Filmmaker Ken Burns’ ten-part jazz series is to be aired beginning in January. But he’s already hearing from critics. “When ”The Civil War’ aired, several months passed before a few historians published objections to the series; with ‘Baseball,’ it took several weeks before some sportswriters weighed in with objections over what they thought were grievous omissions. Two years before I finished `Jazz,’ I was getting letters from jazz critics telling me where I went wrong.” – Boston Globe (Baltimore Sun)
Tag: 11.24.00
WAGNER ON ITS OWN TIME
It’s a staple of aesthetics that great art should have no dispensable parts, no padding or extra material. Wagner’s operas are filled with lots of dispensable bits that, paradoxically, can’t be dispensed with. One paces oneself during Wagner, expecting events and reactions at a fundamentally different rate. And this pacing produces part of the hypnotic effect: anticipation and relief are extended, heightening the effect of both.” – Washington Post
BOCELLI GAINING ON THE CRITICS
“Andrea Bocelli’s fans have snapped up the new recording despite mixed reviews in the press. Some writers think the recording is an abomination, even in principle; others, including this listener, have heard sophisticated musical impulses and genuine feeling in his singing. Internet opera chat groups have turned nasty, with some lambasting Bocelli as a pop singer who has no business defiling the temples of operatic art. The fact is, however, that Bocelli became a pop singer wholly by accident, and all his life he has wanted to sing opera.” – Boston Globe
HIP-HOPPING ALONG
“Born three decades ago on the streets of the Bronx, condemned by the establishment for its encouragement of violence and misogyny, hip-hop has survived to become a major component of American and world culture and a billion-dollar industry.” – Chicago Tribune
RESIDING IN THE MUSIC
The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra has benefitted from a string of stellar composers-in-residence. The latest is 33-year-old Julian Anderson. “I happen to be the kind of composer who gets a lot of compositional energy from the idea of knowing who is playing. It allows me to be even more musically adventurous. I don’t just want to arrive with my notes and give out the parts.” – The Guardian
MOSES ONLINE
The cleaning and restoration of Michelangelo’s “Moses” is being done live over the internet. Viewers can tune in any time and see how the project is progressing. “We don’t just want to clean and restore the monument. We want to make it even more well known than it already is. People will be able to follow the whole process of restoration minute by minute and day by day. It’s a way of letting them feel a part of it.” – CNN