A Life of Dante by Bendict Flynn

Benedict Flynn describes in his short story the life of Dante Alighieri - the Italian poet of Dark Ages. The book reveals the dark side of the life of Dante - his conflicts with Florentines, his banishment from beloved city of Florentine, his passion for Guelphs and their struggles with Ghibellins. For those who do not know - Guelphs were papacy supporters against Ghibellins - the Roman Emperors supporters. Later - the movement divided into two factions Black and White Guelphs, and Dante was unfortunate to be White, while Black were in power, the power that, among other things was used to expel Dante for life long exile in Verona and finally in Ravenna.
The short book suggests that these misfortunes in Dante life, were actually the breeding ground for Dante's "Divine Comedy".

Nice little book ...

Notre-Dame de Paris - Aftermath

This book, probably read by millions of people, has so many senses, so many meanings, that it is hard to say, which is the one, the most important, the key meaning. There is love for Paris, love for Notre-Dame, love for love ....

But the thread I want to tell about in this review is that of morbid love. It is represented by the lust of Claude Frollo - the priest, to the young girl. The lust that ultimately takes her to her death under Paris's gibbet. The lust, that was not true love, that brings only unhappiness, grief and finally the death. And this thread of the book, the slow and deep analysis of this morbid feeling is what gives the book its universal meaning - how often we meet such cravings in our life - even if not in us, but around us....

And there is also a counter-tone, the tone of true, deep and unspoken love. Love that does not search for its fulfillment, for its satisfaction - the love of Quasimodo for Esmeralda. The love of ultimate care for the dead body of living soul - the love that seeks for its end in death - but the death in the eternal embrace of her body, thrown into Montfauçon - the common grave for people lost like her - in the dark ages of Paris ...

All - read this book, Victor Hugo is one of the greatest ....

Orhan's Pamuk Istanbul - The city has no centre other than ourselves ...

This was long reading - started in June, finished in October ...It is not for the book being uninteresting, it is because of its melancholy and for the sometimes strange desire to be with me for long time ... So I was reading it in ... sauna, in planes flying over Europe, on those sleepless nights I sometimes experience.

Orhan's Pamuk "Istanbul - Memories and the City" let us understand this great city much better and much deeper than in any tourist’s guides. The main reason for this is the great courage which the author shows when writing about its own beloved city. He dares to call some period of modern Istanbul history the "turkification" of Istanbul, and when describing the remainings of the city great past, he shows us that almost all of them are just dilapidated ruins.
However, there is no doubt that he loves the city, loves Turkey - and this love is even greater by his ability to see its shadows and dark side.
The best of this book is in showing the relation between our lives and the places we live in. There is no question that to live in a place like Istanbul, rises this relation to the highest levels. Let's cite Orhan: "Was this the secret of Istanbul - that beneath its grand history, its living poverty, its outward-looking monuments and its sublime landscapes, its poor hid the city's soul inside a fragile web? But here we have come full circle, for anything we say about the city's essence, says more about our own lives and our own states of mind. The city has no centre other than ourselves."

Another fantastic part of the book describes specific melancholy, called "Hüzün" in modern Turkish ( ḥuzn in Arabic). This very concept, the idea of failed life, the lost of something, defines deep meaning of Istanbul's character during the most of XX and XXI century - after the demise of Ottoman Empire, and subsequent westernization, secularization and modernization.

It was one of the greatest books I ever read, and I recommend it with all my heart.

Notre-Dame de Paris

After so many visits in Paris, I finally started reading Victor Hugo "Notre-Dame de Paris", which in many translations is called "The Hunchback of Notre-Dame" or (in my native language) "The Bell-ringer of Notre-Dame". So many people read the book, so to write one more "typical" review does not make too much sense. What makes this book great, is the atmosphere of middle-age Paris, and almost physical imaginative power. Listening to this book today, made me first time ever walking around Paris' Cité for hours and to contemplate the cradle of the one of the largest and the most important cites of the world...

And, like the sign from heaven, when I entered the cathedral itself, there was a movie played on a huge screen - a movie about Notre-Dame history - in which Hugo's book was described as one of the most important events.....

And the very next day I visited The Archeological Crypt the most astonishing place on the Île de la Cité.


It's really amazing to be so many times on the big plaza at the cathedral and finally after years no notice the huge underground crypt, that shows ruins of old Paris, and the passage of time. Everything thanks to Victor Hugo, at elast in my case.

For all who love Paris - that's recommended reading.

Moses und Aron

After posting reviews of the radio programmes.... writing about an opera is not so unusuall - is it?

Well, "Moses und Aron" by Arnold Schönberg is something worth writing about and worth to recommend to everybody interested in modern music. First of all, libretto and music is by one of the giants of XX century music - the man who laid the ground to atonal, or rather, twelve-tonal music. "Moses und Aron" is partially tonal, but the atonality is also very important there and forms a large part of the score.

Second, the libretto is, of course based on biblical theme, literally on the story of Aaron being involved in Golden Calf blasphemy, while Moses was on Mount Sinai with G-d.

The Opera, particularly in the realization I saw - by Vienna State Opera, uses this theme to present the unending dillema of theory versus practice, idea versus reality, True G-d versus politheism. Aaron is after practicality, reality while Moses after ideas, theory and virtues.

The incredible images on screens of TV sets palying the central role in Act II of the Opera, show what the authors of this staging, take as "modern day" politheism. Later, in the interview, Reto Nickler, the stage director, explains this explicitly: the modern politheism is a focus on appearances, on the unrealism of media, particulary of TV, it is in the bigotry, in the egoism, in the acts of those who kill people in the name of god....

