Верить и видеть. Искусство соборов XII-XV веков. Ролан Рехт

Книга известного историка средневекового искусства Ролана Рехта предлагает современное объяснение искусства собора как визу­альной художественной системы, включающей в себя архитектуру, скульптуру, монументальную живопись, мелкую пластику. На мате­риале многочисленных схоластических текстов и литературных па­мятников на латыни, средневерхненемецком и старофранцузском подробно рассматриваются общекультурные и религиозные усло­вия жизни, изменения в системе ценностей западноевропейского общества позднего Средневековья. В книге описаны как «классиче­ские» соборы — Шартра, Реймса, Буржа, так и малоизученные хра­мы, а также небольшие предметы ювелирного искусства, хранящие­ся в музеях всего мира.

премия Мориса Ваксмахера

Napoleon the Great. Andrew Roberts

Napoleon Bonaparte lived one of the most extraordinary of all human lives. In the space of just twenty years, from October 1795 when as a young artillery captain he cleared the streets of Paris of insurrectionists, to his final defeat at the (horribly mismanaged) battle of Waterloo in June 1815, Napoleon transformed France and Europe. After seizing power in a coup d'etat he ended the corruption and incompetence into which the Revolution had descended. In a series of dazzling battles he reinvented the art of warfare; in peace, he completely remade the laws of France, modernised her systems of education and administration, and presided over a flourishing of the beautiful 'Empire style' in the arts. The impossibility of defeating his most persistent enemy, Great Britain, led him to make draining and ultimately fatal expeditions into Spain and Russia, where half a million Frenchmen died and his Empire began to unravel. More than any other modern biographer, Andrew Roberts conveys Napoleon's tremendous energy, both physical and intellectual, and the attractiveness of his personality, even to his enemies. He has walked 53 of Napoleon's 60 battlefields, and has absorbed the gigantic new French edition of Napoleon's letters, which allows a complete re-evaluation of this exceptional man. He overturns many received opinions, including the myth of a great romance with Josephine: she took a lover immediately after their marriage, and, as Roberts shows, he had three times as many mistresses as he acknowledged.

The Prix Du Jury Des Grands Prix De La Fondation Napoleon

Churchill Factor. Boris Johnson

'He writes with gusto...the result is a book that is never boring, genuinely clever ...this book sizzles.' The Times 'The must-read biography of the year.' Evening Standard 'The point of the Churchill Factor is that one man can make all the difference.' Marking the fiftieth anniversary of Winston Churchill's death, Boris Johnson explores what makes up the 'Churchill Factor' - the singular brilliance of one of the most important leaders of the twentieth century. Taking on the myths and misconceptions along with the outsized reality, he portrays - with characteristic wit and passion-a man of multiple contradictions, contagious bravery, breath-taking eloquence, matchless strategizing, and deep humanity. Fearless on the battlefield, Churchill had to be ordered by the King to stay out of action on D-Day; he embraced large-scale strategic bombing, yet hated the destruction of war and scorned politicians who had not experienced its horrors. He was a celebrated journalist, a great orator and won the Nobel Prize for Literature. He was famous for his ability to combine wining and dining with many late nights of crucial wartime decision-making. His open-mindedness made him a pioneer in health care, education, and social welfare, though he remained incorrigibly politically incorrect.

Breakfast at Sotheby's. Philip Hook

Breakfast at Sotheby's is a wry, intimate, truly revealing exploration of how art acquires its financial value, from Philip Hook, a senior director at Sotheby's. "Reading it is like participating in a hugely enjoyable personal tutorial given by a cultured, witty, clear-eyed, world teacher with a fully functioning sense of humour. A real delight". Spectator

"Hook's view of the art world is that of the professional auctioneer. In an A-Z format, it is an entire art education contained in under 350 pages. Wry, dry and completely beguiling". Guardian, Books of the Year

"How to nail the mad, bad, crazy contemporary art world in print? Sotheby's senior director Hook draws on 35 years' experience in this informal memoir. He unravels, with humour, piquancy and erudition, what drives the economics of taste". Financial Times, Books of the Year
"It's very hard to write an amusing book about art that has some serious things to say. But Philip Hook has done it". Sunday Times, Books of the Year

Возвращение времени: от античной космогонии к космологии будущего. Ли Смолин

Большинство людей считает, что время реально: меняются времена года, идут часы, человек стремится от колыбели к могиле. Большинство физиков, напротив, полагает, что время есть иллюзия — и, возможно, напрасно, как полагает известный канадский физик Ли Смолин.
Автор книг "Жизнь космоса" (1997) и "Неприятности с физикой" (2006) напоминает, что все затруднения физиков и космологов (от Большого взрыва до "теории всего") восходят к проблеме природы времени, а признание его реальности может вывести фундаментальную науку на новый уровень.

