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Zweikanalton ("two channel sound", A2 Stereo) is a television sound transmission system used in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and other countries that use or used PAL-B or PAL-G. It relies on two separate FM carriers.

This offers a relatively high separation between the channels (compared to a subcarrier-based multiplexing system) and can thus be used for bilingual broadcasts as well as stereo. Unlike the competing NICAM standard, Zweikanalton is an analog system.

How It Works[link]

A 2nd FM sound carrier containing the right channel for stereo is transmitted at a frequency 242 kHz higher than the existing mono FM sound carrier, and channel mixing is used in the receiver to derive the left channel.

The second sound carrier also contains a 54.6875 kHz pilot tone to indicate whether the transmission is stereo or bilingual.

The pilot tone is 50% AM modulated with 117.5 Hz for stereo or 274.1 Hz for bilingual.

Zweikanalton can be adapted to any existing analogue television system, and modern PAL or SECAM television receivers generally include a sound detector IC that can decode both Zweikanalton and NICAM.

Zweikanalton can carry either a completely separate audio program, or can be used for stereo sound transmission. In the latter case, the first FM carrier carries (L+R)/2 for compatibility, while the second carrier carries R (not L-R.) After combining the two channels, this method improves the signal-to-noise ratio by reducing the correlated noise between the channels.

The frequencies are chosen such that they cause minimal interference to the picture. The difference between the two sound carriers is 15.5 times the line frequency (15.5 x 15625Hz = 242187.5 Hz) which, being an odd multiple of half line frequency, reduces the visibility of intermodulation products between the two carriers. The pilot tone frequency is 3.5 times line frequency (54687.5 Hz). The modulated tone frequency is 117.50 Hz for stereo transmission and 274.1 Hz for bilingual transmission. Absence of this tone is interpreted as a monaural transmission.

System M variant[link]

There is a version of A2 used in Korea, compatible with the System M standard of TV transmission. In this case the second FM carrier is 14.25 times the line frequency, or about 224 kHz, above the first carrier; pre-emphasis is 75 microseconds; the stereo pilot tone frequency is 149.9 Hz; the bilingual pilot tone frequency is 276 Hz; and the second channel carries L-R (not R).

Other names[link]

Zweikanalton is known by a variety of names worldwide. Most commonly used names are Zweiton, German Stereo, A2 Stereo, West German Stereo and IGR Stereo.

Related topics[link]

• Multichannel television sound (3 additional audio channels in an NTSC-format audio carrier.)
• NICAM

Pavel Vladimirovich Klushantsev (Russian: Па́вел Влади́мирович Клуша́нцев; 25 February 1910, Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire – 17 April 1999, Saint Petersburg, Russia) was a Russian film director, producer, screenwriter and author who worked during the Soviet Era. A self-taught special effects engineer, far ahead of his time, Klushantsev devised many effects and techniques used by major motion pictures for decades to come.

Klushantsev graduated from the Leningrad Fototechnikum in 1930 and worked four years for Belgoskino (National Belarus Cinema) as a cinematographer. In 1934, he began working at Lenfilm / Lennauchfilm (4 Melnichnaya Street, St. Petersburg), where he became a director and producer, primarily making science educational films including his visionary film – Road to the Stars. Prior to this film, Klushantsev's films were strictly factual, but here, the film builds on fact and extends it. The film becomes a hybrid documentary blending science with fiction edging firmly into science fiction. This film's special effects – the scientific accuracy of depicting weightlessness, construction in earth orbit, a rotating space station, and rocket travel to the moon – were the cutting edge visual effects of their time.

Planet of the Storms (Planeta Bur), Klushantsev's only feature film, was released in 1962. For this film, Klushantsev is especially noted for his meticulous design and creation of "John the Robot" – with over 42 points of articulation on its major body joints – one of the most technically complex robot costumes of its time. The film was subsequently expanded and re-edited by Roger Corman for American distribution – as Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet (1965) by Curtis Harrington and as Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women (1968) by Peter Bogdanovich. In both these versions, the original scenes drew acclaim.

