by Alex Ross
BLESSED ARE THE SAD
Behind Brahms’s professorial façade was a well of deep feeling. The challenge in interpreting his music is to reconcile that feeling with the orderly forms that contain it. The First Piano Concerto is Brahms at his darkest and boldest; with regretful glances at recordings by Emil Gilels and Leon Fleisher, I’ll stay with a longtime companion, Clifford Curzon’s monumental rendition with George Szell and the London Symphony (Decca). No set of the four symphonies is perfect, although a Music & Arts compilation of live Furtwangler performances is riveting throughout, and Charles Mackerras’s cycle with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra (Telarc) delivers exceptionally lucid rhythms. For the First Symphony alone, I’d suggest either Klemperer and the Philharmonia (EMI) or Toscanini and the NBC Symphony (live in 1940, available at pristineclassical.com); for the Second, Mackerras; for the Third, Bruno Walter and the Columbia Symphony (Sony); and for the Fourth, Carlos Kleiber and the Vienna Philharmonic (DG)-one of the most potent symphonic recordings ever made. Klemperer’s German Requiem, with Elisabeth Schwarzkopf and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau as the soloists (EMI), is ponderous in the best sense: slow, grave, grandly moving. For an introduction to Brahms’s chamber music, try a warmly idiomatic collection of quartets, quintets, and sextets by the Amadeus Quartet and various colleagues (DG). Radu Lupu’s disc of the late Intermezzos and Piano Pieces, Opp. 117-119 (Decca), contains playing of such unmannered beauty that you seem to meet the elusive soul of Brahms face-to-face.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
During my time at The New Yorker, I have been under the benign control of two great editors, both of whom contributed decisively to my development as a writer. Charles Michener read passionately, broadened my musical sympathies, and proved to be an improbably convivial supervisor, to the point where the laughter emanating from his office drew puzzled stares. When Charles left, I was fortunate to fall into the hands of Daniel Zalewski, who is younger than I, and wiser. I am profoundly indebted to Daniel’s panoptic vision, pinpoint editing, fervent advocacy, and uncommonly generous spirit. David Remnick, the editor of The New Yorker, is a model boss and a model colleague; I consider myself lucky to be living in his golden age.
Tina Brown, during her tenure at the magazine, hired me and let me roam free. Pam McCarthy, Henry Finder, and Dorothy Wickenden, in the editorial offices, and David Denby, Nancy Franklin, Joan Acocella, Sasha Frere-Jones, David Grann, and Luke Menand, in the writers’ warrens, have been intensely supportive over the years. The New Yorker’s copy editors, led by the wizardly Ann Goldstein, have deepened my love of language. The fact-checker for most of these pieces was Martin Baron, who has since retired; in my previous book, I called him “the greatest fact-checker that ever was or ever will be,” and I stand by the claim. I’m also grateful to Nana Asfour, Jake Goldstein, Nandi Rodrigo, Jennifer Stahl, and Greg Villepique for their excellent checkingwork. Peter Canby, Leo Carey, Will Cohen, Bruce Diones, Kate Julian, Daniel Kile, Russell Platt, Lauren Porcaro, Aaron Retica, and Rhonda Sherman helped out at one time or another.
Many people contributed to the making of these essays. I’d especially like to thank Radiohead (most of all Colin Greenwood), Courtyard Management, Steve Martin of Nasty Little Man, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Deborah Borda, Adam Crane, Bjork, Scott Rodger, Valgeir Sigur6sson, Arni Heimir Ingólfsson, Ken Smith and Joanna Lee, Nick Frisch (an invaluable guide in Beijing), John Luther Adams, Hassan Ralph Williams, Joe Horowitz, Sebastian Ruth, Frank Salomon, Mitsuko Uchida, Leon Wieseltier, and Alex Abramovich, my Dylan road companion. I received scholarly counsel from Will Crutchfield, Drew Davies, Walter Everett, Walter Frisch, Luis Gago (who noticed the resemblance between Nina Simone’s “Strange Fruit” and “Der Doppelganger”), Christopher Gibbs, Philip Gossett, Wendy Heller, Andrew Patner, Ellen Rosand, Alexander Silbiger, and Richard Taruskin. Alex Star, Paula Puhak, Jason Shure, and Mike Vazquez, ex-WHRB DJs, converted me to punk rock, and Steven Johnson alerted me to Radiohead. The Goldstines—Josh, Stephanie, Eli, Theo, Danny, and Hilary-make trips west a joy. Ellen Pfeifer of the New England Conservatory and Jane Gottlieb of the Juilliard Library assisted with research inquiries. Jake Holmes, Peter Bartók, Sigríður Porgrímsdóttir, and Jeff Rosen of Special Rider Music were most generous with permissions.
