Author Archives: Scott Foglesong

So here’s what I think of Windows 8. I keep a nice, well-designed Samsung laptop around for keeping au courant with the latest developments in WindowsLand. I’m not quite sure why I want to do that, save perhaps some kind … Continue reading →

C|Net columnist Steve Guttenberg touched—or rather jangled—a collective nerve in a recent column, in which he asked why it is that audiophiles often recoil from identifying themselves as audiophiles. His comments section, usually well-mannered on the whole, erupted into vitriol, … Continue reading →

North Pacific weather patterns have been manifesting at spec. Our San Francisco holiday season has turned out soggy, dank, chilly, and gray. There being no point in griping—if you don’t like gray skies, don’t live in San Francisco—most of us … Continue reading →

I’m coming around to the conclusion that Benjamin Britten’s 1964 address on receiving the Aspen Award should be required reading of all young musicians, particularly composition students. Perhaps a test should be given the first day of their entrance into … Continue reading →

Life as a professor provides mostly a steady stream of joys and satisfactions. Once in a while it tosses in a disappointment. Being obliged to watch as a fundamentally bright and gifted student screws the pooch—through a combination of inactivity, … Continue reading →

A friend and fellow orchestra wonk recently directed me to several rare recordings by an almost completely forgotten conductor, Selmar Meyrowitz, an apparent suicide in 1941. Thanks to those fine folks at Pristine Classical I was able to come by … Continue reading →

I’m nonplussed by the thought, but there it is: shortly I will tie a ribbon around my twenty-third year teaching an introductory course in Western music to freshmen at UC Berkeley. Year 24 is already in the chute and will … Continue reading →

It was irresistible catnip and I showed all the retail resistance of a frenzied bargain-hunter at a Walmart Black Friday sale. The minute I knew it was coming I had my credit card out and my pre-order in the queue. … Continue reading →

In brief: the average classical LP sold for $5.00 during most of my time in high school. Budget-label affairs tended to run $2.50 or less. In 2012, most new-release classical albums run $9.99 as iTunes downloads, or $15.99 full retail … Continue reading →

Serendipity is a cool thing. Yesterday two items wafted my way: the first, a newspaper article decrying the situation of bright school kids who go to lengths to mask their intelligence from their fellow students; the second, my Mensa renewal … Continue reading →