their fun little friends, plus we both have a hangover. Must entertain little bleeders. Must entertain and improve. In fact, you could not be more wrong. According to research by Dr Richard Ralley, a psychology lecturer at Edge Hill College in Ormskirk, Lancashire, boredom is valuable for children... What I would say, though, is that boredom is like olives, or antiques, or green vegetables, or black-and-white films. Children might get force-fed with boredom just in the run of things, and it might actively be good for children, but only adults will really appreciate it." The Guardian (UK) 04/14/06
Posted: 04/13/2006 9:27 pm
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Italy Wrestles With Artifact Theft Italy has a huge antiquities theft problem. "In an average week, carabinieri fly helicopters over archaeological sites taking aerial photographs to reveal illegal diggings. They go on offshore dives to prevent unauthorized underwater excavations. Still other officers in their stylish black-and-red uniforms show up unannounced at antique shops, auction houses and outdoor markets, to videotape items for sale to match against the more than 2.5 million missing objects cataloged in the art squad's vast database." OpinionJournal.com 04/10/06
Posted: 04/14/2006 9:03 am
An Artist Too Big For A Retrospective? Retrospectives are the traditional and accepted means for taking a comprehensive career look at a major artist. But what happens if an artist's output proves too big to be contained by a retrospective? Eric Gibson argues that sculptor David Smith is one such artist... Wall Street Journal 04/13/06
Posted: 04/14/2006 6:31 am
Is BritArt Regressing Into The Future? One of the most anticipated contemporary art moments of the year arrived this week in the UK, when Marc Quinn's much-ballyhooed sculpture of supermodel Kate Moss was unveiled. And that, says Jonathan Jones, should tell us all we need to know about the state of contemporary art in Britain. "After all the sensations, after the brilliant careers and after the fire, we have arrived by some cyclical divine joke in 18th-century London, where portraiture is god and the leading artists of the day compete to depict [celebrities.]" The Guardian (UK) 04/14/06
Posted: 04/13/2006 9:23 pm
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Boston Station Expands Classical Programming We hear about classical music dying on radio. But Boston's WGBH is expanding its classical music offerings. The station is launch a new high-definition station to offer more classical music programming... Boston Globe 04/14/06
Posted: 04/14/2006 9:09 am
Will Downloading Revive The Single And Destroy The Album? Not too long ago, music journalists and industry observers were speculating that the music single was on its way out, and that no one bought anything but full-length albums anymore, anyway. But now, with downloading accounting for an ever-increasing chunk of music sales, the opposite may wind up being true. "As downloading becomes universal, the singles charts (for too long in thrall to the marketing power of record companies and tastes of teenagers) will once more start to reflect the real listening experience of the general population." And with that change could come the death of the traditional album. The Telegraph (UK) 04/14/06
Posted: 04/13/2006 9:50 pm
This Is Why We Have Intermissions The BBC made international headlines when it announced that it would broadcast Wagner's complete "Ring" cycle in a single day. But how many people could actually stand to sit through such a thing, even in the comfort of their own home? One London critic decided to give it a go, and did just fine for the first seven hours or so. Then, well... "Whimper. Make the nasty music go away, mummy! ... This is apocalyptic, disturbing stuff, and it's rolling madly around in my head." The Guardian (UK) 04/14/06
Posted: 04/13/2006 9:14 pm
Renewal Begins With A Brief Exile Russia's St. Petersburg Philharmonic will be playing a reduced home schedule and increasing its touring beginning this July, as the city's premiere concert hall closes for a major renovation. "The renovation is all the more challenging now that the [music director Yuri Temirkanov] has just removed the company’s executive director Vladimir Gronsky. The Philharmonic hasn’t had much luck with its managers, having changed three directors over the past ten years, with all of them being forced to resign before the end of their contracts." St. Petersburg Times (Russia) 04/14/06
Posted: 04/13/2006 8:17 pm
Gergiev Wants To Conduct The LSO, Not Control It Russian conductor Valery Gergiev will take the reins of the London Symphony Orchestra next January, and anticipation is building in Britain's capital city. But what does Gergiev plan to do with his new toy? Well, for one thing, he plans to explore some of the Russian music that has fallen out of fashion since the collapse of the Soviet Union. But more importantly, he won't "pretend to take the orchestra to other planets" and would hope "never to block a truly artistic statement" from any musician. Gergiev seems particularly sensitive to the burnout that some music directors face with the world's great orchestras as a result of fundraising and gladhanding duties, and stresses that he wants his relationship with the LSO to be "purely musical." The Guardian (UK) 04/14/06
Posted: 04/13/2006 8:00 pm
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KC PAC Is Finally A Go After much debate and delay, the board behind the proposed $326 million performing arts center in Kansas City has decided to break ground on the project this fall, despite being somewhat short of initial fundraising goals. The Kansas City Symphony, which will be one of the center's primary tenants, celebrated the decision. Kansas City Star 04/14/06
Posted: 04/13/2006 8:38 pm