Eric Chinski is again the book editor of my dreams; I am still reeling from the magnanimity that he showed in the making of The Rest Is Noise. Jonathan Galassi, Laurel Cook, and Jeff Seroy provided yet more vital support at FSG; Eugenie Cha elegantly disposed of nagging details; John McGhee was a quick, incisive copy editor; Charlotte Strick made another brilliant cover; Chris Peterson, the production editor, guided the book smartly to the end. Tina Bennett, my agent, continues to work magic on my behalf, as does Dorothy Vincent. William Robin, my assistant and fellow blogger, was hugely helpful in researching, checking, and fine-tuning the manuscript. Maulina, Bea, and Minnie brightened my days; Penelope is ever so missed. My parents; my brother, Christopher; and my beautiful husband, Jonathan, surrounded me with love.
INDEX
The index that appeared in the print version of this title does not match the pages of your eBook. Please use the search function on your eReading device to search for terms of interest. For your reference, the terms that appear in the print index are listed below.
Abbado, Claudio
Abert, Hermann
Abingdon School
ACT UP
Adams, Cynthia
Adams, John Coolidge: and John L. Adams; Hallelujah Junction (book); Harmonielehre; Harmonium; and L.A. Philharmonic; Naïve and Sentimental Music; El Nino; Nixon in China; and San Francisco Symphony
Adams, John Luther: background of; early style of; goes to Alaska; love of wilderness of; mature style of; personality of; works of: Always Very Soft; Clouds of Forgetting, Clouds of Unknawing; Dark Waves; Earth and the Great Weather; In the White Silence; The Place Where You Go to Listen; songbirdsongs; Strange and Sacred Noise; Veils
Adès, Thomas
Adorno, Theodor W.
Advocate (magazine)
Afrika Bambaataa
African-American music
Al Jazeera
Alary, Olivier
Alaska: environmental movement in; landscape of
Alden, Christopher
Alessandrini, Rinaldo
Allen, Woody
Alsop, Marin
Altman, Robert
Amadeus (play and film)
American Idol
AMM
Anderson, Marian: childhood of; Lincoln Memorial concert of; racism and; recordings of; voice of
Andreu, Paul
Ansermet, Ernest
Anti-Semitism
Aphex Twin
Apocalypse Now (Coppola)
applause
Apple (company); iPod
Aquinas, Thomas
Aranés, Juan: “Un sarao de la chacona,” ; recording of
Arditti Quartet
Aristotle
Armbrust, Kyle
Armstrong, Louis; “West End Blues,”
Árni Heimir Ingólfsson
Artists’ Club
Arts Florissants
Ashbery, John
Asmundur Jonsson
Atlanta Symphony
Aud the Deep-Minded
audience behavior
Autechre
Avie (label)
Ax, Emanuel
Azerrad, Michael
Babalon, Christoph de
Bach, Johann Sebastian; and Brahms; as first “classical” composer; lament and; religious beliefs of; works of: The Art of Fugue; Cantata No. 12, “Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen”; Cantata No. 82, “Ich habe genug”; Cantata No. 150, “Nach dir, Herr, verlanget mich”; Capriccio on the Departure of a Beloved Brother; Ciaccona in D Minor; “Crucifixus” from Mass in B Minor; Goldberg Variations; Partita No. 2 for violin; Passacaglia in C Minor; St. Matthew Passion
Bad Taste (label)
Baez, Joan
Ball, Gordon
Baltimore S
ymphony
Band
Banff Centre
Bangs, Lester
Bard College
Barnes, Denning
Barney, Matthew; float in Salvador Carnaval
Bartok, Béla; Concerto for Orchestra; transcribes bocet
Basement Tapes (Dylan)
basso lamento, see lament
basso ostinato
Battle, Kathleen
Bauernfeld, Eduard von
Bayreuth Festival
Bax, Arnold
Baxter, Bucky
Baxter, Carol
BBC
Beach Boys
beatboxing
Beatles; “A Day in the Life”; descending chromatic line in “Michelle”; “Helter Skelter”; “In My Life”; “Nowhere Man,” ; Sgt. Pepper; White Album
Beavis and Butt-Head
Beaux Arts Trio
Bechet, Sidney
Beckett, Samuel; Molloy
Beckham, David and Victoria
