The Heart of the Psalms
by Nathaniel PetersThe Psalms Experience—twelve concerts by some of the world's great choirs, performing a capella settings of all 150 psalms—was recently featured in Manhattan. Continue Reading »
He Went There
by John LukacsHe was not a refugee, not an immigrant, not a displaced person. Or, rather: yes and no. When he and I became close friends, he once said to me: “Sometimes Americans ask, ‘When did you come to this country?’ I did not come to America; I went there.” And if he was asked . . . . Continue Reading »
Post-Pentecostal Depression
by Robert P. ImbelliWe need festal time, to express our full joy at the coming of the Holy Spirit. Continue Reading »
Harmony and the Scriptures: Lenten Reflections on Harnoncourt and Bach
by Michael Maria WaldsteinI became aware of the clash between Harnoncourt and Richter, right around the time when my own musical taste became more mature and critical, at age fifteen or sixteen. I was a Richterian; Harnoncourt struck me as harsh and uncouth. Continue Reading »
Choreography and Improv
by Peter J. LeithartDespite appearances, jazz and baseball are historically intertwined. Baseball players and jazz musicians both strive for a perfect balance between disciplined practice and spontaneity. Continue Reading »
Bruckner’s Gethsemane
by Robert P. ImbelliThe devoutly Catholic Bruckner dedicated his last symphony to “the dear God,” and prayed in his final illness that the Lord would allow him to finish his masterwork. In the event, his prayer was not granted. Yet in a deeper sense the three movements he lived to complete could hardly be surpassed. The sublime and harrowing third movement makes any further statement, this side of heaven, redundant! Continue Reading »
Play American
by Allen C. GuelzoJust seventy years ago, a Fortune poll reported that 62 percent of Americans listened to classical music, 40 percent could identify Arturo Toscanini as an orchestral conductor, and nine million listeners (11 percent of American households) tuned in to weekly Metropolitan Opera broadcasts from New . . . . Continue Reading »
Christ's Three-Fold Coming in Music
by Nathaniel PetersWhen taken neat, the Oratorio’s musical beauty and theological simplicity drive home the power of Christ’s coming in all its forms. Continue Reading »
Leonard Cohen, Religious Alchemist
by Sean CurnynCohen is an Old Testament poet who can comprehend the New Testament without great strain or contradiction. Continue Reading »
Leonard Cohen, the Christ-Haunted
by Joe HeschmeyerThough he would often protest that he “wasn’t really a religious man,” Cohen seemed unable to sing or speak for very long without bringing up God. Continue Reading »
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