Menotti and Barber
This article evolved in an odd way with many switches in my own point of view. It all began with a New York Times article in the Arts and Leisure section by John Adams lamenting […]
The MGM Musical
When I sat down to write this piece I had in mind “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers,” “An American in Paris,” and “Singing in the Rain” as the epitome and essence of an MGM musical. […]
Pushkin and Eggs
The Brooklyn Record
About twenty-five years ago when I became interested in Russian Opera, I took out of the library a Modern Library Giant of all the works of Pushkin. Alas, Modern Library regular and Giant […]
Schubert’s Operas
This is the 200th anniversary of Schubert’s birth. The major record magazines are pulling out all the stops, or maybe I should say almost all the stops. BBC “Music Magazine” for March 1997 has “Schubert at […]
Cadillac Zarzuela
When I was a kid, upper middle class people drove Buicks and rich people drove Cadillacs. Thus giving rise to expressions such as this is the Cadillac of toothbrushes or vacuum cleaners, or whatever. Then, […]
La Traviata
I have been at these articles for over two years and suddenly I realized we’ve never had Verdi. So, we’ll set out to partially rectify the situation, In number of productions I’m sure La Traviata […]
Arias and Madrigals of Giulio Caccini
One of the things I like to do on a Saturday afternoon is browse the Tower Records Bargain Annex. I’m looking for new composers (new to me) and new labels (new to me). Somewhere I’d […]
El Cid
This column was inspired by watching the four-hour version of Anthony Mann’s movie El Cid on television. I remember seeing the original in the theatre and that version was shorter. As a matter of fact, […]
The Great Waltz
The Great Waltz is a film I happened to catch on Channel 13 at 2 a.m. on a Sunday morning. It is a fun film which purports to be a biography of Johann Strauss II […]
The Million Dollar Quartet and The Million Gulden Quartet
If you go to 706 Union Avenue, Memphis, Tennessee, you will see Sun Studios. It is remodeled and modernized for state-of-the-art recordings, but the ghost of Elvis Presley still hovers over the place. On December […]