Beethoven, Ludwig van; Bernstein on; Brahms and; in China; late style of; recordings of; works of: An die ferne Geliebte; Choral Fantasy; Diabelli Variations; Für Elise; Piano Sonata No. 29, “Hammerklavier” ; Piano Sonata No. 32; Piano Trio No. 2,; Piano Trio No. 7, “Archduke”; Quartet No. 11, Serioso; Quartet No. 14; Symphony No. 1; Symphony No. 3, Eroica; Symphony No. 4; Symphony No. 5; Symphony No. 6, Pastorale; Symphony No. 7; Symphony No. 9; Thirty-two Variations in C Minor
Beijing: concerts in; education in; experimental music in; traditional music in
Beijing New Music Ensemble
Beilman, Benjamin
Bell, Joshua
Bell, Mark
Benjamin, Walter
Bennett, Richard Rodney
Berg, Alban; Lulu Suite; Quartet Opus 3, ; Wozzeck
Berganza, Teresa
Berger, Jonathan: Miracles and Mud
Berger, Karol
Bergonzi, Carlo
Berio, Luciano; Rendering
Berkeley Symphony
Berlin, Irving: “Alexander’s Ragtime Band”
Berliner, Emile
Berlin Philharmonic
Berlioz, Hector; Beatrice and Benedict; Symphonie Fantastique; Les Troyens
Bernstein, Leonard; and Beethoven’s Eroica; and New York Philharmonic; on Verdi
Bernstein, Richard
Berry, Chuck
Beta Band
Beyoncé
Bible: Chronicles; Job; Psalms; Revelation; Sermon on the Mount
Bieto, Calixto
Bilbao, Radiohead in
BIS (label)
Bishop, Walter, Jr.
Biss, Jonathan: at Marlboro; with Providence Quartet
Björk Guðmundsdóttir; background of; in Brazil; children of; classical influences of, ; creative process of; fame of; in London; lyrics of; at music school; in New York; and “Nordic idea,” ; personality of; voice of; works of: “Anchor Song”; “Cover Me”; Dancer in the Dark; Debut; “Desired Constellation,” ; “An Echo, a Stain,” ; Gling-Gló; Glora; Homogevcic; “Human Behavior”; “Hyper-ballad”; “Isobel”; “It’s in Our Hands”; “It’s Not up to You”; “I’ve Seen It All”; “Jóga,” ; Medúlla; “Modern Things”; “Mouth’s Cradle”; “Oceania”; “The Pleasure Is All Mine”; “Pluto”; Post; Selmasongs; “Submarine”; “Triumph of a Heart”; Vespertine; “Where Is the Line,” ; “Who Is It”
Blatz; “Fuk Shit Up”
blogs
Blood on the Tracks (Dylan)
Blossom Time (Stein)
blues; Dylan and
Blur
bocet
Boccherini, Luigi: Minuet
Boggs, Dock
Boito, Arrigo
Bonaparte, Napoleon
Bond, Justin
Bono
Borda, Deborah
Boretz, Benjamin
bossa nova
Boston Globe, The
Boston Lyric Opera
Boston Symphony
Boston University
Bostridge, Ian
Boulez, Pierre; and Cage; and NewYork Philharmonic; Le Marteau sans maître
Brahms, Johann Jakob (father)
Brahms, Johannes; argues with Mahler; and Bach; background of; and Beethoven; and chaconne; “classical” tendencies of; early works of; and Gypsy music; image of; late works of; melancholy of; personality of; recordings of; Schoenberg on; and Schubert; Clara Schumann and; Robert Schumann and; Wagner and; works of: Alto Rhapsody; Clarinet Quintet; Clarinet Sonatas; Clarinet Trio; “Es liebt sich so lieblich im Lenze,” ; Fantasias, Op. 116; Four Serious Songs; German Requiem; Hungarian dances; Intermezzos, Op. 117; Motets, Op. 74; Piano Concerto No. 1; Piano Pieces Opp. 118 and 119, Piano Quartet No. 1; Piano Quintet; Piano Sonata No. 1; Piano Trio No. 3; Serenade No. 2; Sextet No. 1; String Quintet No. 2; Symphony No. 1; Symphony No. 2; Symphony No. 3; Symphony No. 4; Violin Sonata No. 3
Branca, Glenn: Hallucination City
Braun, Margrit von
Braun, Wernher von
Braxton, Anthony
Brazil: bossa nova; Björk in
Bream, Julian
Brecht, Bertolt
Brendel, Alfred
Brinkmann, Reinhold
Britten, Benjamin: Peter Grimes; Phaedra
Brodsky, Joseph
Brokaw, Tom
Bronfman, Yefim
Brooklyn Philharmonic
Brown, Carolyn; Chance and Circumstance
Brown, Earle
Brown, James
Brown, Willie: “Future Blues”
Brown University
Bruckner, Anton: Brahms and; Symphony No. 8
Budapest Quartet
Budden, Julian
Bulgakov, Mikhail: The Master and Margarita
Bülow, Hans von
Bumbry, Grace
Burnham, Scott
Burton, Robert: The Anatomy of Melancholy
Busch, Adolf; recordings of
Busch, Herman
Busch Quartet
Bush, George H. W.
