Category Archives: Music
Spike Jones
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 17th January 2021Spike Jones (1911-65) was a percussionist of considerable skill who got bored playing the same music over and over again. He gradually drifted into an anarchic style of comedy and music that has never been equaled. He assembled a group of players and singers who were equally adept at performing and inspired silliness. This madness…
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Nonets and More
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 16th December 2020Writing for nine distinct voices in opera is rare. I can only think of two examples without a deep dive into opera arcana [If there are other examples, let me know]. First, Act 1 scene 2 of Verdi’s Falstaff. And if that’s not enough Verdi goes on to write for 10. This complex writing occurs…
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Franz Schubert: Two Fantasies
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 27th November 2020Daniel Dennett is a professor at Tufts University who frequently writes about humans consciousness. He thinks the study of the brain can explain the phenomenon much like the study of the kidney will eventually lead to a complete understanding of how it works – well almost complete. His work is engaging , insightful, and informative….
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Glenn Gould and Mozart
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 31st October 2020Glenn Gould was one of the greatest performers of JS Bach’s keyboard works since the advent of recordings. The Canadian pianist was also a gifted pedagogue and world class eccentric. He invented nutty alter egos, one of whom appears in the video at the end of this article. Among Gould’s quirks was hypochondriasis. Shortly after…
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Finale 25: Shostakovich: Symphony No. 11 in G Minor, Op. 103 “The Year 1905”- 4. The Tocsin
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 9th September 2020Written and first performed in 1957, Shostakovich’s Symphony #11 was ostensibly about the abortive Russian Revolution of 1905. Everything the composer wrote or said after Stalin squashed him in 1935 because the dictator was offended by Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk has to be decoded. He composed the piece in the wake of the Soviet repression…
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Why Contemporary Music Fails
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 7th September 2020Look to the boxoffice; the theater was meant to be full. Giuseppe Verdi to a young composer upset about the critics’ reaction to his compositions. The music discussed here is that of Western Europe which is typically called classical music. I’ll include opera and related vocal music under the same rubric. While largely the child…
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Richard Tauber
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 19th August 2020A reader recently asked why I had not written anything about Richard Tauber. I didn’t have a good answer and said I would; this is it. Tauber (1891-1948) was born in Linz, Austria to an unmarried actress. His father was an actor Richard Anton Tauber who eventually acknowledged him and took over his upbringing. Young…
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Rossini String Sonatas
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 15th July 2020Gioacchino Rossini (1792-1868) grew up in a musical and operatic family; his mother was a singer and his father a horn player. He is the only composer to write multiple masterpieces before reaching 25: Tancredi, L’italiana in Algeri, Il turco in Italia, Il barbiere di Siviglia, Otello, ossia Il moro di Venezia, and La Cenerentola….
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Hamilton in HD
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 11th July 2020Lin-Manuel Miranda’s musical based on Ron Chernow’s biography of Alexander Hamilton is the most successful stage musical of the current century. Three performances of the show were recorded in 2016. They were melded into a single version which was intended for to be shown in movie theaters. Miranda sold the distribution rights to Disney for…
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Satchmo: My Life in New Orleans – Book Review
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 6th July 2020In 1922 Louis Armstrong left his native city and went to Chicago to play second cornet for Joe Oliver’s Band. This book is his story leading up to the move that would bring him fame and riches. The autobiography was first published in 1954 and reissued in 1986. In the introduction to the second edition…
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