"[Smolin’s] book, a mix of science, philosophy and science fiction, is at once entertaining, thought-provoking, fabulously ambitious and fabulously speculative." —The New York Times

"Provocative, original, and unsettling." —The New York Review of Books

"Brilliant…Smolin gives what is, for me, the best analysis of the nature of time from a physics viewpoint in a popular science book I have ever seen." — Popular Science

Dirty Old London. The Victorian Fight Against Filth. Lee Jackson

‘This is a fascinating work that will engage both those interested in Victorian in general and London in particular.’— BBC History Magazine

‘This is a tightly argued, meticulously researched history of sanitation that reads like a novel.’ — The Times

‘There is an extensive bibliography and index and this makes Dirty Old London a very welcome addition to the social history of the Victorian capital. It will be useful to scholars as well as being a very enjoyable popular history which deserves a wide readership.’— The London Journal

'…well illustrated, often wry, thoroughly researched and absorbing' -- Evening Standard
'vivid, scholarly, illuminating, funny, well written and beautifully illustrated, a model of its kind' – The Independent

Каталония и Византия. От романики к готике. альбом-календарь

Издание увидело свет благодаря издательству «La Casa di Matriona» и Христианскому образовательному центру имени святых Мефодия и Кирилла в сотрудничестве с посольством Испании и Культурным центром «Покровские ворота».

Издание представила его инициатор и главный редактор – атташе по культуре посольства Ватикана в РФ, сотрудник фонда «Христи­анская Россия» Джованна Парравичини. Она уже много лет подряд создает подобные альбомы-календари, задача которых, по ее сло­вам, -- обнаружить в европейском искусстве «общие корни Визан­тии и латинской Европы, найти следы единого христианского языка средневековой культуры». Глубокое проникновение в данную тему может помочь в поисках «нового импульса для обновления Европы как христианского континента».

Новое издание «Каталония и Византия. От романики к готике» устроено по принципу календаря: на каждый месяц приходится две иллюстрации, но это единственное, что связывает его с календар­ным жанром. На самом деле – это монографическое исследование, выполненное специалистом по данной теме, снабженное не только высококачественными фотографиями фресок, миниатюр, рас­писных панелей престолов и других исключительных произведений христи­анского искусства Каталонии, но также вступительной ста­тьей, подробным обзором каталонского искусства и комментариями к каждому изображению. Автор календаря – преподаватель Барсе­лонского университета Роза Алькой. Ее задачей было показать, что, несмотря на значительное расстояние, отделяющее Каталонию от христианского Востока, образцы византийского искусства были хо­рошо известны на этих землях, куда они приходили разными путя­ми.

Mies. Detlef Mertins

Unprecedented in scope and illustrated with more than 700 original drawings, plans, diagrams, and contemporary and archival photographs, Mies by Detlef Mertins is the most definitive monograph ever published on the modern master of architecture Mies van der Rohe. Mertins’ rich and highly readable text traces the aesthetic and intellectual context for all Mies’ work, with in–depth discussions of his most important projects. Featuring some of the twentieth century’s most iconic buildings, such as the Barcelona Pavilion in Spain, the Crown Hall at IIT, and the Seagram Building in New York, Mies paints a fascinating portrait of the famed architect whose contribution to the modern urban landscape cannot be overlooked.

