This is the first round of a 4 part debate between Robert R. Reilly and Russell Shaw on the question, “Was the Iraq war just?” Saddam Hussein’s regime was evil and it threatened vital U.S. national security interests. Its extirpation achieved a great good, the final accomplishment of which is still in the balance … Read more
InsideCatholic.com music critic Robert R. Reilly sat down with noted writer, political thinker, and Georgetown University professor Rev. James V. Schall, S.J., to talk about the life of the mind, the future of the West, and lessons learned over a long career in education. This is the second part of the interview. Click here to … Read more
In response to continuing calls for troop withdrawals from Iraq, including from within his own party (see Sen. John Warner’s “bring them home for Christmas” plan), President George W. Bush made two major addresses — to the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the American Legion — and then made a surprise visit to Anbar province. … Read more
I recently saw the movie Copying Beethoven. There are very few good films about composers. This is not one of them, although it has the compensation of its “electrifying music,” as advertised by the quote from the Seattle Times review on the DVD jacket cover, as if the music had been written for the movie. … Read more
One of the premises of my book, Surprised by Beauty: A Listener’s Guide to the Recovery of Modern Music, was that the music of the 20th century could not be written for another hundred years because so much of it had been neglected or buried for various ideological and political reasons that it would take … Read more
Music High and Low by Robert R. Reilly In response to my February/March 2007 Crisis rant against the general decline in culture (particularly in music and dance), I received a letter from a lady in the Midwest that so touched me I have to quote it at length. First, she recalls the shared role of … Read more
This month I will be reviewing 155 CDs because I received a boxed set of the complete works of Bach from the Brilliant Classics label, distributed by Koch Entertainment. This year marks Bach’s 322nd birthday; these recordings, including new digital ones of all the 200 sacred cantatas on period instruments and sung by a boys’ … Read more
The good news is that I cannot possibly get through the accumulation of wonderful CD releases from last year, as I promised I would try to do in my “Best of the Rest” column in January. There are too many. So, I am going to restrict myself to new releases of American music. I am … Read more
Last month I gave my take on the “best of the rest,” some very good CD releases in 2006. I ran out of space, so I will return in the next issue to review the rest of the best; but first I wanted to share some endnote observations on music, life, and CD shopping. A … Read more
I have not done a “best of the year” list for 2006 because I fell too far behind in covering a multitude of excellent releases from last year. I must use this space to catch up. Some of these, no doubt, would qualify for the “best of designation. The general quality is staggeringly high and … Read more
On a recent tour through Europe, I made opera stops in Paris and London to see Lucia di Lammermoor by Donizetti (1797-1848) and Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk by Shostakovich (1906-1975). However, my first destination was Ljubljana, Slovenia, for a non-musical conference. There, I was told that 13 Slovenes die each day, while only nine are … Read more
Finally, a leader has spoken about the real, essential lam, 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, that not only is violence in spreading faith unreasonable and therefore against God, but that a conception of God … Read more
In the latter half of the 19th century, German music so dominated the European continent that the French were left wondering what could be distinctively theirs, aside from French insouciance, wit, and whimsy. France could not compete in the symphony (Beethoven, Brahms, Bruckner, etc.), and Wagner had swamped the opera world. Erik Satie (1866-1925) came … Read more
For twelve years I have been composing this column. Sometimes I wonder if many people read it. Then I remember that I have seldom, if ever, written to columnists I regularly read. So why should anyone write to me? During my broadcasting career, I suffered similar doubts when I was on the air daily to … Read more
There are all sorts of ways to get the Requiem wrong, as illustrated by a number of new releases of musical settings of this venerable text, and ways to get it right also, as some other superb new CDs show. The same is true of the Stabat Mater. The works I deal with here were … Read more
Bruckner at the beach? I don’t think so. Sand and high seriousness are strange bedfellows. So let us construct the aural equivalent of the summer reading list based upon music that is amiable, off the beaten path, and, well, fun. I happen to have a huge inventory of CD recommendations that fits the bill. The … Read more
Last January, I promised to cover more releases of American music as a rebuke to the noxious thesis that our only culture is agriculture—or, even worse, pop culture. But who would know about these riches, and how? They have received very little exposure, and now get even less. Every weekday, National Public Radio used to … Read more
Arthaus Musik, distributed by Naxos, has released an intriguing series of seven DVDs titled Leaving Home: Orchestral Music in the 20th Century. Created for a TV consortium in 1996, Leaving Home features conductor Sir Simon Rattle and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra on a tour through some of the significant musical landmarks of the … Read more
Gramophone/FM Classic awarded Naxos the classical label of the year award in 2005. Based on the evidence so far, I am prepared to concede the award to Naxos in 2006. I am supplied monthly with a list of releases from Naxos and from its distributed labels—such as CPO, Profil, and Marco Polo—that is simply staggering … Read more
I seldom mix music and politics, although as Socrates pointed out, they are related through music’s influence on the order of the soul. However, I begin this month’s survey with a release that is explicitly political. I recently had an uncanny experience that stretches the meaning of coincidence. I was in the Czech Republic speaking … Read more