Bush, George W.
Butler, Keith
Butthole Surfers
Butt Trumpet
Buxtehude, Dietrich; Ciacona in E Minor
Byrds: “Eight Miles High”
Caccini, Giulio: Euridice
cadenza
Cage, John; and John Luther Adams; Asian influence on; background of; and Bjork; and Boulez; and chance; criticism of; and Merce Cunningham; death of; early style of; final years of; frugality of; homes of; humor of; influence of; and Joyce; and Manhattan; as mushroom collector; and noise; personality of; politics of; and prepared piano; radicalism of; recordings of; relationship to art world; and Schoenberg; sexuality of; and silence; and Tan Dun; television appearances by; works of: Black Mountain Piece; Concerto for Prepared Piano; Credo in Us; Europeras 1–5,; Four; 4’33”; HPSCHD; “Lecture on Nothing,”; Lecture on the Weather; Music for Marcel Duchamp; Music of Changes; Imaginary Landscape No. 4; Imaginary Landscape No. 5; “Other People Think”; Roaratorio; Ryoanji; Silence (book); Sonatas and Interludes; String Quartet in Four Parts; Theater Piece; Variations VII ; Water Music; Water Walk; Williams Mix
Cage, John Milton, Sr. (father)
Cage, Lucretia (mother)
Cage, Xenia Kashevaroff
Cairns, David
CalArts
Callas, Maria; Björkon; and Verdi
Cammarano, Salvadore
Campbell, Larry
Cantaloupe (label)
cantus firmus
Caplan, Elliot
Carnegie Hall
Carneiro, Joana
Carroll, Hattie
Carsick Cars
Carson, Johnny
Carter, Elliott: Eight Etudes and a Fantasy
Carter, Jimmy
Caruso, Enrico
Casals, Pablo
Case, Anna
Cash, Johnny
Cavalli, Francesco: Gli amori d’Apollo e di Dafne; Didone; lament and
Cavicchi, Daniel
> CBS
Cellini, Benvenuto
Centeno, Vanessa
Central Conservatory (Beijing)
Cervantes, Miguel de: La ilustre fregona
chacona
chaconne: and Bach; and Brahms; and Couperin; and Frescobaldi; and Gluck; and Ligeti; and Lully; and Monteverdi; and Mozart; and Purcell
Chaconne in D Minor, see Ciaccona
Chandler, Dorothy Buffum
Chandler Pavilion
Chang, Jeff
Chaplin, Charlie
Charles, Ray: “Hit the Road Jack”
Chávez, Hugo
Checchia, Anthony
Cheever, John
Chen Ping
Chen Qigang
Chen Xinyi
Chen Yi
Chéreau, Patrice
Chicago Symphony
“Chim Chim Cher-ee” (Sherman)
China: classical music in; cultural repression in; traditional music of
China National Symphony
China Philharmonic
Chopin, Frédéric
Chou When-chung
Christie, William
Christine of Lorraine
chromatic scale
Ciaccona in D Minor (Bach); recordings of
Ciara: “1, 2 Step”
Cincinnati Symphony
Clark, William Andrews, Jr.
classical music: African-Americans and; in America; in China; definitions of; ongoing death of; origins of “classical” mentality; Wagner’s dislike of
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