Here’s wishing Classical Life readers a happy and prosperous new year.
Tonight on PBS, Franz Welser-Most conducts the Vienna Philharmonic in the annual Strauss blowout. You think he’ll do as well as Carlos?
Interview with the music critic
It’s going to be a slow week, so today I thought I’d open up the blog to your questions.
Think of it as an interview with a music critic — and you’re the interviewer.
You can ask questions about classical music (naturally), music criticism (ditto), newspapers, blogging, performance, recordings, music education, writing — anything, really. I will not answer any question about what I was doing the night of April 11, 1971, however, so don’t even go there.
If you’d like to see a short interview that I did with a music critic, go here.
Leave your questions in the Comments section. One at a time, please. If you would like to ask a follow-up question, go ahead and do so after I’ve answered your first one. I will answer your questions in the body of this post, below.
ANSWERS TO YOUR QUESTIONS:
Merry Christmas
Merry Christmas to my faithful readers. I am very grateful to have you.
The space pen above was among the gifts I received. It writes at any angle and will come in handy when taking notes at concerts, I’m sure. My son gave it to me and had it inscribed.
Below, Christmas morning listening — perfect for the occasion, I’d say.
The Big Stokowski, or, Shaq conducts the Boston Pops
This happened last night.
A jazzy tribute to Toru Takemitsu
Review: Four of Japan’s best jam on the film music of the great Japanese composer. The Orange County Register, December 20, 2010. Please click here to read my review and show my editors that you’re interested even though you’re not
Requiem for a listener’s listener
(First published in 2004. I don’t find it online anywhere, so I reprint it here.)
Charles Warwick, resident of Anaheim, once sent me the nicest letter I have ever had from a reader. It was short and simple. It said he purchased the Register so he could read me.
Over time, I came to know him well. He wrote e-mails about my reviews, asked questions, reflected on his own listening and reading. It turned out that he was the most avid classical music listener that I’d ever met, bar none. He had a huge record, CD and tape collection, and especially enjoyed, just as I do, symphonic music and the great conductors. He subscribed to Gramophone and Opera News and read classical music articles in newspapers and would clip things and send them. He became, we joked, my personal clipping service.
Should I stay of should I go?
If all goes according to plan, the reconstituted Man Bites Dog will perform the above at the office Christmas party this afternoon, with yours truly as lead singer. We were working on Bach’s “Ich habe genug” but just couldn’t get it ready on time.
Name the musician
Who is this man?
What you want for Christmas (III)
A fine new set of the 12 “London” Symphonies by Haydn, with Les Musiciens du Louvre-Grenoble conducted by Marc Minkowski. Click here to read my review of this set.
Related posts:
Gerstein and Chen make impressive debuts
Review: Kirill Gerstein and Mei-Ann Chen perform Rachmaninoff and Dvorak with the Pacific Symphony. The Orange County Register, December 10, 2010. Click here to read my review
photo: rosalie o’connor
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