Musical Discoveries of the Third Kind
You may recall the motion picture Close Encounters of the Third Kind that centers about a groundbreaking encounter with extraterrestrials. If groundbreaking classical music discoveries are what you seek, you…
Musical Style
“When You’re a Jet. . .”
“When you’re a Jet, you’re a Jet all the way / From your first cigarette to your last dyin’ day.” This lyric from West Side Story appeared in Jonathan Cott’s…
The Joys of Life
We all have joys of life – those people, occasions and activities that especially delight us. For me, one of the great joys is presenting the Bank of America Classical…
The ‘Art Song’ Challenge
The term ‘art song’ has always disturbed me a little bit. What song is not a work of art, and therefore not an ‘art song?’ Are ‘art songs’ in the…
A Visit with Saul
Last week I had the great pleasure of spending four hours with Dr. Saul Feinberg, my mentor, guru, high school piano teacher, and friend of fifty-three years. Saul is now…
Classical Music Is So Relaxing!
Or is it? One of the things frequently said about classical music is: “I love classical music because it’s so relaxing!” When I encounter this observation I can only think…
I was thrilled when I finished listening to your second episode of my favorite piece of music. I always got emotional when I ‘heard’ the second movement of Beethoven’s Seventh [Symphony], but this time I was deeply touched as I could do much more than just ‘hearing’, I could finally ‘listen’ to Beethoven!