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Shostakovich’s rich, poetic symphony
Life, Ung-Aang Talay, Published on 06/05/2014
» Nine is a lucky number here in Thailand, but was less so for some of the great European composers. The story goes that Gustav Mahler, a superstitious man, was especially spooked by the number nine. Beethoven, Schubert, Dvorak, and Bruckner all died after competing their 9th symphonies. To sidestep the same fate, when Mahler began to write his 9th Symphony, (Das Lied Von Der Erde) he labelled it his 10th.
Poles together
Life, Ung-Aang Talay, Published on 14/05/2013
» During his recent trip to Warsaw, my colleague sent a photo of a poster showing that the centenary of the Polish composer Witold Lutoslawski is being celebrated there as something of a national event. Nice to see the anniversary of an avant-garde artist's birth treated as such a major event, but considering that the country is Poland, it is not so surprising.
Indulging a personal vision
Life, Ung-Aang Talay, Published on 06/01/2012
» Like almost all of Terrence Malick's earlier films, The Tree of Life, the latest, most personal, and most extreme of them, has divided critics and audiences. One of the most frequent charges made against it by its detractors has been that it is "self-indulgent".