Subsequent to Planet of the Storms, Klushantsev fell into disfavor in Soviet Russia and returned to making more science-based film shorts. He also authored popular books related to space, including K Drugim Planetam! [To Other Planets] (1959), Stantsiia "Luna" [Station "Moon"] (1965), and All About the Telescope (1980).

Klushantsev's works are featured among Russian Fantastika.

An English language documentary on Klushantsev's life and achievements, The Star Dreamer, was released in 2002 by Danish Vesterholt Film and TV.

Filmography[link]

• 1935. Seven Barriers (Семь барьеров)
• 1937. Intrepidity (Неустрашимые)
• 1946. Northern Lights (Полярное сияние)
• 1946. Meteors / Meteoroid (Метеориты / Meteory) (10 minutes)
• 1951. Universe / Kosmos (Вселенная / Vselennaya)
• 1957. Road to the Stars (Дорога к звёздам / Doroga k Zvezdam) (58 minutes)
• 1962. Planet of the Storms (Планета бурь / Planeta Bur) (78 minutes)
• 1965. Moon (Луна / Luna)
• 1968. Mars (Марс)
• 1970. I See the Earth (Вижу Землю) (16 minutes)

Awards[link]

• Universe: Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (KVIFF VII), 1952. Diploma IV, International Film Festival, Paris, 1952.
• Road to the Stars: All-Union Film Festival (VKF I), Moscow, 1958. International Cinema Festival (ICF) Technical and Scientific Films, Belgrade, 1958.
• Moon: Gold Seal, Trieste IV ICF Fantastic Movies, 1966.
• Honored Artist of Russia, 1970.

Bibliography[link]

• Lynn Barker & Robert Skotak: Klushantsev: Russia's Wizard of Fantastika (pt. 1). American Cinematographer, Vol. 75, No. 6, June 1994, pgs 78-83.
• Lynn Barker & Robert Skotak: Klushantsev: Russia's Wizard of Fantastika (pt. 2). American Cinematographer, Vol. 75, No. 7, July 1994, pgs 77-82.
• Evgeni Kharitonov & Andrei Shcherbak-Zhukov. Na ekrane-Chudo: Otechestvennaya kinofantastika i kinoskazka [The Wonder on the Screen: National Fantastic, SF, and Fairy Tale Films]. Moscow: NII Kinoiskusstva, V. Sekachev, 2003.
• Lars Movin: Road to the Stars [New Release / Star Dreamer]. Film [Danish Film Institute] #25, November 2002, pgs 6-7.

• Klushanstsev: K Drugim Planetam! [To Other Planets] (Detgiz [Leningrad], 1959)
• Klushanstsev: Stantsiia "Luna" [Station "Moon"] (Izd-vo "Detskaia literatura" [Leningrad], 1965)
• Klushanstsev: All About the Telescope (Progress Publishers [Moscow], 1980)

See also[link]

• Cinema of the Soviet Union
• Science fiction cinema

External links[link]

• Pavel Klushantsev at the Internet Movie Database
• Doroga K Zvezdam (Road to the Stars) BFI Synopses
• Lennauchfilm Brief history citing Klushantsev's work.
• Meteors (Метеориты) 1946 film posted on YouTube.
• Отзовитесь, марсиане! Web reproduction of the book's content, in Russian.
• Planet of the Storms (Lenfilm) Film description and photos.
• Road to the Stars (New Release / Star Dreamer) PDF of Film article cited above.
• Road to the Stars Analysis of the 1958 film; image comparison to Kubrick's 2001.
• Stantsiia "Luna" (Station "Moon") Reproduction of the book's content, in Russian.
• The Star Dreamer Danish Film Institute, photos
• The Star Dreamer Variety review by Dennis Harvey.
• Pavel Klushantsev Biographical information, online videos of three films. Russian language.

