Westport Public Library MOVIE & MUSIC Blog

Grace Notes: Ragtime

2009-11-06T14:57:01Z

If you are a fan of American music and wish to expand your musical horizons, you may want to consider coming to the Westport Library on Sunday, November 8 at 2:00 p.m. for a fun-loving concert by The Ragtime Evolution Quartet. You may recognize the term ragtime music from the academy award-winning 1973 film The Sting. This movie which featured Paul Newman and Robert Redford as two con artists, was enhanced by Marvin Hamlisch's Academy Award winning orchestrations of the original Scott Joplin rags including Solace, Pineapple Rag, Easy Winners, Gladiolus Rag, Rag Time Dance and The Entertainer. With the success of the movie soundtrack, ragtime music, an antecedent of jazz that utiilized syncopation in a new way and was popular from 1893 to 1918, underwent a renaissance. Musicians such as Dick Hyman, Max Morath and Joshua Rifkin spread the word with numerous concerts and gigs. The venerable classical composer Gunther Schuller formed the New England Conservatory Ragtime Ensemble; with that group, he recorded Red-Back Book which showcased the compositions of Scott Joplin. It not only was a best seller but a Grammy Award winner in 1973. The Ragtime Evolution Quartet consists of Lew Green on cornet; Mary Green, on piano; Vince Giordano on string bass, bass saxophone and tuba; and Ken Salvo on banjo. Their performances will not only entertain but educate you about this music and time period of American history. If you can't make it to the concert or wish to learn more about this unique genre of American music, you may want to consider books and compact discs on ragtime from the library.

Grace Notes: New York City Opera

2009-11-04T20:10:24Z

Due to last year's massive renovations at the New York State Theater, the New York City Opera had an unusual season of music and opera. They took the show on the road and performed at fourteen different performance spaces throughout the city. The administrative turmoil at the top finally settled down In February 2009 with the appointment of George Steel as the company’s new General Manager and Artistic Director. At long last, the New York City Opera with its traditions of maverick programming and innovative acumen have come home to the Lincoln Center complex with a state-of-the-art building known as the David H. Koch Theater. To celebrate this momentous event, the opening night concert will take place on Thursday, November 5, 2009 at 7:00 p.m. Medasha Brueggergosman, Amy Burton, Joyce DiDonato, Lauren Flanigan, Anthony Dean Griffey, Samuel Ramey, etc. will perform familiar, well-known selections from American opera and musical theater. Hugo Weisgall's biblical opera Esther and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Don Giovanni will also be heard this month. Numerous backstage tours are being offered throughout the month for the curious and inquisitive fans. As part of their image of being "the people's opera", they are once again discounting 25% of all tickets to a low price of $12.00. Additionally, every Monday at 10:00am during the season, $25 orchestra rush seats will be available to the general public for all performances that week, based on availability.

