The Darker, Druggier Side of Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker
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...
In Praise of “I Hear You Calling Me”
“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,...
Why Does Music Sound Like Music? Part I: Overtones and the Cycle of Fifths
Have you ever wondered why western music sounds the way it does?It was a question that was on my mind in my early days as a conservatory student. And I will never forget a class that took place one day, when my theory instructor sat at a piano to demonstrate how...
Let’s All Boycott The Death of Klinghoffer
Is there any possible reason why an opera with this power and deeply moral message should be protested?Protests raged the other night when the opera The Death of Klinghoffer by John Adams was performed at the Metropolitan Opera. It is good to protest operas that...
When Composers Need Promotion
Carl Nielsen I always feel a little suspicious when the works of a particular composer need “promotion,” don’t you? The first such composer who comes to mind is Paul Hindemith. Back in the 1940s, my parents attended some meetings of a Hindemith Society in New...
The Dumbest Thing I Ever Heard about Opera, Part One
Dolora Zajic – Are you going to tell me that anybody sang this aria better than this in years gone by?In case you missed it, the title of today’s post is a joke. But it is a joke with a point, because just when you think you have heard the dumbest thing ever said...
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