French String Quartets by Quatuor Ebène

 

The three 'best' French string quartets combined on one CD in great performances by the Quatuor Ebène on Virgin Classics. Most classical music lovers would agree that Claude Debussy's  String Quartet in G minor from 1893 and Maurice Ravel's String Quartet in F major from 1903 are the top two. For a third there are a few candidates, but for me the clear third choice is Gabriel Fauré's String Quartet in E minor from 1924. A wonderful CD.

Copyright statement: posting album covers is deemed to be fair use.

Portrait of Anna Akhmatova by Nathan Altman

 

A name I first encountered a few years ago, when I came across this beautiful portrait from 1914 in a cubism influenced style. The artist is Russian (later Soviet) avant-garde artist Nathan Isaevich Altman (1888 - 1970).

 

Copyright statement: image in public domain.

From Greece with love

 

Taken from a series of patriotic postcards by Nanni, created over a century ago, depicting various Great War allies (in this case, Greece). Little more than a sketch, but quite effective. And beautiful.

 

Copyright statement: image in public domain.

Bedshaped by Keane

 

About the band: Keane are a British rock band formed in 1995. They achieved mainstream, international success with the release of their 2004 debut album, Hopes and Fears. I consider this one of the best debut albums ever, and unfortunately the quality if their work has gone down gradually since then - even so, they made many worthwhile songs. 

 
About the song: their 2004 debut album Hopes and fears is a beautiful collection of melodic songs, but even so, one track stands out for me: Bedshaped. Musically, a little more complex than most of their songs, and an amazing accomplishment for a new band. Especially the start of the instrumental section, where for a few seconds an Enya like atmosphere is created, which quickly gives away to powerful synthesizer magic. The lyrics are, well, interesting. Somehow I don't think that my wife would regard a line like "bedshaped with legs of stone" as a compliment....

 

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

Motor Magazine (May 1923)

 

Motor is an American motorists magazine. It was founded in 1903 by William Randolph Hearst, and published by Hearst Corp. It is still in existence, but went for digital only in 2021 (information from Wikipedia). This is one of a series of 1921/1923 covers by Howard Chandler Christy. Everything works here: the girl's face, the setting, and the contrast between the red and the bluish pastel colours.

 

Copyright statement: image in public domain.

 

Jailhouse Rock

One of the highlights of a trip to Leeuwarden a few years ago was our first visit to the old prison, which is now used as hotel and office space, while preserving many of the aspects of its original purpose. I like the line play here, giving the image an abstract quality. 

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

Symphony No. 6 "Chinese Poems" by Krzysztof Penderecki

 

Symphony No. 6 "Chinese Poems" for baritone and orchestra was completed in 2017 by Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki (1933 - 2020). Its style is representative for the more mellow neo-romantic style of his final decades. It is in eight movements, and was obviously influenced to some extent by Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde. The symphony has an intimate character throughout. It comprises eight songs for baritone on Chinese texts, connected by solo intermezzi, played on the erhu (also known as the Chinese violin) - a fantastic idea even though it will limit public performances. The version shown above is by the Polish Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra Sopot under Wojciech Rajski, with baritone Stephan Genz and erhu player Joanna Kravchenko on an Accord CD.

 

Copyright statement: posting lower quality album covers is deemed fair use.

 

Battersea

 

The Battersea Power Station in London is an icon of Art Deco architecture. I first encountered it on the album cover of Pink Floyd's Animals, and about a decade ago I first saw it with my own eyes. This poster is by the famous Charles Avalon.

Copyright statement: low resolution images of vintage posters deemed fair use.

Ambient 2: The Plateaux of Mirror by Harold Budd and Brian Eno

 

Ambient 2: The Plateaux of Mirror is a cooperation between composer/pianist Harold Budd and English musician Brian Eno, numbered as the second installment of Eno's Ambient series. The album consists of Budd playing improvisational piano in soundscapes produced by Eno. The result is a beautiful album, hovering between ambient, new age, and contemporary classical music, but above all offering a fascinating evocative soundscape. 

 

Copyright statement: posting lower quality album covers is deemed fair use.

 

A Good Woman

 

The 2004 Mike Barker movie A Good Woman came with a number of different official posters. I like this retro art deco one, very fitting for a movie set in 1930.

 

Copyright statement: posting lower quality movie posters is deemed fair use.

