Monthly Archives: December 2010

Hearing the Creation

Joseph Haydn’s The Creation enjoys nowhere near the discographical abundance of Handel’s Messiah, but it is quite well represented on disc nonetheless. In the course of writing a program note on the work, I’ve been re-visiting some of my favorite … Continue reading

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A Fading Grip

It has been almost forty years since I went on a weekend trip to visit a friend who lived in a smallish city in southern Pennsylvania. Lovely folks, each and every one, and I was treated just like another member … Continue reading

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Techie Fragility

Just last night I considered just how vulnerable I am to impromptu tech glitches. I had completed my final pre-concert lecture at the SF Symphony on John Adams’ Harmonielehre, and I was sitting out in the audience enjoying the first … Continue reading

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Dour, Painful, and Unrewarding

“You get 150 people at new music concerts,” said my sage piano teacher Nathan Schwartz. “Unfortunately,” he added, “it’s always the same 150 people.” He didn’t tell me — but I soon discovered — that one of those people would … Continue reading

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My Old Friends at Bush and Leavenworth

On my first visit to San Francisco (1971 or thereabouts) I recognized a lot of street names: Montgomery, Sansome, Haight, Bush, Leavenworth, Grant. That’s not because I had been boning up on SF geography prior to my visit. My acquaintance … Continue reading

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