Moses und Aron is a great opera, and I do advice to everybody, like me, who did not like opera so far - to watch, to listen, to experience it....

See: the images from the opera.

Music history continued ...

Richard's Fawkes book "The History of Classical Music" is fantastic introduction for all of us who are interested in the history of music, but how do not have energy to read long treatises. Fawkes book takes us on an interesting journey from the beginnings of western music, starting from mystic chants of Hildegard of Bingen, through renaissance and baroque classical music to modern music of such giants like John Cage, Karlheinz Stockhausen or Henryk Górecki.
It has also some interesting parts that describe opera music.

The book is certainly more scholar and more "popular" one than "The Rest Is Noise" (described here), but it gives a good ground for understanding the transformations of music through centuries. Sometimes, it lacks some deep details that could be interested for us, readers (I missed more information about Bach and/or Mozart), but my overall opinion is positive.

The book ends with beautiful short parable: "Yet, having started this journey with Greogorian chant, it seems appropriate to conculde with a world, that perhaphs, would not sound so unfamiliar with the devout of Dark Ages. Arvo Part, the Estonian composer, born in 1935 has his roots in chant, yet his minimalism is a distinctly XX century voice. The spiritual qualities, the spiritual message of the Westeren musical tradition is undimmed, even into XXI century..."

Radio fascination

Rarely, it is worth to write about a radio programme... However, for the second time in last few months, I must write about something extraordinary.

Canadian Public Radio (CBC.ca) publishes a memoir about Peter Gzowski, descendent of great Kasimir Gzowsky (Canadian hero), who for many years was the host of amazing radio programme "Morningside" of Canadian CBC. Morningside was the best ever radio programme I ever had chance to listen to, and Gzowski was the great guy – probably the best radio host ever lived...

True Canadian patriot (name sounds Polish, but he was Canadian), man of great humour and of great vision of what the radio should be...

I strongly suggest to visit: http://archives.cbc.ca/arts_entertainment/media/topics/1793/

The imaginary country of modern music that can not be found on a map - the end of The Rest Is Noise reading ....

The reading of "The Rest is Noise" by Alex Rose was one of the best experiences I could have in September of 2008. As I wrote in the previous post, it shows incredible connections betweenthe music and politics or the trends of troubled XX century.But it also shows that in the later part of XX century, music became less "political" and more engaged in itself - in creation of "The imaginary country that cannot be found on a map" (Debussy).
Alex Rose, shows us what makes the great music, free from politics, when he writes:"The debates over merits of engagement and withdraw [of music] has gone for centuries (...)Composition only gains power from failing to decide the eternal dispute. In a decentred culture, it has a chance to play a kind of good-father role - able to assimilate anything new because it has assimilated everything in the past".

I do not see, and I believe, the author also does not think that way - that the music CAN in fact be motivated by what happens in the world - it cannot be isolated. But, what is the great hope, thatthe music is not, and will never be played to fulfil some crazy dictator's agenda ....

I strongly recommend this book for everyone who is interested in modern music.

Shocking interweaving of Music and Politics of XX century

Well, I planned to write a review when I finish this book completely, but I feel an urge to write now... I just finished Part II, that describes the period of 1933 to 1945 - the most tragic period of XX century. What is shocking is how close was music to politics of all sorts. The figures of Richard Strauss or Anton Webern on the one side and Shostakovich or Prokofiev, and their close relations to Nazis and communist regimes - is just horrifying. Honestly, before reading this incredible book I was unaware how abused was (maybe still is ....) music by politicians....

What is even more shocking is that some composers in US were also not very far from ideological streams. The book describes some ties, that great US composer, Ruth Crawford Seeger, had with
leftist Popular Front organisations.

I will write longer review when finished, but as for now, I can only write - it's a great book, but it shows something that I did not notice in my long life of music fascinations - how deep can sometimes be the link of art and dirty politics.... How it is today with great music ???

Noam's Chomsky "9-11"

It is not long reading. The book has about 120 pages and is small format.
It is exclusively composed of Noam's Chomsky interviews following and analysing September 11, 2001 attacks on World Trade Center. This attack had special impact on myself, for many reasons, for my history and for the other events in my life ...

Chomsky is well known for his unorthodox critique of US foreign polices, so the book does not surprise a reader who knows a bit about Chomsky. He gives some very interesting accounts on the potential motives of those terrorists who committed that crime, but in my opinion, he falls short when about to give any real explanation of these motives. To the contrary, the motives he apparently dismisses (they hate us for globalization of our world view, our values), are, possibly the only fundamental deep motives. Instead, through most of the speeches he tries to convince us, that it is US which is the utmost terrorist, legitimized by its power, organization !
Some of Chomsky's opinions are just ridiculous. Let me cite one: "... In those years (1980s), a prime enemy of the U.S. was the Catholic Church, which had sinned grievously in Latin America..."

I do not say, US does always good when is globalizes its outlook on life - but this process just happens with little of any policy makers intention, and we are just hated by terrorists and fundamentalists for it. That's my opinion, and here I disagree with Chomsky.

But, even if I disagree with him, I admire the sharpness and bravery of his intellectual activity. I strongly recommend this little book to all who are interested in global and in US politics.
And, thanks good God and fathers of America - he can proclaim his thoughts being in US, teaching at MIT... That is what is important. That what opens minds of people, even if they do not agree - the essence of free speach and our freedom.

Book Blogger Appreciation Week September 15-19

Nice idea of Amy. I start to recognise that there are more of us out there - Book Bloggers.... Amy - congratulations for the great idea !!!