Die Welt 01.12.2006

Russian author Viktor Erofeyev continues his analysis of "Russia in crisis," pinning his hopes on the country's emerging middle class. Witness to its existence is borne "by the construction boom and mass international travel. But who will ultimately take the day: the middle class, symbol of social modernisation, or the sluggish, archaic consciousness of the poorer social strata, characterised by a crippled will? Or will the true party win power – the corrupt apparatus of functionaries, civil servants and public officials? This question is crucial not just for Russia's future, but for its very existence." Click here for part one of the article.


Der Tagesspiegel 01.12.2006

Daniel Barenboim, chief conductor of the Staatskapelle Berlin, talks with Christine Lemke-Matwey about the composer Ferruccio Busoni, whose opera "Doktor Faust" premieres tomorrow at the Berlin Staatsoper, conducted by Barenboim and directed by Peter Mussbach. "Busoni always identified with the figure of Faust, and was very at home with his ambivalence and dichotomies. As a pianist he played practically everything non legato, for clarity's sake. But always with the pedal! While rehearsing I was often reminded of Hans Sachs from Wagner's 'Meistersinger'. There are many parallels... Like a lot of artists from Latin-Romanic cultural circles, ultimately Busoni was more German than the Germans: Pablo Casals, Carlo Maria Giulini, Maurizio Pollini, Claudio Arrau. For them the proverbial broad tempi are more important that any lightness or transparency. I read in Stuckenschmidt's fantastic biography that Busoni owned a 'Faust' edition with drawings by Delacroix. He was at home between these two poles. A great European."


Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung 01.12.2006

Barbara Frey has staged Euripides' "Medea" in the Deutsches Theater Berlin, and Gerhard Stadelmaier tries to overlook the built-in kitchen on stage and focus all his attention on the new goddess Nina Hoss. "She lives through, pulses through the character. The dragon chariot and all other metaphysics have naturally been eradicated from the production. But Nina Hoss is the dragon herself: the dragon woman who with virtuosity, bristling sexuality and also acute tragic awareness, turns her emotions into a maxim for her sex: murder more beautifully, in other words more consciously; don't take any bullshit; be what you have to be. And face the consequences. Her final exit is cool, controlled, confident but also edged with pain. Jason squirms around on the floor. The woman: a statue. The man: a worm."


Frankfurter Rundschau 01.12.2006

"Rudolf Schwarzkogler is dead, Günther Brus and Valie Export have long put direct body action behind them. Of the Vienna Actionists, only Hermann Nitsch is left." Elke Buhr visits two exhibitions in Berlin dedicated to the body. Nitsch, the "tubby old man with the monk's beard" filled the Martin Gropius Bau with his work, and the younger generation are on show in the Kunst-Werke. "Today, as his Berlin retrospective shows, Hermann Nitsch with his decoratively blood-smeared virgins is really nothing more than an historical reference – and is used as such by artists like Jonathan Meese and Christoph Schlingensief... 'Into Me / Out Of Me' curated by Klaus Biesenbach, offers a fantastic overview of body art over the last decades. And it's not only Schlingensief's video of the rotting rabbit that tickles the edge of disgust."


Neue Zürcher Zeitung 01.12.2006

Ulrich M. Schmid portrays three ultra-conservative, arch-Catholic generations in the family of Poland's current Minister of Education Roman Giertych. Giertych, his father Maciej (now Member of the European Parliament for the League of Polish Families) and his grandfather Jedrzej Giertych (1903-1992), all rejected a liberalisation of the priesthood, ecumenicism, contraception, divorce and homosexuality. "And now a month ago Roman Giertych suggested removing the author Witold Gombrowicz from literary canon taught in Polish schools. It's true, Gombrowicz is diametrically opposed to the cultural ideals of the education minister: his novels 'Ferdydurke' and 'Trans-Atlantyk' take a swipe at the Polish national pathos and contain homophile scenes. Instead of Gombrowicz's aesthetically demanding works which have long been modern classics, the Education Ministry is now recommending the nationalist historical novels of Henryk Sienkiewicz."


Süddeutsche Zeitung 01.12.2006

Museums have long surrendered their cultural hegemony to millionaire collectors, who are happy to capitalise on the kudos of the wounded institutions to boost their property value, Holger Liebs reports. One such collector is David Geffen, "The former media Czar, who made his fortune through Hollywood and Broadway, and since October has sold 420 million dollars worth of art – making him greatest living beneficiary of the art market boom. Geffen's next step is to buy the L.A. Times for two billion dollars – at least so the L.A. Times claims."