“The soundtrack includes the Tallis Scholars’ version of Spem in Alium featured in the first book, along with 14 other classics namedropped in the series, including the ‘Flower Duet’ from Lakmé, Pachelbel’s Canon in D and the aria from Bach’s Goldberg Variations.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
So What Would Be Good Music To Tie Up Your Lover By?
David Patrick Stearns: “Spem in alium certainly wouldn’t be appropriate. Even for those who can get past the possibly blasphemous sex-and-God nexus of the situation, the piece is only 12 minutes long. How can you get anything done in that short a time? Mahler symphonies are long and provide a good sound shield … but their anguish may be contagious. You don’t want anybody having an existential crisis until after orgasm.”
LA MoCA Trustees Say They’ll Hire New Chief Curator
“Following sharp criticism from many corners of the art world, the board of trustees at the Museum of Contemporary Art has changed course and decided to fill the chief curator position left open by Paul Schimmel’s forced resignation in June.”
Composer Marvin Hamlisch, 68
“[He] was one of the most ubiquitous show-business personalities of his generation. … Besides A Chorus Line – one of the most enduring stage musicals of all time – Mr. Hamlisch’s movie portfolio included the inspired revival of Scott Joplin’s jaunty ragtime music for The Sting, the sweepingly romantic theme for The Way We Were and the sensuous ballad ‘Nobody Does It Better’ for the James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me. He also wrote music for two early Woody Allen comedies and the score for the Holocaust drama Sophie’s Choice.”
Marvin Hamlisch, So Professional That One Might Overlook Him
“So why is Mr. Hamlisch, who died on Monday at 68, routinely overlooked when people are invited to name the greatest Broadway composers? One reason may be that he embodied a kind of ultimate professionalism. Personal self-expression wasn’t at the top of his agenda. Solving problems and doing solid work were more important.”
Mark O’Donnell, Co-Creator Of Hairspray, Collapses And Dies At 58
“[He] won a Tony Award in 2003 as co-author of the book for the Broadway musical Hairspray and was nominated for another in 2008 for Cry-Baby.”
Art Critic Robert Hughes, 74
“With a Hemingwayesque build and the distinctively rounded vowels of his native Australia, Mr. Hughes became as familiar a presence on television as he was in print, over three decades for Time magazine, where he was chief art critic and often a traditionalist scourge during an era when art movements fractured into unrecognizability.”
Was A Lost Leonardo Just Discovered In Scotland?
“For years it sat on a farmhouse wall gathering dust. And when Fiona McLaren redecorated, she didn’t even take the time to cover the apparently worthless painting in a protective sheet, so it got flicked in specks of paint. However, in an astounding twist it has emerged that the picture is likely to have been the work of master artist Leonardo da Vinci and worth over £100million.”
Blood Brothers Ends West End Run After 24 Years
“The musical Blood Brothers, which has been running in London’s West End since 1988, is to close in October after 10,000 performances – making it the third longest running West End musical.”
Paulo Coelho Says Joyce’s Ulysses ‘Has Caused Great Harm’
“Today writers want to impress other writers. One of the books that caused great harm was James Joyce’s Ulysses, which is pure style. There is nothing there. Stripped down, Ulysses is a twit.” (Whereas, says Coelho, “I’m modern because I make the difficult seem easy, and so I can communicate with the whole world.”)