Dames Ahoy

 

 

När Sjömän Gå I Land (When Sailors Go Ashore) is the Swedish title for the American 1930 movie Dames Ahoy, directed by William James Craft, starring Glenn Tryon, Helen Wright and Otis Harlan. At that time, separate movie posters were designed and printed for the Swedish market, many of them very attractive, like this one.

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Philharmonics by Agnes Obel

 

 

Philharmonics is the debut studio album by the Danish singer-songwriter Agnes Obel, released in 2010. For me this is one of the best debut albums of the decade - and it was surprisingly successful as well. Her piano-dominated sound is clearly influenced by classical music, especially Erik Satie. It is refined, pure and calm, yet never even remotely boring. As one critic wrote: "There's an elegant, slipping darkness that creeps in around the corners, like something is being hidden in plain sight." Among the many highlights are Riverside, Brother Sparrow, Just So, Beast, Philharmonics, and Close Watch.

 

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Nehi

 

A cute poster promoting the USA soft drink brand Nehi (pronounced knee-high, introduced in 1924) with an image of a female pilot in front of her airplane. Originally I thought it was from the late twenties or thirties, but this could actually be from the forties and it might be depicting Hedy Lamarr. No information on the designer. 

 

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Jugend (December 1926)

 

Jugend (German for Youth) was an art magazine issued weekly in the first decades of the 20th century, often featuring beautiful covers. This one was created by Christian Schad (1894 - 1982), a German painter associated with Dada and the New Objectivity movement. 

Copyright statement: image in public domain.

Mahler's Song Cycles

 

 

Gustav Mahler is widely recognized as an important composer, especially for his symphonies. I find it surprising that even among classical music aficionados there are many who have never listened to his orchestral song cycles. The three best (note that Das Lied von der Erde is an unnumbered symphony, not a song cycle) are collected on this CD, sung by baritone Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau: Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen (accompanied by the Symphonie-Orchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks under Rafael Kubelik), Kindertotenlieder and Rückert-Lieder (accompanied by the Berliner Philharmoniker under Karl Böhm. This Deutsche Grammophon CD is one of my desert island discs: the song cycles are among the best ever composed, and Fischer-Dieskau nails them from start to finish.

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Shard

 

 

I've shot many rust abstracts over the years, but this is one of the most remarkable. There is actually a 3D structure formed by the rust here. A photograph I took a few months ago with my Canon Ixus 170.

Copyright statement: image copyright Hennie Schaper. Contact me if you like to use it.

Chance for a Lifetime by Kayak

 

 

About the band: Kayak is a Dutch progressive rock band formed in 1972, and still going strong after a time-out from 1982 until 1999. Their singles and albums sold well in the Netherlands, but they made little impact internationally. A pity, because they are my favourite Dutch band. 

 
About the song: a track from one of their best albums, 1975's Royal Bed Bouncer. This song is the highlight of this great album with its tremendous drive and a science fiction theme (humans leaving a dying earth in a spaceship). Unfortunately, the record company decided to cut out a marvelous instrumental interlude when they released this as a single, and that version appears on all compilations as well. I clearly prefer the longer version on the album.

Copyright statement: Image created by me using Bing AI. Considered fair use.

Bather at Deauville by Kees van Dongen

 

Cornelis Theodorus Maria "Kees" van Dongen (26 January 1877 – 28 May 1968) was a Dutch-French painter who was one of the leading Fauves ("Wild men" = the French equivalent of the German expressionist movement) . Van Dongen's early work was influenced by the Hague School and symbolism and it evolved gradually into a rough pointillist style. From 1905 onward – when he took part at the controversial 1905 Salon d'Automne exhibition – his style became more and more radical in its use of form and colour. Van Dongen gained a reputation for his sensuous portraits of especially women (information from Wikipedia). Based on my personal taste I would rank only van Gogh higher among Dutch painters.

 

A few weeks ago we saw some his work exhibited in the Lalique Museum in Doesburg, and some others in the Singer Museum Laren. When I first came across the 1920 painting Bather at Deauville, I would have never guessed that this is by Kees van Dongen. My wife was right at the first try though. Anyway, it is beautiful.

 

Copyright statement: image in public domain. 

Blue Angel

 

 

Under Anything Goes I will be sharing anything I think worthwhile that does not fall under one of the other categories. Examples are book covers, song sheets, and like today vintage fasion illustrations. This is a particularly brilliant one, that is claimed to be from the Purple Parrot magazine (one of the 1933 issues). I could not find any further information.
 

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Tapiola by Jean Sibelius

 

Tapiola, op.112, is a 1926 symphonic poem by Finnish composer Jean Sibelius (1865 - 1957). His seven symphonies are generally considered the highlight of his oeuvre, but he was also one of the most important composers of symphonic poems - and it is in that genre that we find my favourite work of his. Tapiola portrays Tapio, the animating forest spirit mentioned throughout the epic poetry of Kalevala. It was Sibelius's last major work, though he lived for another thirty years. The version shown above is by the Berlin Philharmonic under Herbert von Karajan on a Deutsche Grammophon CD.

