The American businessman Julius Block, who introduced the phonograph to Russia in 1889, proceeded to record many hours of music performed by the leading instrumentalists, composers, and singers of Moscow. The astounding "Block cylinders," thought lost, were discovered in 2002 -- and subsequently turned into listenable CDs by Ward Marston. For the recent Pittsburgh Symphony … [Read more...] about Eavesdropping on Tchaikovsky’s Russia
The Gershwin Moment (continued)
THE GERSHWIN MOMENT (CONTINUED) As readers of this blog are aware, I have for some time been proclaiming a "new Gershwin" - in, e.g., the New York Times and the Times Literary Supplement. In Classical Music in America (2005), he ranks with Ives as our most important concert composer (my view of Copland, in that book, irked some reviewers). My book-in-progress is a study of … [Read more...] about The Gershwin Moment (continued)
The Greatest Vocal Recording of All Time, etc.
It's nice to be noticed, so thank you to those who have complained about the paucity of recent filings in this space. Usually I write a blog when I'm excited or upset. I don't notice that I'm any less excited or upset than usual - just that the blog engine has been running down lately. So here is a list of things I should have been blogging about: 1.Some kind person has posted … [Read more...] about The Greatest Vocal Recording of All Time, etc.
The Detroit Symphony, Service Exchange, and “Full-Time” Jobs
About a week ago I received a phone call from a reporter from Detroit Public Radio inviting me to comment on the Detroit Symphony strike. I told him I had no special knowledge of the Detroit situation, but was amenable to commenting on some of the general issues at hand. "Service conversion" is something I have long thought, spoken, and written about - e.g., in my blog of Jan. … [Read more...] about The Detroit Symphony, Service Exchange, and “Full-Time” Jobs
Re-Inventing Bernstein; Re-Inventing City Opera
Can re-interpretation improve a symphony or concerto? Can an ingenious staging fundamentally enhance an opera? My friend Alexander Toradze has long made a specialty of Prokofiev's Second Piano Concerto. He reads it as a memorial to the composer's soulmate Maximilian Shmitgoff, who had committed suicide. Personally, I doubt that the detailed scenario Lexo extrapolates … [Read more...] about Re-Inventing Bernstein; Re-Inventing City Opera