In the Missa Solemnis, Beethoven’s titanic subjectivity seems chastened by suffering and transformed by his engagement with the graced objectivity of liturgical text and tradition. Continue Reading »
As his latest album demonstrates, a subset of Sting’s songs reverberates with the legacy of an urban English Catholic childhood of the 1950s and ’60s. Continue Reading »
Going to a concert, like going to church or a nice restaurant or traveling on a plane or an overnight train, once meant dressing up and looking your best. We had been taught that dressing up showed respect—and classical music evoked special respect. This had little to do with how much one . . . . Continue Reading »
The other day, I stumbled across a wonderful live recording of Stravinsky’s L’Histoire du Soldat (The Soldier’s Tale), a small theater piece he wrote with the Swiss novelist Charles Ferdinand Ramuz at the end of World War I. I was suddenly flooded with memories of the elaborately . . . . Continue Reading »
When Stephen Sondheim died in late November at ninety-one, the eulogies, tributes, and bouquets from critics and tastemakers were entirely expected. The Broadway composer and lyricist left the Earth having earned multiple Tonys and Grammys, a Pulitzer Prize, an Oscar, a Kennedy Center Honor, and a . . . . Continue Reading »
In this season of charity, perhaps we can reconsider the unjustly maligned reputation of Fritz, the troublemaker child in the Nutcracker ballet. Continue Reading »
The etymology of the word “carol” is linked back to dances of joy and praise. The birth of humanity’s savior seems pretty clearly to warrant both. Continue Reading »
The piano is the instrument of expressive individualism; the harpsichord is the instrument of a vibrant, discursive life of the mind. Continue Reading »
Despite being cast as the epitome of uncool radio rock, Billy Joel is one of pop music’s most masterful craftsmen. Continue Reading »
We mustn't turn music, in its most complex and profound form, into a museum, dedicated only to reenacting the past. Continue Reading »
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