Paul McGillion
Paul McGillion in Phoenix, Arizona in May 2011.
Born	(1969-01-05) January 5, 1969 (age 43) Paisley, Scotland
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1990–present
Website
http://www.paulmcgillion.com/

Paul McGillion (born January 5, 1969) is a Vancouver-based actor who has worked in television, film and theatre since 1990. He is best known for his role on the television series Stargate Atlantis as Dr. Carson Beckett.

Early life[link]

McGillion was born in Paisley, Scotland. His family moved to Canada when he was only 2. When Paul was 11 the family moved back to Scotland for three years while his father worked on the Shetland oil rigs. He is the sixth of seven children.^{[citation needed]}

Acting career[link]

He taught scene study at the Vancouver Film School in 1998 and 1999. In 2004, McGillion took a role on the science fiction series Stargate Atlantis as the Scottish medical doctor, Carson Beckett. He was initially cast as a recurring guest, but his character appeared so frequently in the show's first season that he was promoted to main character for seasons two and three, and reverts back to a recurring character for seasons 4 and 5 where he appears as the clone of the now-deceased Beckett. McGillion also played the part of young Ernest Littlefield in Stargate SG-1's first season episode "The Torment of Tantalus", the first Tau'ri to have passed through the Stargate after its burial.

He expressed great interest in auditioning for the role of Montgomery Scott in the eleventh Star Trek film. “I grew up watching Star Trek and Scotty was my favourite character. It would be a great honour to follow in James Doohan’s footsteps," he said. McGillion also had the endorsement of Chris Doohan, the son of original Scotty actor James Doohan, to play the role of Scotty in the film.^[1][2] Though the part ultimately went to Simon Pegg, McGillion still appeared in the film in a different role.^[3]

He appeared in Season 7 of 24 as Dr. Levinson, a doctor who tried to extract a dangerous pathogen from Jack Bauer's bloodstream after all the canisters containing pathogen had either been destroyed or secured by FBI, but died when Bauer was being moved to another location and Bauer broke free, killing Levinson and his orderlies.

Filmography[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Paul McGillion

• Paul McGillion's Official Site
• Paul McGillion at the Internet Movie Database
• Paul McGillion Interview^{[dead link]} www.sci-fi-online.com interview.
• Paul McGillion Interview at GateWorld GateWorld interview.

• Paul McGillion on Stargate Wiki
• Paul McGillion on Sanctuary Wiki, an external wiki

Photographed by Carl Van Vechten, 1937

Arthur Rubinstein (January 28, 1887 – December 20, 1982) was a Polish-American classical pianist who received international acclaim for his performances of the music written by a variety of composers; many regard him as the greatest Chopin interpreter of his time.^[1][2] He is widely considered one of the greatest classical pianists of the twentieth century.^[1]

Early life[link]

Rubinstein grew-up on Piotrkowska street, Łódź, Poland

Rubinstein was born in Łódź, Congress Poland (part of the Russian Empire for the entire time Rubinstein resided there) on January 28, 1887, to a family of assimilated Jews. He was the youngest of eight children,^[3] and his father was a wealthy factory owner.^[4]

Rubinstein's birth name was Artur Rubinstein, although in English-speaking countries, he preferred to be known as Arthur Rubinstein. However, his United States impresario Sol Hurok insisted he be billed as Artur, and records were released in the West under both versions of his name.^[5]

At the age of two, Rubinstein demonstrated perfect pitch and a fascination with the piano, watching his elder sister's piano lessons. By the age of four, he was recognised as a child prodigy. Rubinstein first studied piano in Warsaw. His early piano training came from Karl Heinrich Barth.

