Empire of Humanity. A History of Humanitarianism. Michael Barnett

Empire of Humanity explores humanitarianism's remarkable growth from its humble origins in the early nineteenth century to its current prominence in global life. In contrast to most contemporary accounts of humanitarianism that concentrate on the last two decades, Michael Barnett ties the past to the present, connecting the antislavery and missionary movements of the nineteenth century to today's peace­building missions, the Cold War interventions in places like Biafra and Cambodia to post–Cold War humanitarian operations in regions such as the Great Lakes of Africa and the Balkans; and the creation of the International Committee of the Red Cross in 1863 to the emergence of the major international humanitarian organizations of the twentieth century. Based on extensive archival work, close encounters with many of today's leading international agencies, and interviews with dozens of aid workers in the field and at headquarters, Empire of Hu­manity provides a history that is both global and intimate.

Foreign Affairs Best Book of the Year, Yale H. Ferguson Book Award

Империя. Ниал Фергюсон

Любая бывшая империя обречена на посмертный суд — историки и публицисты будут спорить о ее роли. Про Британскую империю спорят особенно жарко: она была огромной, существовала долго и была совсем недавно, мы живем на ее обломках. Ниал Фергю­сон, английский историк шотландского происхождения — и даже в большей степени специалист по истории экономики, — писал свою «Империю», зная, что книга у многих вызовет раздражение. Он пытался найти плюсы империи. За что получил массу крити­ческих отзывов от публицистов и историков из бывших колоний.

Фергюсон считает, что Британ­ская империя была долгое время в большей степени экономическим явлением, нежели классической империей: англичане — авторы первой глобализации, «глобали­зации канонерок», как иронизирует автор.

Erwin Schrodinger and the Quantum Revolution. John Gribbin

Erwin Schrödinger and the Quantum Revolution is a riveting bio­graphy of a giant of physics who was as passionate about philosophy and Eastern religion as he was about science, who broke social con­vention to the detriment of his career, and who was a reluctant revolu­tionary of quantum physics. Raised on the scientific tradition of the nineteenth century, Erwin Schrödinger's major contribution to the new science of the twentieth century was his masterpiece wave theory of quanta for which he received a Nobel Prize. Schrödinger remains an integral part of the new physics of the twenty-first century.

Few scientists are known as snappy dressers, but Schrödinger some­times made Einstein look like a fashion icon. On one occasion he had trouble gaining admission to an important scientific meeting because of his bedraggled appearance. Far more problematic were his un­orthodox domestic arrangements. He horrified the old-fashioned es­tablishment at Oxford when he turned up in England with both his wife and his mistress, and he was later not considered for a job at Prin­ceton, working alongside Einstein, for the same reason.

More than a century after the first skirmishes of the quantum revolu­tion, it may be difficult to understand what a profound shock it was for brilliant scientists like Schrödinger and Einstein to be confronted by the specter of uncertainty at the atomic level. Gribbin creates an al­most wistful picture of the solid, predictable universe understood by Newtonian physicists — a world in which immutable laws of nature governed every micron of movement in a clockwork system. How, then, could an electron be in two places at once, or move from one place to another without passing through the space between, or be in no definable place at all? John Gribbin explains the complexity of quantum mechanics, as well as the complex character of this quantum pioneer, in his signature, lucid approach that any curious mind can understand.

Субстанция мышления: Язык как окно в человеческую природу. Пинкер С.

В новой блестящей работе “Субстанция мышления” известный канадско-американский лингвист и психолог Стивен Пинкер ис­следует работу человеческого сознания в совершенно новом стиле - через пристальное изучение нашей речи: от бытовых разговоров, шуток и сквернословия до юридических споров, от детских неуклюжих выражений до сленга, от политического дис­курса до поэзии. Объясняя сложные идеи с помощью точных и остроумных примеров, Пинкер задает увлекательный тон изло­жению науки о языке.

