Westport Public Library MOVIE & MUSIC Blog

Grace Notes: Colin & Eric Jacobsen

2009-11-20T16:31:33Z

Once again, the Westport Arts Center is embarking on an exciting, innovative chamber music series. Russell Platt, composer, senior editor for classical music at The New Yorker and curator for the Westport Arts Center, has brought back violinist and cellist Colin and Eric Jacobsen of the Brooklyn Rider Quartet for a concert on Saturday, November 21, 2009 at 8:00 p.m. at the Westport Arts Gallery. The performance features duo works by George Frederic Handel, Johann Sebastian Bach, Zoltan Kodaly and a brand new Duo for Violin and Cello by Russell Platt. Colin Jacobsen, a 2003 Avery Fisher Career Grant winner, has been in the public eye since the age of fourteen when he served as soloist in Bruch's Scottish Fantasy with Kurt Masur and the New York Philharmonic. He returned to the New York Philharmonic in May 2006 with Brahms' Double Concerto with cellist Yo-Yo Ma. His other guest appearances with orchestras have included Albany, Charlotte, Chicago, Eugene, Rhode Island, Nashville, Charleston, the Metamorphosen Chamber Orchestra, Santa Fe Pro Musica and the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra. He has been a champion of new music and has premiered Ellen Taafe Zwillich's Partita for Violin and String Orchestra. An unusual concerto collaboration occurred when he gave the premiere performance of a Kevin Beavers Violin Concerto; this work, which was based on William Kennedy’s novel, Roscoe, featured the author as narrator. He andhis brother, cellist Eric Jacobsen, founded the Knights, a flexible chamber orchestra that has played at such diverse events and venues as the Beethoven Festival at the Planting Fields Arboretum, the MATA contemporary music festival, Tonic, and Bargemusic. He is a member of the Brooklyn Rider Quartet, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the group at Bargemusic, and the Metropolitan Museum Artists in Concert. Eric Jacobsen has appeared as soloist with the Chamber Soloists of Austin in Texas , the Riverside Orchestra, the New Hampshire Music Festival Orchestra, the Greenwich Village Orchestra, the Lake George Chamber Orchestra, the Woodstock Festival Orchestra, and the New York Repertory Orchestra. He has been heard on NPR programs such as Sound Check and Performance Today, where he performed in four live chamber music concerts last November. Besides his membership in the Brooklyn Rider Quartet, he is a member of Yo Yo Ma’s Silk Road Project. Last year he participated in residencies in Japan's National Museums in Nara and Fukuoka; his travels with the ensemble have taken him to Baku, Azerbaijan, Switzerland and Malaysia to perform for the Aga Khan. During the fall, he has participated in residencies at the Art Institute of Chicago and the Rubin Museum of Himalayan Art in NY. One of his most prestigious appearances was in 2003 with Renee Fleming at the opening of Zankel Hall, at Carnegie Hall and on the Late Show with David Letterman.

ClipNotes: Novel Month

2009-11-19T17:45:37Z

Half the month is almost over and this movie blog almost forgot to mention National Novel Month. Yes, I do mean novels, books, fiction of course! For, where would the movies be without great novels to provide the stories that come to life on the screen. I’d run out of fingers and toes if I tired to count the number of authors I’ve heard speak that have had a book optioned for a film and are hopeful that maybe, someday, just maybe, their words will be spoken by an actor. There is always hope, as this month alone, at least 10 movies I’m aware of that are “based on the book” are being released. November is a terrific choice for National Novel Month as some of the greatest authors were born in the ninth month of the year. And, the good news for producers is that many of them have work in the public domain. The Westport Library has an ever growing collection of adaptations of works by Mary Anne Evans aka George Eliot (November 22). Jonathan Swift author of Gulliver’s Travels was born on November 30, 1667. I offer belated birthday wishes on his 162nd birthday to Bram Stoker author of Dracula November 8, 1847. Many argue that Dracula is one of the greatest Victorian novels ever written. (Or so claimed a professor I once had!) C.S. Lewis is a youngster by comparison to his fellow Irishman, Stoker. Lewis’ books have enjoyed resurgence with recent film adaptations of his Chronicles of Narnia. Finally, American novels past and present owe much to Mark Twain (November 30, 1835). So the next time you choose a film from our large collection, take a second glance. It may just be based on a movie!