Структура научных революций. Томас Кун

Томас Кун - выдающийся историк и философ науки XX в. Его тео­рия научных революций как смены парадигм стала фундаментом современной методологии и философии науки, предопределив само понимание науки и научного знания в современном обще­стве.
На первый взгляд Кун не открывает ничего нового, о наличии в развитии науки нормальных и революционных периодов говори­ли многие авторы. Но они не смогли найти аргументированного ответа на вопросы: "Чем отличаются небольшие, постепенные, количественные изменения от изменений коренных, качествен­ных, в том числе революционных?", "Как эти коренные сдвиги на­зревают и подготавливаются в предшествующий период?". Не случайно поэтому история науки нередко излагается как простой перечень фактов и открытий. При таком подходе прогресс в нау­ке сводится к простому накоплению и росту научного знания (ку­муляции), вследствие чего не раскрываются внутренние законо­мерности происходящих в процессе познания изменений. Этот кумулятивистский подход и критикует Кун в своей книге, противо­поставляя ему свою концепцию развития науки через периодиче­ски происходящие революции.
Кратко теория Куна состоит в следующем: периоды спокойного развития (периоды "нормальной науки") сменяются кризисом, ко­торый может разрешиться революцией, заменяющей господствую­щую парадигму. Под парадигмой Кун понимает об­щепризнанную совокупность понятий, теории и методов исследо­вания, которая дает научному сообществу модель постановки проблем и их решений.

Религиозные войны во Франции XVI в. Новые источники, новые исследования, новая периодизация

Коллективный труд ведущих отечественных и французских исто­риков, посвященный 450-летней годовщине начала вооруженного противостояния католиков и протестантов во Франции XVI столе­тия, отражает различные аспекты масштабных гражданских войн, вошедших в историю как Гугенотские, или Религиозные.Этот кон­фликт, который продолжался почти сорок лет, разобщив Фран­цию религиозно и политически и поставив ее на грань националь­ной катастрофы, в итоге закончился сплочением страны и превращением ее в могущественное европейское государство: его парадоксальным итогом стало укрепление и утверждение аб­солютной монархии, получившей свое классическое воплощение в последующее время.На основе новых источников, в том числе хранящихся в России, авторы пересматривают сложившиеся прежде представления и мифы о Религиозных войнах, их перио­дизацию, пытаясь добиться объективного понимания истоков, проявлений и итогов религиозного конфликта, оказавшего огром­ное влияние на все развитие европейской цивилизации Нового времени.

National Gallery

The National Gallery in London is one of the great museums of the world with 2400 paintings from the 13th to the end of the 19th century. Almost every human experience is represented in one or the other of the paintings. The sequences of the film show the public in various galleries; the education programs, and the scholars, scientists and curators, studying, restoring and planning the exhibitions. The relation between painting and storytelling is explored.

Chicago International Film Festival  Award

Art and Craft. Sam Cullman, Jennifer Grausman

When one of the most prolific art forgers in US history is finally exposed, he must confront the legacy of his 30-year con.

A funny, fascinating, too-good-to-be-true documentary about Mark Landis, one of the world's most prolific art forgers, who for over 30 years has duped museums across the country--until one determined registrar sets out to stop him.

National Board of Review Award
Satellite Awards, Nominated

Bird's Nest - Herzog & De Meuron in China. Christoph Schaub, Michael Schindhelm

Schaub and Schindhelm’s documentary follows two Swiss star architects on two very different projects: the national stadium for the Olympic summer games in Peking 2008 and a city area in the provincial town of Jinhua, China. Architects Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron are literally building bridges between two cultures, two architectural traditions, and two political systems. Their work doesn’t simply enhance China’s great international debut, but serves the everyday needs of the Chinese population. “Bird’s Nest” presents the Basle architects as they find solutions not in the comfort of an ivory tower but in encounters and friction on the ground.

El Greco. Yannis Smaragdis

The film is an epic tale of Domenicos Theotokopoulos, best known as El Greco, a great Greek artist of the 16th century with an uncompromising character, who sets off from his homeland Crete and goes to Venice and finally Toledo, in search of freedom and love. There he is confronted by his greatest adversary, the Spanish Inquisition, but his creative consciousness and power make him stand out and overcome barbarity and ignorance.