ClipNotes: And the wall came tumbling down

2009-11-03T16:59:09Z

November 9th marks the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. As you may recall from experience or world history class the cold war was at its most chilling point prior to and for many years after the construction of the wall in 1961. Here’s what an authoritative source, Discovering Collection, wrote. "Large numbers of refugees from Communist Europe and particularly East Germany were using Berlin as an escape route to the West. They were able to cross freely into the Western sectors of Berlin and were then flown to West Germany. From 1949 to 1959, over two million refugees came through Berlin. In 1960 over 230,000 Germans left East Germany, three-fourths of them under forty-five years of age. When the new American president, John F. Kennedy, was inaugurated in January, 1961, Khrushchev seized the opportunity to settle the Berlin problem. The Bay of Pigs fiasco in Cuba and deteriorating American influence in Laos convinced Khrushchev that Kennedy was inexperienced and could be made to yield on Berlin. … By that time, the rate of refugees had risen to over twenty thousand per month. Kennedy refused Khrushchev's demands. On August 12, 1961, 2400 persons left East Berlin on that day alone. On August 13, the East Germans began closing the checkpoints between the two sectors of the city and started the construction of a barbed wire barrier (soon replaced by a concrete wall) along the entire border." Why not commemorate the end of the wall, with a film. The Cold War brings images of spying and intrigue to mind. Many film aficionados note The Spy Who Came in From the Cold based on the John leCarre work as the iconoclastic film of this nature. In it a spy defects to East Germany as a ruse. A German film, Legend of Rita (Die Stille Nach dem Schuss) is a political thriller loosely based on the Baader-Meinhof gang. If you enjoy this film, the library also offers the German film Lives of Others (Das Leben der Anderen). The title of the film describes what happens, before the fall of the Berlin Wall an East German secret policeman conducting surveillance listens in on a writer and his lover and becomes increasingly absorbed by their lives. If you want a bit more humor, you might like Funeral in Berlin. Made in the mid sixties, the film stars Michael Caine as a hapless British agent sent to East Berlin to bring out a Soviet intelligence officer responsible for security at the Berlin Wall. Does he really want to defect? For full on humor, Buffalo Soldiers with a star studded cast is about a group of crooked American soldiers on a West German base during the waning days of the cold war. By day, safeguarding freedom, at night ripping off the system! The Westport Library movie collection is located in the Audio-visual section on the lower level. Most movies circulate for 1 week and you place a hold on a title through on catalog on the website.

Grace Notes: Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

2009-10-29T20:01:59Z

As we all know from the musical Grease, "Rock 'n roll is here to stay..." It's time to congratulate and wish a happy 25th anniversary to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The two-night celebration begins tonight at Madison Square Garden with Crosby, Stills and Nash, Paul Simon, Simon & Garfunkel, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band and Stevie Wonder; tomorrow evening's event includes Aretha Franklin, Metallica and U2. In 1983 the movers and shakers of the in the music industry decided to establish the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation. The formal recognition of an artist's accomplishments and contributions to the field of rock and roll is the induction ceremony into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. To learn more about the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the Library has Holly George-Warren's The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: The First 25 Years and Nick Talevski's The Unofficial Encyclopedia of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. If you can't make it to the live performances, be sure to catch an edited version of them on November 29th on HBO. While you are dancing, you may want to sing or hum the full lyrics to "Rock 'n roll is here to stay" Rock 'n roll is here to stay, it will never die It was meant to be that way, though I don't know why I don't care what people say, rock 'n roll is here to stay (We don't care what people say, rock 'n roll is here to stay) Rock 'n roll will always be our ticket to the end It will go down in history, just you wait, my friend Rock 'n roll will always be, it'll go down in history (Rock 'n roll will always be, it'll go down in history) So come on, everybody rock, everybody rock, everybody rock, everybody rock Everybody rock Now everybody rock 'n roll, everybody rock 'n roll, everybody rock 'n roll Everybody rock 'n roll, everybody rock 'n roll Rock 'n roll will always be our ticket to the end It will go down in history, just you wait, my friend Rock 'n roll will always be, it'll go down in history If you don't like rock 'n roll, think what you've been missin' But if you like to bop and strawl, come on down and listen Let's all start to have a ball, everybody rock 'n roll Ah, oh baby, ah, oh baby, ah, oh baby, ah, oh baby, rock!

Grace Notes: Halloween Music

2009-10-26T20:16:54Z

As Halloween approaches, parents everywhere are making costumes, decorating their homes and buying lots of treats for the upcoming day. On Wednesday, October 28, 2009, the Westport Halloween parade for children commences at 3:00 p.m. at the Westport YMCA and finishes at 4:00 p.m. at Westport Town Hall Green. For those who would like to have some suspenseful music to greet their young trick-or-treaters or adult guests, the Library offers the following suggestions: Beethoven, Ludwig van. Ghost Trio Berlioz, Hector. Damnation de Faust Dukas, Paul. The Sorcerer's Apprentice Franck, César. Le Chasseur Maudit Gounod, Charles. Funeral March of a Marionette Mahler, Gustav. "Funeral March" from First Movement Symphony #5 Rachmaninoff, Sergei. The Isle of the Dead Strauss, Richard. Death and Transfiguration Stravinsky, Igor. The Rite of Spring Verdi, Giuseppe. Macbeth