Grace Notes: Autumn

2009-11-18T20:25:07Z

The joys and beauty of fall foliage are memories to cherish as the days become shorter and the weather gets colder. The biting wind and unforgiving rains drive us inside to gather around the hearth, cook soup and stew and drink hot cider. As we do these mundane tasks, we often turn to music for reflection and rejuvenation. Percy Bysshe Shelley's poem Autumn: A Dirge (1824) is a dismal portrayal of this time of year. Here is a list of musical suggestions that will provide comfort and warmth and serve as a helpful counterpoint to the bleak feelings experienced by the poet: Britten, Benjamin. Serenade for Tenor Solo, Horn and Strings Copland, Aaron. The Tender Land Dvorak, Antonin. In Nature's Realm Overture Grainger, Percy. Country Gardens Haydn, Joseph. Seasons Mahler, Gustav. Symphony No. 1 Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus. Eine Kleine Nachtmusik Piazzolla, Astor. Cuatro Estaciones Porteñas Tchaikovsky, Peter Ilich. Autumn Song Verdi, Giuseppe. I Vespri Siciliani: Ballet of the Four Seasons Vivaldi, Antonio. L'Autunno

Grace Notes: Guys and Dolls

2009-11-13T21:09:43Z

The Staples High School Players extend an invitation to the community to put on their dancing shoes and grab the dice for an unforgettable production of Guys and Dolls. Performances are scheduled for November 13th, 14th, 20th and 21st at 7:30 p.m., Sunday, November 15th at 2:00 p.m. and Thursday, November 19th at 7:00 p.m. This ever popular musical, originally based on Damon Runyon's short story The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown, was brought to the Broadway stage via Frank Loesser's music and lyrics and Abe Burrows and Jo Swerling's book. This work has the distinction of being the first show that director David Roth did with the Staples Players ten years ago; what's more, the group celebrated its 50th birthday last May. Another interesting tidbit is the enormous set designed by Staples High School graduate Reid Thompson. He brings a unique perspective to the production as a former member of this acting troupe and from his current job as a scenic painter for the Metropolitan Opera. If you cannot make it to the show, feel free to come to the library for the score, compact disc or DVD. Here are the lyrics from one of my favorite numbers "Fugue for Tinhorns": NICELY I got the horse right here The name is Paul Revere And here's a guy that says that the weather's clear Can do, can do, this guy says the horse can do If he says the horse can do, can do, can do. (Benny starts singing his part at this time, while Nicely continues:) Can do - can do - this guy says the horse can do If he says the horse can do - can do, can do. (Rusty starts singing his part as the time, while Nicely and Benny continue:) For Paul Revere I'll bite I hear his foot's all right Of course it all depends if it rained last night Likes mud, likes mud, this X means the horse likes mud If that means the horse likes mud, likes mud Likes mud. I tell you Paul Revere Now this is no bum steer It's from a handicapper that's real sincere Can do, can do, this guy says the horse can do. If he says the horse can do - can do - can do. Paul Revere. I got the horse right here. BENNY I'm pickin' Valentine, 'cause on the morning line A guy has got him figured at five to nine Has chance, has chance, this guy says the horse has chance if he says the horse has chance, has chance, has chance I know it's Valentine, the morning work looks fine Besides the jockey's brother's a friend of mine Needs race, needs race, this guy says the horse needs race If he says the horse needs race, needs race, needs race. I go for Valentine, 'Cause on the morning line, The guy has got him figured at five to nine Has chance, has chance, this guy says the horse has chance Valentine! I got the horse right here. RUSTY CHARLIE But look at Epitaph. he wins it by a half According to this here in the Telegraph "Big Threat" - "Big Threat" This guy calls the horse "Big Threat" If he calls the horse "Big Threat", Big Threat, Big Threat. And just a minute, boys. I've got the feed box noise It says the great-grandfather was Equipoise Shows class, shows class. This guy says the horse shows class If he says the horse shows class Shows class, show's class. So make it Epitaph, he wins it by a half According to this here in the Telegraph. Epitaph! I got the hore right here!

Grace Notes: Berlin Wall

2009-11-09T14:25:39Z

It's been twenty years since the Berlin Wall came down. This spontaneous, populist act was a rousing confirmation for freedom from the tyranny of the Soviet Union and reunification of Germany. It was astonishing to see all of the young people converge at that site, climb over it and chip it away. Leonard Bernstein joined in the celebration with Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 in East Berlin's Schauspielhaus on Christmas Day, 1989, The concert was heard in over twenty countries to an estimated audience of 100 million people. Bernstein reworded Friedrich Schiller's text of the Ode to Joy with the German word Freiheit which means freedom. In tribute to the astounding German musical heritage, the following is a short list of composers and their works: Bach, Johann Sebastian. Brandenburg Concertos Beethoven, Ludwig van. Nine Symphonies Brahms, Johannes. Symphonies 1 & 2 Mendelssohn, Felix. Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in E minor, op. 64 Schubert, Franz. Lieder Schumann, Robert. Cello Concerto Strauss, Richard. Symphonic Poems Telemann, Georg Philipp. Orchestral Works Wagner, Richard. Das Rheingold

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.