Дерзко и притягательно… наполнено юмором и иронией. Как прекрасно иметь такой ясный и живой ум, который может доне­сти до широкой публики идеи когнитивной науки. Дуглас Хоф­штадтер

Фейерверк поразительно изощренного интеллекта; любой, кто неравнодушен к лингвистике, обязан прочитать эту книгу. Таймс

Из третьего мира в первый. История Сингапура 1965-2000. Ли Куан Ю

Когда крохотный Сингапур в 1965 году получил независимость, никто не верил, что ему удастся выжить. Однако он не просто вы­жил, а превратился в процветающую столицу Азиатского региона с лучшим в мире аэропортом, крупнейшей авиалинией, ключе­вым торговым портом, заняв четвертое место в мире по уровню дохода на душу населения.

Об этом чуде в своих мемуарах рассказывает бывший пре­мьер-министр Сингапура Ли Куан Ю. Он оживляет перед читателями историю, анализирует основные стратегические решения совре­менности, пишет о том, как из года в год направлял сложные от­ношения США, Китая и Тайваня, служа для руководителей этих государств и доверенным лицом, и вестником, и экспертом.

новое издание. Манн, Иванов и Фербер, ISBN 978-5-91657-624-5; 2013 г.

Дизайн вещей будущего. Дональд Норман

Постепенно мы привыкаем жить в новом мире, в котором, даже выходя на улицу, мы ориентируемся при помощи социальных се­тей, а наше положение зачастую известно не только нашим роди­телям и близким, но, по большому счету, всем желающим. Вме­сте с новой социальностью, организованной по лекалам социаль­ной сети, в ткань современности постепенно вплетаются суще­ства под названием «роботы». Будущее началось незаметно — с билбордов, рекламирующих роботов-уборщиков. Дальше — больше. О том, чем это больше может стать для нас, можно узнать из книги бывшего вице-президента компании Apple, про­фессора Северо-Западного университета Дональда Нормана «Дизайн вещей будущего». Норман размышляет о «переходном периоде», когда у ма­шин еще не появилось сознание, и они похо­дят больше на живот­ных, чем на революционеров и терминато­ров. Повествование за­нято вопросами, касающимися возможных отношений между та­кими переходными формами, как, например, думающий автомо­биль, выполняющий фактически инстинктив­ные функции, и со­знающий водитель и т.п. Все это вопросы, в принципе, уже давно нетривиальные — даже без этого футури­стического оттенка. Хотя их осмысление требует пересмотра представлений о грани­цах человеческого.

фрагмент

Средневековые университеты. Н. С. Суворов

Вниманию читателей предлагается книга русского историка и правоведа Н.С.Суворова, посвященная исследованию развития университетов в Средние века. В работе рассказывается о том, что собой представляли средневековые университеты, как и при каких исторических условиях они возникли, на каких основах утверждалась и в каких формах проявлялась их жизнь и деятель­ность, в каком отношении они находились к церкви. Рассматрива­ется устройство университетов, структура учебных занятий и принципы преподавания, ученые степени и правила их получе­ния. Описываются дотации, которые получали университеты от государства, церкви или частных лиц, а также привилегии, кото­рые они имели.

Первое издание 1898 г.

Выдержки

Brokering Empire. Trans-Imperial Subjects between Venice and Istanbul. E. Natalie Rothman

In Brokering Empire, Rothman explores the intersecting worlds of those who regularly traversed the early modern Vene­tian-Ottoman frontier, including colonial migrants, redeemed slaves, mer­chants, commercial brokers, religious converts, and diplomatic inter­preters. In their sustained interactions across linguistic, religious, and political lines these trans-imperial subjects helped to shape shifting imperial and cultural boundaries, including the emerging distinction between Europe and the Levant.

