Word: grimaud
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...mature musician. Yehudi Menuhin and Ruggiero Ricci are two who never crossed this chasm successfully, and only time will tell with the upcoming generation. Joshua Bell and Julian Rachlin struggle to get recognition, Sarah Chang remains largely untested outside of choreographable showpiece repertoire, and how much longer Helene Grimaud and Evgeny Kissin shall wax incandescent remains to be seen. I will be the first to laud Midori for her accomplishments in the virtuoso repertoire, especially with Paganini, but I find the mystical element "X" which differentiates between proficiency and artistry missing in just about everything else...
DIED. Bram Van Velde, 86, melancholic Dutch-born abstract expressionist painter; in Grimaud, France. Van Velde's life before World War II was almost a prototype of the lot of the unrecognized artist: hunger, despair and an unending search for patrons. After the war, he attracted supporters who saw in his work a sense of the absurd that reflected the existentialist experience. Commented Playwright Samuel Beckett: "He confronts without restriction and complacency the anguishes of our time...
Spoerry notes happily that the authentic 18th century Provencal roof tiles he has collected attract moss rather nicely. There are no TV antennas to mar the roof lines: all TV, telephone and electrical wiring is underground. Port Grimaud has a hotel, restaurants, cafes and shops, but no nightclubs (one zips across to St. Tropez, two miles away). Cars are allowed only when residents are moving in or out, and there are no neon signs. Silent electric boats get residents around the canals...
...carlessness and the quiet appeal to all of Port Grimaud's regulars. Actor Jacques Charrier, Brigitte Bardot's ex-husband and one of the Port's celebrity set, says that "I've tried every kind of holiday in the south of France. I've rented the most luxurious villas. You end up every time driving your children back and forth between the house and the beach. You spend half your vacation in your car." Still, it is the proximity to boats that truly delights. As one man puts it: "I jump...
Naval Architect Claude Graf wanted to change houses at Port Grimaud, but refused to sell his old one until he got an offer from a sailboat owner. Why did Graf choose Port Grimaud in the first place? "When it comes to requiring special attention, boats are worse than babies. And in bad weather it's practical to have them so close at hand." Fortunately for the sanity of those who are not all that crazy about boats, there are exceptions to the nautical mystique. Annette Englebert (of the Belgian tire family) owns a villa ten miles up into...