Holland
Goltzius and the Pelican CompanyTuesday, 08 July 2014
Perhaps the most surprising - and certainly the most moving moment - of the 2014 British Academy Film Awards was the awarding of Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema to Peter Greenaway. Surprising, not because this wasn't colossally deserved (... Read more... |
Vogt, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Jansons, BarbicanSunday, 06 April 2014
Can there be a conductor with a clearer and more affirming beat than Mariss Jansons with the Concertgebouw Orchestra when they're at their best? The listener can just marvel at his capacity to work in partnership with this fine orchestra, to... Read more... |
Yuletide Scenes 1: A Scene on the Ice near a TownThursday, 19 December 2013
The term “snow day” may have been coined with the most recent spate of cold winters in mind, encapsulating the modern-day, not to mention British, consequences of winter weather, but Hendrick Avercamp’s Seventeenth-century “snow day”, painted in... Read more... |
theartsdesk in Amsterdam: Being Kazimir MalevichSaturday, 23 November 2013
All eyes were on the Rijksmuseum when it re-opened in April after a 10-year refurbishment, but across the Museumplein, Amsterdam's gallery of contemporary and modern art, the Stedelijk, was already settling into its new look, unveiled six months... Read more... |
DVD: Schalcken the PainterMonday, 28 October 2013
Schalcken the Painter looks like a documentary shot inside a Dutch Golden Age painting, out of whose black depths the Devil one day materialises. Taking the truly ghastly guise of the invincibly wealthy merchant Vanderhausen (John Justin), he buys... Read more... |
theartsdesk in Amsterdam: Club Culture OverdoseSunday, 27 October 2013
The thought of attending a dance music conference in Amsterdam frankly gave me the creeping horrors. I'd never been to Amsterdam Dance Event before, and the combination of DJ egos, business hustling and relentless partying through hundreds of club... Read more... |
Vermeer & Music: The Art of Love and Leisure, National GalleryWednesday, 03 July 2013
Music and art have been intertwined for millennia, the static, frozen and soundless moment of paint capturing the feeling and the meaning of ephemeral time-based music. And nowhere can the act of making music have so thoroughly infiltrated a society... Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Eurovision 2013, Françoise Hardy, James Last, Nico GomezSunday, 05 May 2013
Various Artists: We Are One - Eurovision Song Contest Malmö 2013From the British perspective, one thing stands out at this year’s Eurovision Song Contest. And it’s not our entry, the turgid power balladry of Bonnie Tyler’s sure-to-stumble “Believe... Read more... |
CD: Caro Emerald - The Shocking Miss EmeraldThursday, 02 May 2013
Caro Emerald is the biggest act to arrive on the music scene in Holland for a very long time. Her debut album, 2010’s Deleted Scenes from the Cutting Room Floor, stayed at the top of the Dutch album charts for an astonishing run of over seven months... Read more... |
theartsdesk in Amsterdam: Reopening of the RijksmuseumSunday, 07 April 2013
The Rijksmuseum is reopening after 10 years. What took it so long? Escalating costs, contractual problems, a protracted battle with the cycling lobby (this is Amsterdam, after all). I’m sure there’s more, but one whole decade’s worth? It’s a long... Read more... |
High Art of the Low Countries, BBC FourFriday, 05 April 2013
There was a time when the art of the Low Countries was considered to be very lowly and base indeed. It was the high art of Italy that counted if you were a person of culture and breeding. Not for you the carousing common folk of Jan Steen, or those... Read more... |
The Arts Desk Radio Show 9Saturday, 09 February 2013
Welcome to the latest edition of The Arts Desk Radio Show, originally broadcast live from London's glamorous Dalston last Tuesday on NTS Live. Once again Joe found himself flying solo as Peter was off on his travels – although this time, rather than... Read more... |
