Art for art's sake

RSS Feed Homepage

Articles: 1, 2, 3

String quartets [3]: Johansens SQ
2007-10-10 21:17:00
There is more to Norwegian classical music than Grieg. In the symphonies series we already encountered Svendsen, now it is time to focus on David Monrad Johansen (1888-1974), a pupil of Humperdinck. Like many of his compatriots, his musical roots are in the nationalist folk music, but his treatment of these influences is rather modern, with dissonances adding spice. His only string quartet (op36) dates from 1969, and shows his mastery of the counterpoint. This version is by the Oslo string quartet. It is taken from a Naxos CD (8550879) that also includes two string quartets by Grieg.The movements:1. Agitato - Allegro [4:22]2. Allegro vivace [3:07]3. Largo [5:49]4. Agitato [3:13]MP3 link (Sharebee): Johansens string quartet.
More About: String , Tring , Quartets

Photography [38]: Macduff Everton
2007-10-09 19:38:00
On our recent trip to Germany, we bought a great book on panorama photography. One of the outstanding artists featured in this book is the American photographer Macduff Everton , of whom Andy Grundberg wrote, "Macduff Everton updates travel photography in the same way that Ansel Adams updated 19th century photography of the West. He captures strange and eloquent moments in which time, and the world, seem to stand still." The picture above is a great example - it was shot on the Fiji islands on the dawn of the new century. More on this fascinating artist on his home page.
More About: Photography , Vert

Other blogs [27]: A Soviet poster a day
2007-10-07 18:44:00
Apart from music blogs, I like to browse a few others as well. One of the more interesting ones I came across recently is the blog A Soviet poster a day, dedicated to the art of the Soviet propaganda poster. A good example is the one depicted above by Lebedev, dating back to about 1920. "Work is essential, the rifle is near" - a great summary of the mindset of those days.
More About: Blogs , Poster

Symphonies [22]: d'Indy's Symphony 1
2007-10-07 12:52:00
The French composer Vincent d'Indy (1851-1931) gets very little airplay these days. Influenced by Wagner, and a pupil of Franck, his influence on French and related classical music has been considerable - just take a look at his pupils, such as Erik Satie, Albert Roussel, Alberic Magnard, Isaac Albéniz, Arthur Honegger, Darius Milhaud and Joseph Canteloube! Probably his best known work is the first of two symphonies, the Symphonie Cevenole or Symphonie sur un chant montagnard francais (Symphony on a French Mountain Air) for orchestra and piano from 1886. It is thematically based on a sheperd's song that he heard on a walking tour through the Cevennes region. This version is by the Orchestre de Paris under Serge Bauso with Aldo Ciccolini on piano. It is taken from an EMI CD (7629522) that also contains the second symphony.The movements:1. Assez lent - Moderement Anime [11:44]2. Assez modere, mais sans lenteur [6:38]3. Anime [8:06]MP3: d'Indy's Symhony 1.
More About: Symphonies

Intermezzo affabile
2007-10-06 20:54:00
Well, we're back from the trip to Germany, and from tomorrow onwards this blog will be in full swing again. Meanwhile, in our absence, I got this email from an admin of the Flickr group called Better than good:Five weeks after opening the doors, with more than 4400 members and 6600 images, Better Than Good (by invitation only) is now in the top 2% of ALL Flickr groups in terms of Members and the top 5% of images. The images are diverse and imaginative, quality is high, and the group members are active--423 people placed entries in the Main Page Contest.I was stunned and delighted to see that my photograph Commuting in the fog (posted before on this blog) was one of the 50 selected as the cream of the crop for the main page (link). Call it childish, but that means a lot to me as a pure untrained amateur, and given the quality of the pictures selected (do click the link - there are some real stunners there).PS: the above picture was generated from random Flickr pictures that depict l...
More About: Intermezzo , Mezzo

On hold....
2007-09-30 20:46:00
Due to other obligations, this blog is on hold for about a week.
More About: Hold

Flickr Flavours [17]
2007-09-29 10:29:00
Another one out of my steadily growing collection of Flick r favourites. A fascinating black and white study of love (the title is appropriately Touch of love), beautifully cropped. Click the Flickr symbol to access the corresponding page.