“Entitled Albumblatt, meaning ‘sheet from an album’, the composition was discovered in the library at Princeton by the conductor and musicologist Christopher Hogwood. It will be performed by the pianist Andras Schiff on [BBC Radio 3’s] Music Matters on 21 January.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
Jan Groover, Postmodern Still Life Photographer, Dead At 68
“Instead of feast tables or objects in the rooms of the wealthy, the still-life tableaus that first brought Ms. Groover to prominence in the late 1970s focused on the everyday implements of the kitchen, arranged in the sink … shot in such a way as to confound perspective and to transform light into a kind of object itself in the reflective surfaces.”
‘Asian Booker’ Expands Shortlist To Seven Titles
“A record seven titles are in competition for the Man Asian Literary Prize, with author Amitav Ghosh among a trio of Indian writers dominating the latest short list for the $30,000 US honour. The ‘power and diversity’ of the fiction coming from contemporary Asian writers compelled the jury to expand the finalists beyond the traditional five titles.”
The Stage, The Screen And The Screen On Stage
“Can film and theater live happily together in the same room? It’s not that they haven’t had a long relationship already, with each regularly borrowing stories and stars from the other. But now these two separate (and arguably equal) art forms are attempting to practice cohabitation.”
Considering Bar Codes And QR Codes As Design
“What effect does the bar code have? Everything about those black-and-white lines screams order, precision and efficiency. … Conversely, there is nothing orderly, efficient or precise about a QR code, not in its appearance, at least. Even the neatest (and I use the word relatively) of those mosaic ciphers look like uncontrollable explosions of toxic bacterial spores.”
In Its Arts Boom, Is Qatar Forgetting Its Own Arts And Artists?
“[The] rapid building of museums, invitations to big-name artists and purchases of major Western artworks have, some in the art world say, overshadowed the sovereign state’s grassroots intention: to explore its cultural heritage, nomadic history and develop deeper bonds with the Middle East and beyond.”
Coming Soon: A History Of Social Dancing In Britain
“Royal Opera House creative director Deborah Bull is to front a five-part BBC series looking at the role dance has played socially in Britain’s history. Deborah Bull’s Dance Nation will be broadcast on Radio 4, and is being made by independent company Just Radio.”
Adam Smith Saw Economics As Moral Philosophy (Who Knew?)
“But anyone who cares to read Smith’s Wealth of Nations for themselves will find an economics discussed and justified in explicitly moral terms, in which markets, and the division of labour they allow, are shown to both depend upon and produce not only prosperity but also justice and freedom, particularly for the poor.”
The Wayback Machine: Frank Zappa’s Last Documentary
“This one, recorded the year of his sad and untimely death, tries very hard and does capture much of what was best loved about the great man.”
Can Online Language Students Supplant Professional Translators?
“Duolingo [is] a free language tutorial website that doubles as a paid-for translation service. The deal is that users get to learn a language while simultaneously helping to translate website content.”