 

Pieces of Africa by the Kronos Quartet

The Kronos Quartet played a major role in the introduction of contemporary classical music to me. This was the very first album of them I bought and it is still a favourite. Eight works by African composers with lots of African influences in the sounds. Warmly recommended.

Copyright statement: posting album covers is deemed to be fair use.

City walls in winter by Willem Schellinks

 

Not my usual fare, but we saw this romantic painting a few years ago in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam and it was love at first sight - and it is fitting for a cold winter day. It was painted by Willem Schellinks (1627-1678) just before his death. He took cityscapes like he had seen on his travels to Italy and transposed them to the cold Dutch winter landscape.

Copyright statement: image in public domain.

Chocolurtle

The last of the series of chocolate inspired posts. Turtles and tortoises are considered symbols of good luck in Asian cultures (personally, I have evidence that this is right), so I asked AI to make an image of a chocolate turtle. Excellent result, printed it on canvas, and show it during the exhibition - for luck. Afterwards it will get a nice spot in my man cave.

 

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

The New Yorker (October 1926)

 

I wanted to select a vintage magazine cover with a chocolate theme, because our gallery is hosting a ChocolArt exhibition these weeks. Rather surprisingly, I could not find one. So I switched to the artist side of the exhibition. Since I'm married to an artist, depiction of a painter and his/her model have a special attraction to me. This cover was done by Constantin Alajalov, a regular contributor to the magazine.

Copyright statement: image in public domain.

Dragon's Nest

 

Let's see how long I can continue the current chocolate theme - all because we're having a ChocolArt exhibition in our gallery. This is actually my own contribution to the exhibition, a picture I took years ago.

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

Cup of Coffee by Garbage

 

What goes well with chocolate? Right, coffee. So another post inspired by the current ChocolArt exhibition.

 

About the band: Garbage is an American rock band formed in 1993 with Shirley Manson as lead singer. Garbage has released six studio albums and sold over 17 million albums worldwide.

 
About the song: the 2001 album Beautiful Garbage received rather mixed responses. Some critics even accused the alternative rock band of selling out. Granted, it is a little more mainstream, but still a highly accomplished artistic effort. And it does sport the best song they have recorded. Cup of coffee describes the emotions after a love affair has ended in a very recognisable way without ever getting overly sentimental. Great lyrics, including lines such as "And no, of course, we can't be friends, not while I'm still so obsessed - I want to ask where I went wrong, but don't say anything at all". With a very original arrangement (including the eerie sounds of an ondes martinot), and Shirley Manson in vocal top form, this is so far one of the best songs of the 21st Century. 

 

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

Chocolat Amor

 

Following up on yesterday's post. Now that the ChocolArt exhibition is in full swing in our gallery - here we have a rare Swiss Art Deco poster for Chocolat Amor Bern, issued around 1930.

Copyright statement: posting lower quality vintage advertisement posters is deemed fair use.

ChocolArt

 

There's a first for everything: today is the start of a two weeks' exhibition in our gallery, for the first time organized and curated by yours truly. Twelve local artists, many of national fame, are showing their works that were inspired in any way by... chocolate. This to celebrate ten years of the Chocolaterie that is our neighbour across the street, as well as twelve and a half years of our gallery.

Copyright statement: image created by myself with AI.

Tiger

 

One of my all-time favourite paintings is Tiger by German expressionist Franz Marc (1880-1916). This masterpiece dates back to 1912, 4 years before his death at the battle of Verdun. I had the privilege to watch the original in the Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Munich, over twenty years ago. An awe inspiring experience, and together with the other expressionist works in that highly recommended museum, one of the main reasons for my switch from impressionism to expressionism as my favourite genre.

 

Copyright statement: image in public domain.

Shot by a Baron

A few years ago, I came across this image in the Flapper Girl blog, and it was love at first sight. I expected this to be a drawing or painting used as an illustration for a twenties' fashion magazine, and I was almost right. It was indeed published in the Harper's Bazaar magazine of November 1929, but it turned out to be a photograph, shot by celebrities photographer Baron Adolph de Meyer (1868 - 1946). I could not find information on the model.

Copyright statement: image in public domain.

Tintagel by Arnold Bax

Tintagel is a tone poem completed in 1919 by British composer Arnold Bax (1883 - 1953). It is clearly his most famous tone poem, and also in my opinion one of the best. Bax stated that the piece "is intended to evoke...the castle-crowned cliff of Tintagel, and more particularly the wide distances of the Atlantic as seen from the cliffs of Cornwall on a sunny but not windless summer day." The version shown above is by the Ulster Orchestra under Bryden Thomson on a Chandos CD.

