"I do solemnly swear that I will never again review a new recording of the complete Brandenburg Concertos..." Reading Terry Teachout is a very mixed experience. I always learn a huge amount, yet I also come away with a mortifying sense of inferiority. How on earth does he manage to write so much, so well, on so many different subjects? Here's an extract from yet another elegant post, this time on the classical music biz:
When Adelina Patti heard the playback of her first 78, she exclaimed, "Ah, my God! Now I understand why I am Patti! Oh, yes! What a voice! What an artist! I understand everything!" I doubt anyone since then has responded quite so effusively to her records (she made them when she was sixty-two years old, a bit late in the game for a coloratura), but it's important to remember that they date from 1905, prior to which time the most celebrated soprano of the nineteenth century had never before heard the sound of her own voice.
A must-read for music-lovers. As are his reflections on why he prefers to keep away from the concert hall:
The trains roared by, the cell phones twittered, my neighbors coughed at regular intervals…but you know how it is. It’s been a long time since I attended a classical-music concert given in the presence of a silent, fully attentive audience.
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