CLASSICAL MUSICBach Goes to the Movies: British...

CLASSICAL MUSIC

Bach Goes to the Movies: British former Olympic ice dance champions Jane Torvill and Christopher Dean are joining cellist Yo Yo Ma’s effort to take the music of Johann Sebastian Bach beyond the concert hall. Torvill and Dean will skate in Ma’s multimedia version of Bach’s Sixth Cello Suite, to be filmed in early 1997 on a frozen lake in northern Canada. Ma announced the project with the skaters at the Edinburgh Film Festival late Monday after the world premiere of his first film, “Falling Downstairs,” a collaboration with U.S. choreographer Mark Morris. Ma said his films aim to expand the understanding and enjoyment of Bach’s music. Work has already begun on his next film, which will feature a renowned Japanese Kabuki artist.

TELEVISION

Hoping for an Early Release: ABC correspondent/anchor Sam Donaldson, who has been hospitalized at the National Institutes of Health since last Thursday for treatment of a blood clot on his lung, said late Monday that he hoped to be released in time for tonight’s “PrimeTime Live” broadcast. His latest hospitalization has no direct connection with the successful cancer operation he underwent at NIH on Aug. 1 for a malignant tumor in a lymph node in his groin. “My recovery is going swimmingly,” said Donaldson, 61, who was being treated for the blood clot with “lots of pills” and an intravenous anti-coagulant. Donaldson was released from the NIH on Aug. 6 after cancer treatment and had returned to work for last Wednesday’s “PrimeTime Live” broadcast.

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Brokaw’s Tribute to Oklahomans: NBC anchor Tom Brokaw has contributed a tribute to the people of Oklahoma in the book “In Their Name,” subtitled “Oklahoma City: The Official Commemorative Volume.” The tome becomes available in bookstores around the country this week. Profits from the book, compiled with the help of the office of the governor of Oklahoma and the staff of the Daily Oklahoman, are being donated by publishers Random House to Project Recovery OKC Inc. to benefit bombing victims.

POP/ROCK

Grateful Dead Video Sales: With the death of Grateful Dead leader Jerry Garcia last week, sales of the band’s first concert film, 1979’s “The Grateful Dead Movie,” have soared. Monterey Home Video, which has distributed the film for the last 11 years, reports that 30,000 copies--the amount that previously sold in an entire year--were bought by retailers in 24 hours. The day after Garcia’s death last Wednesday, Monterey lowered the video’s price from $40 to $30. Meanwhile, the band has officially canceled its fall tour, including Oct. 14-15 dates at Blockbuster Pavilion in Devore. “It’s the only decision we’ve made,” said Grateful Dead publicist Dennis McNally. “Everything else is still up in the air.”

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Country Nominations: All the usual suspects--Garth Brooks, Vince Gill, Alan Jackson, Reba McEntire and the duo Brooks & Dunn--were nominated Tuesday for the Country Music Assn.’s 1995 Entertainer of the Year award. Nominees for the top male vocalist honor are Gill, Jackson, John Berry, John Michael Montgomery and George Strait. The awards will be presented in Nashville (and televised on CBS) on Oct. 4. Among other award categories, McEntire’s fellow nominees for female vocalist are Mary Chapin Carpenter, Alison Krauss, Patty Loveless and Pam Tillis. Single of the Year nods went to Jackson (“Gone Country”), Krauss & Union Station (“When You Say Nothing At All”), Tracy Byrd (“The Keeper of the Stars”), The Tractors (“Baby Likes To Rock It”) and Shania Twain (“Any Man of Mine”).

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Virtual Collaboration: Rocker Elvis Costello and veteran songwriter Burt Bacharach have collaborated on “God Give Me Strength,” written for the upcoming movie “Grace of Heart,” about songwriters in the ‘50s and ‘60s in New York’s famed Brill Building. But unlike the collaborations that went on in the Brill Building, Costello and Bacharach wrote their joint tune without even one face-to-face session. According to the music magazine BAM, the song was put together through the phone, faxes and answering machine messages. Says Bacharach: “[Costello] had eight of 16 bars. . . . He’d call up and leave it on my answering machine. I’d write it out . . . see where I wanted to go with that, fax it to him.”

QUICK TAKES

Journalist Pat Harvey is getting a new co-anchor for KCAL Channel 9’s 9 p.m. newscast. R.D. Sahl, the anchor of New England Cable News’ “NewsNight,” will join Harvey in early September. Sahl previously spent 11 years as the principal evening anchor at Boston’s WHDH-TV. . . . Actor/comedian David Spade is the third confirmed returning “Saturday Night Live” player. Also returning for the NBC show’s 21st season are Norm MacDonald and Mark McKinney. Four new cast members were previously announced. . . . R.E.M. vocalist Michael Stipe is recuperating from surgery he underwent in Atlanta Saturday for a hernia discovered during the final leg of the band’s European tour. He was released from the hospital in good condition Sunday and is expected to recover in time for R.E.M. to appear Sept. 7 on the “MTV Video Music Awards.” The band opens its North American tour Sept. 8 in Miami.