Should A Critic Write About The Orchestra That Set His Poems To Music?
Geoff Edgers thinks not. Lloyd Schwartz, the Boston Phoenix music critic, was asked by the Boston Symphony Orchestra to have his poems set to music by the Tanglewood Music Center's composition fellows. Not okay, writes Edgers. But Peter Kadzis, the Boston Phoenix executive editor, clearly thinks it's okay. "In an e-mail response, he stated that Schwartz 'works in the now waning tradition of artist/critic, not unlike Virgil Thomson. That the Tanglewood fellows would choose to set his poetry to music is a mark of distinction, not a compromise. Narrow minds, of course, might think otherwise'." Boston Globe 07/22/08

Posted July 22, 2008 03:37 PM