The Arts Fuse Newsletter, December 4
The Winter Appeal -- Help Keep the Fuse Lit! Also Dec Short Fuses, A Hot and Heavy Affair with Art House Cinema, Prokofiev Played Right, the Complete Laura Nyro, and Patriotic Art of the Gilded Age
From The Editor's Desk:
For over 16 years, the Arts Fuse has dedicated itself to bold, independent coverage of the arts, supplying critical writing that is provocative, nuanced, and free for everyone. We cover the local and national stories that need to be told — 900 articles this year, ranging from incisive reviews to thoughtful commentaries and interviews. A growing cross section of artists and institutions, locally and internationally, tell me they are deeply grateful for the magazine’s smart, “always lively,” arts coverage, particularly our takes on cultural issues and critiques of TV, visual art, film, music, theater, and dance performances. Thanks so much for your help in making this possible.
It has been an uphill battle. In today’s media landscape, arts journalism is an endangered species. The Baltimore Sun newspaper recently cut its arts section, eliminating features as well as reviews. Today, most major publications are either owned by billionaires and mega corporations or must put their content behind paywalls just to stay afloat. Coverage of arts and culture is obviously not a part of their business plans.
The Arts Fuse is a proud part of the resistance, a cadre of online indie magazines fighting to play a crucial role in keeping arts and culture in Boston and elsewhere thriving. Knowledgeable, fearless writing about the arts articulates their value to society through advocacy, news, and debate. By focusing on critical writing — rather than promotional bunkum — the Arts Fuse has built a loyal following, leading the way in covering the arts and humanities as they weather difficult times now and to come.
I need your tax-deductible help in sustaining the Arts Fuse’s level of commitment to quality arts journalism. We are a vital part of the cultural ecology. Feed the flame by going here and helping us make our $3000 match challenge. Hey, we have mersch (t-shirts) this year!
—Bill Marx, Editor-in-Chief
Archive: From the Editor's Desk
December Short Fuses — Materia Critica
Compiled by Arts Fuse Editor
Each month, our arts critics — music, book, theater, dance, television, film, and visual arts — fire off a few brief reviews.
Locke’s 2024 List of Notable Operatic Recordings and a Few Non-Operatic Ones
By Ralph P. Locke
The opera repertory is so much richer than what gets staged nowadays; some of the most exciting recordings that came my way are of somewhat or entirely forgotten operas from past eras.
Television Review: “Beatles ’64” – When They Were 64
By Ed Symkus
The most recent in an apparently boundless reservoir of Beatles documentaries will “please please” their fans.
Book Review: “My Affair with Art House Cinema” — Still Hot and Heavy
By Gerald Peary
It’s hard to imagine anyone connected with the movie world who is not appreciative of Phillip Lopate for the grace and intelligence and knowledge he has brought to film criticism.
Album Reviews: Dvorak’s "Legends & Rhapsodies" and Stewart Goodyear plays Prokofiev
By Jonathan Blumhofer
Wow. Stewart Goodyear can play Prokofiev. The Czech Philharmonic and Tomás Netopil are compelling advocates, playing Dvořák with plenty of rhythmic zest and tonal warmth.
Album Review: "Hear My Song: The Collection 1966-1995" -- The Complete Laura Nyro
By Jason M. Rubin
You can get away with being familiar with just an album or two, but Laura Nyro’s music always rewards repeated listenings, and following her mercurial career so thoroughly restores her to three-dimensional life.
Visual Arts Review: “The Dance of Life” American Style — Not Renaissance-Ready
By Peter Walsh
The symbolism here can grate loudly against reality. Those panels extolling the creativity and stoic virtues of the American working class clash with the ways workers were actually treated during the Gilded Age.
Help Keep The Arts Fuse Lit!
Precious few independent online arts publications make it to double digits. Please give us the resources the magazine needs to persevere at an essential cultural task.
Keep the Fuse lit and support our 70+ writers by making a donation.
The Arts Fuse also needs underwriting for the magazine to continue to grow.
And…tell your friends about the in-depth arts coverage you can’t get anywhere else.
Questions, comments, concerns?
Editor-in-Chief
Bill Marx
wmarx103@gmail.com