As a student of Barth, Rubinstein inherited a renowned pedagogical lineage: Barth was himself a pupil of Liszt, who had been taught by Czerny, who had in turn been a pupil of Beethoven. The Hungarian violinist Joseph Joachim, on hearing the four-year-old child play, was greatly impressed, and began to mentor the young prodigy. In 1894, at the age of 7, Rubinstein had his first public performance.^[6]

At the age of ten, Rubinstein moved to Berlin to continue his studies, and made his debut with the Berlin Philharmonic in 1900, at the age of 13.^[1]

Career[link]

In 1904, Rubinstein moved to Paris to launch his career in earnest, where he met the composers Maurice Ravel and Paul Dukas and the violinist Jacques Thibaud. He also played Camille Saint-Saëns' Piano Concerto No. 2 in the presence of the composer. Through the family of Juliusz Wertheim (to whose understanding of Chopin's genius Rubinstein attributed his own inspiration in the works of that composer) he formed friendships with the violinist Paul Kochanski and composer Karol Szymanowski.^[7]

Rubinstein in 1906

Rubinstein made his New York debut at Carnegie Hall in 1906, and thereafter toured the United States, Austria, Italy, and Russia. According to his own testimony and that of his son in François Reichenbach's film L'Amour de la vie (1969), he was not well-received in the United States. By 1908, Rubinstein, destitute and desperate, hounded by creditors, and threatened with being evicted from his Berlin hotel room, made a failed attempt to hang himself. Subsequently he said that he felt "reborn" and endowed with an unconditional love of life. In 1912, he made his London debut, and found a home there in the Edith Grove, Chelsea, musical salon of Paul and Muriel Draper, in company with Kochanski, Igor Stravinsky, Jacques Thibaud, Pablo Casals, Pierre Monteux and others.^[7]

During World War I, Rubinstein stayed in London, giving recitals and accompanying the violinist Eugène Ysaÿe. In 1916 and 1917, he made his first tours in Spain and South America where he was wildly acclaimed. It was during those tours that he developed a lifelong enthusiasm for the music of Enrique Granados, Isaac Albéniz, Manuel de Falla, and Heitor Villa-Lobos. He was the dedicatee of Villa-Lobos's Rudepoêma and Stravinsky's Trois mouvements de Petrouchka.

Rubinstein was disgusted by Germany's conduct during the war, and never played there again. His last performance in Germany was in 1914.^[7]

In the fall of 1919 Rubinstein toured the English Provinces with soprano Emma Calvé and tenor Vladimir Rosing.^[8]

In 1921 Rubinstein gave two American tours, travelling to New York with Karol Szymanowski and his close friend Paul Kochanski, who died in 1934. The autumn voyage was the occasion of Kochanski's permanent migration to the USA.^[7]

In 1932, the pianist, who stated he neglected his technique in his early years, relying instead on natural talent, withdrew from concert life for several months of intensive study and practice.

During World War II, Rubinstein's career became centered in the United States. He became a naturalized United States citizen in 1946.

A cast of the pianist's hands, at the Łódź museum

Although best known as a recitalist and concerto soloist, Rubinstein was also considered an outstanding chamber musician, partnering with such luminaries as Henryk Szeryng, Jascha Heifetz, Pablo Casals, Gregor Piatigorsky, and the Guarneri Quartet. Rubinstein recorded much of the core piano repertoire, particularly that of the Romantic composers. At the time of his death, the New York Times in describing him wrote, "Chopin was his specialty . . . it was [as] a Chopinist that he was considered by many without peer".^[1] With the exception of the Études, he recorded most of the works of Chopin. ^[9] He was one of the earliest champions of the Spanish and South American composers and of French composers who, in the early twentieth century, were still considered "modern" such as Debussy and Ravel. In addition, Rubinstein was the first champion of the music of his compatriot Karol Szymanowski. Rubinstein, in conversation with Alexander Scriabin, named Brahms as his favorite composer, a response that enraged Scriabin.^[10]

Rubinstein, who was fluent in eight languages,^[11] held much of the repertoire, not simply that of the piano, in his formidable memory.^[11] According to his memoirs, he learned César Franck’s Symphonic Variations while on a train en route to the concert, without the benefit of a piano, practicing passages in his lap. Rubinstein described his memory as photographic, to the extent that he would visualize an errant coffee stain while recalling a score.^[12]

Rubinstein also had exceptionally developed aural abilities, which allowed him to play whole symphonies in his mind. "At breakfast, I might pass a Brahms symphony in my head" he said. "Then I am called to the phone, and half an hour later I find it's been going on all the time and I'm in the third movement." This ability was often tested by Rubinstein's friends, who would randomly pick extracts from opera and symphonic scores and ask him to play them from memory.^[1]

By the mid-1970s, Rubinstein's eyesight had begun to deteriorate. He retired from the stage at age eighty-nine in May 1976, giving his last concert at London's Wigmore Hall, where he had first played nearly seventy years before.

