I fell in love with classical music at an early age. My parents in the early 1960s purchased a combined Magnovox record player and TV, a so-called console, and in addition to the records of movie sound tracks that they liked to play, such as My Fair Lady and The Music Man, they had a… Continue reading The Case for Wagner
Category: Music
Syberberg’s Parsifal
One thing that bothers me about opera is that the stage directors are constantly getting into the act, injecting their often weird interpretations into productions, often to the point of destroying the intent of the composer and librettist. Certainly interpretation of a score has a place up to a point, but one can’t redo a Beethoven… Continue reading Syberberg’s Parsifal
Memories of Van Cliburn
In the long struggle between the United States and the Soviet Union, from the end of World War II until the end of the Soviet era in 1991, there were intense moments of high drama, like the Berlin Blockade and the Cuban Missile Crisis, intermixed with moments when the icy hostility melted a bit. With… Continue reading Memories of Van Cliburn
EP Studios Status Report
I’ve been a bit lax on the social media front recently. In fact, there are some days that I forget that there is such a thing as social media — that is, if it were not for my phone’s frequent pinging and buzzing to remind me of its existence. Truth is, I’ve been busy with… Continue reading EP Studios Status Report
Futurama Revisited
Fifty years ago my parents took me to the World’s Fair in New York. The year was 1964. I was twelve years old. It was a turbulent time in American history. The prior fall John F. Kennedy had been assassinated, initiating a long period of turmoil for the United States. But it was still the era… Continue reading Futurama Revisited
The Magic of Medtner
When I was in college in the late 1960s, early 70s, electronic and avant-garde music was all the rage, at least in my circles. Honestly everyone else listened to Rock, but I was fascinated by what is ineptly named “Classical Music.” In the 20th century, a century of the utmost human drama and scientific progress, there… Continue reading The Magic of Medtner
Thematic Unity in Rachmaninoff’s Second Piano Concerto
Rachmaninoff’s second piano concerto (1901) was written after a course of psychotherapy for depression that the composer suffered following the disastrous premier of his first symphony. Apparently this treatment worked, for the concerto is one of the most popular ever written for the instrument. Its popularity stems not only from its lyrical themes but also… Continue reading Thematic Unity in Rachmaninoff’s Second Piano Concerto
The Music of James Bond
One of the perks of blogging is that it gives one a license to write about topics that one really is not an expert on (a trait that my readers have doubtless discovered on their own). And speaking of licenses to do things… there is the double zero license to kill, granted by the British… Continue reading The Music of James Bond
PC or Not PC, That is the Question
I read today about the upcoming release of a sanitized version of Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn in which the “N-word,” as it is known in the media, is replaced by the word “Slave.” So, instead of “Nigger Jim,” there will be, presumably “Slave Jim.” Never mind that Mark Twain makes Jim the hero of the… Continue reading PC or Not PC, That is the Question
Reflections on Leonard Bernstein
In olden times, perhaps a hundred years ago, there were still uncharted corners of the Earth to explore, so that a great fantasy author like Edgar Rice Burroughs could tuck away a half-dozen unknown civilizations in the midst of “darkest Africa” for Tarzan to discover, or claim that large polar openings exist by which the… Continue reading Reflections on Leonard Bernstein