"At the Fights': Writers on boxing

Raconteurs of the ring

At the Fights is more than a collection of great boxing prose, from Jack London to David Remnick; it also offers, perhaps inadvertently, a study in the evolution of the prose of American sports journalism.

Bob Ingram

Dec 20, 2010 · Articles · 9 minute read

"Black Swan': a ballet/horror film (1st review)

And you thought ballet was a tough career

Black Swan purports to be a film about ballet. Is ballet really this vulgar, violent and tasteless?

Jane Biberman

Dec 19, 2010 · Articles · 2 minute read

Khaner/Abramovic concert at Settlement

Composers propose, performers dispose

Flutist Jeffrey Khaner and pianist Charles Abramovic demonstrated what two superb musicians can do with music intended merely for gifted amateurs.

Dec 18, 2010 · Articles · 3 minute read

The Met's "Don Carlo': The high-def screen version

Little details make a big difference

What's the difference between a live opera performance and a high-definition screen transmission? Like night and day, to judge from the Met's Don Carlo. On screen, for one thing, singers can whisper. For another, you can notice whose portrait is in a jewel box.

Steve Cohen

Dec 15, 2010 · Articles · 2 minute read

Tempesta di Mare channels Couperin and Louis XIV

Music for the royal couch potato

Some people spend Sunday reading the New York Times. Louis XIV summoned Francois Couperin and his court chamber players, who keenly understood audience psychology.

Tom Purdom

Dec 14, 2010 · Articles · 4 minute read

Kiefer's "Next Year in Jerusalem' in New York

Anselm Kiefer's wailing wall: A German Gentile confronts Jewish history

Anselm Kiefer's huge installation on the theme of Jewish history and suffering is remarkable no less as a moral than an aesthetic event. Kiefer confronts his own past as a German as no other Gentile artist— or philosopher— has done, in the very Jewish spirit of tikkun, world-repair.

Robert Zaller

Dec 14, 2010 · Articles · 8 minute read

Parsons Dance at Annenberg

Hold the philosophy, pass the joy

David Parsons doesn't use dance to explore ideas. With Parsons, an evening of dance is just an evening of dance— and very enjoyable nevertheless.

Judy Weightman

Dec 14, 2010 · Articles · 3 minute read

Monteverdi Vespers by Choral Arts and Piffaro (3rd review)

Monteverdi's magnificent job application

To appreciate Monteverdi's Vespers of 1610, it helps to understand the age and the place in which it was composed. In effect this operatic pioneer was following in Michelangelo's artistic footsteps.

Steve Cohen

Dec 14, 2010 · Articles · 4 minute read

Young Kang's Pottery at Lansdale's Water Gallery

Something stirring in Lansdale

The potter Young Kang doesn't just "do pottery"; everything seems to have its reason.

Andrew Mangravite

Dec 14, 2010 · Articles · 2 minute read

Are symphonies really dying? (A response)

Are symphonies really dying? Count them for yourself. (I did.)

BSR contributor Robert Zaller laments the demise of the symphony in our times. Out of curiosity, I conducted a census of symphonic composers from Haydn to the present. The surprising numbers and ratios I found suggest almost the opposite conclusion.

Kile Smith

Dec 12, 2010 · Articles · 5 minute read