That’s what Universal Classics says: a major Mozart release this fall has sold 1.25 million CDs so far. In fact, it all depends on what exactly you’re counting.
Author: Matthew Westphal
Turns Out The U.S. Isn’t The Only Place Where There Are Court Battles Over Religious Statues On Public Land
This is in France, where a little town overlooking Lake Geneva installed a statue of the Blessed Virgin in a public park in 2011, and a court has now ordered the figure’s removal. (Maybe this is a job for the Satanic Temple?)
Nicholas Serota Wins A Well-Deserved Award (With Prize Money He Probably Doesn’t Need)
The out-going director of the Tate museums will receive the $25,000 Audrey Irmas Award for Curatorial Excellence, given by Bard College’s Center for Curatorial Studies based on a poll of art professionals.
Top Posts From AJBlogs 12.12.16
What We Learned In Audience This Week: How We Define “Audience” This Week: Two stories worth noting – the segregation of DC theatre audiences and what it might tell us… The translation of live theatre to the small screen is more than just filming a … read more
AJBlog: AJ Arts AudiencePublished 2016-12-12
The National Gallery: Blazing More New Trails
Last year about this time, I praised the National Gallery in London for creating and publicizing an “Angel Trail” of artworks in its galleries that include portrayals of angels–for the Christmas season. This year, I’m … read more
AJBlog: Real Clear Arts Published 2016-12-12
Four Dances Mingle As One
Bill Young revives his Interleaving at 100 Grand Street, December 9 through 11. … read more
AJBlog: Dancebeat Published 2016-12-12
Monday Recommendation: Erroll Garner
Erroll Garner, Ready Take One (Octave/Legacy) … read more
AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2016-12-12
The Cult of El Sistema Keeps Playing On In a Different Key Anne Midgette of the Washington Post wrote a sobering review of Eric Booth and Tricia Tunstall’s recent book “Playing for Their Lives”. As the Executive Director of the El Sistema inspired program Play On … read more
AJBlog: Orchestras Everywhere Published 2016-12-10
‘Dangerous Curves’ – Plus-Size Pole Dancers
Filmmaker and writer Merete Mueller introduces her 7½-minute documentary about Roslyn Mays and the workshops she teaches. (video)
Why It Took Scorsese Three Decades To Make ‘Silence’
In a story that begins with the director’s near-death from drugs and asthma in 1978, Stephen Galloway follows the project through legal troubles (complicated), money troubles (recurring), and weather troubles (terrifying) – with the happy ending of a screening for Pope Francis and 200 teary-eyed Jesuits.
Kafka’s Notorious Sex Hangups Were Actually Pretty Normal, Says Biographer
Well, normal for his place and time. What’s more, his buddy Max Brod, notorious womanizer, had them, too, if we can believe his journal.
Have A Listen To The World’s Oldest Surviving Piano
It’s a 1720 instrument by the inventor himself, Bartolomeo Cristofori, and Dongshok Shin plays one of the earliest pieces written for it. As long as you don’t expect the timbre of a Steinway grand (or the equal-temperament tuning Steinways typically use), the Cristofori sounds pretty good. (video)
Google Translate Has Invented Its Own Language
“The online translation tool recently started using a neural network to translate between some of its most popular languages – and the system is now so clever it can do this for language pairs on which it has not been explicitly trained. To do this, it seems to have created its own artificial language.”
The New York Times Tells You What It’s Like To Be A Bee
Using the second person, an interactive feature by Joanna Klein walks the reader through the hive, the hunt for pollen, the tastes and smells (powerful) and sights (not so much) and movements of apian existence.