Rothman argues that the period from 1570 to 1670 witnessed a gradual transformation in how Ottoman difference was conceived within Venetian institutions. Thanks in part to the activities of trans-im­perial subjects, an early emphasis on juridical and commercial criteria gave way to conceptions of difference based on religion and lan­guage. Rothman begins her story in Venice's bustling marketplaces, where commercial brokers often defied the state's efforts both to tax foreign merchants and define Venetian citizenship. The story contin­ues in a Venetian charitable institution where converts from Islam and Judaism and their Catholic Venetian patrons negotiated their mutual transformation. The story ends with Venice's diplomatic interpreters, the dragomans, who not only produced and disseminated knowledge about the Ottomans but also created dense networks of kinship and patronage across imperial boundaries. Rothman's new conceptual and empirical framework sheds light on institutional practices for man­aging juridical, religious, and ethnolinguistic difference in the Mediter­ranean and beyond.

Herbert Baxter Adams Prize, Helen and Howard R. Marraro Prize by the American Historical Association

Constructing Grievance. Ethnic Nationalism in Russia's Republics. Elise Giuliano

Demands for national independence among ethnic minorities around the world suggest the power of nationalism. Contemporary nationalist movements can quickly attract fervent followings, but they can just as rapidly lose support. In Constructing Grievance, Elise Giuliano asks why people with ethnic identities throw their support behind national­ism in some cases but remain quiescent in others. Popular support for nationalism, Giuliano contends, is often fleeting. It develops as part of the process of political mobilization—a process that itself transforms the meaning of ethnic identity. She compares sixteen ethnic republics of the Russian Federation, where nationalist mobilization varied widely during the early 1990s despite a common Soviet inheritance. Drawing on field research in the republic of Tatarstan, socioeconomic statistical data, and a comparative discourse analysis of local news­papers, Giuliano argues that people respond to nationalist leaders after developing a group grievance. Ethnic grievances, however, are not simply present or absent among a given population based on so­cietal conditions. Instead, they develop out of the interaction between people's lived experiences and the specific messages that nationalist entrepreneurs put forward concerning ethnic group disadvantage.

In Russia, Giuliano shows, ethnic grievances developed rapidly in cer­tain republics in the late Soviet era when messages articulated by nationalist leaders about ethnic inequality in local labor markets res­onated with people's experience of growing job insecurity in a con­tracting economy. In other republics, however, where nationalist lead­ers focused on articulating other issues, such as cultural and lan­guage problems facing the ethnic group, group grievances failed to develop, and popular support for nationalism stalled. People with eth­nic identities, Giuliano concludes, do not form political interest groups primed to support ethnic politicians and movements for national se­cession.

ENMISA Distinguished Book Award (Ethnicity, Nationalism and Migration Section of the International Studies Association)

Сталин-диктатор. У власти. 1928–1941. Роберт Такер

Профессор Роберт Такер, возможно, самый влиятельный амери­канский исследователь истории марксизма и его советских осо­бенностей, — один из тех авторов, чье мнение в данном случае можно выслушать. Правда, его в некоторой степени можно при­числить и к инсайдерам: в конце 1940-х Такер жил в Москве, поэтому закат сталинской империи смог познать изнутри. Но как раз эта часть сталинской биографии так и не была написана: про­фессор скончался, не успев завершить свой монументальный труд. В той книге, что посвящена непосредственно годам правле­ния, Такер делает упор на психологические аспекты личности Сталина и выстраивает политическое повествование, основы­ваясь на этих аспектах. В такеровской книге Сталин в первую очередь личность и только потом вождь, диктатор.

Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia: Political Developments and Implications for U.S. In­terests. Jim Nichol

The United States recognized the independence of Armenia, Azerbai-jan, and Georgia when the former Soviet Union broke up at the end of 1991. The United States has fostered these states’ ties with the West in part to end their dependence on Russia for trade, se­curity, and oth­er relations. The United States has pursued close ties with Armenia to encourage its democratization and because of con­cerns by Armenian Americans and others over its fate. Close ties with Georgia have evolved from U.S. contacts with its pro-Western leader­ship. Success­ive Administrations have supported U.S. private invest­ment in Azer-baijan’s energy sector as a means of increasing the di­versity of world energy suppliers. The United States has been active in diplo­matic ef­forts to resolve regional conflicts in the region. As part of U.S. global counter-terrorism efforts, the U.S. military in 2002 began providing equipment and training for Georgia’s military and se­curity forces. Troops from all three regional states have participated in sta­bilization efforts in Afghanistan and Iraq. The regional states also have granted transit privileges for U.S. military personnel and equip­ment bound to and from Afghanistan.

Issues of concern in the 113th Congress regarding the South Caucas­us may include Armenia’s independence and economic development; Azerbaijan’s energy development; and Georgia’s recovery from Rus­sia’s August 2008 military incursion. At the same time, concerns have been raised about the status of human rights and democratization in the countries; the ongoing Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over the break­away Nagorno Karabakh region; and ongoing threats posed to Geor­gia and the international order by Russia’s 2008 incursion and its dip­lomatic recognition of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Congress has continued to oversee the region’s role as part of the Northern Distribu­tion Network for the transit of U.S. and NATO military supplies to and from Afghanistan. Some Members of Congress and other policy­makers believe that the United States should provide greater support for the region’s increasing role as an east-west trade and security cor­ridor linking the Black Sea and Caspian Sea regions, and for Ar­menia’s inclusion in such links. They urge greater U.S. aid and conflict resolution efforts to contain warfare, crime, smuggling, and terrorism, and to bolster the independence of the states. Others urge caution in adopting policies that will increase U.S. involvement in a region beset by ethnic and civil conflicts.

Pdf
All Congressional Research Service [CRS] Reports

A Legacy of Armenian Treasures: Testimony to a People - The Alex and Marie Manoo­gian Museum. Edmond Y. Azadian, Sylvie L. Merian, Lucy Ardash

The Alex and Marie Manoogian Museum in Michigan holds the largest and most representative gathering of Armenian art and artifacts out­side Armenia, including illuminated manuscripts, early printed books, rugs and carpets, sacred vessels and vestments, textiles and em­broidery, ceramics, metalwork, paintings, coins, and objects from the ancient kingdom of Urartu. A Legacy of Armenian Treasures features more than 160 of the museum's most vital and beautiful pieces, each reproduced in full color and accompanied by a detailed entry. Essays by nine scholars of Armenian art and artifacts shed light not only on the artistic significance of these objects but on their cultural context as well.

"For centuries Armenia did not exist as an independent state, yet its clerics, poets, artists, and musicians maintained and cultivated a cul­tural heritage of extraordinary beauty. A people can survive, even thrive, under alien imperial powers, if its sense of identity is continued. Here we see how manuscript illuminators, church builders, and writers carried on the idea of Armenian civilization through a millenni­um. This exquisite volume brings to us a vivid portrait of a people whom no empire was able to extinguish. The Manoogian Museum and this beautiful book reveal a glorious, gorgeous past of a determ­ined people." —Ronald Grigor Suny, University of Michigan

Artsakh: Garden of Armenian Arts and Traditions. Dickran Kouymjian, Claude Mutafian

Delving into a former eastern outpost in Armenia throughout antiquity and during the Middle Ages, this history explores the fascinating, mountainous province of Artsakh. The region adopted Christianity very early on, profoundly marking its destiny and shaping the main features of its heritage in the architecture of cross-stone carving, the art of illumination, and the craft of carpet-making. Artsakh remained virtually independent until the mid-18th century, when Tatar Khan succeeded in establishing his sovereignty before being annexed to the Russian Empire at the very beginning of the 19th century. Presenting an intriguing synthesis of this region’s complex past, this narrative also captures the collapse of Tsarist Russia, the Soviet 1921 allocation of Karabagh to the shores of the Caspian Sea, and the Ar­menian people’s eventual proclamation of independence in 1991. This edition is written in English and French.

