Alex Ross's Blog, page 33

Bookshelf

New and recent publications of interest.

Kerry O'Brien and William Robin, On Minimalism: Documenting a Musical Movement (University of California Press)

Richard Taruskin, Musical Lives and Times Examined: Keynotes and Clippings, 2006–2019 (University of California Press)

Fanny Gribenski, Tuning the World: The Rise of 440 Hertz in Music, Science, and Politics, 1859–1955 (University of Chicago Press)

Henry Threadgill and Brent Hayes Edwards, Easily Slip into Another World: A Life in Music (Knopf)

Tore Størvold, Dissonant Landscapes: Music, Nature, and the Performance of Iceland (University of Wesleyan Press)

Tina Davidson, Let Your Heart Be Broken: Life and Music from a Classical Composer (Boyle & Dalton)

Howard Pollack, Samuel Barber: His Life and Legacy (University of Illinois Press)

Stephen Hough, Enough: Scenes from Childhood (Faber)

William C. Banfield, Musical Landscapes in Color: Conversations with Black American Composers (University of Illinois Press)

Philip Ewell, On Music Theory, and Making Music More Welcoming for Everyone (University of Michigan Press)

Patrick Nickleson, The Names of Minimalism: Authorship, Art Music, and Historiography in Dispute (University of Michigan Press)

A Liszt / de Leeuw moment

Against Twitter

I left Twitter a year ago, when the morally vacuous right-wing billionaire Elon Musk announced he was buying the company. A few months ago, I rejoined, a decision I now regret. There was never any question that Musk's vicious world-view would drag the service deeper in the mire — and it was a politically poisonous apparatus from the start. What caused me to quit again was Twitter's treatment of NPR. A vaunted news organization that receives about one percent of its funding from the government was labeled "state-affiliated media" on Twitter, alongside the likes of Russia Today. The designation was later changed to "government-funded," which is still wrong. In response, John Lansing, NPR's president, has announced that the institution will no longer be posting on Twitter. Lansing writes: "We are not putting our journalism on platforms that have demonstrated an interest in undermining our credibility and the public’s understanding of our editorial independence ... Actions by Twitter or other social media companies to tarnish the independence of any public media institution are exceptionally harmful and set a dangerous precedent."

Max Richter, Cassandra Miller

De Minimis. The New Yorker, April 17, 2023.

The world-première performance of Cassanda Miller's I cannot love without trembling can be found at about the one-hour-one-minute mark on this stream from the Klarafestival, in Belgium, via VRT. Alexis Zoumbas's recordings are available here.

In memoriam P-22

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) eulogizing P-22.

Requiem for a Great Cat, on the New Yorker website.

Hamelin plays Hanon

Hamelin is so compelling a pianist that he makes the prospect of an all-Hanon recital seem almost palatable.

The final word on artificial intelligence

Whenever people start talking about the wonderful and terrifying possibilities of AI, I think of the above comment from the composer Ben Phelps, in 2017. To paraphrase for the current moment: if AI is capable of writing journalism, then surely AI is also capable of reading journalism. Let the chatbots write for one another, and leave us out of it.

Another Cassandra Miller moment

Wise words from Muti

Riccardo Muti, speaking to VAN, identifies a major problem in modern musical life: "Today, a music director is a principal guest conductor, he just conducts more concerts, that’s all. But a real music director has to take care, and not only musically. The musicians must feel free to knock on your door and say, 'Maestro, we have this problem.' It’s not only musical. That is a music director. If not, what is your profession? Just to say, 'It’s sharp. It’s flat. It’s sharp. Obbligato'? That’s nothing. Today, it’s changing. The world is changing. And now conductors have two orchestras and a theater? Three theaters and an orchestra? That is… Well, let’s not say that it’s immoral. But certainly, it is not artistic. In this way, I am of the old school."

Nightafternight playlist

New and recent releases of interest.

Liza Lim, Annunciation Triptych; Cristian Măcelaru conducting the WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, with Emily Hindrichs (Kairos)

Mozart, String Quintets K. 515 and 516; Ebène Quartet with Antoine Tamestit (Warner)

Ligeti, Choral Works; Yuval Weinberg conducting the SWR Vokalensemble (SWR)

Caplet, Le Miroir de Jésus; Howard Arman conducting the Choir of Bavarian Radio and the Munich Radio Orchestra, with Anke Vondung (BR Klassik)

Messiaen, Des Canyons aux étoiles; Thierry Fischer conducting the Utah Symphony, with Jason Hardink, piano, and Stefan Dohr, horn (Hyperion)

Adès, Dante; Gustavo Dudamel conducting the Los Angeles Philharmonic (Nonesuch, out April 21)

Schreker, Chamber Symphony, Nachtstück from Der ferne Klang, Lyrische Gesänge, Fünf Gesänge, Kleine Suite, Romantische Suite; Christoph Eschenbach conducting the Konzerthausorchester Berlin, with Chen Reiss and Matthias Goerne (DG)

Stenhammar, Complete String Quartets; Stenhammar Quartet (BIS)

Mahler, Symphony No. 9; Osmo Vänskä conducting the Minnesota Orchestra (BIS)