Culture Matters

Having accepted Thomas Sowell’s great thesis that differences among peoples commonly attributed to race really reflect culture, I was struck by two CDs that have recently appeared. Both contain American vernacular music sung by men trained in the classical operatic tradition.

One is Thomas Quasthoff , the renowned German bass-baritone now in his late forties who has overcome serious physical handicaps caused by thalidomide to become one of the great singers of our time. Barely four feet tall, his hands resembling flippers, he has a big and flexible voice that is particularly strong in classic solo song cycles. In this respect, may I particularly recommend his DVD of Franz Schubert’s Die Winterreise with English subtitles. Quasthoff’s The Jazz Album¯Watch What Happens , recorded mostly with German back-up musicians, contains such standards as “My Funny Valentine,” “I’ve Grown Accustomed to her Face,” and the Gershwins’ “There’s a Boat Dat’s Leavin’ Soon for New York.”