If you've read the first version of my online book (the second link goes to the current version), you might remember "Mark," a jazz fan who sometimes buys classical CDs -- especially piano music -- and gets baffled by what he sees in the Tower Records classical department. (He goes to the downtown Tower branch in New York.) Last week, he told me he'd bought two classical CDs: Maurizio Pollini playing Chopin, and playing Debussy and Boulez. (Probably the DG CD of Debussy études and the Boulez Second Sonata.) Mark doesn't know anything … [Read more...]

I've gotten e-mail from Alexander Mills, a student in London, with some questions he'd love answers to. He hopes to get some from readers of this blog, so with his permission, I've simply copied his e-mail here. I've edited just a little, to keep it focused on the questions. Before I begin, I would just like to say how fascinating I have found your blog. I stumbled across it earlier whilst doing research and have put it straight to the top of my favourites list. Particularly interesting were the discussions about MUSO magazine, and … [Read more...]

Back from vacation. A month in a quiet place in England, composing. Much to say about that, about how few mammals there are in the British isles (quite seriously), and about what I've learned about my daily routines by living without them for a month. And then there's the piece I worked on, which might get me excommunicated from classical music. But later for much of this. I thought I'd jump back in with something about the classical music world. I didn't much keep in touch while I was gone, and neglected my e-mail happily. But I … [Read more...]