I am old enough to remember a time when famous pianists were great pianists. It is a topic I rehearse with pianists of my acquaintance who like myself began attending recitals in the 1960s. So we heard Argerich, Arrau, Cliburn, Curzon, Gilels, Horowitz, Moravec, Serkin, Richter, Rubinstein. Some of us (not me) were lucky to hear Kempff and Michelangeli, who were not regular … [Read more...] about Yunchan Lim and the Scent of Nostalgia
Lexo’s Journey
A new CD pays tribute to Alexander Toradze and his father, the composer David Toradze. For those of us who loved Lexo, this feels like a necessary way of keeping his memory alive. I am personally grateful to Ettore Volontieri for making this happen, and to Behrouz Jamali for permitting us to excerpt audio from his exceptional film "An Hour with Alexander Toradze and Joseph … [Read more...] about Lexo’s Journey
Bernstein and Shostakovich — A Rosetta Stone?
The new online issue of “Prelude, Fugue, and Riffs,” the newsletter of the Leonard Bernstein Office, publishes an essay of mine suggesting that Bernstein’s relationship to Dmitri Shostakovich is a “Rosetta Stone” in the Bernstein odyssey. It’s a glimpse of my book-in-progress: “Bearing Witness: The American Odyssey of Leonard Bernstein.” You can read the whole thing here. What … [Read more...] about Bernstein and Shostakovich — A Rosetta Stone?
What’s An Orchestra For? – Mulling Salonen’s Resignation and a Dispiriting San Francisco Sequel
Esa-Pekka Salonen Among my most-read blogs is “What’s An Orchestra For?" – Mulling Esa-Pekka Salonen’s Resignation from the San Francisco Symphony.” I posted it on March 26, 2024, and it still attracts readers practically every day. The topic is the abrupt departure of a genuine music director propagating a tangible and timely artistic vision. I wrote that this … [Read more...] about What’s An Orchestra For? – Mulling Salonen’s Resignation and a Dispiriting San Francisco Sequel
Re-Encountering George Kennan — and “From the River to the Sea!”
I felt impelled to write the long essay that follows after discovering Frank Costigliola's acclaimed new biography of George Kennan. The initial topic is "the most extreme display of public effrontery I have ever encountered" -- Kennan excoriating my fellow students at Swarthmore College in 1967, then refusing to take questions. My eventual topic is today's students, whom I … [Read more...] about Re-Encountering George Kennan — and “From the River to the Sea!”