[contextly_auto_sidebar id="CYlaSJ6jQrKdJ4BvABGi3rSiXqmgt0Op"] This is from Greg's assistant, Caroline Firman. We believe that there may be a problem with the comments on Greg's blog and we are actively working to get to the bottom of the issue. We apologize to anyone who may have commented over the last several days and has not seen their comments appear. We will post again when the problem has been fixed, but for now, please hold off on leaving any comments. Thanks for your patience and happy Friday! … [Read more...]
Archives for 2014
The moral of the story
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="wJcXkzkyJUssy2xubvb9Ddc3tlk7r4lk"] The moral, that is, of my critique of the Chicago Symphony's "Sounds and Stories" online magazine. It so badly disappointed me. Great idea, for an orchestra to provide the kind of classical music coverage we don't find these days in the media. But why make it so deadly dull? So drastically out of touch with the kind of lively media people find everywhere else? I was being interviewed by a British journalist about "Sounds and Stories." That's how I happened to look at the site, … [Read more...]
Such a disappointment
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="8ztu9nCruuPSlwrEiH4EX1JvU3HhSHZT"] A British journalist wanted to interview me about the Chicago Symphony's new "Sounds and Stories" online multimedia magazine. So of course I looked at it. And I was so very sadly disappointed. What a good idea, I thought, to launch an online magazine, so people interested in the CSO or in classical music can read things they'd never get in standard media, where classical music is covered less and less. From the moment I got the CSO's press release about this, I was cheering … [Read more...]
Classical music in an age of pop
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="04kBz0K1NB0qA7njQeqBDs14QffvwPrg"] That's the course I'm teaching at Juilliard this semester, as I have every spring since 1997. Which means I've been teaching this course — about the future of classical music — for 17 years. Which of course also means that there's been concern about the future of for 17 years. I gave a talk at Juilliard in 1996 as part of their Doctoral Forum, about classical music's future, and that lead to an invitation to teach the course. (I'm giving another Doctoral Forum talk next month, … [Read more...]
Rafa says no
My little son, two years old, was taking CDs off the shelf where we keep operas. Looking at each one, and handing it to me. One he took down was the old Joan Sutherland recording of Rossini’s Semiramide, with Marilyn Horne, and Richard Bonynge conducting, I don’t think I’ve heard it since it came out in 1966, when I'd eagerly awaited it — I was, and still am a big bel canto fan — but then was disappointed. Too many cuts, I thought. (I was a snob about cuts.) And apart from Sutherland and Horne the singers weren't great. Even Sutherland … [Read more...]