A colleague in Music History at a major American university reports that it has become difficult to teach sonata form because sonata forms transpire over 15 minutes and more. This topic – shrinking attention-span -- is obviously not irrelevant to the future of orchestras. My most memorable TV interview took place half a dozen years ago in a Southern city of moderate size. I … [Read more...] about The Future of Orchestras Part IV: Attention-Span
Archives for August 2016
Virgil Thomson: Guerilla Tactics and Slapdash Judgments
In today' s Wall Street Journal I review the new Library of America Virgil Thomson compendium. Here's what I had to say: The heyday of American classical music occurred around the turn of the 20th century, when most everyone involved assumed that American composers would create a native canon and that American orchestras in 2016 would play mainly American music. This … [Read more...] about Virgil Thomson: Guerilla Tactics and Slapdash Judgments