dirac

Well, music didn’t necessarily sound better when most people were listening to it on monaural radio stations with static and various other forms of interference, or on portable radios with not terribly sophisticated earphones, and musicians and producers took that into consideration. Thanks for plucking that reader’s comment, Quiggin, it’s a good one. Ah, Steely Dan.

Thanks for posting, Mashinka. I think it's fine here. Some quotes: It sounds as if this issue (the damage done to the hearing of musicians in the orchestra pit) has long needed addressing. Does anyone know what measures, if any, are taken here in the States? The article also suggests that part of the problem is that orchestras have been getting louder over the years, partly to conform to audience expectations. Thoughts? observations?

I think that’s now a part of it, but at Newsweek recently, for example, foreign and national reporters were largely spared (it was a buyout) but among the ranks of the senior critics it was a massacre.

I don’t think the question itself is too large. Sometimes it can be worth it to ask a Big Picture question even if there is no final or complete answer. Thank you, AnthonyNYC, for the link to Fish’s article. “Poetry makes nothing happen.” He’s arguing, with deliberate provocation, against the view of the arts as morally uplifting – that we become Better People through their appreciation. Yes, indeed. If there are any BTers out there with a broader base in philosophy than my own who'd like to chime in, I'd be interested to hear from them. Thanks to everyone who's posted so far!

It wasn't too long ago that Elizabeth Zimmer was offering space to Tobi Tobias after the latter's dismissal from New York magazine; then Zimmer was gone from the Voice, and now Jowitt is out of a job. Decline and fall. No, it's not a short lived measure. Once the papers get away with eliminating the full time position, it never comes back.

Height notes from all over, this time on the distaff side. This is from Gia Kourlas’ interview with Shila Tirabassi in Time Out New York: .It wasn’t too long ago that a woman anywhere would have been considered fairly tall at 5’7”; these days it seems to have been downgraded to medium height. There was an article in Vogue awhile back about the actor Jennifer Connelly, who is also five-seven, and there was the same implication that she’s on the short side. It is short by model standards, but not by too many others, I should think.

Thanks for reviving this thread, popularlibrary. I remember several interesting talks about 'Giselle' in 'Striking a Balance,' which is such a wonderful book. I think Youskevitch is right - given the class barriers of the time, there is no way that Albrecht's intentions can be 'good' - he's a cad, the question is, is he only a cad? And how do his feelings change over the course of the ballet? I think that's one scene that can be played different ways - Albrecht is in love, he's not in love, he's in love but doesn't know it yet, etc.

I don’t regard this article as any great shakes, necessarily, but I proffer it as a discussion-starter to ask BTers what ‘purpose’ – if any—you believe the arts serve, and what do they mean to you?

Thank you, carbro. I won't be able to tune in myself, but I hope the Met does more of this sort of thing, especially in view of the fact that the Met Opera broadcast is no longer availabe in my vicinity.

I actually meant it as humor, GWTW, but as I read over my post I see it looks quite solemn.

Thanks for posting the review, papeetepatrick. I hope those who see it will report.

I’m pretty sure no one has. I don’t think it will happen, for the political reasons you mentioned and also because, as with Claudius the God, the historical details and digressions make up too much of what’s interesting about the book. On the other hand, this story has had strong appeal over the centuries no matter who tells it. I like reading Acocella on other subjects too, although I thought she was a bit out of her depth on the Crusades. I just wish she (or someone, anyone) would write more about dance in The New Yorker – the coverage is a shadow of what it used to be. I realize that not everything out there these days is so inspiring, but still. I think it's very likely that artists who know (or sense) that they don't have much time feel a special sense of urgency. It's fortunate for the rest of us that they don't give in to despair, which I would certainly be tempted to do in such circumstances.

Meryl rules. How was South Pacific, glebb?

I wouldn’t call it a rewriting of the Gospels, exactly, although it covers the same territory for obvious reasons. Anyone coming to it from the Claudius books should be prepared – it’s a much denser piece of work, and whereas in the earlier books Graves sticks pretty close to the sources, here he speculates much more freely. Of course, it's a historical novel, not history, and as Gore Vidal says, the whole point of writing an historical novel is to be able to indulge in speculation that wouldn't be appropriate in non-fiction.