Grace Notes: American Chamber Orchestra

2009-10-22T20:37:12Z

One of the youngest of Fairfield County's orchestras is the American Chamber Orchestra. This six year-old chamber music group performs the major works of the symphonic repertoire, aims to capture new artistic talent and presents new contemporary music. Its new season begins this Saturday, October 24, 2009 at 8:00 p.m. at the First Presbyterian Church in Fairfield. Music director Christopher James Hisey will lead the ensemble with the Hebrides Overture (Fingal's Cave) by Felix Mendelssohn, Piano Concerto in A minor by Robert Schumann with soloist Dorothy Kolinsky, and Symphony #3 (The Eroica) by Ludwig van Beethoven. To acquaint yourself with this timely music, feel free to check the Westport Public Library's holdings.

Grace Notes: Alicia de Larrocha

2009-10-20T15:11:11Z

To my dismay, I recently I heard about the death of the great Spanish pianist, Alicia de Larrocha. I was quite fortunate to attend some of her solo recitals as well as appearances with the New York Philharmonic and the Mostly Mozart Orchestra. Her forte (no pun intended) was the music of Spain and Catalonia, particularly Isaac Albeniz and Enrique Granados. She was a proponent of Joaquin Turina and Federico Mompou and was equally adept with the music of traditional western Europe like Johann Sebastian Bach, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Franz Liszt, Maurice Ravel, etc. Her interpretations and scintillating performances earned her worldwide recognition with three Grammy awards, the Edison Prize, two Grand Prix du Disque, and the Deutsche Schallplatten Prize. Other honors included the Paderewski Memorial Medal, the Principe de Asturias prize, an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Michigan, and became an Honorary Member of the Foundation for Iberian Music at The City University of New York in 2001. If you have never seen or heard you, please feel free to click the link below to a 1997 live concert performance of the first movement of the Ravel Piano Concerto in G with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra conducted by Jesus Lopez-Cobos.

Grace Notes: Norwalk Symphony Orchestra

2009-10-15T20:45:10Z

In celebration of its illustrious past and its 70th birthday year, the Norwalk Symphony Orchestra is planning a retrospective look from its first concert in 1939. Two pieces from that performance, Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony #1 and Reinhold Gliere's Russian Sailors Dance will be on the orchestra's program this Saturday night, October 17, 2009 at 8:00 p.m. The performance will be rounded out with Quinto Maganini's Tuolomne. Charles Ives Unanswered Question and Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto in D Major. Although Quinto Maganini may not be a household name, he was not only an arranger, composer and flautist, but the first music director of the Norwalk Symphony. He led the symphony from 1941 to 1967 and was a strong proponent of new 20th century musical works. His 1927 composition Tuolomne which paid tribute to the Yosemite Valley is quite idiomatic and accessible. He won the Pulitzer Prize and the Bispham Medal for an opera The Argonauts which was based on the 1849 California gold rush. Roderick MacDonald will appear as trumpet soloist in Tuolomne and the Unanswered Question. He has appeared with numerous orchestras including the Bach Collegium Munich, the Japan Philharmonic, the Kammerphilharmonic Leipzig, the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Virtuosi Saxonia, etc. He has served as principal trumpet with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra since 1989. In keeping with the Norwalk Symphony's tradition of presenting new talent before they become huge media stars, 22-year-old Stefan Jackiw will be the featured violin soloist in the Tchaikovsky concerto. He made his debut in London at the age of 14 playing the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto with the Philharmonia Orchestra under Benjamin Zander and was acclaimed by The Strad as a "violinist who took the London music world by storm." Since then he has performed with Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Boston Symphony, the Chicago Symphony, the Cleveland Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, etc. He won the 2002 Avery Fisher Career Grant. The Library invites you to check out these works before or after the concert.

