Secret Beethoven subtexts in Peanuts

by | Jan 15, 2009 | A view from the podium

There’s a great piece in the New York Times today about Charles Schulz’s use of the music of Beethoven in the Peanut’s comics.   Schroeder plays the Hammerklavier (Photo: Peanuts/United Feature Syndicate, Inc.) In the world of “Peanuts,” of course, Schroeder was the...

Getting down to work on M5

by | Jan 13, 2009 | A view from the podium

As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, I’m spending a lot of time with Mahler 5 these days- I’m doing it on the March1 OES concert, which will be the finale of our Redneck Mahler adventure, and then again in the summer at Harlech. Happily, I’ve managed to keep a fairly...

The end is in the beginning

by | Jan 13, 2009 | A view from the podium

I’m often struck by how the threads of my life seem to come together in funny and surprising ways. In the midst of getting up to speed on the coming run of concerts, I’ve also had to do a fair bit of planning and preparation for my final three concerts with the Oregon...

Round the web

by | Jan 13, 2009 | A view from the podium

There’s some good stuff out there on the ol’ internet to read this week. First, Dick Cavett has a nice piece on the forgotten art of the insult, that is, the forgotten art of the clever insult. I haven’t ever found any great writing on that wonderful and often...

RIP- Valentin Berlinsky

by | Jan 10, 2009 | A view from the podium

It sounds a bit absurd to express surprise at the death of an 83 year-old man, but I was genuinely surprised to learn of the death of the cellist of the great Borodin Quartet, Valentin Berlinsky, who died a few weeks ago. After 62 years in the quartet, I’d...