The current issue of The American Scholar includes a long piece of mine suggesting a possible new direction for contemporary classical music – versus the “makeshift music” that deluges our concert halls. I make reference to John Luther Adams, Charles Ives, Jean Sibelius, and Ferruccio Busoni. To read the whole piece, click here. To sample it, read on: The American arts are … [Read more...] about The Music of the Future?
Trump vs. the Kennedy Center
Mere hours before its board renamed the Kennedy Center for Donald Trump, Persuasion ran my online piece on Trump, the Kennedy Center, JFK, and Leonard Bernstein. I will be following up with a 50-minute "More than Music" feature on NPR, to run in January. Here's the Persuasion article: When people today ponder the assassination of John F. Kennedy 62 years ago, possibly the … [Read more...] about Trump vs. the Kennedy Center
“Never before has the perseverance of historical memory been more inspirational — or more necessary”
Following up on my NPR story about the Lakota Music Project, I write today for “Persuasion” online: In South Dakota, Bishop Scott Bullock of Rapid City wrote [of Pete Hegseth’s insistence on the heroism of American soldiers who slaughtered Lakotas at Wounded Knee in 1890]: “If we deny our part in history we deepen the harm. We cannot lie about the past without perpetuating … [Read more...] about “Never before has the perseverance of historical memory been more inspirational — or more necessary”
Cho Plays Rachmaninoff — An Astonishing Paganini Rhapsody
I distinctly remember when I discovered that Rachmaninoff was a great composer. It happened decades ago, when twentieth century music meant Stravinsky and Schoenberg. I was driving and the Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini came up on the radio. The piece was hardly new to me, but I had never paid much attention. This music has all the Stravinsky virtues, I thought: concision, … [Read more...] about Cho Plays Rachmaninoff — An Astonishing Paganini Rhapsody
The Lakota Music Project vs. “Rootlessness” Today
Delta David Gier conducts the Creekside Singers and members of the South Dakota Symphony in Derek Bermel’s “Lakota Refrains” [Photo credit: Dave Eggen/Inertia/South Dakota Symphony] The topic of my latest “More than Music” program on NPR is the South Dakota Symphony’s Lakota Music Project. The last military engagement between United States troops and Native … [Read more...] about The Lakota Music Project vs. “Rootlessness” Today