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Harry Burleigh, who turned spirituals into concert songs sung by Marian Anderson and Paul Robeson, wrote in 1917 that “the voice is not nearly so important as the spirit” in performing his historic arrangements. George Shirley, still singing at the age of eighty-nine, is an artist who today gloriously affirms Burleigh’s claim. In 1961, Shirley became the first Black … [Read more...] about “George Shirley: A Life in Music” on NPR

My first novel, The Marriage: The Mahlers in New York, will be published in April 2023 by Blackwater Press (a young and enterprising outfit that cares about classical music). It’s already in the hands of prospective reviewers and other interested parties. It’s also announced on my website.   So far as I am aware, this is the first account of Gustav Mahler’s years with the … [Read more...] about Announcing My First Novel: The Mahlers in New York

I am of course grateful for the torrent of comments I have received in response to my previous blog about Klaus Makela conducting Tchaikovsky with the New York Philharmonic. Some of you, however, have misconstrued my meaning. I am certainly not suggesting that Klaus Makela would be an ideal music director for the New York Philharmonic (or for that matter for the Cleveland … [Read more...] about Klaus Makela Conducts the Philharmonic — Take Two

I admit that I am a jaded listener, burdened by a long and presumptuous memory. I heard Mravinsky’s Leningrad Philharmonic during their sole American tour. I heard Jochum and Celibidache conduct Bruckner at Carnegie Hall. At the Met, I heard Karajan in Die Walkure, act one, with with Jon Vickers and Regine Crespin. I heard Nicolai Gedda sing Lenski’s aria. I stood through … [Read more...] about Klaus Makela Conducts the Philharmonic

While the present-day conflation of the arts with instruments for social justice is dangerously overdrawn, some musical experiences are unquestionably therapeutic, and some composers are more wholesome than others.  My most recent “More than Music” NPR radio documentary celebrates “Lou Harrison and Cultural Fusion.” Of Harrison’s music, I observe:  “In today’s terms, … [Read more...] about Lou Harrison and Cultural Fusion on NPR