I hope this is 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
In a previous life, somewhere around 1977, I was brought to Decca, where for the next two years or so, I was the assistant producer on a number of opera recordings. The first… Continue reading
Mark Ludwigs astounding restitution of Terezín’s musical legacy
The correspondence of one of the most inspiring performers of her day – the muse of many composers and a talent most likely smashed on the rocks of history.
