Category: AJBlogs

The Estonian kannel is primarily a plucked folk instrument, but these two young ladies — both of whom have studied music academically — had not played it until they found one, and decided to see what would happen if they approached it fresh. Their outside-the-box attitude here yields unexpectedly sophisticated and orchestral arrangements. – Michal Shapiro

Given the emphasis on increased diversity of representation for artists featured in the permanent collection — female artists, in particular, are more abundantly represented in the current hang and stand up to comparison with their more renowned male colleagues, and two special exhibitions reflect the museum’s increased attention to African-American artists — the apparent failure to include Native Americans in the new MoMA’s inaugural displays is beyond comprehension. – Lee Rosenbaum

To my ears, Porgy and Bess is the highest creative achievement in American classical music. Conrad L. Osborne is not convinced. A crucial sticking point is the anomaly my book exposes: it is an opera with two endings. – Joseph Horowitz

It was a coincidence that could not have been more welcome if it had had been planned; One day, the mailwoman brought two new albums that feature pianist Bill Mays. – Doug Ramsey

I’ve never bought a copy of Rolling Stone. but I did buy The Rolling Stone Record Review, a mass-market paperback that came out in 1971, and I read it until the glue dried up and the pages fell out. The first record that one of that book’s reviews made me go right out and buy was this one. – Terry Teachout

The following is an incredibly thoughtful response written by Carter Gilles to my post The Chasm of Disbelief. I am particularly grateful to him for pointing out the important role that doing the arts, participating in the arts, can play in overcoming disbelief. – Doug Borwick

Most props, most props, you could hold them in your hand. A suitcase. A tooth. A (shudders) doll. They’re part of the pleasure of theatre, the imagination made palpable. But sometimes, sometimes they stay imaginary. – David Jays

This was one the now-forgotten Warner/Reprise “Loss Leader” albums, a series of low-priced sampler albums by Warner/Reprise artists that was one of the most ingenious and effective promotional ideas ever to be devised by a major record label. – Terry Teachout

The first Wal-Mart outside Arkansas opened in 1968 in Smalltown, U.S.A. Its record section had three bins of classical albums, many of them from Victrola, RCA’s budget line, which featured reissues from the golden age of 78s. For me that meant, first and foremost, the man B.H. Haggin called the greatest of all orchestral conductors. – Terry Teachout

“Arthur Farwell is probably the most neglected composer in our history.” This assessment, by the late composer/critic A. Walter Kramer in 1973, rings ever louder today; Farwell has been deemed untouchable. Hounded by the watchdogs of “cultural appropriation,” he has fallen prey to dictates of political rectitude. – Joseph Horowitz