Norway
Hedda Gabler, Old VicThursday, 13 September 2012
Hedda Gabler – the doomy tragedy, the one with the pistol, the “female Hamlet”. We all know the score when it comes to Ibsen. All, that is, except apparently for Sheridan Smith, who recently admitted in an interview that she hadn’t heard of the play... Read more... |
Lilyhammer, BBC FourWednesday, 12 September 2012
Despite Lilyhammer’s sub-zero, snow white Norwegian setting, it is initially difficult to divorce Frank Tagliano from The Sopranos’ Silvio Dante. They’re both played by Steven Van Zandt and both are Mafia men. The suit they wear is the same.... Read more... |
JackpotWednesday, 08 August 2012
It’s a standard dilemma in film. What to do with the body? In this case, the answer can be seen coming but when it does, it isn’t one that could have occurred outside the world created for the otherwise all too generic Jackpot.Although based on a... Read more... |
theartsdesk in The Faroe Islands: G! FestivalSunday, 29 July 2012
Iceland’s kings of heavy metal Momentum are launching into an assault called “The Creator of Malignign Metaphors”. It’s broad daylight and they’re playing about 10 meters from the kitchen window of a suburban-looking house. The stage is sited on an... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Nielsen, Tchaikovsky, Reiko Fujisawa, The Dublin Drag OrchestraSaturday, 21 July 2012
Bach, Beethoven, Schubert Reiko Fujisawa (piano) (Quartz)Each of these three composers makes very specific, particular demands on a pianist’s technique. Playing Bach as sharply and as delicately as this doesn’t suggest that Reiko Fujisawa will... Read more... |
Christian Wallumrød, Karl Seglem, Garth Knox, LSO St Luke’sWednesday, 11 July 2012
It could have been a cow lowing in the distance, the sound drifting across a barren landscape. Its tone transformed after echoing through hillsides and ravines. Actually, it was Karl Seglem blowing into the horn of a goat. Suddenly, he stopped and... Read more... |
King of Devil’s IslandThursday, 28 June 2012
Although tinged throughout with blue, the Norwegian drama King of Devil’s Island is so grim it might as well be grey. Basing it on real events pitches the film as a cautionary tale, but the message is hard to determine. Everything shies away from... Read more... |
Edvard Munch: The Modern Eye, Tate ModernWednesday, 27 June 2012
Edvard Munch strikes a heroic pose. Buck naked, he’s pointing a sword at the sky – or perhaps that’s just a stick he’s picked up in the garden, where he’s surrounded by dense greenery as he stands with his arm raised in a taut diagonal. Perhaps he... Read more... |
After Munch: Norway’s Edvard Munch-influenced artists in LondonMonday, 18 June 2012Tate Modern’s Edvard Munch exhibition, The Modern Eye, opens on 28 June. Complementing this, the new London gallery ArtEco’s inaugural exhibition After Munch showcases three contemporary Norwegian artists inspired by Munch. Next year, the 150th... Read more... |
Lars Horntveth, Jaga Jazzist, Britten Sinfonia, BarbicanSunday, 17 June 2012
“This is such fun”. Martin Horntveth, Jaga Jazzist’s drummer, can’t contain his excitement. Standing up behind his kit, he radiates joy. Considering that he and his band are Norwegian, typically not given to overstatement, what he describes as fun... Read more... |
theartsdesk in Bergen: Sunny Festival in the City of RainSunday, 03 June 2012
“Bergen is the most beautiful city in the world when it doesn’t rain,” said one Norwegian to me. There was a pause. “It always rains in Bergen.” Mention Norway’s second city to anyone and the first reaction is always the same. They don’t describe... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Medtner, Martin Shaw, StravinskySaturday, 28 April 2012
Medtner: Arabesques, Dithyrambs, Elegies and other short piano works Hamish Milne (Hyperion)The title is already intriguing; enough to send you running to the dictionary to find out what a dithyramb is. Nikolai Medtner’s three examples are fun... Read more... |
