Thursday, July 29, 2010

Porpora: Sinfonie da Camera Op.2 (Artifizii Musicali)

Nicola Porpora (1686-1768) 是巴洛克晚期的義大利作曲家。他在世的時候,除了是一位才華出眾的聲樂作曲家,還是一位相當有名氣的聲樂老師。他教出的學生裡,最有名的,當屬閹人歌手Caffarelli和Farinelli(其故事在1994被拍成比利時電影「絕代豔姬」(Farinelli)) 以及「交響曲之父」海頓。

Saturday, July 24, 2010

Movie: Chérie

Chéri stars Michelle Pfeiffer as Léa de Lonval and Rupert Friend as the titular character Fred 'Chéri' Peloux in the late 19th, early 20th century drama/romance.   Set in Paris, France, Léa is a fictional courtesan, supposed to be one of the most famous of her time.  She is close to "retirement age" for a courtesan, but she ends up spending six years with young lover Chéri'.  Chéri' is the son of Léa's courtesan friend Charlotte Peloux (played by Kathy Bates), and according to the narrator, used to be fierce rivals in their younger days.  Yes, they are more than 20 years apart.

Thursday, July 22, 2010

William Williams: Trio Sonatas (Camerata Köln)

William Williams (1675? - 1701),出生年月不詳, 是英國的中期巴洛克作曲家。他的名字可謂俗到不行,又算是個早逝的音樂家。確定他是在1701年過逝,是因為文獻上有記載為他的遺孀和三位小孩舉辦的紀念音樂會。

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Fasch: Trio Sonatas (Katharina Arfken et al)

Johann Friedrich Fasch (1688-1758) 直到今天,可能還是最不為人知的德國晚期巴洛克作曲家之一,名氣一直被巴哈,韓德爾,還有泰雷曼等大師所蓋過。家族裡的人都是神學家,因此早期音樂是自學的。12歲開始,他便Weissenfels和Leipzig(萊比錫)的宮廷,拜師音樂前輩Johann Philipp Krieger和Johann Kuhnau。

Thursday, July 8, 2010

Movie: Lymelife

Lymelife is a nice little independent film starring quite an ensemble cast of Alec Baldwin, Jill Hennessy (of Law&Order), Cynthia Nixon, Timothy Hutton, and the younger cast of Rory Culkin (younger brother of Macaulay Culkin) and Emma Roberts.