‘Melanie has labor pains, I want twenty cellists!’
…is a priceless line from a conversation between the composer of the music for Gone with the Wind, Max Steiner and film producer David Selznick. Describing the scene where Melanie…
Johann Strauss the African
Andre Rieu’s album of Strauss Waltzes and other bon-bons, Forever Vienna, is number 1 in the classical album charts this year, and beat Susan Boyle’s album in the top ten…
Taruskin on ballet music
One of the excitements of this year is being able to afford a volume of The Oxford History of Western Music. I snapped it up in Blackwells the other day,…
Why we need Stonewall
Out from Stonewall, FIT, a movie for schools to help combat homophobic bullying. And from me, a related rant. To help with an essay on gender, music & ballet, a…
Chout-ed and booted
Another cautionary tale for choreographers: Alexey Miroshnichenko’s new (kind of )work for NYCB The Lady with the Little Dog is onto its second score (this time around, by Rodion Shchedrin)…
When Tchaikovsky danced with Saint-Saëns
And I don’t mean figuratively, either. Apparently, in 1875, Tchaikovsky (aged 35) and Saint-Saëns (aged 40) who had a ‘natural talent’ for ballet as well as liking it, got up…