It’s a race to the finish of 2010 to bring you the fruits of this year before it ends. Brevity, be by my side and slay the demon logorrhea. Here, in brief, are treasures. The Classical era is my favorite for its balance and grace, but what can be new from this period? Haven’t we … Read more
Strange. I don’t feel like a criminal. But Mark Twain, in his newly released Autobiography (published, as he wished, a century after his death), says, “I believe that the trade of critic, in literature, music, and the drama, is the most degraded of all trades, and that it has no real value.” Well, there goes … Read more
I grow old (but shall not wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled), and my interest in Anton Bruckner’s music deepens with time because it speaks of the timeless. His Symphony No. 8 is one of the summits of music that endeavors to make the transcendent perceptible. In it you will hear the swirl and … Read more
I go outside for InsideCatholic occasionally, and most recently journeyed across the pond to assay the musical life in London, always a pleasure in what remains, in my experience, the greatest city for music in the world. What other metropolis can boast several superb symphony orchestras and opera houses, to say nothing of the plentitude … Read more
Catching up is hard to do. It reduces me to elliptical reviews of new CDs, the merit of which you must accept from a few brushstrokes of praise from me, as space — even in this medium — does not allow for more. Therefore, this is a matter of trust and taste. By the latter, … Read more
John Paul II was a shaker of world events. He regraded the political landscape of the 20th century and was counted among the few who were responsible for the relatively peaceful demise of the Evil Empire. Pundits were busy assessing his impact in this realm and wondering about his broader political legacy. They were having … Read more
When do you know it’s over? When do you know that civilization has collapsed inwardly to such an irreparable extent that the next stop is barbarism? When is that Weimar moment? Certainly, the legalization of abortion was one such moment, as barbarism is defined as the inability or unwillingness to recognize another person as a … Read more
There is much to catch up on for your summer listening pleasure. Faithful readers will recall how often I choose the Classical period for musical refreshment. And so it is again with the Symphonies Op. 3, Nos. 1-4 of Franz Ignaz Beck (1734-1809) on a new budget Naxos release (8.570799). I seemed to recall an … Read more
When the history of 20th-century music is written in the next several hundred years, will it bear much resemblance to how we think of it now? I have long suspected that there is a hidden history of classical music during this period that would one day surface. I tried to write part of it in … Read more
I was recently in “old Europe” for a conference on Islam and to promote my new book, The Closing of the Muslim Mind (alas, not a work about music). However, what’s the point of being in old Europe without music? The very stones cry out for it. Therefore, I snuck in an opera in Vienna, … Read more
Spring quickens one’s sense of delight and lifts one’s spirits as the world awakens. Many puzzle over how the world began; I am still in wonder at how spring happens. With a child’s appetite for repetition, I am always ready to say: Do it again! This is my inspiration for focusing mostly on delightful music … Read more
I collect illuminating tidbits from Modernity and offer them to discriminating readers from time to time. Herewith are the most recent for your delectation. A Parade magazine poll on spirituality reported that “69% of Americans believe in God,” and that “77% pray outside of religious services.” While the article invites us to find encouragement … Read more
A friend in a nursing home left me this phone message at the beginning of Holy Week: “God came to us and we murdered Him, tortured Him to death, spat on Him. And now, all He asks of us is that we let Him forgive us. Some people won’t even do that. Isn’t that amazing? … Read more
As is happily the norm, I am inundated with CD releases that demand your attention. The music spans the 18th to the 20th centuries, so I shall proceed chronologically, having no other principle of organization at hand. This way you can simply skip the centuries you deplore and get to the good stuff. (That is … Read more
This month I will focus on contemporary music, by which I mean music of the 20th and 21st centuries. Music from this period has been my preoccupation: When discussions began about the possible content of my Morley Institute book, Surprised by Beauty (2002), it turned out that the majority of my columns from the … Read more
As 2009 expires, music journalists and magazines rush to anoint their recordings of the year. I have no such list, but I did take note of the British Gramophone’s December selection of the Quatuor Ébène’s CD of the Ravel, Debussy, and Fauré String Quartets on Virgin Classics (519045-2) as the recording of the year. I … Read more
With his new Requiem, Swiss composer Carl Rütti has made a major contribution to the repertory. Naxos has issued a stunning recording of it with the Bach Choir, the Southern Sinfonia, soprano Olivia Robinson, and baritone Edward Price, under conductor David Hill (Naxos 8.572317). I first interviewed Rütti for crisis Magazine in May 1999, at … Read more
I shall meander this beautiful fall month, hoping to take you with me to Great Britain as I cover concerts and recordings that I particularly liked — no more important reason than that. When last reporting on my musical adventures, I gave account of several concerts at the Royal Albert Hall in London in late … Read more
Finally, a leader has spoken about the real, essential differences in the struggle between the West and Islam, as it emanates from a contest within Islam itself over the most important things. With startling — indeed alarming — clarity, Pope Benedict XVI told his audience in Regensburg, Germany, in a 2006 lecture, that not only … Read more
Due to my recent columns celebrating the Haydn and Mendelssohn anniversaries, I have fallen woefully behind on months of new releases that beg for attention. This is a catch-up effort. I begin with music of the soufflé from the Classical era. Giovanni Paisiello (1740-1816) wrote eight keyboard concertos that brim with felicitous melody. Naxos … Read more