In today' s Wall Street Journal I review the new Library of America Virgil Thomson compendium. Here's what I had to say: The heyday of American classical music occurred around the turn of the 20th century, when most everyone involved assumed that American composers would create a native canon and that American orchestras in 2016 would play mainly American music. This … [Read more...] about Virgil Thomson: Guerilla Tactics and Slapdash Judgments
The Future of Orchestras, Part III: Bruckner, Palestrina, and the Rolling Stones
“Would the New York Philharmonic sing Palestrina?” – the question posed by my previous blog – arose from a recent performance of Bruckner’s Fifth Symphony in which the musicians did precisely that. The conductor was James Ross, whose University of Maryland Orchestra breaks … [Read more...] about The Future of Orchestras, Part III: Bruckner, Palestrina, and the Rolling Stones
The Future of Orchestras (Cont’d): Would the Philharmonic Sing Palestrina?
When Doug McClennan persuaded me to start blogging in 2006, I was a newcomer to electronic media and also a skeptic. I read books. It write long. I do not tweet and rarely check Facebook. Frankly, the consolidated thread of considered comments elicited by my mega-blog on the future of orchestras has taken me by surprise. These are informed comments … [Read more...] about The Future of Orchestras (Cont’d): Would the Philharmonic Sing Palestrina?
STORM WARNINGS: THE FUTURE OF ORCHESTRAS
-- I -- I recently spent the three consecutive weekends speaking at conferences pertinent to the fate of America’s orchestras. The first, at Grinnell College, was sponsored by the American Association of Liberal Arts Colleges. The topic was reforming music curricula. The second, at the University of … [Read more...] about STORM WARNINGS: THE FUTURE OF ORCHESTRAS
Musical Films
With our newly released Redes DVD, PostClassical Ensemble completes its Naxos quartet of classic 1930s films with freshly recorded soundtracks. The scores for these four films – the others are The Plow that Broke the Plains, The River, and The City – are among the most distinguished … [Read more...] about Musical Films