Personal life[link]

Rubinstein in 1963

Family[link]

Of his youth, Rubinstein once said: "It is said of me that when I was young I divided my time impartially among wine, women and song. I deny this categorically. Ninety percent of my interests were women."^[1] At the age of forty-five, in 1932, Rubinstein married Nela Młynarska, a twenty-four-year-old Polish ballerina (who had studied with Mary Wigman). Nela was the daughter of the Polish conductor Emil Młynarski and his wife Anna Hrynewicz, who was from a Lithuanian aristocratic family. Nela had first fallen in love with Rubinstein when she was eighteen, but when Rubinstein began an affair with an Italian princess she married Mieczysław Munz.^[13][14] Nela subsequently divorced Munz and three years later married Rubinstein.^[14] They had five children (one died in infancy), including daughter Eva, who married William Sloane Coffin, and son John Rubinstein, a Tony Award-winning actor and father of actor Michael Weston.^[15] Nela subsequently authored Nela's Cookbook, which included the dishes she prepared for the couple's legendary parties.^[16]

Both before and during his marriage, Rubinstein carried on a series of affairs with women, including Irene Curzon. In 1977, at age 90, he left his wife for the young Annabelle Whitestone, though he and Nela never divorced. Rubinstein also fathered a daughter with a South American woman,^[6] and he may have been the father of Muriel Draper's son, Sanders, who perished in World War II.^[6]

Jewish affiliation[link]

While he was an agnostic, Rubinstein was nevertheless proud of his Jewish heritage.^[17] He was a great friend of Israel,^[18] which he visited several times with his wife and children, giving concerts with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, recitals, and master classes at the Jerusalem Music Centre.

Polish affinity[link]

Throughout his life, Rubinstein was deeply attached to Poland. At the inauguration of the UN in 1945, Rubinstein showed his Polish patriotism at a concert for the delegates. He began the concert by stating his deep disappointment that the conference did not have a delegation from Poland. Rubinstein later described becoming overwhelmed by a blind fury and angrily pointing out to the public the absence of the Polish flag. He then sat down at the piano and played the Polish national anthem loudly and slowly, repeating the final part in a great thunderous forte. When he had finished, the public rose to their feet and gave him a great ovation.^[19]

On practice[link]

Rubinstein believed that a foremost danger for young pianists is to practice too much. Rubinstein regularly advised that young pianists should practice no more than three hours a day. "I was born very, very lazy and I don't always practice very long," he said, "but I must say, in my defense, that it is not so good, in a musical way, to overpractice. When you do, the music seems to come out of your pocket. If you play with a feeling of 'Oh, I know this,' you play without that little drop of fresh blood that is necessary – and the audience feels it." Of his own practice methods, he said, "At every concert I leave a lot to the moment. I must have the unexpected, the unforeseen. I want to risk, to dare. I want to be surprised by what comes out. I want to enjoy it more than the audience. That way the music can bloom anew. It's like making love. The act is always the same, but each time it's different."^[1][20]

Pupils[link]

Rubinstein was reluctant to teach in his earlier life, refusing to accept William Kapell's request for lessons. It was not until the late 1950s that he accepted his first student Dubravka Tomšič Srebotnjak. Other students of Rubinstein include François-René Duchâble, Avi Schönfeld, Ann Schein Carlyss, Eugen Indjic, Dean Kramer, and Marc Laforêt. Rubinstein also gave master classes towards the end of his life.^[21]

Death and legacy[link]

