Gone are the days of experimenting with sound just for its own sake and calling it music. Now dissonance has to mean something. “Our generation was made to feel we had to come to grips with 12-tone music. We had a psychic investment in it. I have to say my students today don’t feel any such obligation. Back then we would have considered them yahoos. But my students have a lot of honesty.”
Month: August 2003
Venice Has Sunk Two Feet…
Venice has sunk 24 inches in 300 years, says a new study based on historic paintings. “The study, published in the latest issue of the journal Climatic Change, analyzed eight paintings by Giovanni Antonio Canal, nicknamed Canaletto, (1697-1768) and three by his lesser-known nephew Bernardo Bellotto (1720-1780). Both artists produced their paintings with the help of a portable camera obscura, a lens that projects images onto sketch pads. The trick, described by Leonardo da Vinci 250 years earlier, enabled them to reproduce accurate urban landscapes, complete with the lines of green scum formed by algae left on canal-side buildings by retreating high tides.”
Remembering Bill And Arnie In The Kitchen
Eric Bogosian remembers Bill T. Jones and Arnie Zane and their early days at The Kitchen in New York. “They brought to the dance works grace and intelligence. But they also brought aggression, something that interested me. They brought stillness. And they weren’t happy just moving around. Language had to be part of it, and has been ever since. Sexual politics, race politics, tremendous movement, a surreal soulfulness all were thrown into the mix.”
Classic Pose – Get Your Picture Done
Is there a question anymore about the traditionalist turn art has taken in the past couple of years? “In these times when any visitor to Times Square can sit for an artist whose oeuvre includes fine sketches of Tupac Shakur, James Childs has turned a clever living immortalizing what was once called upper-case-S Society, in a heroic, labor-intensive style you might have thought even more antiquated than Society itself. Working in the formal discipline of Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres or John Singer Sargent, Mr. Childs takes about four such commissions a year, for which he charges $150,000 and up for full-length portraits.”
Hollywood’s Romance With Books
“Hollywood has had a long love affair with books, and like any relationship, it has had its highs (“Gone With the Wind”) and lows (“The Great Gatsby”). There are movies that are better than the books (“The Godfather”); movies that drastically depart from books with disastrous consequences (“The Scarlet Letter” starring Demi Moore); and movies that differ to one degree or another but still capture the spirit of the book (“The French Lieutenant’s Woman”).”
Elliott Carter – On Top At 94
“Though considered in certain circles to be America’s greatest living composer, he is, in others, demonized for alienating audiences with music that’s so dense, so packed with information in so little time, that it’s like street noise. Anyone listening to Carter expecting typical classical symmetry and tunefulness is primed for disappointment. If heard in the anything-can-happen spirit of progressive jazz, Carter’s hairpin turns and animated chatter among instruments are anything but mysterious. He tests listeners at the beginning of his pieces, often with a jarring chord that all but says, ‘If you can handle this, the rest is easy’.”
The BBC’s Architecture Problem
The BBC is having difficulty choosing an architect and design for a new concert hall. “Faced with the embarrassing discovery that none of the five architects it had invited to design a showcase concert hall at White City came anywhere near meeting its budget, the BBC is having to learn quickly that an architectural competition is no guarantee of great architecture. On one level, the corporation has only itself to blame. The real problem with architectural competitions is not of the BBC’s making. It, at least, is serious about building – but it has been swept along by the illusion that architectural competitions are a cultural duty – a myth perpetuated by self-important clients and socially dysfunctional architects.”
Orchestra Musicians In Danger Of Hearing Loss
Orchestra musicians are said to be at risk of hearing damage. “The legal limit of sound exposure is 90 decibels in the UK but the sound of a symphony orchestra playing a big classical piece at treble forte has been measured at 98dB. Orchestras are now preparing for an EU directive which will reduce the maximum sound level to 85dB, a drop of 20%. A report from the Association of British Orchestras showed that as well as deafness, players could suffer from damaged frequency discrimination, tinnitus or diplacusis (in which the pitch of a single tone is heard as two different pitches by the two ears).”
Leonardo Online
For the first time, readers around the world can explore Leonardo da Vinci’s notebooks and drawings, including plans for a town he designed but which was never built. “The new 3D Turning the Pages website version is unique in enabling readers to unscramble Leonardo’s text. Not only was his language medieval Italian; his handwriting ran from right to left, since this came easiest to him as a lefthander. The software, developed by library staff, allows viewers to reverse the script and read a translation of the text. Clive Izard, project manager, said the technology would allow a full translation to be added.”
How About Investing In My Novel?
Novelist Kent Nelson needed $5000 to help finish his novel, so he went to a friend and offered to cut him in on the profits if he’d put up the money. Trouble is, Nelson didn’t exactly have a track record of profits from his writing, and he didn’t even have a publisher. But the friend put up the money, Nelson snared a major publisher, and the book is getting great reviews. Are profits next?