Back when I was in conservatory, I heard lots of students and faculty members dismiss George Gershwin (1897-1938) on the grounds that, “He couldn’t even orchestrate his own compositions.”I was reminded of that opinion the other day when I was listening on my car radio...

A year ago I encouraged my readers in Chicago to reserve tickets early for an upcoming performance of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion that took place at the Harris Theater. Some Chicagoans did just that and told me afterwards that the performance, conducted by John Nelson,...

I went to see the New Jersey Devils play the Pittsburgh Penguins last week, and I have a piece of advice to offer you. If you are a musician or a music-lover who values your hearing or your sanity, you should never attend a professional hockey game.  The volume...

“Mode” can be defined as the arrangement of notes within a musical scale – the sequence of whole tones and half tones within an octave. In ancient times, both Plato and Aristotle believed that music that had been composed in different modes would cause listeners to...

Last December, like all Decembers, was “Nutcracker month” again.I was fascinated to read a review of the New York City Ballet’s production by Anthony Tommasini, the venerable music critic of The New York Times.  (“A Classic Retains its Power to...

“I Hear You Calling Me,” a popular song that was composed in 1908 by Charles Marshall to words by Harold Harford, is not a musical masterpiece. It’s a sentimental parlor song that was published alongside hundreds of others in those days. It isn’t an Irish song per se,...