Reflections on contemporary music


Elliott Carter was the subject of a recent discussion between Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Tamara Stefanovich and me. You can now listen to this Britten Sinfonia pre-concert event via this link. In another pre-concert event violinist Tom Gould talked to me about the music of Osvaldo Golijov, Astor Piazzolla and Vivaldi, listen here.


Reflections on Danish architect Johann Otto von Spreckelsen's 1989 La Grande Arche de la Défense in Paris were captured by me last week. Spreckelsen died before the massive arch was completed, and the final stages of the project were the responsibility of French architect Paul Andreu. Among Andreu's other projects is Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris, where part of the ceiling of Terminal 2E collapsed in 2004 killing four people. That rippled reflection in the side shot of La Grande Arche de la Défense below is interesting; an independent technical investigation into the partial collapse of the aiport concourse blamed procedural and structural factors.


Joys and Sorrows, reflections by Pablo Casals was a primary source when I went in search of the great Catalan cellist.
All photos are (c) On An Overgrown Path, the figure visible in the centre of the reflection in the Christmas decoration in the header photo is me! Report broken links, missing images and errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk

Comments

Pliable said…
It appears La Grande Arche de la Défense is not without problems!

http://www.frommers.com/destinations/paris/A25315.html
Pliable said…
Email received:

A great book, although I’m not totally convinced of his explanation of Alfred Cortot’s war-time behaviour.

Cheers

David Cavlovic

Recent popular posts

Why new audiences are deaf to classical music

For young classical audiences the sound is the message

The Berlin Philharmonic's darkest hour

Who am I?

Audiences need permission to like unfamiliar music

Classical music's biggest problem is that no one cares

Nada Brahma - Sound is God

Classical music's $11 billion market opportunity

Why cats hate Mahler symphonies

Music and malice in Britten's shadow