“Describing performances, whether the New York debut of an exciting young Finnish pianist or a boldly radical production of The Magic Flute, is the core of the reviewing art. … [Yet] music, especially purely instrumental music, resists being described in language. It’s very hard to convey sounds through words. Perhaps that’s what we most love about music: that it’s beyond description, deeper than words. Yet the poor music critic has to try.”
Tag: 09.24.17
The Buried Treasures Of Teotihuacan, Revealed After 1,800 Years
“In 2003, a tunnel was discovered beneath the Feathered Serpent pyramid in the ruins of Teotihuacan, the ancient city in Mexico. Undisturbed for 1,800 years, the sealed-off passage was found to contain thousands of extraordinary treasures lying exactly where they had first been placed as ritual offerings to the gods.”
How Big Is Too Big? Dublin Fringe’s Existential Crisis
If this year’s Dublin Fringe Festival felt bigger, it may have been because it was more complicated to navigate. The event covered more ground than before, including venues spread so widely through the city that the map in the festival brochure seemed to give up. But the shows themselves made it harder to get your bearings.
Why Have We Romanticized The Art Thief?
When one thinks of art crime, a Hollywood image is conjured: one of black-clad cat burglars, thieves in top hats and white gloves, and perhaps the occasional criminal collector twirling his waxed moustache as he cackles maniacally over a stolen horde in his Bavarian castle. But the truth behind art crime, a truth that is misunderstood by the general public and professionals alike, is far more sinister, and more intriguing.
Six Years Ago, Jennifer Egan Won The Pulitzer For An Unconventional Novel, But She’s Changed Her Ways
Why is her new, 400-page historical novel a linear piece, complete with a heroine in the Brooklyn Navy Yards during WWII? The author says that’s just the way it worked, and her writing group agreed: “There’s nothing inherently exciting about any narrative move: it’s only exciting if it works, and if it couldn’t be done any other way. Everything else is gimmickry.”
A Painting Of James I’s Lover, Long Thought To Be A Rubens Copy, Turns Out To Be The Original
This is what happens when you let dirt – and overpainting – obscure the original. “The portrait showing George Villiers, the first Duke of Buckingham, thought to have been James VI and I’s lover, had been hanging in a National Trust for Scotland property and was believed to be a copy of the lost original, which had been missing for almost 400 years.”
To Be Part Of Broadway’s ‘Clockwork Orange,’ It Helps To Be Ultrafit
The director says, “Alex makes a point in the book of saying as a young man, you should be the best version of yourself that you can be. And certainly Jonno’s translation of that is: ‘Don’t let your body go to waste when it’s in its prime.’”
The Architect Of Louvre Abu Dhabi Says The Treatment Of Workers Is ‘An Old Question’ That’s Not Important
Jean Nouvel, speaking of the workers who built his museum – and despite a 2015 report that says the workers were badly abused – said, “They have the same conditions, even better conditions, than those I see in other countries. … We checked and it was fine. We saw no problem.”
The City Of Anaheim Is (Probably) Not Getting What It Needs From Disney
Anaheim is fed up, too. For instance: “The Burbank company masterfully works the political system, sometimes deploying aggressive strategies that belie its carefully cultivated image. Support for various deals benefiting Disney has come from Anaheim City Council members who have received generous campaign contributions through a byzantine network of political action committees funded by the company.”
An Artist Collective Booted After The Ghost Ship Tragedy Finds A Warehouse – With Permits, Even
Truly an unlikely story: “Unlike many collectives that disbanded post-eviction, members of the Trapp managed to pull off a miracle in Oakland’s increasingly tight real estate market: They convinced a warehouse owner to let them build out a new live/work space and do it legally.”