Berliner Zeitung 07.09.2007

Three days ago, police arrested three men - two of them German Islamic converts - suspected of planning massive terrorist attacks on US facilities at Frankfurt airport and Ramstein military base. The case has spawned a flurry of commentary about the mindset of Islamic converts. "Even as a young Muslim I learned that reflection and self-criticism are cardinal values in Islam, and that the most essential Jihad is the struggle of man against himself, his egoism, his yearning for power and his sins," writes Hadayatulla Hübsch, who converted in 1969. But he also grants that converts may fall into the hands of "criminal minds" in some mosques. "When these people erroneously preach that a Muslim may practise 'Taqiya', and freely lie and cheat in the service of Islam, you shouldn't wonder if it results in a persecution mentality. When clerics give them the licence to kill, some unstable characters fall prey to the delusion that they may do anything they please, so long as it's in the service of Allah. What that has to do with divine wisdom, charity or love is no longer of any consequence. Deluded into thinking that they are carrying out divine justice on earth, converts can very quickly become self-righteous and run amok."


Die Welt 07.09.2007

In an interview writer Christoph Peters, whose recently published novel "Ein Zimmer im Haus des Krieges" (a room in the house of war) about a young Islamic convert makes him somewhat of an expert on the subject, talks about the "fascination of fundamentalism." "Converts do not generally change religion in order to practice something half-heartedly to calm their nerves, but because their search for the absolute, for god, is a central concern of their lives. The seriousness of the inner conflict which normally precedes a conversion is painstakingly carried forward into the practice of the new religion. And it's no different with people who convert from Catholicism to Protestantism or vice versa. But it's a long way from here to building bombs. Just as a normal Christian doesn't just go out and shoot the first abortion doctor he encounters."

Manuel Brug bids farewell to the late tenor Luciano Pavarotti. "Only Pavarotti could outsing Titan Caruso. With the honey-coloured shimmer of his clear metallically-primed yet fantastically soft tenor. With the effortless force and unearthly elegance of his high notes. With the confidence of his impeccable technique, the imagination and eloquence of his embellishment. These were the gifts in the aspiring tenor that attracted the attention of Joan Sutherland the blooming bel canto star and her conductor husband Richard Bonynge in the Sixties. The son of a baker (with whom he continued to sing in the church choir right into the later years) and a tobacco worker, who couldn't even read music properly. His voice was simply a gift of nature."


Süddeutsche Zeitung 07.09.2007

The entire first page of the feuilleton section is dedicated to Pavarotti. No one mastered the nine high C's in Donizetti's "The Daughter of the Regiment" like he did, sighs Jens Malte Fischer. "You only have to compare him in this role with today's leading tenor, Juan Diego Florez, to recognise Pavarotti's uniqueness. Florez' high notes are sung brilliantly with a light attack - but so were Pavarotti's. What Pavarotti had on top of that was twice the volume and penetration, without having to force himself. Pavarotti avoided with clarion brilliance the screeching tone that so many fine tenors can hardly avoid in this highest range, never sounding either overly muscular or strained."


Neue Zürcher Zeitung 07.09.2007

Peter Hagmann reports on two performances of Karlheinz Stockhausen's 1957 composition "Gruppen" for three orchestras given at the Lucerne Festival. "The first performance was led by Hsiao-Lin Liao, Pablo Heras-Casado and Kevin John Edusei, all participants in Peter Eötvös' master class for conductors. The second was conducted by the masters themselves - namely Pierre Boulez, Peter Eötvös and Jean Deroyer, who until last year was assistant director of the Ensemble Intercontemporain. Every aspect of the work is a challenge. Three full orchestras surround the audience along three walls. The serial, punctual soul of this music wanders through the hall and must be optimally coordinated by the three conductors. The first performance gave a very respectable - because extremely exact - rendition of the work. The second performance by Boulez, Eötvös and Deroyer, however, demonstrated how Stockhausen's very disjointed music suddenly came together and took on a life of its own through the dynamic communication of the orchestras."


Die Tageszeitung 07.09.2007

Christine Käppeler talks with French singer Benjamin Biolay, who has been dubbed the new Serge Gainsbourg but who also has something of the young Nick Cave about him (watch the video to "Negatif"), about his new chansons and his new government. "Nowadays everybody seems to be into these appallingly kitsch songs with accordion accompaniment, that are supposed to sound like the French tradition and past. A total fake. Completely regressive. I don't understand how people make this kind of music at the age of 20. And French hiphop which was really excellent a few years ago. Puuh. There's nothing left, the scene is dead. The political climate is completely different from the Mitterand years. Jack Lang, the cultural minister under Mitterand, properly supported cultural diversity and development. Nothing like that is happening now. The conservatives in the driving seat now have no taste."