On the heels of my Tannhäuser blog, Conrad L. Osborne has posted yet another of his indispensable mega-essays – on the topic of cultivating American opera. I wrote: “The arts are today vanishing from the American experience. There is a crisis in cultural memory. How best keep Tannhäuser alive? Flooded with neophytes, the Metropolitan Opera … [Read more...] about “Tannhäuser” — Take Two
A Timely Old “Tannhäuser” at the Met
"Tannhauser," act two, at the Metropolitan Opera The Met’s current revival of Otto Schenk’s 1977 production of Wagner’s Tannhäuser is an event unthinkable in any European house – perhaps unthinkable in any other American house. Designed by Gunther Schneider-Siemssen, this was a rare attempt to faithfully render Wagner’s complex scenic intentions, albeit with access to … [Read more...] about A Timely Old “Tannhäuser” at the Met
Yet Again — The South Dakota Symphony
As readers of this blog now know by heart, I regard the South Dakota Symphony as a national exemplar. I’ve written about their Lakota Music Project, which connects the orchestra to Indian reservations throughout the state. I’ve extolled their ingeniously contextualized performances of Silvestre Revueltas’s Redes, of Shostakovich’s Leningrad Symphony, … [Read more...] about Yet Again — The South Dakota Symphony
Celebrating the Ives Sesquicentenary: An American Landmark
The upcoming Sesquicentenary of Charles Ives (1874-1954) is a landmark moment in American cultural history. Not only is he the towering creative genius of American classical music; he links to the highest American cultural pantheon, resonating in countless ways with the likes of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Mark Twain, Walt Whitman, and Herman Melville (connections I explore in my … [Read more...] about Celebrating the Ives Sesquicentenary: An American Landmark
A Great Present-Day Pianist
When I reminisce with pianists of my generation (born 1948), the perennial topic is Great Pianists of the Past. We tediously agree: in those days, famous pianists were great pianists – with their own sound, their own distinctive musical personality projecting into the far reaches of Carnegie Hall. No one could admire equally Arrau, Horowitz, Serkin, Michelangeli, Richter, … [Read more...] about A Great Present-Day Pianist