A severe drought in Venezuela has exposed a church that had been inundated when a hydroelectric dam was built in 1985. The 25-meter-tall church and the Andean town of Potosi were flooded to establish the Uribante-Caparo water reservoir to power the plant. The church has now become the ominous symbol of energy shortages in the country. There is no doubt in my mind that only one piece of music can accompany properly the viewing of the before and after pictures seen on the National Geographic Website : Debussy’s La Cathédrale engloutie.

To listen to this wonderfully atmospheric prelude, performed by Francine Kay…

Surely the soundtrack behind this sequence of pictures should be Debussy’s La cathédrale engloutie.

The following interview with Arvo Pärt was conducted at the composer’s home at Mustamäe, November 28, 1978. Filmed by Andres Sööt, the dialogue (at times, Arvo’s wife Eleonora seconds his husband behind the screen) and the rehearsal of the soon-to-be-premiered Italian Concerto at the concert hall Estonia became the basis for the film-portrait entitled Arvo Pärt in November 1978. The conversation, which lasted more than an hour was painstakingly transribed and shows a rare glimpse in the mind of the composer… You can read it by clicking on the Articles tab of the Arvo Pärt Information Archive.

To listen to the album…

In the February 8 issue of The New Yorker, Alex Ross discusses the National Endowment for the Arts’ Survey of Public Participation in the Arts, which indicates that the number of people who venture out to classical music performances in a given year has been declining for almost three decades. Some organisations now offer classical concerts in jazz venues or cafés, like the famous Poisson rouge in New York. Is this the solution?

The British conductor Kenneth Woods tells us what sets Das Lied von der Erde apart from other works by Mahler. Is it autobiography?

”The beloved earth everywhere blossoms and greens in springtime, anew. Everywhere and forever the distances brighten blue! Forever… forever… These were the last words Mahler ever set to music, and, unlike the rest of the Song of the Earth, they were not those of an ancient poet, but his own. Mahler, the master of contradiction and paradox, ends a work that is so universal in scope with just the briefest hint of autobiography- almost  a secret confession, hidden in this epic panorama.”

To read the article…

To listen to the work, as performed by the OSM under Kent Nagano…

Anton Kuerti gave recitals and masterclasses last week in Austin and was most convincing in both roles. “Beethoven,” said Kuerti, “shows that by persevering you can achieve great things. If we look at his manuscripts we see that he often crossed things out and he often revised what he had done before. Composing for Beethoven was torture. But as with so many things in life, hard work and commitment pay off. Don’t give up.”

Paul E. Robinson talks about it here…