Month: November 2012

Coming Attractions in Rock: December 2012

November 30, 2012
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As 2012 comes to a close and we panic to complete last minute holiday shopping, party planning and mental preparation for enduring the inevitable familial snafu, let us remember that no matter how broke, stuffed, hung-over or disowned we may be, the first of January is just around the corner and with it a chance to start anew in 2013.

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Coming Attractions in Film: December 2012

November 30, 2012
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As we head into 2013 there will be some fine new films opening. Commercial houses and small independent theaters are jockeying for the next hit: my best bets include Michael Henke’s “Amour”, David Riker’s “The Girl”, Jacques Audiard’s “Rust and Bone”, and “Beware of Mr. Baker” (about Cream drummer Ginger Baker).

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Classical CD Reviews: Three of the Nineteenth Century’s Greatest Quintets

November 30, 2012
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Chamber music fans will know that the current season will be the last for the extraordinary Tokyo String Quartet (TSQ), which opted to disband rather than replace retiring violinist Kikuei Ikada and violist Kazuhide Isomura.

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Classical Music Sampler: December 2012

November 29, 2012
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A festive month of music, with The Emerson Quartet, A Far Cry, Tallis Scholars, and the Borromeo Quartet among the standout performers.

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Arts Fuse Commentary: Tanglewood 2013 — Less Than What Should Have Been

November 28, 2012
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If the BSO wanted to make a statement about where it might be headed based on the strong artistic results of the current season, it certainly could have. That it didn’t is a missed opportunity and hopefully not a sign of things to come.

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Opera Review: An Outstanding “Orfeo” from Boston Early Music Festival

November 28, 2012
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The tremendous success and rave reviews elicited by this “Orfeo” are due in large part to Boston Early Music Festival’s superb orchestra and cast of eight singers.

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Fuse Book Review: “The Testament of Mary” — Thin Fictional Iconoclasm

November 27, 2012
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Acclaimed Irish writer Colm Tόibín has penned a strangely compelling tale, full of terror, heartbreak, and finally a tone of resignation and even depression.

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Fuse Film Review: An Awkward But Important “Orchestra of Exiles”

November 25, 2012
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With his biopic “Orchestra of Exiles,” director Josh Aronson has done an at times awkward, but important, cut and paste job of history and biography.

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Film Review: “Life of Pi” — A Spectacular 3-D Fable for Our Times

November 24, 2012
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Sophisticates may recoil at the deliberate symbolism and guileless self-assurance of “Life of Pi.” But this is a fable of storytelling, faith, spirituality, and coming of age whose sympathies are clear and strong, couched in visuals of such extraordinary artistry that the experience of watching it is intoxicating.

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Music Review: A Tale of Two Rockers — Pete Townshend and Mike Scott in Book Form and in Person

November 23, 2012
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Though Peter Townshend is clearly the better known and more popular of the two, it was Mike Scott who produced the better book and more satisfying promotional event in Boston.

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