Dickran Kouymjian is a professor emeritus at California State Univer­sity – Fresno. Claude Mutafian is a mathematics teacher and a historia­n.

Unfinished Spaces. Directed by Benjamin Murray, Alysa Nahmias

Cuba's ambitious National Art Schools project, designed by three young artists in the wake of Castro's Revolution, is neglected, nearly forgotten, then ultimately rediscovered as a visionary architectural masterpiece.

In 1961, three young, visionary architects were commissioned by Fidel Castro and Che Guevara to create Cuba's National Art Schools on the grounds of a former golf course in Havana. Construction of their radical designs began immediately, and the school's first classes soon followed. Dancers, musicians, and artists from all over the country reveled in the beauty of the schools, but as the dream of the Revolution quickly became a reality, construction was abruptly halted and the architects and their designs were deemed irrelevant in the prevailing political climate. Forty years later, the schools are in use, but remain unfinished and in decay. Castro has invited the exiled architects back to finish their unrealized dream. Unfinished Spaces features intimate footage of Fidel Castro, showing his devotion to creating a worldwide showcase for art, and it also documents the struggle and passion of three revolutionary artists.

Miami Film Festival, Grand Jury Prize
Palm Springs International Film Festival, Nominated

Gerhard Richter Painting. Directed by Corinna Belz

Gerhard Richter Painting is a thrilling document of legendary German artist Richter's creative process, juxtaposed with intimate conversations (with his critics, his collaborators, and his American gallerist Marian Goodman) and rare archive material. From our fly-on-the-wall perspective, we watch the 79-year-old create a series of large-scale abstract canvases, using fat brushes and a massive squeegee to apply (and then scrape off) layer after layer of brightly colored paint. This mesmerizing footage, of a highly charged process of creation and destruction, turns Belz's portrait of an artist into a work of art itself. In German with English subtitles.

BONUS FEATURES: Gerhard Richter and Art Historian Benjamin HD Buchloh in Conversation (23 min.), Fragments of a Conversation: Curator Hans-Ulrich Obrist Meets Gerhard Richter (10 min.), Gerhard Richter Prepares for the Munich Exhibition ''Abstract Paintings'' (9 min.), Booklet: An Interview with Director Corinna Belz, Trailers

German Film Awards Bester Dokumentarfilm, Newport Beach Film Festival Achievement Award

Amazon instant video

YouTube

Over Your Cities Your Grass Will Grow. Directed by Sophie Fiennes

A mesmerizing portrait of the artist Anselm Kiefer by acclaimed documentarian Sophie Fiennes, Over Your Cities Your Grass Will Grow is part tribute and part deconstruction; aided by beautiful widescreen cinematography, Fiennes captures the majesty of Kiefer's architectonic installations alongside observational footage of his work process.

The film bears witness to German artist Anselm Kiefer's alchemical creative processes and renders in film, as a cinematic journey, the personal universe he has built at his hill-studio estate in the South of France.

A mesmerizing spectacle...a trip you'll never forget – Salon
A dreamlike visual statement... - THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

YouTube

Joseph Campbell & Power of Myth With Bill Moyers (25th Anniversary Edition)

The Power of Myth is a book and six-part television documentary originally broadcast on PBS in 1988 as Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth. The documentary comprises six one-hour conversations between mythologist Joseph Campbell (1904–1987) and journalist Bill Moyers. The interviews in the first 5 episodes were filmed at George Lucas's Skywalker Ranch in California, with the 6th interview conducted at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, during the final two summers of Campbell's life (the series was broadcast on television a year after his death). In these discussions, Campbell presents his ideas about comparative mythology and the ongoing role of myth in human society. These talks include excerpts from Campbell's seminal work The Hero with a Thousand Faces.