Grace Notes: Dancing Piano

2009-10-12T18:45:40Z

Have you ever seen the movie Big starring Tom Hanks and Robert Loggia? Do you remember the funny, yet touching scene at the FAO Schwarz store in New York City where they play a duet together on a foot-operated electronic keyboard? If you had a choice between taking an escalator or playing a piano with your feet while climbing up steps, would you prefer? My vote would be to run up the stairs for an aerobic workout. Take a look at what the Swedes did to encourage people to do this and have fun:

Grace Notes: New Haven Pops

2009-10-07T14:51:41Z

In an effort to reach new audiences, experience new performing venues and expand beyond the city limits, the New Haven Symphony Orchestra Pops will be paying tribute to the one and only jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald. The Pops group will be led by Associate Conductor Gerald Steichen, and the guest vocalist will be Shaleah Adkisson. This performing organization will appear on Friday, October 9, 2009 at 7:30 p.m. at East Haven High School, on Saturday, October 10, 2009 at 7:30 p.m. at Hamden Middle School, and on Sunday, October 11, 2009 at 3:00 p.m. at Shelton Intermediate School. Ella Fitzgerald who was known as "The First Lady of Song," serenaded us for most of the twentieth century with sultry ballads, sweet jazz and an uncanny ability to imitate every instrument in an orchestra. She held the distinction of winning thirteen Grammy awards, selling over forty million albums, and working with all the geniuses of jazz including Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Nat King Cole, Frank Sinatra, Dizzy Gillespie and Benny Goodman. To learn more about her, you may consult Geoffrey Mark Fidelman's First Lady of Song: Ella Fitzgerald For the Record or Stuart Nicholson's Ella Fitzgerald: A Biography of the First Lady of Jazz. Her remarkable voice may be heard on Cryin' Mood, Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Cole Porter Songbook, Sing Song Swing, etc.

ClipNotes: To London To London ... part 2

2009-10-06T18:26:50Z

My trip to London continues... I mentioned British history and its connection to movies in my last blog – and the British Museum is certainly the place for that and more. I must admit that I am spending too much time in the audio visual department, because in addition to being wowed by the share scale of the museum I kept expecting to see a mummy come alive à la The Mummy. And, my traveling companion did think it a bit strange that I kept insisting a large “home” in the Victoria Station area looked familiar. She thought it was because we had turned the map around and were lost. Turns out it was used as the home of the Schelegel sisters in Howard’s End. The Jolly St. Ermins, a hotel we tried to unsuccessfully book was also featured in the film. And of course Fortnum & Mason is the scene of a shopping scene in the film. Seems even two women without a location map couldn’t escape movie history! Price, location and a free breakfast package found us staying at the Royal Lancaster, a location used in The Italian Job. And, even in London, it was hard to escape a Woody Allen film. Our visit to the Tate Modern brought to mind the scenes from Match Point. (Quick commercial - the Westport Library will show Allen's film, Whatever Works on November 12th at 7:00 in the McManus Room.) Finally, to all you Harry Potter fans, particularly the ones I work with - you know who you are! I apologize. Time did not allow us to follow the location trail for these films. Maybe next time!

Grace Notes: Radio Broadcasting

2009-10-05T20:04:14Z

Due to the fact that the New York Philharmonic and radio station WQXR have been in the news, I thought it was appropriate to note that the first radio broadcast by the New York Philharmonic occurred on this day in 1930 at 3:00 p.m. According to the October 5, 1930 issue of the New York Times, the concert led by conductor Erich Kleiber, was beamed on WABC Radio at 3:00 p.m. It was the first of twenty-seven braodcasts held during the 1930-1931 concert season. These performances took place at both Carnegie Hall and the Metropolitan Opera House in New York. Besides Mr. Kleiber, Arturo Toscanini and Bernardino Molinari also took part in these radio broadcasts. Intermission commentary was provided by the New York Times music critic Olin Downes. If you would like to read more about the New York Philharmonic, feel free to check out Howard Shanet's Philharmonic: A History of New York's Orchestra. For a historic listening perspective, you may want to hear the compact disc New York Philharmonic: The Historic Broadcasts 1923 to 1987.

ClipNotes: To London To London ....

