Diary of Musical Thoughts

Twelve years ago, I saw Shlomo Artzi in concert for the first time and was blown away.  At the time I wrote that "I'm not sure I...

Kelefa Sanneh hit a home run with his excellent piece in the New Yorke r , covering the decline of music criticism from acerbic, witty truth...

I have taken to Sinopoli's recordings as somewhat of a guilty pleasure.  His style certainly isn't for everyone.   Most people value...

The Oasis reunion is finally happening and it already feels bigger than any other "reunion" tour in recent years.  In his review ...

I had never heard of this album until it was featured in Melody Maker's "Unknown Pleasures" book in 1995.  A few more years p...

Along comes another rich guy with Mahlerian dreams of grandeur who lives out his fantasies by paying a princely sum to conduct a leading orc...

Here is the first line of Brian Wilson's obit in the NYT :  Brian Wilson, who as the leader and chief songwriter of the Beach Boys becam...

According to his bio, Koncz is a young conductor who seems to gravitate toward classical and early Romantic music, setting him apart from ma...

This year's event had nearly everything you could ask for—extraordinary performances, impressive spectacles, and a tight race that came ...

I watched the nearly six-hour FireAid special on Netflix, and I don't really want to critique it because the audiences obviously enjoyed...