I had the impression Number Five did everything short of yank the ring off his expiring father’s hand. I’m not sure that I would go that far, but I do think that many female writers may have their hands at it initially because in the not so distant past women, even perfectly healthy ones, tended to lead constricted lives, and writing was something you could do without necessarily leaving the house much. I haven’t read Irving Stone in years, but I used to love his biographical novels back when. I remember The Agony and the Ecstasy as being a rung above the others in quality. Thank you, ngitanjali and ami1436. I know nothing of Indian literature, I’m sorry to say, and it’s good to hear about it.

I think Graves actually chose a very relaxed style for the original books – Claudius often digresses in a oh-I-forgot-to-mention-this-earlier manner, and the books still seem very fresh, not at all in the Hail and Farewell manner. I saw the series again recently and the performances are indeed still great but they’re in a style that would be quite unfamiliar to Clyde Fitch, I think. Not dated at all. (The staging, however, will look hopelessly stilted to anyone raised on the much more fluid and sophisticated camerawork of today’s television. Particularly amusing is the way the roar of the unseen crowds in the Colosseum is so obviously canned – which was also obvious back in the day, I should note – as the actors stand there and wave.) I loved “High Fidelity,” book and movie both, but for some reason I never sought out anything else by Hornby, and I’m rather sorry I didn’t. Hmmm....I think I’d vote for Emma, myself, although I do see what you mean. I felt sorry for Anne and I liked her – Emma is in many ways not a very likable person – but Emma interested me more.

You left out Celia Franca and Karen Kain. In order to pre-empt the thread turning into list-making, I didn’t say that no woman has ever run a major ballet company anywhere. It’s just that I note that whenever a new AD vacancy opens up, in most cases the dancer candidates for the job are current or former male principals. (And yes, you have wives running companies in harness with their husbands.) My remark wasn’t aimed at Hans, which I ought to have said in the first place, Leigh. I just plucked his quote because it was handy and apt. Sorry, Hans.

Yep, send the retired ballerinas to the school while the men get to run the joint. Excuse the sour note.

True, but it should be remembered that Martins had a lot of support at the outset. I can remember Croce gushing “The magic kingdom is in his keeping....A loyal prince, he has earned the prize,” or something to that effect. Or, as Robert Gottlieb put it some time later, everyone was rooting for him, not gunning for him. I imagine if he had wanted to delegate some of those onerous duties, it could have been done. I don't think she ever wanted to be out of that 'shadow.'

Thanks, GWTW, for adding to the thread. Totally unfamiliar with Faulks myself - has anyone else read him? Solnishka79, welcome. I read several of Erickson's Tudor bios years ago, but not her fiction.

Arthur Laurents talks about bringing a revival of “West Side Story” to New York. Related article.

Couldn’t resist posting this one. More sissy stuff, this time via Russell Maliphant. “The rest of them, yeah, you could call them sissies,” Maliphant did not add.

The New Yorker article was by the late David Daniel and was called In Balanchine’s Footsteps or something to that effect. It didn’t characterize Farrell as a pariah, exactly, but it did suggest very strongly that she had been marginalized within NYCB. The New York Times piece I seem to remember was published around the time of the Balanchine festival and it was chiefly an interview with Kistler in which Kistler described the difficulties she had had with Farrell during coaching sessions for “Tzigane” and “Vienna Waltzes.” The suggestion that Farrell had readiness issues came direct from Kistler as I remember, not the writer. I’m pretty sure there were never any alternates for Farrell at NYCB for “Tzigane,” although Ib Andersen did do the Martins role. I can't imagine that Kistler was very good in it anyway - most unsuitable for the part, I should think.

I take your meaning, but yes, I am interested -- up to a point. If a figure as sexually charismatic as Nureyev turns out to have little interest in pleasing his partners, I’d say that’s relevant information for a biographer. And I was very pleased to read in Meredith Daneman’s book that Margot Fonteyn had a varied and apparently satisfactory love life, something not true of some other famous ballerinas. I thought that was good news. On the other hand, Daneman rattled on for pages about whether or not F&N had sex together. I understand having to address the issue, but she went on far too long about it. To me, it's a matter of degree. I wonder if the Foundation had something to do with that. Kavanagh seems to have been working under its auspices, whereas Diane Solway was not.

I did realize that, thanks, but my point was related to the apparent desire and need to show flesh – not whether skin was literally exposed to the air, which I should hope it wasn't as it gets quite cold out there. I'm not certain whether the hideousness of some of those ice dancer outfits can really be attributed to camera closeups. Tastes differ, of course, but I don't know how you can treat some of those displays as anything other than low camp....