Every time some classical pundit advocates that classical musicians include other musics in their repertory, I wonder why it only works one way—why we’re encouraged … More »

Wacky as its plot is, Verdi's Un giorno di regno ("King for a Day") does seem to contain a grain of actual historical truth. Apparently … More »

The unheralded godfather of minimalism, Canadian-born composer Colin McPhee (1900–64) became so captivated by a recording of Balinese music that he moved there to study … More »

Kaleidoscopic chaos and quiet, pointillist meditativeness. Lurid and stentorian brass chorales. Tremulous, lubricious melodies that Puccini would have found a bit overripe. Instruments imitating twittering … More »

When in 1979 The New Yorker's Andrew Porter suggested that Elliott Carter was by consensus the world's greatest living composer, there was pushback. Some find … More »

If there were any artist (anything at all, really) who could possibly persuade me to give Christianity a fling, it’d be Haydn. There’s no more … More »

The piano starts: tinktinktinktinktinktinktinktinktinktinktinktinktinktinktinktink. In a few seconds the rest of the ensemble joins in, half as fast: bRAAH, bRAAH, bRAAH, bRAAH, bRAAH, bRAAH, bRAAH, … More »

Operas for one singer are not unheard of (Seattle Opera’s staging one, Poulenc’s La voix humaine, in May), but the triple achievement of Hope Wechkin’s … More »