Episodes: The Hero's Adventure, The Message of the Myth, The First Storytellers, Sacrifice and Bliss, Love and the Goddess, Masks of Eternity

“Fascinating” —The New York Times
“Compelling” —The Wall Street Journal

Joseph Campbell: Mythos the Complete Series

"Myth comes from the same zone as dream... from the great biological ground, whatever it may be. They are energies and they are matters of consciousness." - Joseph Campbell

DURING THE FINAL YEARS OF HIS LIFE, Joseph Campbell embarked on a speaking tour in which he drew together all that he had learned about what he called the "one great story" of humanity. These remarkable talks were filmed and are presented here in the order and manner in which Campbell himself intended, with enhanced images and in minimally edited form. As seen on PBS.

Collection includes:
Mythos I – The Shaping of Our Mythic Tradition: Myths, symbols, and the birth of human consciousness.
Mythos II – The Shaping of the Eastern Tradition: Universal mythic stories and images in the religions of Asia.
Mythos III – The Shaping of the Western Tradition: Mythic themes in the tales and philosophies of the modern West.

Presented and Hosted by Academy Award®-Winner SUSAN SARANDON

Phillip Roth: Unmasked. Directed by William Karel

Explore the life of Pulitzer Prize- and National Book Award winning novelist Philip Roth, often referred to as the greatest living American writer.- Goodbye, Columbus, his collection of short stories published in 1959, put the 26-year-old Roth on the map, and 10 years later,- Portnoy's Complaint- propelled him into an international scandalous spotlight.

Yet he steadily earned his reputation as a man of letters, commanding ownership of the Jewish-American novel and making Newark, New Jersey, a literary destination. Practically inventing the genre of factual-fictional autobiography, Roth's thinly veiled Zuckerman books follow the protagonist's path from aspiring young writer to compromised celebrity, and, lately, older man facing death. Roth's career was considered declining by 1990 and then exploded with a dozen bestsellers in the past two decades, including- Sabbath's Theater- (1995),- American Pastoral- (1997) and- The Human Stain- (2000).

Philip Roth: Unmasked features candid interviews with Roth, who fulfills his promise to directors William Karel and Livia Manera to unmask himself, freely discussing- very intimate aspects of his life and art as he has never done before.

Meanwhile

The remarkable new-music ensemble eighth blackbird has won Grammy Awards for its last two albums on Ce­dille Records. Now, the "polished, personable, routinely dazzling sextet" (New York Times) returns with mean­while, an album highlighting the kaleidoscopic diversity of contemporary classical music.

Meanwhile includes world-premiere recordings of three exciting and accessible works written for the adventur­ous young sextet: Stephen Hartke's sparkling, fanciful Meanwhile: Incidental Music to Imaginary Puppet Plays (2007) looks to classical Asian puppet theater for inspira­tion, with gamelan-style Flexatones and piano altered to sound like a Vietnamese hammered dulcimer; Missy Mazzoli's Still Life with Avalanche (2008) paints an idyllic landscape disturbed by unexpected news; and Two movements from Roshanne Etezady's Damaged Goods (2001) grapple with the psychic bruises of everyday modern life. The album also includes works by three well-established, marquee names in contemporary music from Europe and the United States.

Grammy Award Winner: Best Chamber Music, Best Contemporary Classical Composition

Cedille - CDR90000133

Massenet: Don Quichotte

Italian bass Ferruccio Furlanetto is one of the most sought-after interpreters of French, Italian and Russian repertoire. Here he joins Valery Gergiev and the Mariin­sky orchestra for a sumptuous recording of Massenet’s final great opera. Gergiev is no stranger to conducting Massenet, having recorded an outstanding performance of 'Hérodiade' in 1995 with Renée Fleming and Placido Domingo.

'Don Quichotte', Massenet’s comédie-héroïque, is a tale of heroism, adventure and unrequited love. The plot relates only indirectly to the great novel by Miguel de Cervantes and more likely refers to the play Le chevalier de la longue figure, by the poet Jacques Le Lorrain. Massenet, nearing the end of his career, probably identi­fied with the character of Don Quichotte, and fell in love with the mezzo-soprano Lucy Arbell, who played Dul­cinée in the first performance of the work.

