The author reflects on his experiences writing about Jewish composers and music that were banned or otherwise impacted by the Nazis. He has published various academic works and translations on this topic over his ten year career. His new book, Music of Exile, stems from his work at Exilarte Centre, a cultural institution he co-founded. The piece discusses the lesser-known narratives of exile music, underscoring its historical significance and cultural nuances.
The Kirchklang Festival in Salzburg asked me to speak on Cultural Transfer, including Samuel Barber in Austria and Austrians in California.
I hope this is a book that takes the reader further down the road of understanding what it means to view music as a cultural good in need of restitution: a return to audiences of stolen composers and a return to composers of stolen audiences.
The performance of The Dead City, better known as Die tote Stadt at London’s English National Opera was a revelation and frankly, a sensation for reasons few critics have mentioned. But then again,… Continue reading
An exceptional biography about an exceptional young Czech composer. Gideon Klein was much more than the tragic young man murdered before his prime as David Fligg’s excellent biography explains.
the recording business has created a different type of performer: the curator – someone who looks at the composer before looking at the work. It’s not a bad thing, it’s a change in our habits and attitudes towards great music. Does the performer re-create a work in front of an audience, or does the performer “curate” a work?
There is a legitimate reason I have neglected regular submissions to this blog. I have just completed two books: one is for Yale University Press and can perhaps be seen as a follow-up… Continue reading
Hanslick, by offering his negative points on La Bohème offers startling insight into early Modernism before departure from tonality began to define Austro-German Modernism from the century’s second decade.
A review of John Mauceri’s history of music post-war