Being imprisoned and awaiting execution by the Spanish Inquisition, Domenicos (Nick Ashdon) writes out his story, thus parts of his life play out in extended flashbacks. Born on the island of Crete, which was part of the Republic of Venice, he falls in love with Francesca (Dimitra Matsouka), daughter of the Venetian governor of Crete. But his father is preparing a political rebellion and as a result Domenicos leaves the island and moves to Venice, away from the young woman. There he meets the famous painter Titian (Sotiris Moustakas) and the Spanish priest Fernando Niño de Guevara (Juan Diego Botto). Guevara immediately shows a confused interest in Domenicos, and, when roiled by the Greek - and fighting personal demons - calls Domenicos before the Inquisition where he must defend himself against charges of Heresy.

Goya Award, 12 wins & 2 nominations

Picasso and Braque Go to the Movies. Альберт Гендельштейн

Produced by Martin Scorsese and Robert Greenhut and directed by Arne Glimcher, PICASSO AND BRAQUE GO TO THE MOVIES is a cinematic tour through the effects of the technological revolution, specifically the invention of aviation, the creation of cinema and their interdependent influence on artists Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque. With narration by Scorsese, and interviews with art scholars and artists including Chuck Close, Julian Schnabel and Eric Fischl, the film looks at the collision between film and art at the turn of the 20th Century and helps us to realize cinema's continuing influence on the art of our time.

Strauss, R: Der Rosenkavalier. Salzburg Festival 2014

Krassimira Stoyanova (The Feldmarschallin), Sophie Koch (Octavian), Mojca Erdmann (Sophie), Silvana Dussmann (Marianne Leitmetzerin), Wiebke Lehmkuhl (Annina), Günther Groissböck (Baron Ochs auf Lerchenau), Adrian Eröd (Herr von Faninal), Kresimir Spicer (Valzacchi), Stefan Pop (A Singer), Tobias Kehrer (A police inspector), Martin Piskorski (Faninal's Major-Domo), Franz Supper (The Marschallin's Major-Domo), Lucas Singer (A notary), Roman Sadnik (An Innkeeper)
Wiener Philharmoniker, Franz Welser-Möst

This unabbreviated version of The Rosenkavalier from Salzburg Festival 2014 became a triumph and received fantastic reviews.

Herbert von Karajan Musikpreis - Wiener Philharmoniker

Bellini: Norma

Staged by Jürgen Rose, Directed by Brian Large

Edita Gruberova (Norma), Zoran Todorovich (Pollione), Sonia Ganassi (Adalgisa), Roberto Scandiuzzi (Oroveso), Markus Herzog (Flavio)

“Edita Gruberová… is revealed as the great Norma of today. Her singing and acting bring out the complete portrait of the guilt-ridden priestess, trapped between her sense of duty to her religion and country, and the sickening prospect of losing her lover and her children. Jürgen Rose, in total control of the production - stage direction, lighting, costumes and sets - succeeds where many have failed in the past. The semi-abstract sets are beautiful, the costumes simple. Friedrich Haider conducts the Munich forces with fine urgency and an impeccable understanding of the grand sweep of this notoriously tricky work. The whole undertaking is a triumph for all concerned...” Gramophone Magazine

Herbert von Karajan Musikpreis - Edita Gruberova

Moderato Cantabile (Komitas / Gurdjieff / Mompou). Anja Lechner & François Couturier

Orient et Occident. C’est ainsi que le duo formé par Anja Lechner et Franҫois Couturier devait initialement s’appeler. Finalement, la violoncelliste allemande et le pianiste français ont opté pour un sobriquet un brin plus poétique et moins lourd de signification : Moderato cantabile. Est-ce par goût pour cette indication musicale sur le rythme, modéré (moderato) et chantant (cantabile) ? Ou en référence au roman de Marguerite Duras ? Quoi qu’il en soit, après une décennie de travail en commun au sein du Tarkovsky Quartet et une alliance en cours dans le projet Il Pergolese, Lechner et Couturier présentent ici leurs arrangements des œuvres de trois compositeurs fascinants: George Ivanovich Gurdjieff, Komitas et Federico Mompou. À plusieurs degrés, leur musique révèle des sonorités de l’Est, en termes de relations entre folklore et musique religieuse, et en termes philosophiques. D’une certaine manière, le violoncelle prend presque le rôle d’un chanteur et les trois compositions de François Couturier fonctionnent comme des éléments contrastés mais complémentaires. Le résultat final est un disque sublime, enregistré au studio Lugano en novembre 2013 par Manfred Eicher pour son label ECM. Un album offrant une unité d’émotion totale que le dialogue et la complicité qui s’installent entre les deux musiciens ne fait qu’amplifier.  MD/Qobuz

