The Columbus Symphony plans performances of the Symphony no. 10 and the Piano Concerto no. 2 by Shostakovich this weekend. Gunter Herbig conducts and Jutta Czapski is the piano soloist.
It’s been exciting in recent days to listen to a lot of Shostakovich’s music, much of it new to me, in preparation for these concerts.
I really want to “sell” this music!
Shostakovich wrote his Tenth Symphony (there were to be fifteen in all) in 1953, just after the death of Stalin. The composer had found himself vilified by Stalin’s government twice. First in the 1930s following the successful premiere of his opera, “Lady Macbeth of Mtensk”. The story of the wanton Katerina Ismailova, who murders both her father in law and her lover’s mistress, enticed the public but enraged the dictator. Stalin was particularly incensed, so it was reported, by the cacophony of the trombones describing Katerina and Sergei very much in flagrante delicto. The opera was banned. Music was declared useless unless it served to “lift up” the people. Big choruses in praise of the worker and a lot of jingoistic junk were what was wanted, not abstract symphonic music which could mean whatever the public needed it to mean, without any possibility of outside control.
Shostakovich described the 10th Symphony as a biography of Stalin, especially the second movement. Listen and you’ll hear exactly what Shostakovich thought of the ruler of the Soviet Union and his government. The third movement is a tribute to the composer himself and to the young pianist Elmira Nazirova, who for a time served as Shostakovich’s muse.
I hope this broadcast will whet your appetite for more music by this fantastic, often tormented, composer.
One of the most – certainly in the top three, at least – unsettling things I’ve seen on TV. This is a repeat, yes, but winter is the time to re-watch Ric Burns’ American Experience documentary – “The Donner Party.” It’s a textbook example of how to tell a story from mostly written archives; I can’t turn away once it starts, like a good Alfred Hitchcock film.
Dear Friends:
My WOSU colleague Marcelita Haskins would like to arrange a showing of the film “The Horse Boy” for parents and all of those affected by the autism spectrum. “The Horse Boy,” based on the book by Rupert Isaacson, tells of the Isaacsons’ search for treatment for their autistic son, a search that takes them to Mongolia and the wild horses roaming there.
I found the book moving (and harrowing). The film well represents one family’s struggle. We are all different, so we all cope and struggle differently, but we do struggle.
The showing of The Horse Boy would be followed by a panel discussion with plenty of time for audience input. We are looking at a date in the second half of April. Possible location would be WOSU’s broadcast facilities at COSI. These details are yet to be finalized. At this point, would you share this message with whomever might be interested? I’d like to hear from anyone interested in attending, potential panelists and any ideas that can make this presentation both informative and beneficial. Would you attend? Would you ask questions? Would you participate? Perhaps our support groups could come together and make this showing their meeting for April.
Many thanks. I look forward to seeing this remarkable film with you in April.
I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in a big field of rye and all. … Thousands of kids, and nobody big at all, nobody big but me. And I’m standing on the edge of this crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to come and catch them. If they start to fall … and don’t look where they’re going. That’s all I’d do all day. I’d just be the catcher in the rye and all. J.D. Salinger
As someone who went to prep school, like Mr. Salinger’s Holden Morrissey Caulfield, I find much of “The Catcher in the Rye” poignant and honest, though I had to be an adult to appreciate the full weight of the work. Misfits are everywhere, and they all have desires.
My thoughts about the reclusive author: As a fellow introvert, I say let him be. There’s no moral code or legal document that says that celebrities have to expose their souls, their desires, their thoughts just for the asking.
Join the Ohio Historical Society Feb. 20 for HeART of Soul! to celebrate African American art, history and culture at the Ohio Historical Center in Columbus. Inspired by the museum’s featured exhibition, Soul! Art from the National Afro-American Museum and Cultural Center, the free day-long event from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. features live performances, gallery tours, hands-on activities for families, art for sale and more.
