How To Play Piano
On Glenn Gould.
On Glenn Gould.
Can one of the nation’s great musicians cut through the fog of a D.C. rush hour?
Gene Weingarten Washington Post Apr 2007 30min Permalink
When the music of Vivaldi and Mozart are used to repel the homeless from sidewalks and Burger Kings, does it still glorify the dignity of humanity?
Theodore Gioia LA Review of Books May 2018 10min Permalink
Inside the disturbing “cult” of young acolytes that catapulted conductor James Levine’s career.
Malcolm Gay, Kay Lazar Boston Globe Mar 2018 Permalink
"And far from the ivory towers of music academia, mostly on his blog, Elgar’s Enigma Theme Unmasked, Bob Padgett has emerged as perhaps the most prolific and dogged of all Enigma seekers. His solution, which has caught the attention of classical music scholars, lies at the bottom of a rabbit hole of anagrams, cryptography, the poet Longfellow, the composer Mendelssohn, the Shroud of Turin, and Jesus, all of which he believes he found hiding in plain sight in the music".
Daniel Estrin New Republic Feb 2017 15min Permalink
How Mozart’s starling impacted his music.
Elena Passarello VQR Jul 2016 15min Permalink
The “blood sport” of classical music reviews.
John Fram Pacific Standard Jul 2013 15min Permalink
On trying out for the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
Jennie Dorris Boston Magazine Jul 2012 15min Permalink
Joyce Hatto, unknown to even the most ardent classical music collectors until late in her life, released a string of incredible performances of great works, distributed by her husband’s mail-order CD business. But how was it possible for her to record difficult works at such a dizzying rate? And if wasn’t her playing, who was it?
Mark Singer New Yorker Sep 2007 45min Permalink
An interview with Douglas Hofstadter, who after winning the Pulitzer for Gödel, Escher, Bach retreated into the lab and published only sparingly in technical journals, on what it would mean if a program could generate humor and/or masterful compositions.
Douglas Hofstadter, Kevin Kelly Wired Nov 1995 10min Permalink
“I hate classical music: not the thing but the name. It traps a tenaciously living art in a theme park of the past. It cancels out the possibility that music in the spirit of Beethoven could still be created today.”
Alex Ross Pop Matters Oct 2010 15min Permalink
An interview with New Yorker critic Alex Ross about his book The Rest is Noise and why there’s really no such thing as “classical music.”
Alex Abramovich Stop Smiling Mar 2009 10min Permalink