The recent Alexander Toradze Memorial Concert, featuring more than a dozen pianists, is now accessible online here. In addition to a lot of music, this event features three video clips of Lexo speaking and performing. A Toradze memorial festival will be held in Tbilisi, beginning May 30, 2023, (Lexo’s birthday) with a concert including Vladimir Feltsman performing … [Read more...] about Toradze Memorial Concert
Did Kurt Weill “Look Back”?
My favorite recording of any Kurt Weill song – as I have occasion to remark at the close of my recent NPR documentary on Weill’s immigrant odyssey – is Weill’s own rendition of “That’s Him.” Re-encountering this remarkable performance, with the composer accompanying himself at the piano, I feel a need to ponder what makes it so special. As I observed on … [Read more...] about Did Kurt Weill “Look Back”?
Kurt Weill’s Immigrant Odyssey on NPR
Kurt Weill, a refugee from Nazi Germany, turned himself into one of Broadway’s leading composers – an amazing feat of assimilation. After the war, he only returned to Europe once, in 1947 – and reported: “Strangely enough, wherever I found decency and humanity in the world, it reminded me of America.” How does that sentiment play today? It’s a question posed and … [Read more...] about Kurt Weill’s Immigrant Odyssey on NPR
Mocking Freedom? What To Do With the “Star-Spangled Banner”
My July 4 "More than Music" special for National Public Radio seems to me the hottest radio show I’ve ever managed to produce. The topic is The Star-Spangled Banner – as an instrument for exploring issues of race and national identity. You can hear it here. The Star-Spangled Banner is controversial today for three reasons. The first is that Francis … [Read more...] about Mocking Freedom? What To Do With the “Star-Spangled Banner”
“How I Wish We Had Something Like That Today”
Fill in the blanks: “This was performed and broadcast to millions of people. And something that should resonate with all of us today is the confluence of fine art and popular art and a mass medium – something we’ve lost in this era, when we’re being sliced into ever narrower shards of demographics. The brilliance of what xxx and xxx did was to embrace all of us, in … [Read more...] about “How I Wish We Had Something Like That Today”