D'un Journaliste Américain

En février 2002, Michael Finkel, grand reporter au New York Times, est brutalement licencié pour avoir falsifié un article. Par une de ces coïncidences inouïes que la vie réserve à ceux qui ont touché le fond, il apprend qu’un certain Christian Longo, l’un des dix criminels les plus recherchés des États-Unis, a tenté de se faire passer pour lui au terme d’une cavale infernale. Longo vient de massacrer sa famille après que ses mensonges à répétition ont été démasqués par son épouse. Flairant un scoop, Finkel le rencontre et une correspondance s’établit entre eux. …

Déménageant à Lyon avec sa femme et ses enfants, l'écrivain américain s'initie aux secrets de la cuisine française au sein de l'établissement La mère Brazier. Entre reportage et récit d'aventures culinaires, ce texte est riche d'observations et d'anecdotes humoristiques sur l'art de préparer les repas à la française. …[/quote

La vie de Varian Fry, journaliste américain qui organise la fuite de milliers de personnalités et de militants antinazis, pour la plupart juifs, via Marseille, l'Espagne et le Portugal entre 1940 et 1941. En s'appuyant sur des courriers, des rapports déclassifiés et des entretiens, notamment avec sa veuve, l'auteure retrace le parcours et les engagements de cet homme jusqu'à son décès en 1967. …

The classical works of Tan Dun typically fuse compositional elements from the East and the West, but for his soundtrack to Ang Lee's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, musical cultures aren't so much blurred as coexistent side-by-side. While the magical martial arts film doesn't boast music as stunning as its visuals, this soundtrack is still beautiful and elegant, a perfect complement to the movie's mysticism. Just don't expect epic, John Williams-inspired bombast here. On "A Wedding Interrupted," the riveting brass and string section introduction segues into soft-hued meditations; "Night Fight" boasts spiky percussion but sounds more reminiscent of Stomp than a kung-fu scene. That said, Dun's understated score–filled with Asian instrumentation, Romantic cello solos from Yo-Yo Ma, and a token theme song with vocals by Asian pop star CoCo Lee–is still a fascinating listen. Fans of Ma and Dun shouldn't pass this up.

Decca releases the world-premiere recording of this epic choral work, composed and conducted by the OSCAR, Grammy and BAFTA award-winning and UNESCO Global Goodwill Ambassador Tan Dun. The monumental work, involving massed choirs, large orchestra, six percussionists and an array of soloists including indigenous singers, traditional Chinese instruments and a dancing pipa player, is the first such ‘Passion’ on a Buddhist rather than Christian narrative. Set at the foot of the Himalayas and inspired by Chinese and Sanskrit texts, the captivating and life-affirming score fuses the ancient wisdom of Buddhism with the musical tradition of JS Bach’s Passions, featuring hypnotic orchestral textures and Eastern vocal techniques. Recorded at the Shanghai Oriental Art Center Concert Hall in 2029 with Orchestre National de Lyon and International Choir Academy Lübeck, conducted by Tan Dun with eminent Chinese soloists.

Tan Dun's Concerto for String Orchestra and Pipa (1999) is a reworking of one of his most popular works, Ghost Opera, written for and recorded by the Kronos Quartet. In this version, the composer's characteristic polystylism – which here includes Chinese folk song, Copland-esque Big Sky music, quotations from Bach, and vocalizations by the orchestra – comes across as a jumble, without much of a strong vision holding the disparate elements together. Pipa virtuoso Wu Man, who appeared on the Kronos recording, plays the concerto with energy and delicacy. She's ably accompanied by the Moscow Soloists, led by Yuri Bashmet. The concerto is followed by Takemitsu's Nostalghia (1987) for violin and string orchestra. Its compositional assurance, clarity, subtly nuanced orchestration, and emotional directness make it all the more striking in contrast to the Tan Dun. Here Bashmet is the impassioned soloist, with Roman Balashov conducting with great sensitivity. The three brief excerpts from Takemitsu's film scores are a pleasant stylistic diversion – light, strongly differentiated character pieces.

Fire Ritual, the concerto that lends its name to the present disc, was composed with Hemsing in mind. With it Tan Dun has created a musical ceremony for the victims of war, building on four themes: Cruel Wars, Innocent People, Mantras of the Heavenly Birds and Eternity. The concerto was premièred in September 2018 by Hemsing and the Oslo Philharmonic, conducted by the composer. For Eldbjørg Hemsing, Tan Dun has also created the concerto that opens the disc, Rhapsody and Fantasia, based on earlier works. Both works reflect the composer’s memories of growing up barefoot in the countryside, and his later experiences of bringing together the shamanistic and spiritual world of his childhood with the discipline and philosophy of Peking Opera. Or in the composers own words: ‘a reflection of those early memories of my youth, but through the lens of my current musical soundscape’.

Un cours d'anglais pour débutants accompagné d'une application pour smartphone permettant de s'entraîner à l'écrit et à l'oral. …

1944. James, un soldat américain, et trois de ses compatriotes, partis du porte-avions USS Hornet, essuient des rafales de mitrailleuses avant d’être contraints de s’éjecter de leur appareil.
Perdus au milieu d’une jungle hostile, sous un épais brouillard, les quatre hommes sont rapidement capturés par l’armée saïgonnaise. …

Ces quelques lettres écrites par un romancier américain à Paris sont un témoignage remarquable de ce qu'il existait, il y a deux siècles, de véritables gentlemen d'Amérique – et témoignage qui contredit le mot trop fameux et trop souvent répété selon lequel les États-Unis d’Amérique "sont le seul pays passé de la barbarie à la décadence sans jamais avoir connu la civilisation"…