Old Friends And New Music

"This musical autobiography is one of those rich finds that give double satisfaction. For the reader there is that very special pleasure that intimate acquaintance with the famous will bring, in this case the great names of contemporary music and ballet. And it gives the publisher satisfaction to bring out a book which in years to come still will be a source of firsthand information about a period of tremendous intellectual excitement and artistic experimentation. It details the legendary brilliance of the days when Picasso, Stravinsky, Karsavina, Cocteau, Balanchine, Prokofiev and others all worked together under the flamboyant direction of the great Diaghilev. The portraits of Stravinsky and Prokofiev are perhaps the most illuminating nontechnical evaluations yet written about these composers, their lives and their music, while the chapter on Koussevitzky is informed with affection and understanding. Nicolas Nabokov's recollections of his childhood in Byelorussia and St. Petersburg are almost from the first memories of music: the "calling songs" of the lumberjacks floating down the Niemen, the shrill gay songs of the peasant women on their way to the hayfields and the lingering melodies they sang when returning, the minstrel songs of old man Troshka. Born into a wealthy Russian family in the early years of the twentieth century, young Nabokov was particularly well-placed to indulge his love for music. Affectionately he describes his first memorable performance of Glinka's A Life for the Tzar at the sumptuous Mariynski Theater and talks of the music making which went on in his family. After the Revolution, the aspiring composer found himself in Paris, then the cultural capital of the Western World. It is at this point in his autobiography that Mr. Nabokov cheerfully yields the center of the stage to the magnificent Diaghilev, the impresario of impresarios who exerted so great an influence on the music, art, and theater of his day. Much has been written about his personality - most of it laudatory, some of it critical - but rarely has the writer been a man of Nabokov's keen observation and careful judgment. His account of the Diaghilev he knew and of the various toilers in the Diaghilev Ballet Company (which produced his own Ode) is fascinating reading. Here is a poignant description of the mad Nijinsky's excursion to see Lifar perform. Nabokov's long friendship with Stravinsky has provided new material for a stimulating study of this great composer and his music, and the author's account of visit with Igor Stravinsky in his California home is both delightful and instructive. Since the early '30s, Nabokov has bene writing and teaching in America. New compositions of his have been commissioned by the Koussevitzky foundation and have been played by the Boston Symphony, the Philharmonic in New York and other leading American orchestras. He has become an American citizen and during the war served as a "cultural" officer attached to the army. His particular concern was the musical life of Berlin after the surrender and his experiences there attempting to cooperate with the Russians close this absorbing memoir."--Dust jacket.

Paired with colorful and vibrant art by Lenny Wen, Old Friends by Margaret Aitken is an inventive and heartfelt debut picture book that celebrates found family, caregiving, and the value of intergenerational friendships. Marjorie wants a friend who loves the same things she does: baking shows, knitting, and gardening. Someone like Granny. So with a sprinkle of flour in her hair and a spritz of lavender perfume, Marjorie goes undercover to the local Senior Citizens Group. It all goes well until the Cha-Cha-Cha starts and her cardigan camouflage goes sideways. By being true to herself, Marjorie learns that friends can be of any age if you look in the right places.

Grace begins to feel left out when her best friend, Laura, gets a part in the school play and spends all her time rehearsing with a new friend.

The story of Nicolas Nabokov's involvement with the CIA-funded Congress for Cultural Freedom (CCF) is a story of the politics and sociology of culture; how music was used for political ends and how intellectual groups formed and functioned during the Cold War. The seemingly independent CCF, established to counteract apparent Soviet successes in the fields of the arts and intellectual life, appointed Nabokov (a Russian emigre and minor composer) as its Secretary General in 1951.Over the next ten years he gave music a high profile in thework of the organisation, producing four international musical festivals, the first and most ambitious of which was 1952's L'Oeuvre du XXe Sie in Paris, an event which showcased the work of no less than 62 composers. As Ian Wellens reveals, Nabokov'smusical involvement with the CCF was in fact a struggle on two fronts.Apparently adefenceofWestern modernism against 'backward', 'provincial' Soviet music, Nabokov's writings show this to have meshed closely with thedomestic concern- shared bymany intellectuals -that high culture was being undermined by an increasingly culturally aware middle class. His attacks on Soviet cultural policy, and his unflattering assessments of Shostakovich, are seen to be not merely salvos in the cold war but part of a broader campaign aimed at securing the authority and prestige ofintellectuals.

"A gathering chiefly of talks given either by invitation or at conferences throughout the world over the last quarter century. The topics range widely, but recurrent themes include the place of classical music in contemporary society and culture, the fraught relationship between aesthetics and ethics, and the responsibilities of scholarship in an age of spin"--

This Toy Story 4 deluxe Step into Reading leveled reader is based on the exciting new Disney/Pixar movie hitting theaters June 21, 2019! Disney/Pixar's Toy Story 4 opens a new chapter in the lives of Woody, Buzz Lightyear, and the rest of the Toy Story gang. Directed by Josh Cooley (Riley's First Date?) and produced by Jonas Rivera (Inside Out and Up) and Mark Nielsen (associate producer for Inside Out), Toy Story 4 opens in theaters on June 21, 2019. Step 1 readers feature big type and easy words. Rhymes and rhythmic text paired with picture clues help children decode the story. For children who know the alphabet and are eager to begin reading on their own.

In the second edition of the definitive account of Igor Stravinsky's life and work, arranged in two separate sections, Eric Walter White revised the whole book, completing the biographical section by taking it up to Stravinsky's death in 1971. To the list of works, the author added some early pieces that have recently come to light, as well as the late compositions, including the Requiem Canticles and The Owl and the Pussycat. Four more of Stravinsky's own writings appear in the Appendices, and there are several important additions to the bibliography.

The dance, art, music, and cultural worlds of the Ballets Russes--a dance company which helped define the avant-garde in the early part of this century--are surveyed in this book, which begins with Serge Diaghilev's influence. 200+ illustrations.