The supreme string quartet, for me, has long been Schubert’s last, in G major -- memorably performed last Friday night by the Danish Quartet at Carnegie’s Zankel Hall. As one of the quartet’s violinists, Rune Tonsgaard Sorensen, was on parental leave, his place was taken by Yura Lee – introduced by violist Asbjorn Norgaard as a Korean-American musician from Los … [Read more...] about Schubert and the Music of Exhaustion
R. I. P. : The National Endowment for the Humanities (1965-2025)
Since 2010 I have administered Music Unwound, a national consortium of orchestras and educational institutions funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities. I assume that Music Unwound no longer exists – nor does more than $150,000 in Congressionally approved MU funding as yet unspent. To my knowledge, there has been no formal notification. The forces in play are … [Read more...] about R. I. P. : The National Endowment for the Humanities (1965-2025)
What’s an Orchestra For? — and The Crisis in “Soft Power” Diplomacy
Addressing high school students in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, a few weeks ago, former US Ambassador to Russia John Beyrle said that the US State Department faces “an existential crisis.” Speaking on my latest NPR “More than Music” feature, “What’s an Orchestra For?,” he further comments: “Soft power” – the use of music and education as an instrument of foreign policy – … [Read more...] about What’s an Orchestra For? — and The Crisis in “Soft Power” Diplomacy
Finding a Mahler Message for Today
My review of Karol Berger’s Mahler’s Symphonic World: Music for the Age of Uncertainty – “Finding a Mahler Message for Today” – was today published online by The American Scholar. You can read it here. One starting point of Berger’s terrific new book is Theodor Adorno’s 1960 contention that Mahler’s gift was essentially pessimistic, that he did not succeed as an ostensible … [Read more...] about Finding a Mahler Message for Today
Stravinsky, Elmer Fudd, and the South Dakota Symphony
The final NEH-funded, multi-media “Music Unwound” concert featuring the South Dakota Symphony took place last Saturday night. I cast myself in a cameo role, playing the Soldier in three excerpts from Stravinsky’s The Soldier’s Tale. I modelled my impersonation on Elmer Fudd. The main events, however, were Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G with Jean-Efflam Bavouzet and … [Read more...] about Stravinsky, Elmer Fudd, and the South Dakota Symphony