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A Case of the Musical Giggles
We live in a very silly world. We’ve watched Republican primary candidates quote from the Pokémon movie, a former Poet Laureate get beaten by police while protesting the excesses of our greediest fat cats, and an eleven year old get touted as Opera’s Next Big Star (before damaging her vocal cords, of course). Reality TV [...]
Continue reading...Resurrection: Why We Need Mahler’s Second Symphony on the Tenth Anniversary of 9/11
8. September 2011
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Recently, The New York Times published a lengthy list of special 9/11 programming that will hit the airwaves, the concert hall, houses of worship, and movie theaters around the country over the next couple of weeks. Among the events is a special free concert by conductor Alan Gilbert (a client of my company) and the New York [...]
Continue reading...On the Transmigration of Souls
8. September 2011
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I remember with perfect clarity that crystal clear morning of September 11, 2001 and the explosion I heard from my New York City apartment window that I thought was just another outrageous New York City sound….until a neighbor climbed down the fire escape and banged on my window to come out and have a look. What [...]
Continue reading...Toru Takemitu’s Water Works
30. March 2011
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When Michael Tilson Thomas announced a meditative encore for the finale performance of the YouTube Symphony Orchestra on March 20 he explained: “This program, which was planned months ago, was designed to be spectacular and colorful, but tonight we are very mindful of people in Japan and New Zealand and Australia who are experiencing the consequences [...]
Continue reading...Music of Revolution
7. February 2011
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One of the great contributions of the classical music tradition has been its illumination of the idea and reality of historic revolution. It may be a stretch to think that the people of Egypt will reach for the western music canon to inspire their current revolution, but we can project on how it could [...]
Continue reading...Contemporary Music for Contemporary Art Lovers
28. January 2011
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My wife is a contemporary art dealer, so for the past few years I have been dutifully (and gratefully) attending the Art Basel Miami Fair not just for the break in the weather, but for the rapid immersion in the contemporary art scene. Even though as in many gatherings of cultural experts, passion [...]
Continue reading...“Alexander Nevsky” — Prokofiev’s Blast of Wintry Firepower
20. January 2011
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About the same time last year I wrote a post about music that was especially great for winter listening: http://ecstaticlivingroom.com/2010/01/10/winter-reveries/ One piece that didn’t make the playlist then was Sergei Prokofiev’s Alexander Nevsky, but arriving at our place in Upstate New York this past Friday night immediately brought this work to mind. [...]
Continue reading...Understanding Tragic Loss
11. January 2011
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By an eerie coincidence, the two works of art that I experienced before the tragic shootings in Arizona were baritone Thomas Hampson singing Gustav Mahler’s Kindertotenlieder (“Songs on the Death of Children” in English) with the New York Philharmonic and conductor Alan Gilbert on Friday night, and a matinee showing on Saturday of the movie [...]
Continue reading...Sibelius for the Solstice?
21. December 2010
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The Christmas holiday has it’s famous music: Handel’s Messiah, Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker, to name a few. But what about the Winter Solstice? This landmark of seasons feels like one of the most potent, the shortest day of the year heralding our gradual climb toward spring, it marks the beginning of the [...]
Continue reading...Music’s Great Wild West
14. December 2010
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Here in New York we’re celebrating the centenary of one of opera’s more unique works, Puccini’s “Fanciulla del West” or in English, The Girl of the Golden West. Premiered on December 10, 1910 as the first world premiere at the Metropolitan Opera, Puccini’s “American Opera” was arguably one of the most important and high-profile [...]
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12. January 2012
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