SOMEHOW, without quite knowing it, i wrote two brief pieces on ursula le guin, and both have recently gone up.the first is mostly an extended intro to my LATimes profile, which adds some excised lines from author/ essayist/ cosmopolitan pico iyer as well as sci-fi scholar/ critic annalee newitz.the second, here, is the seed of what i hope is a bigger project some day on the transition away from … [Read more...]
Archives for May 26, 2009
Christoph Eschenbach, Elegant Cosmopolitan
LAST week i went to meet christoph eschenbach, the conductor/pianist who's been part of one of the nastiest divorces in the classical music world during a strained tenure at the philadelphia orchestra.here is the way my colleague mark swed described him: "Thin and erect, with shaved head and large cranium, dressed in avant-garde sleek black shirt and slacks, he looked like some inscrutable … [Read more...]
David Benoit and Classical Music
MOST serious jazz people detest "smooth jazz" -- let's get this out of the way at the beginning. (here's an example.)but recently i sat down to talk to david benoit, the pianist who is one of the key figures in the movement, and quite enjoyed myself. why? because we mostly talked about classical music. and i was surprised to find that this exemplar of the pleasant and tension-free had been moved … [Read more...]