2009-10-01T20:46:27Z

I just returned from my first trip to London and am still reeling from all the sights. I suspect the friend I traveled with is relieved to know that I found a map of film locations in the city after our trip. Not surprisingly, the map is densely dotted with buildings, parks and other places. Day one brought jetlag and a spectacular view of Hyde Park from our hotel window. And, who knew that when we passed by the park’s Apsley Gate that it was where the world’s first known moving image was filmed? Or, that Glenda Jackson learned to play baseball in the park and won her second Oscar for A Touch of Class filmed there? You could see the evidence (and smell it!) of horses stabled not far from our hotel in a location used in Reds. The famous Speaker’s Corner which I just had to see has been seen in many movies and actually used in among other films, This Happy Breed. Among our many stops were the National Gallery and The National Portrait Gallery. Trafalgar Square literally made us gasp as we came up the stairs from the underground Charing Cross stop. A child of the sixties, I fully expected to see Mary Poppins. But alas, now there are signs warning of fines for feeding the birds. The stop itself was recently used for The Bourne Ultimatum. And just off Charing Cross road is Cecil Court the real Diagon Alley of Harry Potter fame. On our way to see the sights, we passed by Royal Albert Hall which certainly has seen its share of movie cameras. You can glimpse it in Hitchcock’s The Man Who Knew Too Much, The Seventh Veil starring James Mason and yes, even in Spice World. Another stop on our whirlwind tour through the city brought us to the British Museum, the actual locations for scenes in The Day of the Jackal among other films as well as recreated scenes. In case you think basking in British history was not on our itinerary… fear not. Next entry… more highlights of London locations for film with a bow to royalty - both the regal and the literary.

Grace Notes: WQXR

2009-09-30T18:27:01Z

In an attempt to get their fiscal house in order, the New York Times has sold WQXR-FM to WNYC Radio and Univision. WQXR will move down the FM dial from 96.3 to 105.9. As a longtime listener to this classical musical station, I am concerned that the weaker signal will not reach us in Fairfield County. This switch which is slated to take effect on October 8th, further weakens the availability of classical musical to the casual listener. This is a major loss for all. Officials from WNYC Radio, the largest public radio station in the U. S., have tried to allay these fears by indicating that the 105.9 signal transmits approximately 30 miles from the broadcast antenna which rests on the Empire State Building. Additionally, the website will become wqxr.org. Don't forget that this big move occurs next Thursday at 8:00 p.m. Stay tuned!

Grace Notes: Park and Bark

2009-09-29T18:26:05Z

As you may know, the Metropolitan Opera opened its new season last week with a new production of the classic Puccini favorite Tosca. The new set and conception of this opera was directed by Luc Bondy, and the tried and true 25-year-old version by Franco Zeffirelli was eradicated. Although the audience staunchly applauded and cheered for the singers, they vehemently booed and jeered the director. By doing so, they put the general manager of the Met, Peter Gelb, on the defensive. As Mr. Gelb so eloquently put it, he has rejected the traditional model of a singer who can just "park and bark". In order to make opera a viable, economically feasible art form, he lined up singers who can act, move and sing a role, pursued avant-garde directors from plays and movies as directors of new works, and used new technology to make opera a cool and exciting entertainment. I chuckled when I first heard his phrase "park and bark" since it reminded me of a pet salon or a doggie daycare center. The age of the lumbering, overweight singer with the shimmering voice is officially over. That reminded me of the old, familiar expression, "The OPERA ain't over 'til the fat lady sings." According to Ralph Keyes in his book The Quote Verifier, that expression was first used by Dick Motta during a 1978 National Basketball Assocation playoff. Mr. Motta said that Dan Cook, a TV sportscaster in San Antonio, Texas had coined it. Mr. Keyes noted that Southern Words and Sayings, a 1976 pamphlet had this entry, "Church ain't out 'till the fat lady sings." Since then, it has been used and abused by politicians, pundits and sports announcers. We won't be hearing the end of this expression and Peter Gelb's transformation of the Met for a long time.