“When a horrifying shared reality is forced through the pipeline of history and comes out a pop-cultural attraction, is the artistic result worth a further eroding of what little space we have left for private contemplation?”
Blog
Will Sousa Help Parkinson’s Patients?
Scientists have discovered that playing music helps Parkinson’s patients move better. Now a new study will try to pin down how and what music works. “We will start with metronome patterns and move up to ballet music, marches and popular music that is very dance-oriented and popular music that is not — all those types.”
Peter Martins’ City Ballet Problem (Or Is It The Other Way Around?)
“Numerous well-placed critics have expressed their dismissive doubts about Mr. Martins. No one, including Mr. Martins, claims that he is Balanchine’s equivalent. The gamut of opinion seems to range from those who think he is doing an honorable job, as good as could be expected, to those who proclaim, often stridently, that he has presided over the erosion of the Balanchine repertory without finding new sources of choreographic talent, that he has failed to school and develop his younger dancers properly, that he has robbed Balanchine’s ballets of their soul. “
You Can’t Judge A Drunk By His Symphonies
“The characters and life stories of composers are as varied as those of any other group – schoolteachers or greengrocers, farmers or soccer managers. It is true that some lived flamboyant bohemian lives, but just as many carried on like accountants… Does knowing about the composers help us to understand their music? It is tempting to think that there is an obvious connection between the way a composer lived and the music he wrote (and most of them were ‘he’). Sadly, this isn’t the case.”
The Great Classical Dumb-Down Comes To Oz
In Australia, some devotees of classical music are worried that some of the world’s greatest art is being reduced to the level of a pop song, and that those intending to broaden the audience are, in fact, insulting its intelligence. “To be sure, classical music needs to reach out to new audiences if it is to survive in this country… But we are not going the right way about fixing the problem. Instead, we are dumbing down classical music through the constant release of ‘best of’ CD compilations and with programming that replaces quality with quantity. The main culprit is none other than the traditional champion of classical music in this country, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.”
China Cracks Down On Artists
“Since the start of this month, police and propaganda officials have launched their biggest crackdown on Beijing’s counterculture hothouse – Dashanzi art district – where at least three galleries have been ordered to remove politically sensitive works.”
Book Man Gives Away Millions Of Books
Over the past 17 years Irwin Herman has given away 8 million books in San Diego. “My entire budget is $60,000. We give away half a million books a year, and nobody takes a dime out of it. When we come up short, somebody tosses something in. People bring us books. They bring us great stuff, and they bring us a lot of crap. Bring us your good books. Don’t throw your crap in the garbage – bring it to us, we’ll put it in recycling.”
An Epidemic Of Russian Art Fakes
A leading Russian art expert says that “corruption and criminality in the Russian art market has reached alarming levels.” He believes that “inexpensive works by little-known European painters were being reworked in Russia and then fraudulently marketed as Russian paintings at much higher prices.”
The Largest Art Theft In UK History
It happened in February. “Initial press reports on the 1 February Hyams theft, from Ramsbury Manor, Wiltshire, suggested that the losses were worth £30 million. More is now known about precisely what was taken, and their values, and it appears that the figure is closer to £80 million, although this remains an estimate.”
Students Flock To New UK Writing Programs
“Universities across the country are cashing in on the glamorous new image, with 85 offering postgraduate creative writing courses, compared with fewer than 10 a decade ago. Lucrative book deals and the new breed of celebrity author have led to a surge of interest in a potential career in writing. “