“Restlessness is discontent—and discontent is the first necessity of progress. Show me a thoroughly satisfied man—and I will show you a failure.”

Thomas Edison, The Diary and Sundry Observations of Thomas Alva Edison

Johann Vexo plays Edwin H. Lemare’s organ transcription of Camille Saint-Saëns’ Danse macabre on the Moeller-Reuter pipe organ of Philadelphia’s First Presbyterian Church:

(This is the latest in a series of arts- and history-related videos that appear in this space each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday)

“Sir: there are two tragedies in life. One is not to get your heart’s desire. The other is to get it.”

George Bernard Shaw, Man and Superman

From 2008:

I confess to having been more stirred by the words of an actress I know whom I encountered in a theater lobby a couple of months ago. She introduced me to her boyfriend as follows: “Terry isn’t just a writer and a critic–he’s an artist, too. He’s writing an opera!”

This is a distinction whose significance I unhesitatingly admit. As far as I’m concerned, critics aren’t artists. In my capacity as a critic and biographer, I think of myself as an artisan–a craftsman. One of the reasons why I believe this to be so is because I used to be an artist back in the days when I was a professional musician. That fact has conditioned my approach to criticism….

Read the whole thing here.

“Do you know I sometimes think I’m a man of genius, half finished? The genius has been left out, the faculty of expression is wanting; but the need for expression remains, and I spend my days groping for the latch of a closed door.”

Henry James, Roderick Hudson

Itzhak Perlman and Janet Goodman Guggenheim perform Ernest Bloch’s “Nigun” (from Baal Shem) in concert at Moscow’s Tchaikovsky Hall in 1990:

(This is the latest in a series of arts- and history-related videos that appear in this space each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday)

I tell you not for your comfort,
Yea, naught for your desire,
Save that the sky grows darker yet
And the sea rises higher.

G.K. Chesterton, “The Ballad of the White Horse”

The twenty-first episode of Three on the Aisle, the twice-monthly podcast in which Peter Marks, Elisabeth Vincentelli, and I talk about theater in America, is now available on line for listening or downloading.

Here’s an excerpt from American Theatre’s “official” summary of the proceedings:

This week, the critics answer a question from a reader about whether critical standards should be different in reviews of community theatre versus Broadway theatre.

Then they turn the tables on each other! The critics ask each other questions, such as, “Which Shakespeare play would you be happy never to see again?” and “What classic musical or play do you find irredeemably bad?”…

To listen, download the latest episode, read more about it, or subscribe to Three on the Aisle, go here.

In case you missed any previous episodes, you’ll find them all here.