Bob Edwards Weekend Highlights – October 17-18, 2009
HOUR ONE
As one reviewer put it, “If you think classical music is boring, you haven’t met Michael Tilson Thomas.” Thomas is doing for classical music today what Leonard Bernstein’s Young People’s Concerts did in the 1950s and 60s. Thomas is music director of the San Francisco Symphony and the host of the PBS program, Keeping Score. The program was created in 2006 to make a general audience “more comfortable” with classical music not only through the music itself, but by giving life to the men who created the music. This October, three new episodes are scheduled highlighting Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5, Charles Ives’s Holiday Symphony, and Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique.
In this week’s installment of our ongoing series This I Believe, Bob talks with executive director Dan Gediman about the essay from critic, journalist, novelist and feminist Rebecca West. She is known for her studies of the Nazi war crimes trials at Nuremburg, for which President Harry Truman called her “the world’s best reporter.” In 1959, West was made a Dame Commander of the British Empire, the female equivalent of an honorary knighthood.
HOUR TWO
Writer Nick Hornby has made a career of writing about the aging issues facing many contemporary men, in his best-selling novels High Fidelity and About A Boy. His latest book, Juliet, Naked, tells the story of a music fan named Duncan, who discovers an unplugged version of one of his favorite albums. In his effort to connect with the record’s now-washed-up creator, Duncan discovers that his girlfriend already has found him, and formed an unlikely friendship with the musician.
Danish director Lone Scherfig is best known for her 2000 film Italian For Beginners. Her most recent film, An Education, is based on a memoir by English journalist Lynn Barber and adapted for screen by writer Nick Hornby. This young English girl’s coming-of-age tale won the Audience Choice and Cinematography awards at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival.
10 years after his first album, Nashville favorite Paul Burch continues to write honky tonk music that even the most staid of Yankees can’t help but enjoy. His latest album “Still Your Man” showcases new music from this musician who counts Marianne Faithful and Chet Atkins among his fans.