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 Mild almost-winter’s day in New York
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| Central Park lit up for the holidays. 5:45 PM. Photo: JH. |
December 14, 2009. Mild almost-winter’s day in New York with some Sun and temperatures in the high 40s, low 50s.
It’s cocktail reception time in New York now although regrettably I missed three last night. I also missed: David, Viscount Linley, son of Princess Margaret and Lord Snowdon, nephew of the Queen ERII, was in town over at Christie’s signing his new book which is called “Star Pieces; The Enduring Beauty of Spectacular Furniture” (Monacelli Press).
The book, which David Linley did with Charles Cator, a furniture historian and deputy chairman of Christie’s International and Helen Chislett, a writer on interiors and decorative arts (you know who pulled the copy together so succinctly). David Linley, I just learned (late in learning, I’m sure) is also Chairman of Christie’s UK as well as his own bespoke furniture company Linley.
On the face of it, you might think this is a book resulting from having perfect connections. However, it really is a story about the synergy of the arts in today’s world. Men like David Linley are entrepreneurs who are modern businessmen using the ancient guild approach in so many ways.
First of all, the book is a beauty. It’s coffee table sized, 250 pages and exquisitely published. Interiors and furniture are not on the top of my must-read list but I opened it just to take a look and found myself getting steeped in fascinating histories and commentaries about The Golden Ages of Furniture. Furniture is always people, remember; just like you and me. And people are always interesting if you’re the least bit curious about life.
Linley, of course, growing up in and around the Windsor castles and palaces, not to mention his access to other foreign royal establishments, has obvious great interest in the furniture, much of which he no doubt has seen, perhaps even frequently. A chair or table that has been around for two, three, four centuries and is technically still in use, is a wonder in itself. The furniture designed for the rich and the royal down through the ages – from Ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome to Thomas Chippendale, the Court of Catherine the Great, to the 19th and 20th century American such as Shaker, Art Deco and American Studio Furniture – all comes with fascinating history about the times, the psychology, the characters and changing social contracts.
I didn’t get over to Christie’s last night although I’d met and lunched with Linley a few years back, so I have an impression of him anyway. He’s possibly the most successful of the British royals in terms of a profession and a business with a brand. When you meet him you can understand why: he’s focused on something he has a passion for. This book is perfect Christmas/holiday gift for anyone you know who loves interior decorating, design, furniture, political and social history, (or any of the above) as well as someone who just loves taking in the beauty of man’s creations. It’s a winner.
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| Amanda Forsyth and Pinchas Zukerman |
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Last night I went over to the new Alice Tully Hall (new to me, my first time last night) where the American Friends of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra were presenting the orchestra in concert with Pinchas Zukerman conducting as well as playing the violin, with guest artist, Cellist Amanda Forsyth.
In the co-chairmen’s message, Rochelle and David Hirsch and Elaine and James Wolfensohn explain that this year (and the orchestra's 74th season) has been difficult in many ways. Because of the severe economic conditions in Israel, the Orchestra took on a sizeable cut in salary in order to balance their budget. The evening was underwritten by Ingeborg and Ira Leon Rennert.
The Orchestra was founded in 1936 when Jewish musicians from Germany and Eastern Europe were uprooting because of Nazism. A Polish violinist, Bronislaw Huberman was founder. The world was changing and he had a vision that was good for all. A great deal of his time was spent persuading his musical brethren to move to Palestine and create the Philharmonic. Those who did created an “orchestra of soloists.” That was 73 years ago. Today the Orchestra is under the direction of Zubin Mehta.
I had never seen Pinchas Zukerman perform live. A native born Israeli, he has an American kind of charisma – casual, mellow temperament (which may only be the way it looks of course), at ease with himself in public. He plays effortlessly, or so it appears. He looks like the kind of guy you’d see on the golf links enjoying the day, rather than playing the violin. Perhaps he does both.
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| Pinchas Zukerman last night at Alice Tully Hall for the American Friends of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra's 2009 gala. |
Last night he played Concerto for Violin in C major, Hob. Vlla:1 by Franz Joseph Haydn along with the Orchestra. Then he conducted Haydn’s Symphony No 83 in G Minor (“The Hen”). Then came Cellist Amanda Forsyth who, like her musical partner Mr. Zukerman, also doesn’t look “the part” of a symphony cellist.
Platinum blonde, all glam in a backless scarlet chiffon gown with plunging décolleté, there is more than a touch of Southern California to her presence. (She’s a South African native although she has since lived in L.A.) However, bearing aside, she too played brilliantly and passionately, viz., Max Bruch’s Canzone for Cello and Orchestra in B-flat major, Op. 55 and Adagio on Celtic Melodies for Cello and Orchestra, Op. 56. I learned after the concert that Ms. Forsyth is also Mrs. Zukerman.
After Ms. Forsyth’s performance, Mr. Zukerman conducted the Orchestra in the Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture by Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. Tchaikovsky, whose music always has a stirring effect for me, often conjures up Russian winters (as I imagine them). Something I doubt we will see anything resembling here in New York this winter.
