I'm pretty swamped by writing jobs at the moment. Mostly for money - Bard pays the mortgage and electricity, but if I want to continue smoking Padrone cigars and drinking Old Vine Red, those liner notes and program notes have to keep coming. But one job I'm doing I'm very excited about: liner notes for the first commercial recording of music by Julius Eastman. Eastman (1940-1990) was a brilliant singer, fabulous pianist, politically aggressive gay African-American, outrageous personality, and one of the important musical figures of the … [Read more...]
Virgil Thomson in His Own Precise Words and Notes
Vivian Perlis, the great pioneer of oral music history, and Libby Van Cleve, expert oboist-turned-musicologist, are coming out with their first volume of oral American music history, Composers' Voices from Ives to Ellington (Yale Univ. Press, two compact discs included). I got an advance copy, and it's fascinating reading; can't put it down. Here's an excerpt from some 1977-78 interviews with the great Virgil Thomson: I came from Europe in the fall of 1940. I didn't have any money, and wasn't going to be earning any, so I came home. I took a … [Read more...]
The Downtown Noise Machine
Over at Sequenza 21, composer Galen H. Brown has written an essay explaining where my blog fits into musical politics, and arguing eloquently for my continuing it. He transplants into the musical realm David Brock's argument from his book The Republican Noise Machine that the Republicans took their own lunatic fringe overly seriously in order to alter the public perception of where the center of the political spectrum lies, moving it far right from where it used to be. Therefore, argues Brown, substituting the concept of Mainstream Classical … [Read more...]

Recent Comments
Phillip Bush on Ives, Caught Between Two Caricatures
One of the most perceptive things I've read about Ives, anywhere. Thank you! Ives' omnivorous vision (if one use such...mclaren on Ives, Caught Between Two Caricatures
Once again we get a high-octane musician slamming a composer for producing "naïve" work. And what, I ask you, is...Bob Gilmore on Ives, Caught Between Two Caricatures
Agreed. I love Ives 1, terrific piece. But I'd have to say my favourite of all the symphonies is the...M. on Ives, Caught Between Two Caricatures
Mr. Plush has already written, in his first sentence, what I would have liked to. Consider it seconded.Bill B on Ives, Caught Between Two Caricatures
You can hear it without going to it. The concert is streamed live over WQXR, as are all of...Vincent Plush on Ives, Caught Between Two Caricatures
Kyle, you have just reminded us (as if we needed reminding) why we regard you as one of the most...Steven Ledbetter on Minimalism Invented in England, It Turns Out
Sullivan did, indeed, brilliantly solve the problem set him by Gilbert's lyric, but he didn't find it easy. In fact...Paul Schleuse on Minimalism Invented in England, It Turns Out
The additive process is clearly there, but the harmony isn't really static. The alternation between D and D maj7/sus4 is...Gene on Minimalism Invented in England, It Turns Out
"Das Rheingold" opens with six minutes of tonic, not dominant. KG replies: But after six minutes of E-flat the curtain opens...Juhani Nuorvala on Minimalism Invented in England, It Turns Out
The minimalist I'm most reminded of by that Gilbert and Sullivan piece is Tom Johnson. - For additive process, there's...