 

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Almost Famous

 

Almost Famous is a 2000 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Cameron Crowe and starring Billy Crudup, Frances McDormand, and Kate Hudson. I really enjoyed watching this movie about a fictional rock band in the early seventies - not least because it was that decade that really sparked my interest in rock. Brilliant idea to put the title in Penny Lane's sunglasses on the poster.

 

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Uomo di pezza by Le Orme

 

 

Under this label I will be sharing some of my favourite pop/rock albums, as usual focusing on less well known pieces.

 

Uomo di pezza (translated Rag Doll Man) is the third studio album by the Italian progressive rock band Le Orme, released June 1972. It is their first that is widely considered a masterpiece of Italian prog. There are some influences from bands like Emerson Lake and Palmer, but Le Orme's Italian lyrics and often romantic approach to the songs provide sufficient individuality. One of many Italian prog bands of the time that deserves to be better known. The only gripes I have with this album is that it is so short (under 32 minutes), and that some songs deserved to be further developed and elongated in true prog style. Still, an excellent album. Recommended songs are La Porta Chiusa, Figure Di Cartone, Alienazione, and especially Aspettando L'Alba.

 

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New York Central System

 

The New York Central System, nowadays better known as New York Central Railroad, was a railroad primarily operating in the Great Lakes and Mid Atlantic regions of the United States. This poster by Leslie Ragan is stunning in its blue design and industrial theme - it's probably from the thirties. 

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La Vie Parisienne (October 1922)

The vintage covers of this French magazine are usually attractive, the main problem is finding the ones that are not too saucy.... Well, no-one can complain that this flapper girl in front of her car is too scantily dressed.... The illustration is by René Vincent.

Copyright statement: image in public domain.

Virtapenko's Concertos

 

 

Under "Classical Albums" I will be posting some of my favourite classical music CD's, usually as they say "off the beaten path". Starting with one of my favourite CD's of 21st century compositions. Olli Virtaperko (1973) is a Finnish composer. This is my only CD with his works, but this is heaven for someone who like me loves unusual concertos. The first track Romer's Gap (2016) is a concerto for amplified cello and sinfonietta; the soloist is Perttu Kivilaakso, member of the Finnish cello metal band Apocalyptica. Multikolor (2014) is a concerto for baritone saxophone (played by Joonatan Rautiola) and small chamber orchestra. It gives me associations with the didgeridoo at places. The final track Ambrosian Delights (2015) is a concerto for knifonium and chamber orchestra. The knifonium is a vacuum-tube-based analogue synthesizer, designed by Jonte Knif, who also plays the beast in this concerto. I really enjoy the sound of this instrument, and Virtaperko combines it well with the chamber orchestra. Funny sounds, yes, but also a fun listening experience. Highly original. The orchestra on this Ondine CD is Jyväskylä Sinfonia under Ville Matvejeff.

 

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Primeval

 

 

I am a keen amateur photographer, even though the Covid era lessened my interest in this hobby considerably. Recently I picked it up again, mostly aiming for abstract images such as this one. It is a detail of a large metal art work on display in the Sneek city museum. The camera used was a simple point and shooter (Canon IXUS 170).

Copyright statement: images copyright Hennie Schaper. Contact me if you like to use it.

A coral room by Kate Bush

 

 

Under the label "Pop/Rock songs" I will feature some of my favourite songs - and I will also take the opportunity to see whether I can get some suitable images for them with AI....

 

About the artist: Kate Bush (1958) is a British singer/songwriter, who in 1978 topped the UK Singles Chart for four weeks with her debut single Wuthering heights. Many hits (singles and albums) followed. She is generally seen as one of the greatest influences on a generation of female pop/rock artists who came after her. 

 
About the song: A coral room is a track from her 2005 double album Aerial. It is a beautiful solo piano accompanied ballad of the type that she should have a patent on, a very personal sharing of her feelings upon the death of her mother. 

 

Copyright statement: Image created by me using Bing AI. Considered fair use.

Young Woman by Leo Gestel

 

 

We saw this beauty a few months ago in Museum De Fundatie in nearby Zwolle. It was one of the things that inspired me to re-start the blog actually. The painter is Dutch artist Leo Gestel (1881 - 1941). Along with Piet Mondrian and Jan Sluyters he was among the leading artists of Dutch modernism. This portrait is from 1914.

Copyright statement: image is in public domain.

A New Beginning

 

 

Well, here we go again. I started this blog way back in 2007, with a couple of stop/start moments among the way. The latest restart was in December 2021, when I also changed the set-up: from posts with one image and a bit of text to elaborate posts on a theme with 12 images and more text. This went pretty well, but last year I started to find the format tedious and the blog lost steam. I stopped altogether in May 2023. Today I decided to give it one more try. I deleted all existing posts (as I did before on re-start occasions) to make a fresh start. I'm going back to the original set-up, and will aim for one post per day, shamelessly recycling old posts when I feel like it. Some themes will return in the new set-up, but probably not all. And there may be some new ones as well. We'll see how it goes.

Copyright statement: image made on Photofunia, no copyright issues.