Die Zeit, 14.06.2006

Talking with Christof Siemes, Nobel Prize winner Günter Grass points out that Peter Handke would not have been an unworthy laureate of the Heinrich Heine Prize (more here). "Heine – like Goethe too, by the way – remained a fan of Napoleon until his death. The horror and the terror that Napoleon spread, how he used up his armies on the way to Russia – all of that was of no consequence for his admirers. Heine runs equally afoul of today's criteria whereby Handke is condemned for his absurd, one-sided support for Serbia... Handke has always tended to adopt the most nonsensical arguments and counter-positions. But what I dislike about the current discussion is the double standard, as if you could grant writers the right to err as a special kind of favour. The writer Botho Strauss said something along these lines (text in German here)... I have a hard time with granting writers a kind of bonus for geniuses which excuses their partisanship for the worst and most dangerous nonsense."

In an interview with Hanno Rauterberg, Iraqi architect Zaha Hadid talks about her volcanic temperament, Babylonian history and her fondness for Russian 20th-century avant-garde: "In fact their ideas have never been tried out. At the time people were hoping for a new beginning. The idea was to create a new type of architecture, one that would free itself from all constraints and put everything in question. Do buildings have to stand on the ground? Can they also float in the air? What is a wall? What is a floor? Do we have to follow the dictates of the right angle, or can we also use the remaining 359 degrees?"


Die Welt, 14.06.2006

Poland prepares to play Germany tonight and Polish author Wojciech Kuczok is heavy of heart: "It is sad to be a Pole in this World Cup. It is a nightmare to have to face the fact that we play the worst football in the world... Perhaps Poles can't play football because they don't see it as a game. How can you attack from the wings, when the attack could fail and look like a parody of a Polish cavalry attack; how can you risk a shot on goal when a miss would undermine the memory of the efforts of the Polish airmen in the Royal Air Force. The Germans are hardly masters of national self-irony either. But instead of staggering about the pitch, their heads obscured in the clouds of historical liabilites, they shoot wonderful goals."


Süddeutsche Zeitung, 14.06.2006

In summer 2009, theatre director and now manager of Zurich's Schauspielhaus Matthias Hartmann will become the new director of the Viennese Burgtheater, reports Christopher Schmidt. "For the then 46-year-old Matthias Hartmann, the change will represent an interim break in his unprecedented vertical flight. And all those who see him as a smart careerist and an obliging theatre CEO, 'the man who does things properly' and 'a success consignee' will feel proven right yet again. And indeed his productions do sometimes feel like investor art, speculation objects geared towards the tastes of the day, with their mix of volatile stylistics and craftsmanship that will retain its value. Since he succeeded in doubling audience numbers in the theatre in Bochum, Harmann's value on the transfer market has moved up into the priceless range."


Die Tageszeitung, 14.06.2006

After airing his grievances in an interview with the German TV channel ARD at the lack of compensation for people affected by the construction of the Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River, the Chinese farmer Fu Xiancai was beaten up so badly that he could be paralysed for life. Andreas Cichowicz, the chief editor responsible for the programme, emphasises that the activist insisted on his name being named. "We did warn Mr Fu that this might cause him problems. But we assumed these would take the form of reprisals by the authorities. I hope for my part that the authorities will now offer Mr Fu and his family all conceivable help – because that is their duty." In his commentary on the case, Beijing correspondent Georg Blume is pessimistic. "The truth is that the chances of helping Fu using public pressure from the outside are extremely poor."


Die Welt, 14.06.2006

Conductor Ricardo Muti speaks with Kai Luehrs-Kaiser about life after the Scala, a key musical experience with the pianist Svjatoslav Richter and his new love for Neapolitan baroque music: "I grew up in Naples, where Piccini, Paisiello, Fiordarati, Pergolesi and Traetta lived and worked. Their works are not all masterpieces, but maybe some of them are. Near Naples there's a monastery to which Alessandro Scarlatti bequeathed most of his musical scores. For centuries his works have been hidden there by the priests. Perhaps my name has helped open these doors. I want to rediscover the sound of the Neapolitan baroque music."


Frankfurter Rundschau, 14.06.2006

The debut title "Softrock" may sound a tad naive, but Berlin-based Australian singer Justine Electra is one to look out for, writes Elke Buhr. "You have to listen very closely to hear all the finesse this album has to offer. On the one hand you're taken into an intimate, authentic space where you're alone with Justine Electra's voice, at times as soft as a whisper and at times loftily resplendent. You hear the soft squeaking of her fingers on the guitar neck when she changes chords, and you think of all the sirens of this world, from Tori Amos to Heather Nova. But in fact the romanticising guitar is looped, and in a clever, self-reflective gesture the nostalgic hissing sounds give way for example to a small noise orgy."