Richard Taruskin, quite possibly the most formidable writer on music living today (or at least the most likely to open a can of whup-ass) wrote a 12,000 word “review” in the New Republic of three books on the current state of classical music. I was given a copy of the article Monday, and I’m in
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A joke appeared in our in-box today, courtesy of the ever humorous Dorian DeLeon – enjoy! A cabbie picks up a Nun. She gets into the cab, and notices that the VERY handsome cab driver won’t stop staring at her. She asks him why he is staring. He replies: “I have a question to ask
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I was involved in a discussion today that made me think about the unique nature of Portland and its problems of self-effacement and inferiority (much of which I’ve discussed elsewhere in this blog) – more specifically, does Portland need world-class institutions (maybe a better term of art might be “top-rate”?), and if it does, does
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Just catching up on some classical news from last week, concerning the conductor Yakov Kreizberg, who has never failed to wow audiences, critics and musicians alike when he appears as a guest conductor with the OSO. He has just accepted an appointment to be the next music director of the Monte Carlo Philharmonic. You may
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Denver is exploring the possibility of building a new hall to replace the mediocre-at-best Boettcher Concert Hall. As I read the article published today in the Denver Post – I noticed some similarities to the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall: The shortcomings of the 29-year-old facility in the Denver Performing Arts Complex are many and varied,
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We’ve been out in New York City the past few days (now we’re very briefly upstate) and I’ve been pretty surprised by what a nice city it’s become in the ten years since I really spent any time there. Some of this may be accounted for by the fact that I’m less of a scaredy-cat
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I’ll be away from the computer for about six days – I might be able to post once or twice in the meantime, but otherwise, have a fun and productive week – see you later. Charles
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japanese maple|Originally uploaded by nobleviola click photo to enlarge I just can’t get enough of the great foliage action going on around town this year!!
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There are instances where a topic sweeps across the blogosphere, sometimes it’s referred to as a “meme”. I hadn’t heard of this before, so I checked dictionary.com and found that a meme is described thusly: a cultural item that is transmitted by repetition in a manner analogous to the biological transmission of gene In this
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It appears that some dodgy fact-finding on the part of critic/writer Norman Lebrecht may have gotten him into trouble – his publisher has withdrawn all unsold copies (in the United Kingdom) of his most recent book on classical music and will have them destroyed. All as a result of a lawsuit brought by the owner/founder
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I’m just one chapter into Alex Ross‘ magnum opus (so far) The Rest is Noise (Listening to the Twentieth Century). I’m loving it so far, and have learned several things so far that I never knew, but should have at least been aware of, specifically that Strauss’ Salome was not premiered in Vienna, but in
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I wasn’t able to attend the Oregon Symphony’s annual membership meeting this afternoon due to teaching commitments, but I did read the summary by local arts journalist James Bash, and I have some thoughts of my own. First of all, it must be said that the financial situation of the symphony is undeniably precarious. It
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Wow. I am stunned – and I’m ashamed that I’m stunned. I went to the Norman Leyden 90th birthday concert at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall this evening (which was presented by the Oregon Symphony). I don’t know what I was expecting, but I got a master class in what it is to be a
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David Stabler reports this morning that the Oregon Bach Festival will open its 2008 season by performing a concert (Bach’s B-minor Mass) at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall in Portland. What next? Will the Eugene Symphony start a series in the Oregon Symphony’s home hall? The Seattle Symphony? It’s frustrating, because while we continually draw
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Alex Ross, the classical music critic for New Yorker (and blogger par excellence), wrote a column (which I spotted in the online version today) about the effects of the web/internet on classical music. It sounds as though there is a clear new golden age of classical music emerging these days – if only managers and
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