In light of Handel’s own connections with Oxford University in the early 1730s and the ensuing performance tradition of his works that was quickly established there, it is ironic that Cambridge have possessed the more vibrant Handelian tradition in subsequent generations (it also boasts the superior collection of Handel musical sources thanks to the Fitzwilliam Museum). Indeed, Cambridge has been central to the promotion of Handel’s oratorios as great drama: the great Handel scholar Winton Dean was converted to the cause during his participation in a staging of Saul while an undergraduate there. More latterly Cambridge has also played a valuable part in the revival of Handel’s operas, has been the foremost academic hothouse for producing the finest English freelance choral singers and soloists, and has played a crucial role in the development in the period instrument movement (The latter-day Academy of Ancient Music is still based in the town).
Clara Schumann's presence in the history of European music has become firmly fixed in recent years: the many new biographies, editions, recordings and performances of her compositions testimony to her significance and influence. Her songs, not as well known as her works for piano, are among the treasures of her creative work and can take their place with the best of the German Lieder repertoire.
The 1969 double album Live/Dead holds a special place in the Deadhead universe; indeed, many band members and their inner circle consider it to be the band’s best overall collection as well. This expanded, three-CD edition is culled from the same February/March ’69 shows at the Dead’s de facto live home, San Francisco’s Fillmore West. What’s documented here are not only some of the greatest performances of the band’s early era, but the still-evolving template for much of the band’s later flights of improvisation. The first, blues-dominated disc pays tribute to a band that a couple years earlier had been but an ambitious bar covers ban! d, while the second chronicles the Dead’s expansive "Dark Star/St. Stephen/The Eleven" triptych wed to a cover of the Rev. Gary Davis’ "Death Don’t Have No Mercy," 2/28/69 performances that turn on the freeform interplay that would become their trademark for decades to follow.
As one of the biggest new stars to emerge during the mid-'80s, singer Gloria Estefan predated the coming Latin pop explosion by a decade, scoring a series of propulsive dance hits rooted in the rhythms of her native Cuba before shifting her focus to softer, more ballad-oriented fare. Born Gloria Fajardo in Havana on September 1, 1957, she was raised primarily in Miami, Florida, after her father, a bodyguard in the employ of Cuban president Fulgencio Batista, was forced to flee the island following the 1959 coup helmed by Fidel Castro.
One man bears witness to the secret history of America during the Cold War in this drama directed by celebrated actor Robert De Niro. In 1939, Edward Wilson (Matt Damon) is a young man with a bright future ahead of him – he's a top student at Yale and the protege of one of the school's leading English professors, Dr. Fredericks (Michael Gambon). But Wilson's life changes dramatically when he's invited to join Yale's powerful secret society, Skull and Bones. Through his Skull and Bones connections, Wilson meets Sam Murach (Alec Baldwin), an mysterious FBI agent who asks Wilson to investigate charges that Fredericks is a Nazi sympathizer working with the German government. Later, at a Skull and Bones party, Wilson is introduced to Clover Russell (Angelina Jolie), the sister of one of his classmates and the daughter of a powerful politician; their one-night stand leaves Clover pregnant, and Wilson must leave the woman he loves, Laura (Tammy Blanchard), to wed Clover and give their child a name. Shortly after their wedding, thanks to his work with Murach, Wilson is invited to join the Office of Strategic Services, a military intelligence organization organized by Bill Sullivan (Robert De Niro), and Wilson accepts.