To commemorate Black History Month, three dramatic performances will tell of the accomplishments of famous and little-known African Americans. “Listening to the Still Small Voice” will feature renowned scientist and educator George Washington Carver as portrayed by Paxton Williams at 10:30 a.m. Williams, who performs as Carver across the country, is director for outreach for the George Washington Carver Birthplace Association in Diamond, Mo. At 1 and 3 p.m., Echoes in Time Theatre will present Tony Gibbs, a resident of Canal Winchester, as Ohio Underground Railroad conductor John Parker in “Bound for the Promised Land! A Journey to Freedom.” Columbus native Yvette Carmon Davis will pay tribute to her grandfather in “The Story of Lonnie Carmon, Aviation Pioneer” at 4 p.m. Carmon, who lived in Columbus, constructed and flew his own airplane in the 1920s.
Additional performances will feature poetry, music and song by talented local groups later in the afternoon and into the evening. New Hope for Tomorrow Foundation will be present poetry and song at 4:30 p.m. and again at 7:30 p.m. Urban Strings will play at 6:30 p.m. and the Columbus State Gospel Vocal Ensemble will perform at 8 p.m.
“Herskovits at the Heart of Blackness” examines the forgotten legacy of Melville Herskovits. The controversial Jewish anthropologist’s writings in the 40s and 50s challenged widely-held assumptions about race and culture by insisting we look at the world through each other’s lives and histories.
Melville Jean Herskovits was born in Bellefontaine, Ohio, on September 10, 1895. Between 1924 and 1927, Herskovits lectured at Columbia and in 1925 was named Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Howard University. At Howard, as at Columbia, Herskovits became acquainted with a number of individuals who became friends and professional associates, including Ralph Bunche and E. Franklin Frazier.
Herskovits moved to Northwestern in 1927 as assistant professor of sociology, the only anthropologist in the department. He became an associate professor in 1931, a full professor in 1935, and presided over the creation of the Department of Anthropology becoming its first chairman in 1938. In 1948, he established the Program of African Studies and became its first director. In 1961, Northwestern appointed Herskovits to the Chair of African Studies, the first such position in the United States.
Airdates for Herskovits at the Heart of Blackness:
2/4/2010 3:30 am WOSU TV
2/7/2010 11:00 pm WOSU TV
In the outskirts of Cairo, the villagers recycle 80% of the garbage they collect. A multinational corporation now threatens their livelihood. What lessons can be learned from their story, Garbage Dreams?
The documentary will be screened at WOSU@COSI on Wednesday, January 20 at 2:00pm, followed by a panel discussion on local issues related to recycling. The public is invited to attend and join in the discussion.
This Community Cinema event is a joint project of the OSU Multicultural Center, the Columbus Community Relations Commission, and WOSU Public Media.
Contact outreach@wosu.org for more information.
RSVPs are suggested. There is no fee to attend.
In December, 2009, “The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond,” a film based on a never-before-produced screenplay by Tennessee Williams opened in theaters.
Set in the 1920s, The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond centers upon Fisher Willow, a young woman living with her aging aunt while navigating the treacherous waters of Memphis society. The reputation of her father, an unscrupulous plantation owner, lingers over Fisher like a dark cloud as the headstrong heroine tries to distance herself from the tainted legacy. With her aunt’s teardrop-shaped diamond earrings clipped to her ears and with the handsome young Jimmy Dobyne as her escort, she flaunts her charms and ignores the gossip. Jimmy is the youngest scion of a once-great Southern family now fallen on hard times. (His father is a drunk and his mother is in an insane asylum.) Aware that Fisher’s affection, combined with her wealth, might help him lift his family from its penurious state, Jimmy toys with the idea of a more formal commitment. When one of Fisher’s earrings goes missing, however, he becomes a suspect, and the tensions that have simmered between them come to a boil. (Read more.)
The film is by director Jodie Markell, and stars Bryce Dallas Howard in the leading role of Fisher Willow.
This was one of my favorite shoots, partly because I lit it and set up the cameras, partly because it turned out so well, and partly because working with the folks in this quaint church and hearing such beautiful music made it worthwhile.
Enjoy the Ohio Village Singers’ 35th Anniversary with a few holiday carols from the celebrated choir.
(From Christopher Purdy)
I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in a big field of rye and all. … Thousands of kids, and nobody big at all, nobody big but me. And I’m standing on the edge of this crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to come and catch them. If they start to fall … and don’t look where they’re going. That’s all I’d do all day. I’d just be the catcher in the rye and all. J.D. Salinger
“Herskovits at the Heart of Blackness” examines the forgotten legacy of