“While great cathedrals survive majestically from the 15th century into the 21st, most of the music heard within them has slept in libraries, and would continue to do so unless kissed back to life by an unlikely mechanical prince: a MIDI synthesizer.” Now some of that music not only lives but is accessible via the Web, thanks to an associate professor at Princeton University, who “has translated 50 unheard scores into an ethereal though artificial sound – completely out of personal curiosity.”
Tag: 09.30.04
Avedon Suffers Stroke
“Portrait photographer Richard Avedon suffered a brain hemorrhage Saturday while in Texas for The New Yorker, and has been hospitalized, a spokeswoman for the magazine, Perri Dorset, said yesterday.”
Hollywood Conservatives: Not A Contradiction In Terms
“The Republicans finally have Hollywood’s answer to Michael Moore: ‘Celsius 41.11 – The Temperature at Which the Brain Begins to Die,’ a documentary made in six weeks that is billed as ‘The Truth Behind the Lies of Fahrenheit 9/11!'” Although it premiered in Washington, D.C., Tuesday, box-office hopes aren’t high. For one thing, the Federal Elections Commission has forbidden the film’s producers to advertise it.
Theater, The Unavoidably Political Art Form
In the U.S., “the largest new subject for theater is the complex of issues related to 9/11 and homeland security, in plays that have percolated through the development pipeline for three years. Arriving now, they inevitably impinge on electoral politics. But theater always does this: No matter how much it aspires to the ‘universal,’ it is grounded in real life, which pushes it toward politics.” Is theater right now any more political than usual, or is it just the audience that perceives it that way?
Because Eggheads And Nerds Watch Movies, Too
When a Hollywood blockbuster purports to have “a message” at its core, or to delve into complicated questions of science and ethics, you can pretty much count on the filmmakers to get all the details of the science wrong in their dogged pursuit of facts that fit neatly within the confines of narrative fiction. This shouldn’t be a problem, of course, since movies are, well, fiction, but when thousands of people claim to get their news from comedy programs and believe that Oregon is located somewhere near Portugal, there’s always a chance that certain knuckleheads could come away from the multiplex convinced that global warming could flood New York next week. All this explains why Chemical and Engineering News is now publishing film reviews…
Is A Revolution Brewing In The West End?
The world of British theatre has been taken with the theme of rebellion against authority for some time now. But 18 months after the British/American invasion of Iraq, “polite skepticism and goofy satire are shading into something closer to wall-to-wall paranoia.” From multiple plays which deal blatantly with current global events to a revival of One Through Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, the productions currently on display in London’s West End reveal a distinctly dark and seditious mood that is obviously striking a chord with the UK’s theatregoers.
Do We Really Need Critics?
In an age when fewer and fewer people read newspapers, and even fewer want to be told what to think about their choice of entertainment, who exactly are arts critics writing for? Increasingly, it seems that the only people who read reviews are other critics and the people being reviewed. “So are critics necessary? Many are genuine experts in their field, whether it be art, music or literature, and they offer erudition as well as opinions. But some, notably in the performing arts, clearly savor their power, a power that comes from burying, not from praising… And there lies the problem: most people who buy a ticket for a play or a movie or an opera or a ballet want, above all, to enjoy themselves.”
Journalist Sacked For Controversial Paintings?
A British journalist is claiming that she was fired by London’s Daily Mail because of her sideline as a Stuckist painter. Stuckism is a widely-reviled art movement founded in 1999 “to promote contemporary figurative painting with ideas and oppose the pretensions of Britart – particularly anything involving dead animals or beds”. The newspaper denies that Jane Kelly’s dismissal had anything to do with her artwork, but isn’t saying why they would fire one of their top writers, either.
Cleaning Up A Classic
One of the finest examples of Victorian Gothic architecture in Europe is getting a £15 million makeover. The John Rylands Library in Manchester, England is being thoroughly cleaned, renovated, and modernized in an effort to lengthen its lifespan and allow the permanent display of more of the treasures in its collection. “It is hoped the new-look library will attract up to 90,000 visitors a year – three times as many as visited it before the restoration.”
Or We Could Just Keep Forcing It On Unsuspecting Audiences
Art students are, as a rule, fairly well engaged with the world of contemporary art, and a serious knowledge of current masters is considered as essential as being able to distinguish between French Impressionists. So why are so few music students conversant with new music? An outspoken official at the UK’s Royal Academy of Arts thinks that the answer may be that no one has ever bothered to make new music as accessible as modern art has become. A “rigorously and cruelly curated new-music festival in London, like a Biennale” might help, and while we’re changing the world, why not make new-music concerts free to the public, since they never make any real money anyway?