Rubinstein died in his sleep at his home in Geneva, Switzerland, on 20 December 1982, at the age of ninety-five, and his body was cremated.^[1] On the first anniversary of his death, an urn holding his ashes was buried in Jerusalem — as specified in his will — in a dedicated plot now dubbed "Rubinstein Forest" overlooking the Jerusalem Forest. This was arranged with Israel's chief rabbis so that the main forest wouldn't fall under religious laws governing cemeteries.^[23]

In October 2007, his family donated to the Juilliard School an extensive collection of original manuscripts, manuscript copies and published editions that had been seized by the Germans during World War II from his Paris residence. Seventy-one items were returned to his four children, marking the first time that Jewish property kept in the Berlin State Library was returned to the legal heirs.^[24]

In 1974, Jan Jacob Bistritzky established the Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Master Competition, held every three years in Israel, intended to promote the careers of young and outstanding pianists. The Arthur Rubinstein Award and other prizes are presented to the winners. The Rubinstein Competition also commissions works by Israeli composers.^[25]

Recordings[link]

In 1910, Rubinstein recorded Franz Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody No. 10 for the Polish Favorit label.^[6] The pianist was displeased with the acoustic recording process, saying it made the piano sound "like a banjo" and did not record again until the advent of electrical recording. However, Rubinstein made numerous player piano music rolls for the Aeolian Duo-Art system and the American Piano Company (AMPICO) in the 1920s.

Beginning in 1928, Rubinstein began to record extensively for RCA Victor, making a large number of solo, concerto and chamber music recordings until his retirement in 1976. As recording technology improved, from 78-rpm discs to LPs and stereophonic recordings, Rubinstein re-recorded much of his repertoire. All of his RCA recordings have been released on compact disc and amount to about 107 hours of music.

Rubinstein preferred to record in the studio, and during his lifetime approved for release only about three hours of live recordings. However, since the pianist’s death, several labels have issued live recordings taken from radio broadcasts.

Honors[link]

Sculpture of Arthur Rubinstein on Piotrkowska Street, in Łódź, Poland, where Rubinstein once lived

• Sonning Award (1971; Denmark)
• On April 1, 1976, Arthur Rubinstein was presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Gerald Ford.
• In 1977, he was made an honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE).^[26]
• Grand Officier of the Legion of Honour.
• Kennedy Center Honors (1978)
• Officer's Cross (Krzyż Oficerski) of the Order of Polonia Restituta.
• Commendatore of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic.
• Member of the Order of Alfonso X the Wise.
• Officier of the Order of Leopold of Belgium.
• Voted into Gramophone's Hall of Fame in 2012.^[27]

Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music Performance:

• Pierre Fournier, Arthur Rubinstein & Henryk Szeryng for Schubert: Trios Nos. 1 in B-flat, Op. 99 and 2 in E-flat, Op. 100 (Piano Trios) (Grammy Awards of 1976)
• Pierre Fournier, Arthur Rubinstein & Henryk Szeryng for Brahms: Trios (Complete)/Schumann: Trio No. 1 in D Minor (Grammy Awards of 1975)

Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Soloist Performance (without orchestra):

• Arthur Rubinstein for 'Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 18 in E-flat/Schumann: Fantasiestücke, Op. 12 (Grammy Awards of 1978)
• Arthur Rubinstein for Beethoven: Sonatas No. 21 in C (Waldstein) and No. 18 in E-flat (Grammy Awards of 1960)

Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award (1994)

Bibliography[link]

• Rubinstein, Arthur (1973). My Young Years. New York: Knopf. ISBN 0-394-46890-2. 
• Rubinstein, Arthur (1980). My Many Years. New York: New York. ISBN 0-394-42253-8. 

See also[link]

• List of Polish people (music)
• Arthur Rubinstein – The Love of Life

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Arthur Rubinstein

• Arthur Rubinstein at Allmusic
• Arthur Rubinstein profile at PBS American Masters
• (Italian) Arthur Rubinstein Musical Association – Italy
• Homage to Arthur Rubinstein (Fansite)
• The Arthur Rubinstein International Competition
• The Presidency Project – Remarks Upon Presenting the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Arthur Rubinstein.