- Previously: Big Week For KC PAC Kansas City's long-planned (and long-delayed) $326 million performing arts center faces a major turning point this week, when the center's board will have to decide whether to break ground this year, despite having less money in the bank than they would like. Kevin Collision says that successful cities are those that recognize and leverage their civic assets, and that the center could be the centerpiece of a rebirth for Kansas City's urban core. Kansas City Star 04/11/06
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Amis Pens Story Of 9/11 Hijacker's Final Days Novelist Martin Amis, never one to shy away from controversy, may be facing another round of public disgust when his new collection of short stories is published this fall. "Once feted as the voice of his generation with novels such as Money, critics and the public alike seem to have taken great delight when [Amis] has faltered since." Clearly, controversy doesn't phase the author: among the tales Amis spins in his newest book is a fictionalized account of "the final movements of Mohamed Atta, the lead hijacker of the 11 September attacks." The Independent (UK) 04/14/06
Posted: 04/13/2006 9:36 pm
Salonen's Speculation Esa-Pekka Salonen has risen through the conducting ranks to become one of the world's most desired podium commodities. So why is he talking as if he'd like to scale back the stick-waving and concentrate full-time on his composing? (Here's a hint: wildcat strikes at the Opera de Paris have been known to make lots of folks contemplate a career change...) Bloomberg News 04/13/06
Posted: 04/13/2006 7:49 pm
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"Producers" To Hit Vegas A year ago Las Vegas was being talked up as the new Broadway as high-profile shows opened in fancy theatres built for them. It hasn't exactly worked out as planned. But producers of "The Producers" are still eager to give the Silver State a try with a 90-minute version of the Broadway hit. "The intermissionless Las Vegas version of the musical, which has a book by Brooks and Thomas Meehan and a score by Brooks, will be directed and choreographed by Susan Stroman, who also supervised the original stage production." Backstage 04/14/06
Posted: 04/14/2006 7:00 am
Leave Spacey Alone! Apparently, not every critic in the UK has it in for Kevin Spacey and his (perhaps) quixotic quest to revive the Old Vic. "Mr Spacey has used his energy to put on original work in a theatre which has daunted directors for decades. He should be thanked for it rather than moaned at." The Guardian (UK) 04/14/06
Posted: 04/13/2006 9:20 pm
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Canadian Government Stops Talk By Scientist/Novelist Canada's Environment minister has blocked a talk by a leading government environmental scientist about his novel. The book "is set in the not-too-distant future when global warming has made many parts of the world too hot to live in and has prompted a war between Canada and the U.S. over water resources." CBC 04/14/06
Posted: 04/14/2006 6:28 am
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Opus Dei Asks Sony For Da Vinci Code Disclaimer Opus Dei, the Catholic order portrayed in "The Da Vinci Code" as murderers, have asked Sony to issue a disclaimer that its forthcoming movie is "entirely fictional." "Such a decision by Sony would be an expression of respect toward Jesus Christ, the history of the Church and the religious beliefs of viewers." Bloomberg.com 04/14/06
Posted: 04/14/2006 6:39 am
Smelled Any Good Movies Lately? Japanese cinemas are adding smell to their theatres. "Seven fragrances will waft from machines under back row seats during historical adventure The New World. A floral smell will accompany love scenes, with a mixture of peppermint and rosemary for tear-jerking moments. Cinemas across the country will be able to download programmes to control various sequences of fragrances for other upcoming films." BBC 04/14/06
Posted: 04/14/2006 6:26 am
Have All The Original Films Been Done? Is it true that all the movie ideas have been taken and that "all of the great artistic statements have been made, and today’s artists are capable only of rehashing what was done in the past?" Dan Brown disagrees: "It saddens me that there are people who actually believe originality is over. The necessary corollory to that line of thought, of course, is that we should simply give up making films and every other kind of art. But I think this is all just a smokescreen..." London Free Press 04/14/06
Posted: 04/14/2006 4:46 am
Muppets Are Coming For Your Infants "Two weeks ago, that international cartel for salubrious children's entertainment [known as Sesame Workshop] introduced 'Sesame Beginnings,' a series of half-hour DVD's aimed at children 6 months to 2 years old. The content of the programs is innocuous and even enjoyable — a rainbow coalition of real and Muppet parents and babies loving on each other... The fact that these DVD's exist at all, however, has incensed a clan of Boston-area child-health experts... who are determined not to let an absence of conclusive research get in the way of their conviction that television is noxious to developing minds." Virginia Heffernan thinks all the fuss more than a bit absurd. The New York Times 04/14/06
Posted: 04/13/2006 8:11 pm
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Chronicling A Balletic Legacy One of London's leading dance critics has penned an authoritative history of the UK's Royal Ballet, and among the pleasant surprises along the way was the realization that she was researching a living history. "The Royal Ballet's comparative youth means it's possible to speak to people who were there in its earliest years... And it was an extraordinary generation. Besides Fonteyn and Nureyev, it had the elegant, perfectly matched Antoinette Sibley and Anthony Dowell, the sharply musical Merle Park. It had the potently dramatic Lynn Seymour, the muse of the company's second defining choreographer, Kenneth MacMillan." The Independent (UK) 04/14/06
Posted: 04/13/2006 9:44 pm
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