Month: December 2003

Out Of Italy (There Was More Going On)

Art historians used to believe that Italy was the only game in town during the Renaissance. But new understanding has come: “The picture that has emerged is of a Europe in which the courts of the Burgundian, French and German princes were at least the equal of those of northern Italy in their magnificence and political ambition, and of course the patronage and ostentation by which they were expressed. Europe was open, international travel common, and the traffic and exchange between north and south, as much cultural as commercial, flowed in a constant stream.”

Is PR Ruining Classical Music?

In pop music “stars are manufactured by TV companies in programmes such as Pop Idol and Fame Academy. But, increasingly, there’s an element of it too in classical music. Not so much from the “talent show” angle – the epitome of which, at least where raw young talent is concerned, is probably the BBC’s serious-minded and professionally engineered Young Musician of the Year competition – as the scurrying efforts by struggling record companies to mould and flog the latest classical superstar.”

Review In Review – The NYTBR’s Golden Age

The New York Times Book Review is looking for a new editor. “In looking forward, the Times might want to look back—to what was widely agreed to be the Book Review’s golden age, from 1971 to 1975, under the editorship of John Leonard. Nostalgia is obviously a perilous emotion, but in this case, the golden years prove to be more than just the gilt of yesteryear. They provide a useful model for what tomorrow’s Book Review could look like—should it choose to.”

My Kidney For A Sax

A Moldovan musician has sold his kidney to buy a saxophone. “Sergiu, 23 – who as a professional musician has toured parts of Europe – sold the kidney to a Turkish hospital for $10,000 (£5,800). He has since been able to afford the instruments to further his career in the poverty-stricken eastern European country.”

In My Humble Opinion…

“There are perhaps three types of opinion. The first is the educated man’s opinion that certain popular beliefs are stupid. The second is the sort that drove Flaubert to near madness, the opinion that certain original thoughts are stupid. Third, there is the conventional “wisdom” about what is correct. Opinions flourish only in periods or cultures without a dominant religion.”

Art – I Can’t Conceptulaize It

Is conceptual art really art at all? The debate never seems to end. “Conceptual art refuses to be judged in conventional artistic terms, in terms of the material art object. But nor can it be judged as a pure idea, either. The result is that it occupies a kind of no-man’s land, where it is difficult to judge or hold it to account.”

“Spam” On “Cam” Too Much For Broadway?

Eric Idle (of Monty Python fame) has been talking about writing a show for Broadway called “Spamalot.” “But opposition to “Spamalot” has come from an unexpected quarter: Plans are also afoot for a revival of the classic Lerner and Loewe musical “Camelot” on Broadway that same season. Those producers aren’t keen to share even part of their title. Recently, an attorney from “Camelot’s” production team faxed a note to the Monty Python people suggesting that since “Camelot” got there first (it was originally produced in 1961, while “Holy Grail” was released in 1975), perhaps the “Spam” folks should consider changing the moniker of their production.”

Reforming The Louvre (And What A Big Job It Is)

By most accounts, management of the Louvre Museum is chaotic and antiquated. But that has recently begun to change, as some long-needed reforms take hold. “It’s not that we are free to do any old thing. We have now reached the right balance between exercising autonomy and complying with national policies. Still, from a strictly management point of view, this is one of the most radical changes at the Louvre since it was founded as the Muséum Central des Arts by France’s first revolutionary regime in 1793. It will now be run as a museum, not as a government department.”