Author Archives: Scott Foglesong

HIP is on my mind. Not that Historically-Informed Performance has ever been off my mind; I was an early and enthusiastic convert to the notion of seeking musical insight via historical re-creation, at least as far as possible or advisable. … Continue reading →

There was a time, not all that long ago, when musical performances were as ephemeral as casual conversations. People played, people listened, then everybody went home. All that remained was memory, pleasant or not as the case may be. In … Continue reading →

I’m a backwards audiophile. I don’t mean that I play beautiful sound into pricey electronic devices. I mean that I reversed my horse and cart about computer-stored digital audio. Most audiophiles are adopting computer-based audio gingerly or reluctantly; some haven’t … Continue reading →

When I read this article about DeMatha Catholic High School’s music program, I was first depressed. Then I was irritated. Once I got over myself and started considering the implications of music at DeMatha, my depression lifted and a calm … Continue reading →

Broadway musicals bore, bother, and offend me. There: I’ve said it. One might think that I’m indulging in hypocritical grandstanding, given that original cast albums made up a whopping portion of my musical upbringing. Before I finished elementary school I … Continue reading →

The Vienna Philharmonic began performing regular subscription concerts in 1860. They played eight times per year, and tickets were scarce. Subscribers didn’t hear all nine Beethoven symphonies until a decade had passed. Other venues helped to make up the lack—the … Continue reading →

The chap who came up with the phrase “writing about music is like dancing about painting” must have thought he was being terribly clever. Nope. Here’s why: the phrase itself is writing about music. So there, smarty pants! Writing about … Continue reading →

I’m writing a program note for a concert of French Baroque chamber music. It’s going to be a pip of a show—works by François Couperin, Jean-Philippe Rameau, Jacques-Martin Hotteterre, Michel Pignolet de Montéclair, and Michel Lambert. The vocal selections—two cantatas … Continue reading →

Bookish Buddhadharma is papered with lists, from the tidy simplicity of The Four Noble Truths to the head-banging complexity of The Umpty-Million Concomitants of Consciousness. I have read and forgotten yards of such lists. But I have always remembered a … Continue reading →

The taste of a madeleine did it for Proust. That wouldn’t work for me. I grew up in a suburb of Houston, where they didn’t know jack about madeleines. I have my own gustatory trigger, but it lacks Parisian ooh-la-la. … Continue reading →