Grammy Award Nominated

Mariinsky - MAR0523

Quatuor Ebène play Felix and Fanny Mendelssohn

The Quatuor Ebène turns to Mendelssohn: two quartets by Felix and one by his elder sister Fanny, who com­posed over 400 works and who, like her brother, died in 1847. “Felix’s quartets speak with intimacy, but are not devoid of violent, stormy emotion,” says Raphaël Merlin of the Quatuor Ebène. He praises Fanny for composing “with surprising freedom”, saying “we fell in love with her string quartet”.

In a characteristically imaginative stroke of programming, the Quatuor Ebène presents a total of three quartets by two Mendelssohns – Felix and his older sister, Fanny.

Like Felix, Fanny was a highly gifted child, but, as a wo­man, her life took a different path from his. Felix re­mained close to her and solicited and respected her opinions on his music. She, meanwhile, produced a can­on of well over 400 pieces – although only one string quartet; by contrast, Felix composed seven works in the genre, one of them a youthful work that carries no opus number. This disc features the A minor quartet he com­posed in 1827, very much under the influence of Beeth­oven, and the F minor quartet of 20 years later, a highly emotional piece, expressive of the grief he felt at Fanny’s death, aged 41, in May 1847. As it turned out, the quar­tet was to be the last major work he composed: he him­self died in November of that year, at the age of just 38.

Gramophone Magazine Editor's Choice, BBC Music Magazine Chamber Choice, The Guardian, *****

Virgin - 4645462

Britten: The Rape of Lucretia

Recorded live in 2011 at the Aldeburgh Festival, which Benjamin Britten founded in 1948, this performance of his dark, intense chamber opera The Rape of Lucretia stars Angelika Kirchschlager, Peter Coleman-Wright and Ian Bostridge, with Oliver Knussen conducting. “Everything, without exception, was right on the money,” said The Guardian,” ... a dazzling success.”

Benjamin Britten’s chamber opera The Rape of Lucretia was given its premiere at the Glyndebourne Festival in 1946, with Kathleen Ferrier in the leading role. The com­poser founded his own festival two years later in Alde­burgh on the Suffolk coast, where he and Peter Pears had a home. This recording is drawn from a concert given in June 2011 at Aldeburgh’s acoustically superb Snape Maltings.

“As this brilliantly vivid, impassioned concert performance reminded us,” wrote The Telegraph, “Lucretia is a prob­lematic and disturbing piece. It's hard to think of another opera where the opposite poles of male violence and tender female intimacy are made so vividly real in purely musical terms, and brought into such horrifying proximity.”

Financial Times ****, The Guardian *****, The Times ****, Gramophone Magazine Editor's Choice, BBC Music Magazine Opera Choice

Virgin - 6026722

J.S. Bach: John Passion, Reconstruction of Bach's Passion Liturgy. Dunedin Consort

This is the premiere recording J.S. Bach’s John Passion heard for the first time within its original liturgical context.

This recording marks the return of Dunedin Consort’s star studded cast including, Nicholas Mulroy, Matthew Brook, Robert Davies, Joanne Lunn and Clare Wilkinson.

Director John Butt has given listeners an interpretation that will provide a refreshing outlook on this masterpiece and will show the John Passion in a completely new light.

The Consort recreate the context of a passion performance during Bach’s time at Leipzig; the University of Glasgow Chapel Choir (directed by James Grossmith) and a congregational choir of amateur singers perform motets and chorales from an original Leipzig hymn book and John Butt takes centre stage to perform organ preludes on the Collins organ at Greyfriar’s Kirk in Edinburgh, where the recording took place.

BBC Music Magazine, 5 Stars, Recording of the Month
Sunday Times 'Linn offers a fascinating extra dimension.'
Gramophone Recording of the Month

CKD 419 (Linn Records)