The books of Robert Seethaler, one of Europe’s pre-eminent novelists, include a 2020 novella about Gustav Mahler: Der letzte Satz. It’s just appeared in English as The Last Movement. It seeks to explore the final turbulent years of the Mahler odyssey. So does my own 2023 Mahler novel: The Marriage: The Mahlers in New York. Scanning the similarities and differences observable in … [Read more...] about Mahler: Fact and Fiction
American Classical Music at 250 – Take Two: The BAM Experiment
I am still processing an avalanche of responses to my New York Times piece on the state of American classical music 250 years in. I’m particularly grateful to readers who wrote to remember the Brooklyn Philharmonic festivals during my 1990s tenure as the orchestra’s Executive Director. That experiment was the subject of the Postlude to my essay collection The Post-Classical … [Read more...] about American Classical Music at 250 – Take Two: The BAM Experiment
Jonas Kaufmann vs. the Orchestra of St. Luke’s – Take Two: Mahler Steinbach Festival
One of my more popular blogs – it still gets lots of hits – is “Jonas Kaufmann vs. The Orchestra of St. Luke’s” back in October 2018. The larger topic is the role of tradition in musical performance – in this case, of the sublime idiom of Viennese operetta. I wrote: “Kaufmann made no attempt to sound like [Richard] Tauber or [Joseph] Schmidt – any more than they had sounded … [Read more...] about Jonas Kaufmann vs. the Orchestra of St. Luke’s – Take Two: Mahler Steinbach Festival
At 250, Has America Delivered on its Classical Music Promise?
The New York Times invited me to attempt a succinct assessment of classical music in the US, from its beginnings to today. My response runs in today's paper: Last fall, I found myself in a South Dakota hotel lobby talking with the composer Derek Bermel. Days before, I learned that his clarinet teacher had played in the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. I asked whether he knew … [Read more...] about At 250, Has America Delivered on its Classical Music Promise?
Better than the Met
Visiting Zurich earlier this week, I was eager to sample the Zurich Opera in Wagner. They are bringing the Ring to Carnegie Hall next season led by their General Music Director, Gianandrea Noseda. I found myself attending the premiere of a new Tannhäuser production. The conductor is not Noseda, but Tugan Sokhiev. The director is Thorleifur Orn Arnarsson. … [Read more...] about Better than the Met