The orchestras that get most of the publicity are just the tip of the iceberg. And they are seriously outnumbered by a less-heralded cohort. Just as the great teams in sport are outnumbered by the organisations that operate in local communities or provide an outlet for youth activities. – Irish Times
The Power Of Negativity
Being in a bad mood can improve your memory. Aspirin helps not just for headache, but for heartbreak. (Hmm.) Indulging nostalgia in a cold room can actually warm you up. ‘List your blessings.’ (Thus avoiding the corny phrase ‘count your blessings’.) Being a ‘good-enough’ parent or teacher is all you need. Just don’t be bad. – The Spectator
Why We Love Leonardo The Artist
Only 15 paintings are attributed to Leonardo. He lived off and on in Florence but for long periods was cosseted by potentates such as the Duke of Milan and the French King Francis I who considered him their pet genius. He took forever to finish paintings, if he finished them at all. He was born out of wedlock, his father a small-town lawyer and his mother a peasant. He had little formal education. When he tried to steal papal work from the young Raphael and Michelangelo, he failed. By 1510 in Rome, however esteemed Leonardo was, they were more fashionable, and reliable. Why, then, is Leonardo the genius for all seasons, the original Renaissance man? – National Review
Revise Those Biographies: Beethoven Could Still Hear Until Just Before He Died
Theodore Albrecht, professor of musicology at Kent State and Beethoven expert, claims, “Not only was Beethoven not completely deaf at the premiere of his Ninth Symphony in May 1824, he could hear, although increasingly faintly, for at least two years afterwards, probably through the last premiere that he would supervise, his String Quartet in B-flat, Op 130, in March 1826.” – The Observer (UK)
Short Story Collections, The Record Albums Of Fiction
Author Naomi Ishiguro: “I’ve always enjoyed the idea of total mundanity, and the struggles and the happinesses of ordinary life, and then contrasting it with something a bit strange; the possibility of magic in the everyday.” – The Guardian (UK)
Being A Musician Doesn’t Have To Depend On Feats Of Physical Strength
Indeed, composer and performer Molly Joyce says, that idea may be offputting to potential new audiences, and new performers. “Although she eschewed pyrotechnics in her own music long before she publicly identified as disabled, … Joyce has found many alternatives to virtuosity since embarking on exploring disability aesthetics as an artistic pursuit. For her, vulnerability is the new virtuosity.” – New Music Box
Korean Cinema Didn’t Become The Best In The World By Accident
Several of the directors, including Parasite director Bong Joon-ho, “emerged from the period of 1980s civic turmoil that ended the military dictatorship. They were all members of the university cine-clubs that showed films banned under censorship laws, on campuses boiling over with pro-democracy fervour. Hence the taste for exploring off-limits parts of the national psyche.” Also, well, it’s structural: South Korean used to require its movie theatres to show homegrown cinema for 147 days per year. – The Guardian (UK)
The Joys Of Listening To Elena Ferrante’s New Novel, In Italian
The book isn’t due to be published until June in English translation. The writer Martha Cooley asks her husband to read the novel – a first-person account by a woman – to her. “Low in pitch and volume, his voice is distinctly male. He doesn’t have a Neapolitan accent but a northern Italian one. Sometimes I have to ask him to speak up, or to slow down; it’s easy for him to gain speed without realizing it. Now and then he’ll stop reading, realizing he’s just botched a sentence’s syntax. Returning to the start, he’ll reread the sentence slowly, and I can hear where he went wrong.” – Los Angeles Review of Books
So, How Exactly Would BAFTA Voting Need To Change To Better Encourage Diversity?
There were 269 films that were eligible for awards nominations this year, and voters had watched, on average, about a quarter of them. “The current system leaves Bafta voters free to decide which of the eligible films they fancy seeing and which ones they will give a miss. At this point, Bafta nominations become entirely arbitrary and it maybe explains why some critically-acclaimed films without a massive promotional budget – such as The Farewell, Portrait of a Lady on Fire, Last Black Man in San Francisco, and Us – missed out.” – BBC
Minari Wins Grand Prize, Women Sweep Directing Awards At Sundance
Minari, which is an autobiographical feature based on Lee Isaac Chung’s childhood in rural Arkansas, won both Audience and Grand Prize. “All four of the jury directing prizes went to female filmmakers: Garrett Bradley’s Time in U.S. Documentary, Radha Blank’s Netflix acquisition The 40-Year-Old Version in U.S. Dramatic, Iryna Tsilyk’s The Earth is Blue as an Orange from Ukraine/Lithuania in World Documentary and Maïmouna Doucouré’s Cuties (another Netflix title) from France in World Dramatic.” – Los Angeles Times
The Opposite Of Beauty With Tories And Housing Development In Brexit Britain
Rowan Moore spares no words in this scathing overview of Tory-approved developments – and finds the Tory architectural guru, the late philosopher Roger Scruton, useless on this count. “Beauty, in other words, is more than skin-deep. It is ugly to cut affordable housing, to force people into their cars if they want to go out for something to eat, to put people into dank boxes, no matter what their architectural style.” (Don’t miss the line about the publisher of Asian Babes and Horny Housewives.) – The Observer (UK)
John Le Carré Gets A Major Award, And Says Brexit Broke His Heart
Le Carré, as he accepted the Olof Palme prize: “I want a Palme for my country, which in my lifetime hasn’t produced a single statesman of his stamp. I want him now. I’m not just a remainer. I’m a European through and through, and the rats have taken over the ship, I want to tell him. It’s breaking my heart and I want it to break yours. We need your voice to wake us from our sleepwalk, and save us from this wanton act of political and economic self-harm. But you’re too late.” – The Guardian (UK)
When Writing Your Novel Means Facing Unsavory Realities
Writer Abi Daré wasn’t planning to deal with a new novel, and a normalized practice among middle-class families in Nigeria, when her 8-year-old wouldn’t unload the dishwasher. But inspiration strikes where it will. She says, “When I was writing it, I did not think it would get published. So I was really telling myself a story.” – The New York Times
The Practical And Ethical Challenges Of Conserving, Or Restoring, Damaged Works Of Art
It’s not an easy line to walk, and there’s a question of how far back they should go to “restore” the original work. Now, some conservation studios are also starting to work with contemporary artists, especially those who work in materials that can, er, “morph” over time, so that the art remains in good shape for centuries. – The Observer (UK)
Peter Serkin, Pianist Who Forged His Own Path, Has Died At 72
Serkin, who “was descended from storied musical lineages on both sides of his family,” seemed at an early age destined to follow their path. But he found the expectation a burden, and went on a new path. “Like many who came of age in the 1960s, he questioned the establishment, both in society at large and within classical music. He resisted a traditional career trajectory and at 21 stopped performing, going for months without even playing the piano.” When he returned, it was as a performer who could mix the old and the new. “He played almost all the piano works of Schoenberg, Stravinsky and Wolpe. He also introduced dozens of pieces, including major works and concertos, written for him by composers like Toru Takemitsu, Charles Wuorinen and, especially, his childhood friend Peter Lieberson.” – The New York Times