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I think therefore I am

by | Jun 19, 2007 | A view from the podium, Music and Media

Okay, I’ve been tagged. Daniel Wolf at Renewable Music has tagged me as he was tagged by Matthew Guerrieri at Soho the Dog. It’s official- I’ve won the Thinking Blogger Award. Here’s how it works 1. If, and only if, you get tagged, write a post with links to 5 blogs...

tradition=transgression

by | Jun 19, 2007 | A view from the podium, Nuts and bolts

So, later this week, I’m conducting, among other things, the Schumann Cello Concerto with the Surrey Mozart Players as part of our ongoing Schumann cycle. I find cello works challenging to accompany in a very specific way, because I’ve played most of them myself and...

Programming

by | Jun 18, 2007 | A view from the podium

Programming is a practice that falls somewhere in the cracks between high art, alchemy and sausage making. There are two kinds of decisions orchestras make that greatly overshadow all other concerns. 1-       What are we going to play 2-       Who’s going to play it...

The ultimate test of musical genius

by | Jun 14, 2007 | A view from the podium

So… how does one identify true musical genius in the 21st Century? Is it a composer with a new harmonic vocabulary? A conductor with photographic memory? A violinist with perfect pitch? A pianist with ten brains for ten fingers? I, for one, look to poetry. Magnetic...