David Blum

President Barack Obama

Casals and the Art of Interpretation

The author follows a group of entrepreneurs as they try to succeed in the restaurant business.

FLASH IN THE PAN: LIFE AND DEATH OF AN AMERICAN RESTAURANT

Nikki Finke

Guarneri Quartet

These intelligent conversations will be greeted enthusiastically not only by string players and serious musicians but also by advanced listeners. A musicologist and conductor, Blum knows from experience what crucial questions to ask about the medium and its practice. The members of the Guarneri Quartet discuss their backgrounds, training, cooperative efforts, problems with specific repertoire, and reactions to composers and conductors, as well as such detailed matters as bowing, intonation, vibrato, pizzicato, dynamics and the use of the left hand. Enhanced by hundreds of music examples and a detailed analysis of Beethoven's Opus 131, this is arguably the best book on the subject and one of the most important books on music issued in recent years. Performing Arts Book Club selection.

The Guarneri Quartet in Conversation with David Blum

The Art of Quartet Playing

How do four instrumentalists with strong individual tastes and temperaments manage to forge a distinctive approach to the music they play? This extraordinary book ushers readers into the workshop of one of the world's most accomplished string quartets. In rich and probing conversations with their longtime friend and musicologist and conductor David Blum, the members of the Guarneri String Quartet, both individually as a group, tell what it is like to play together.

Yong Kim

Detlev Boison

Insights in Brain Disease Mechanisms: 2021

Jo Lendle

Peter Bürger

Susan Kreller

Keith Waldrop

Ann Cotten

Sabine Scholl

Ineke Phaf-Rheinberger

Jessica Lind

Bettina Hesse

Sascha Macht

Sónia Gomes

José Luís Mendonça

Theresa Pleitner

Paul-Henri Campbell

Barbara Maria Kloos

Literaturmagazin

Poet Nr. 21

"This is an immensely valuable book and one which is clearly designed to appeal to all musicians—not just string players...Mr. Blum has captured in great detail the little things that so often make a great teacher. I would strongly recommend this book to anyone with an interest in the Art of Interpretation."—Music Teacher "The volume belongs to an exceptional class of literature: it is to be welcomed as a significant contribution. In his Forward, Antony Hopkins in a most eloquent way makes us fully aware of our possible great loss had the subject material forming this book not been preserved for posterity...throughout the book one remains not only an absorbed reader, but very much an active participant."—Violoncello Society Newsletter "Now we have an authoritative guide to this great artist's approach to interpretation...a book which should be compulsory reading for every player, conductor and teacher."—Music Journal of the Incorporated Society of Musicians "Blum has elegantly combined precise music terminology with meticulous music examples to present lucid and revealing details of interpretation that can be quickly and easily grasped. Only superlatives apply to this book, and all serious musicians would find immense pleasure and musical profit from reading this work. Highly recommended at all levels."—Choice

Studienarbeit aus dem Jahr 2008 im Fachbereich Germanistik - Komparatistik, Vergleichende Literaturwissenschaft, Note: 1,0, Universitat Leipzig, Veranstaltung: Vorlesung: Literatur und Bildlichkeit, 24 Quellen im Literaturverzeichnis, Sprache: Deutsch, Abstract: "Die Fotografie ist das grosste Ungluck des zwanzigsten Jahrhunderts" schreibt ThomasBernhard in seinem letzten grossen Prosastuck Ausloschung. Ein Zerfall, welches sozusagen eine Quintessenz seines Schaffens darstellt. Wie kommt einer der bekanntesten und einflussreichsten Schriftsteller Osterreichs dazu, eine solche Erkenntnis in seinem "bedingungslose n] Geschenk an die Weltliteratur" zu aussern? Woher dieser Hass auf die Fotografie? Wenn im Folgenden versucht wird, die Funktion und Bedeutung der fotografischen Bilder in Bernhards autobiografischem Roman zu ergrunden, so werden wir uns zweifelsfrei auch an die Antworten auf diese Fragen herantasten, auch wenn wir sie nicht in den Vordergrund der Betrachtungen rucken. Die Funktion der Fotos darzulegen erschien mir im ersten Moment auf eine rein technische Betrachtung oder vielmehr auf die Aspekte ihrer literarischen Einbettung hinauszulaufen. Es stellte sich jedoch heraus, dass in der Ausloschung die Fotografie nicht vom Inhalt zu losen ist, der prufende Blick muss und wird immer beides einfangen. Die Triebfeder dieser Herangehensweise ist schon im Wesen der Lichtbildnerei zu suchen, denn diese ist nie von ihrem Sujet zu trennen, da jedes einzelne Foto sich fast ausschliesslich uber seinen Inhalt definiert. Aufgrund dessen erwies es sich als notwendig, zunachst einmal die Einstellung Thomas Bernhards zu seinem Heimatland Osterreich festzuhalten (2.1.1.1), da sie eine entscheidende Rolle in seinem Werk spielt und ihre Schatten uber die drei erwahnten Schnappschusse wirft. Dass Thomas Bernhard zudem mit seiner Hauptfigur Franz-Josef Murau einen inneren Erzahler, der wiederum die Ausloschung schreibt, installiert, darf bei der Analyse nicht unberucksichti

Die Fotografien in Thomas Bernhards "Auslöschung. Ein Zerfall"

“Finally back in print, Flash in the Pan is the original—and still the best—reportage on the life and death of an American restaurant, a ground level view of every phase of its life. From the early, hope filled planning stages to the last, humiliating moments, it's a tragi-comic epic of hubris and human folly. Painfully hilarious and even more painfully true. This is a welcome reissue of a restaurant classic that should be read by every culinary and food service student in America and sit comfortably next to Orwell's Down and Out on every shelf.” —Anthony Bourdain, author of Kitchen Confidential In 1990, journalist David Blum got backstage access to the life and death of The Falls, a downtown Manhattan restaurant that captured the 1980s in all its extravagant excess. Its owners—a tanned, Brahmin barkeep and a handsome Irish firefighter from Queens—partnered with movie star pal Matt Dillon to cater to New York's most glamorous models, actors, and writers. Flash in the Pan captured in hilarious detail the quick decline and disastrous fall of The Falls, and has become a classic cautionary tale for anyone who might harbor the fantasy of opening a restaurant. David Blum is the editor of Kindle Singles, the storefront for high quality longform writing on Kindle. He was previously the editor in chief of The Village Voice and has written for New York magazine, Esquire, Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, and The New York Times Magazine. Flash in the Pan, first published in 1992, was his first book.

Life and Death of an American Restaurant

Flash in the Pan

David Blum

Books

Your next favorite book is out there