If last year’s selections were absurd, this year’s choices of Bjork as best actress and “Dancer in the Dark” as best picture defy understanding. What is going on at Cannes? – The Observer (UK) 05/28/00
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TO THE WEB FOR THE SOURCE
Increasingly, publishers of academic books favor removing bibliographies from the printed book and posting them on the web. It makes for shorter books and greater access to scholarly addenda online. – New York Times
A CHAMPION STEPS DOWN
Joseph Dalton has been a tireless promoter of contemporary music with his recording label CRI. But after a decade running the company, the 37-year-old has stepped down – a loss for fans of new music. – New York Times
OVERREACHING AMBITIONS?
Outgoing music director Bramwell Tovey built a major new-music festival – one of the best in North America – and rebuilt the Winnipeg Symphony. But he also spent it into the ground, says the orchestra’s president. – CBC
THE BATTLE OF BRITTEN
Benjamin Britten’s estate has been managed so effectively that it is Britain’s most generous private patron of new music. But behind the fund, a Byzantine web of layers and policy maneuverings. – The Telegraph (UK)
LIVING IN THE PAST
“What opera needs, at least as much as great voices, is great personalities. Not ‘divas,’ in the debased sense of egomaniacs with mannerisms, but intrepid explorers of the human condition, each a Ulysses who has traveled far, seen much, felt deeply. Explorers who convey the fullness of experience through music, word and gesture, touching, in ways unique to themselves, the chord of the universal.” – New York Times
SOLO SERVICE
What happened to the jazz solo? “More often than not, I brace myself at that moment when all members of a group simmer down to accompany a solo from a frontline musician. Because it often means that I’m going to hear not just one solo, but a bunch of them. They may be long, far longer than they need to be. They may seem like place-fillers for what could be stronger, shorter, more memorable music. By the end of the tune, I’m often left wondering how it is that solos – and especially that theme-solos-theme format – became such a necessary part of jazz.” – New York Times
DRIVEN TO ACT
John Gielgud’s career stretched out over three-quarters of a century. Why so many movies in his last decades? “It seems that he was also driven towards film by the increasing difficulty of remembering lines. It further transpires that much weight must be given to the financial pressure of Gielgud’s extravagant domestic establishment in Buckinghamshire, which made him chary of refusing any part – even to the extent of making two films with Michael Winner and the ghastly Caligula (1980). – The Telegraph (UK)
THEATRE MAN
Boston’s new theatre impresario dynamo has big plans for the city. In just a few short months he’s already made a mark. “We’re seeing the emergence of a diverse not-for-profit theater community – though I wish to God we could figure out what to call it. In Chicago, it’s the off-Loop community. In New York, it’s off-Broadway. We don’t have a name for it, but it’s very positive.” – Boston Globe
TO BE YOUNG AND GERMAN (AND A PLAYWRIGHT)
German theatre has a fascination with youth right now. Young German playwrights have more commissions than they can deal with. “Only five years ago, new playwrights were relegated to weeklong runs in basements and small black-box auditoriums. Today, German theater companies feel pressure to include at least one new play in every main-stage season. Indeed, one director grumbled that theaters are ‘just desperate for pretty young flowers to put in their hats.’ ” – New York Times