A great evening at Alice Tully. There was a large contingent of 20- and 30-somethings in the audience, which is impressive, at least to Orchestra managers and musicians. In fact, co-chairs for that group were none other than JH himself along with his brother Jason Hirsch, Jillian Merns and Brooke Milstein. |
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| Rochelle Hirsch, Brian Stewart, Shulamit Katzman, and Netta Nathaniel |
Stephanie Krieger and Margo Langenberg |
| Danielle Rossi and Michel Witmer |
Brian and Harlan Saroken |
| Sara Karp, Jill Crawford, Christine Storey, and Brooke Milstein |
Gillian and Sylvester Miniter |
| Jennifer Korwin, Judy Bassaly, and Ari Ackerman |
Deborah Colson and Mark Diker |
| Naomi and Elaine Wolfensohn |
Yvonne Cohen and Raquel Ramati |
Jessie and Ben Harris |
| Stefanie Hirsch and Claire Distenfeld |
Ron and Joanna Nardini |
| Ron and Harriet Weintraub with Dr. Ruth |
Jillian and Olivia Merns |
| Paul and Lean Raps with Dr. Ruth |
Jason Schwalbe and Stefanie Hirsch |
| Lisa and David Klein |
Whitney Skibell, Jennifer Mahl, Michele Mahl, and Jason Hirsch |
| Rosalia and Matthew Schmelzer with Leora Singer |
Lillian Vernon with her son David Hochberg |
The holiday cards have begun pouring in and although I don’t send one out, I love seeing them. Mainly they are pictures of families and pets. Many of them amuse me. Some of them make me laugh. Some of them have given me the opportunity to watch people grow from infants to grown-ups, which is mind-blowing and fascinating. Sometimes it’s a kid’s personality that comes through, or a face in repose that is affecting. Others are so beautiful that I’m almost speechless.
One particular card I received yesterday was of two very beautiful children – a little boy, probably no more than three, if that, and an infant girl, lying with her tiny head on the lap of her brother. It was the closest thing to a photographer’s version of a Sargent. I didn’t know the children but when I looked I learned that they were the grandchildren of a friend of mine -- whose holiday cards used to include the son/boy/now father of these beautiful little ones.
Opening the cards put me in a reverie about this time of year. Having been brought up a “Christian,” like so many of us Americans North and South, Christmas has always been grand finale of a day that marked the beginning of the end and the beginning of the beginning, all tied up in religious legend and symbolism.
Christmas for me, and for many others I am certain, was also laden with all kinds of emotional gravity. Christmas is different for each family that celebrates it, because of its emotional markings. I know the children in the card I described will be exposed to Christmas but will not have taken hold yet. I’m sure there will be a feast of some sort somewhere, and very possibly a Caribbean trip following the Big Day. I make these assumptions because I know the grandmother and the son and I know that they share the disposition of enjoying themselves and making sure those around them do too.
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| Last week's NYSD HOUSE ran a photo by JH of designer Benjamin Bradley's Christmas tree. I took myself back to my childhood and what that tree represented and how it would have looked to this child. A magnificent thing of wonder including all good things for the children when Santa Claus came to town. For many children this is a fresh and needed respite from the adults' problems over which the children have no understanding, let alone control. The tree dispels all that for a glorious, albeit brief, moment. |
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Among the cards in the mail are a lot of solicitations for funds. For the hungry. For the Children. For the hungry Children. For the animals, the thrown-away pets, the abused helpless pets, the sad pets. It’s not what I want to see but it’s as affecting as the photos of angelic children. Although it’s close to fifty-fifty. I’m one of those who thinks all children are potentially angelic.
This year has been a very difficult year for more people than we’d like to think. And more than we think we know. When the cash is drained, the troubles triple and treble. I know because that's was how I grew up.
My parents were young adults in the Great Depression. They had very little and had to work all the time to get what was needed. My father was also always in a cash crisis for reasons to lengthy to go into here. Cash crises create a variety of crises for us that extend far beyond having two dimes to rub together.
Fortunately I had a mother able and strong enough to go out and do whatever she had to do, work wherever she had to work, to put food before us and keep a roof over our heads, and warm, clean clothes on our back. These are the Big Deal in the lives of many people. In retrospect what my mother accomplished was quite a feat. Although at the time I took it for granted in terms of depending on her.
Christmas. For some reason, some of the men in the family – my father, an uncle, a brother-in-law tended to be in dark moods as the holidays drew closer; and when the Big Day came, their “bad moods” were in full flourish if not fine fettle. Why this is/was, I am not sure. Big Babies getting away with it with the women, essentially. It’s commonplace, and most pronounced in many homes at this time of the year. It’s the children and the animals who suffer and whom we must take care for. For them and for ourselves.
I mention all this because the issues at hand always seemed to come to a head at this time of year. Circumstances are often financial -- and we are now living in a world where the financial circumstances are staring down communities and neighbors everywhere.
Despite the difficulties and the tension of the holidays in my childhood home, I was saved by three women – my mother, my eldest sister who was almost old enough to be my mother, and an aunt who was memorably affectionate as well as generous to the little boy. However, thanks to the disposition of my mother and father’s relationship and their financial underpinnings (or lack thereof), I was exposed to the very real threat or a very real meltdown. And that “threat” hovered over and often drove the holidays.
It was so great that by the time this kid was a teenager, I had resolved that when I grew up, I would never have an unhappy Christmas holiday. And I never have, no matter the circumstances. The joy that comes from just seeing those beautiful children and those beautiful pets who nourish and nurture us with their love, is enough to justify glad tidings for all.
Sharing. If I’m without family on this holiday, as I often have been in my adult life, I get together with someone or some friends. At this age there are no gifts but maybe a good meal or some champagne or caviar, finished off with lots of good books to read.
Sharing. Looking through the solicitations arriving with the cards of children and/or families, I can see a small contribution to each one will help build a bigger one.
Children don’t need much in terms of the material/consumer items. They do need that good warm meal and something new and fresh that they can begin to make a world of their own with.
This is a year to really think about the children – those around you and those you don’t and won’t ever know. The little citizens; our future. And the animals whom we have chosen and who need us. This is all Christmas really is. |
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