 

Copyright statement: posting lower quality album covers is deemed fair use.

 

Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari by Robert Wiene is one of the early film classics. The original German version from 1919 came with a fascinating poster, clearly influenced by expressionist artists.

Copyright statement: image in public domain.

I/You by Brian Protheroe

 

 

 I/You is the third studio album of English musician and actor Brian Protheroe. He did not have much impact as a musician, neither on the charts (except for a small hit in the UK in 1974 with Pinball), nor with the critics. Personally I have loved this album since its release. The mostly self-penned music can be described as art pop, in a style vaguely resembling 10cc. His voice is very suited for the songs, which he delivers with panache and with good support from the studio musicians. Highlights are I/You, Every Roman knows, Evil Eye, Hotel, and Dancing On Black Ice. A neglected gem

 

Copyright statement: posting lower quality album covers is deemed fair use.

Font-Romeu

 

A 1923 poster advertising both the winter sports town of Font-Romeu in the French Pyrenees, as the way to get there by the Chemins de Fer du Midi (a French railway company). The poster was designed by Tony George Roux.

 

Copyright statement: image in public domain.

 

Theatre Magazine (March 1924)

 

Theatre Magazine started in 1900 as The Theatre. Its main subject was the theater in New York. The title officially changed to Theatre Magazine in 1917, which was published until 1931. This is an outstanding cover, based on an illustration by Charles Baskerville.

Copyright statement: image in public domain.

Chopin's Nocturnes by Maria João Pires

Chopin's Nocturnes are for me among the most beautiful works ever composed for the piano. There is no shortage of famous pianists recording them all (a double CD is required), but in the end I have a weak spot for the versions by Maria João Pires on Deutsche Grammophon. Sheer beauty and definitely a desert island disc for me.

Copyright statement: posting album covers is deemed to be fair use.

 

Where Red Meets Blue

 

A "found abstract": the concrete foot of a temporary gate opposite our home had an interesting colours pattern. It reminds me a bit if a map as well.

 

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

 

The knifegrinder by Kazimir Malevich

 

Kazimir Malevich (1879-1935) was a Russian avant-garde artist, best known for his Kandinsky-like abstracts. Here we have an interesting earlier painting from 1912 in the cubist-futuristic style. 

 
Copyright statement: image in public domain.

Was macht jede Nacht so ein kleines Baby in der Bar?

 

 

A beautiful jazz age song sheet cover from the twenties by an unknown illustrator. The German title translates as "what is such a small baby doing every night at the bar?". Cheers!

Copyright statement: situation unclear. Song from the 20s, but no year found. Designer unknown.

Lyra Angelica by William Alwyn

 

Lyra Angelica is a concerto for harp and string orchestra in four movements from 1954 by the British composer William Alwyn (1905 - 1985). It is probably his best known composition, certainly after the American figure skater Michelle Kwan performed to it at the 1998 Winter Olympics. Alwyn stated his aim in writing this work as trying to sustain in the listener a "rapt mood ... by interweaving the solo harp and strings into a continuous web of luminous sound." At this aim the concerto is very successful. It is a full-length work of symphonic proportions, eminently listenable and inspiring. To my taste it is the best harp concerto ever composed. The version shown above is by Rachel Masters and the City of London Sinfonia under Richard Hickox on a Chandos CD).

 

Copyright statement: posting lower quality album covers is deemed fair use.

 

New Year's Day by U2

 

Pretty much unavoidable to pick my favourite U2 song for today. Happy New Year everybody!

About the band: U2 are an Irish rock band, formed in 1976. They have released 14 studio albums and are one of the world's best-selling music artists, having sold an estimated 150–170 million records worldwide.

About the song: it is difficult to imagine that there was a time when U2 were struggling for success, but they actually had to wait for their fourth album to make it big. Their first album (Boy) was a good collection of straightforward rock songs, but it gave no indication yet of things to come. The second album (October) was a bit mixed, with some questionable tracks, and some great songs, in particular the title song. Their third album (War) from 1983 was their artistic breakthrough, helped to a large extent by the success of the single New year's day, one of a number of my favourites inspired by the continued violence in Northern Ireland. 

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