Tavener: Akhmatova Requiem

Phyllis Bryn-Julson (soprano) & John Shirley-Quirk (bass-baritone). BBC Symphony Orchestra, Gennady Rozhdestvensky. Elise Ross (soprano)
John Tavener first came to public attention in 1968 with the premiere of his oratorio The Whale at the inaugural concert of the London Sinfonietta; The Beatles subsequently recorded this piece on their Apple label. Akhmatova Requiem will be performed at London's Barbican on 5 October as part of BBC Total Immersion: John Tavener Remembered Tavener's avant-garde style of the seventies contrasts with the contemplative beauty of his later works, for which he is best known, yet he spirituality and mysticism is still present. Akhmatova Requiem (1980) sets a sequence of poems written during the Stalinist purges of the 1930s by Anna Akhmatova, describing the terror of having her family and friends arrested and imprisoned, and the lines of relatives waiting hopelessly outside Leningrad jail. To her poems, Tavener added prayers from the Russian Orthodox funeral service which are sung on this recording by bass-baritone John Shirley-Quirk. Six Russian Folk Songs (1978) represent, in the composer's words, 'a musical sigh of relief' and a complete contrast to the pain and sorrow of the Requiem; they were written for the Nash Ensemble's 15th anniversary in 1979. Simple settings of folk lyrics, their melodic nature recalls Tchaikovsky's songs.

This recording was previously issued by Carlton Classics in its BBC Radio Classics series.

NMC: NMCD208

Hartmann, K: Simplicius Simplicissimus

Juliane Banse (soprano), Peter Marsch (tenor), Will Hartmann (tenor). Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra & Netherlands Radio Choir, Markus Stenz

This Hybrid SACD recording of Karl Amadeus Hartmann’s unique anti-war opera Simplicius Simplicissimus marks an important step in the continuing reappraisal of his oeuvre, following Challenge Classics’ recent release of all eight symphonies by the 20th century German composer (CC72583). Recorded live at the opera’s Dutch premiere in 2012, Markus Stenz conducts the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, Netherlands Radio Choir and a fine cast of singers led by celebrated soprano Juliane Banse in the title role. Karl Amadeus Hartmann ranks among the leading German composers of the 20th century. A substantial amount of his music, which includes eight symphonies and chamber works, had its origins in one of the darkest eras in world history, the years between 1933 and 1945 when the Nazis were in power. This period, in which Hartmann gradually withdrew from public life, represented a decisive turning point in his creative development. Before that time Hartmann had adopted a neoclassical style, but with no prospect of any performances of his work in sight, he subsequently created a musical language which, besides bearing the influences of Bach, Bruckner and Beethoven, was also highly indebted to those composers whose music the Nazis had banned, such as Mahler, Berg, Stravinsky, Prokofiev and Bartók. He employs this language not only in his symphonies and many of his chamber works, but also in his anti-war opera Simplicius Simplicissimus, based on the 1669 novel Der Abenteuerliche Simplicissimus by Hans Jakob Christoffel von Grimmelshausen. Simplicius Simplicissimus was originally written for voices and chamber orchestra in the mid-1930s and first performed in 1948, but Hartmann went on to score it for full orchestra in 1956. It is the latter version that Stenz chose for this recording.

“Markus Stenz's fine performance – with an oustanding Juliane Banse as the naive shepherd boy, Simplicius... – was recorded in 2012 at one of Netherlands Radio's invaluable Saturday matinees...Stenz and his cast capture [its] raw intensity very truthfully.” The Guardian
“Leading a strong cast, Juliane Banse as the shepherd brilliantly meets the soprano part's technical challenges while evoking the naivety of the idealistic character...[Stenz] proves himself an ideal exponent of conviction and intensity.” BBC Music Magazine

“The cast throughout is an excellent one. In particular, Juliane Banse makes of the title role a 'holy fool' of slowly intensifying awareness, her rich-toned soprano pivoting between song and speech with assurance...Stenz sets alert and attentive playing from the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic: his rendering of the Overture...is the most persuasive yet on disc.” International Record Review

Gramophone Magazine Editor's Choice