As readers of this blog know, I was recently amazed to find myself talking on the radio for 20 minutes about my new book "Moral Fire" in what turned out to be a completely unhurried exchange with ample time for thought. That was on Boston’s WGBH, thanks to Brian Bell. Now, thanks to Chris Johnson, Houston public radio has broadcast an even longer, even more expansive … [Read more...] about Recapturing Moral Vision (cont’d)
Jon Stewart and Moral Fire
As I have occasion to remark in my new book Moral Fire, moral passion is a phenomenon little glimpsed in public life nowadays, unless you happen to be a devotee of the Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Typically, moral passion as purveyed by politicians and the “media” is opportunistic and shallow, if not wholly counterfeit. My book celebrates practitioners of moral passion in … [Read more...] about Jon Stewart and Moral Fire
In Praise of Moral Fire
My new book Moral Fire is praised in today’s Boston Globe by Jeremy Eichler for its "elegant and warmly sympathetic" portrait of Henry Higginson, who invented, owned, and operated the Boston Symphony. I’m fortunate to have my book reviewed by Jeremy – and Boston is fortunate to be the rare American city with a classical-music press of stature. I visit Boston in early … [Read more...] about In Praise of Moral Fire
Mixing Art and Music (cont’d): Mixing Food and Music
Now that the always enterprising Anne Midgette has posted my blog objecting to live Bach cello suites imposed on visitors to the Corcoran Gallery, I’ve realized that I failed to indicate that this was not a museum concert. Rather, the cellist was offered as an embellishment to dining in the atrium. Johann Sebastian was enlisted to cheerfully accompany both Frederick Church’s … [Read more...] about Mixing Art and Music (cont’d): Mixing Food and Music
Mixing Art and Music — An Open Letter to the Corcoran Gallery
AN OPEN LETTER TO THE DIRECTOR OF THE CORCORAN GALLERY Dear Mr. Bollerer: As someone who writes frequently about the Gilded Age, I’ve long been eager to visit the Corcoran Gallery to study your most iconic painting: Frederick Church’s “Niagara.” I was recently in DC and seized the opportunity, arriving one Sunday in the late morning only to discover a cellist in the … [Read more...] about Mixing Art and Music — An Open Letter to the Corcoran Gallery