Author Archives: Scott Foglesong

Earlier this week I submitted my last paid writing assignment for this particular season, a program note on Handel’s Alexander’s Feast for the Philharmonia Baroque’s April 2012 concerts. That might give you an idea of the lead times required in … Continue reading →

There are people who are so deeply soaked in their own vat of opinion that they can't see when they're spouting nonsense. One of the more blatant examples comes with a well-meaning but ridiculous little article "5 Foods to Eat … Continue reading →

An article in today's New York Times strikes me as being more a documentation of mental illness and less an informative puff piece. It's all about those hyper-clean types who come all unglued on the subject of soap scum or … Continue reading →

I treated myself to my Christmas present early this year. Not one word, you hear me, not a peep. You're a Buddhist, you don't do Christmas. I know, I know, I know. Shaddup. But I gave myself my Christmas present … Continue reading →

There were just sixteen in all: SP-1 through SP-16, lavishly illustrated two-disc 78rpm sets from the 1940s. The RCA Victor Showpieces were encased in light-cardboard gatefold albums, similar to the open-book style used for later 2-disc LP sets. They were … Continue reading →

I'm not a hardcore audiophile. (He said bravely, clutching desperately to whatever shreds of delusion yet remained.) That is to say, I haven't bankrupted myself acquiring a rig so high-priced as to buy a nice house in many parts of … Continue reading →

Given my professorial life, I spend most of my time working with 18-25 year olds. No objections there, mind you: that age is a time in life that I particularly cherish. My own sojourn through early adulthood was generally good; … Continue reading →

The record industry continues to enrich the buying public by rummaging around in copious back catalogs and re-issuing worthy stuff from the past. Just recently I picked up a number of spiffy box sets: Furtwängler: The Great EMI Recordings (21 … Continue reading →

As a dyed-in-the-wool record enthusiast/collector/nut, I own a hefty assortment of Brahms symphony recordings. By "hefty" I refer to my 25 separate recordings of the First, matched by similar numbers for the remaining three. 18 of the Haydn Variations. I'll … Continue reading →

Back in my early twenties, during a visit to see the family, I was watching the news. One item particularly incensed me. It seems that twenty years previously a large company had known about, but had done nothing about, severe … Continue reading →