Monday, 12 December, 2005

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 12.12.2005

The Berlin Philharmoniker are leaving Simone Young, the second-only female conductor ever to direct the orchestra, in the lurch, writes Eleonore Büning. She has no time for petulant schoolkid antics. "It is astounding how lacklustre one of the best orchestras in the world can sound and how much dedication can be thrown to the wind, the strings and the triangles, if that's what it's determined to do. After all, the collective achievements of this precious and highly specialised ensemble are dependent to a great extent on the will of the individual. The will of the conductor is secondary."


Die Tageszeitung, 12.12.2005

"Extraordinarily weird," says Esther Slevogt of Rene Pollesch's latest play "Notti Senza Cuore - Life is the new hard" (here the text from the hit of the same name by Gianna Nannini) in Berlin's Prater theatre. Pollesch illustrates the ubiquitous alienation through the market using the story of two women and a man. "All three are heart-breakingly, supremely ridiculous. And they are all a hair too oddball for the petit bourgeois setting. Their droning tone contains not a hint of reflection, which makes Pollesch's convoluted sentences particularly comical. Such probing questions are addressed as: 'Why do porn actors always look into the camera? They should be fucking for real!'"


Süddeutsche Zeitung, 12.12.2005

The Romans call it "Il monstro": the Corviale, at 850 metres, is Europe's longest high-rise (picture). Birigt Schönau visits it in a suburb of Rome and realises that life on the periphery is, unlike in France, experiencing a renaissance in Italy. "Even the legends surrounding the block are hushed: that, for instance, the architect Fiorntino killed himself when he saw his monster for the first time; or that the Corviale destroyed the climate in Rome, because the huge wall blocks the coastal wind 'Ponentino' on its way to the city."


Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 12.12.2005

Karl-Markus Gauß is to be awarded the Manes-Sperber prize in January. He explains on what would have been the 100th birthday of the left-wing Jewish writer and renegade: "Sperber's time has arrived. The 'praise from the wrong side' which was lavished upon him has long since been exhausted, and there are no cold warriors left to invoke him. And although in the past, Sperber's furious campaign against a Left that was encapsulated in a 'contempt of knowledge' might have clashed with staunch left-wing loyalties, these have long since faded. Now there is nothing to prevent anyone from contesting what Sperber knew how to say. For he was a man who carried the conflicts of the time in him and with him."


Saturday 19 December, 2005

Süddeutsche Zeitung, 10.12.2005

Jürgen Heinzmann reports that the Canadian political scientist Michael Ignatieff, who has left the USA after 30 years to stand as a candidate for the Liberal party in Canada, is being regarded sceptically by his fellow Canadians. He has "alienated the members of his constituency, who are predominantly of Ukrainian origin. During his speech, he was booed and hounded with calls of 'Shame!' and 'Yankee!' His opponents carried posters that said 'Democratic Deficit' and passed out leaflets with quotes from his book 'Blood and Belonging', published in 1993, a critical look at new nationalisms. Ignatieff wrote that he couldn't take Ukrainian nationalism seriously; it conjured up embroidered peasant shirts, the nasal whine of ethnic instruments, of phoney Cossacks in cloaks and boots and nasty anti-Semites."


Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 10.12.2005

Gidon Kremer has recorded Bach's Sonatas and Partitas for Violin Solo for the second time. A sensation, says Michael Gassmann. "Those who care to compare the two recordings will discover more passion in the second one. Perhaps this could be described as his mature style. Just listen to the beginning of the third sonata: like church bells, Kremer writes. He wants his adagio to swing. He gives his full force, his full sound. The final fugue begins elegantly in an artful non legato, and ends with an extreme urgency. The fugue in the first sonata has a similarly, almost disconcerting energy. Kremer caresses the concluding Siciliano - it is fragile, as though standing on unstable ground."


Berliner Zeitung, 10.12.2005

Helge Hopp chews the fat with actor Götz George who yearns for American production conditions when making films. "If you want to be perfect, you have to be completely shielded off. The Americans have got it absolutely right. They have their trailors and someone comes to collect them when everything is properly set up. This means they are rested and concentrated on their role. And it shines through in their performance, their acting is much more relaxed. But we have to think about everything. We even have to help with blocking off the street."