Most people who know anything about Erich Korngold know that he was a film composer. Some might also place him as the fin-de-siecle Viennese wunderkind that put the fear of God into Strauss.

My first contact with Korngold came as a graduate student, when I heard Gil Shaham’s recording of his violin concerto. What struck me about the music–particularly the first movement–was that it had nothing superfluous. It was perfect, polished, and immediately satisfying.

Philippe recorded it for Naxos.  My friend Raymond Bisha produced a podcast on Korngold for Naxos, which you can listen to on the Arkivmusic website.

If we waste our time on that musical painter of light Rachmaninov, we can do worse than to pay some attention to Korngold as well. Renee Fleming is singing his songs tomorrow night at Carnegie Hall, and I also suggest you listen to any one of the violin concerto recordings out there.

There are so many reasons to cancel your subscription to The New York Times. Alastair Macaulay is one. This might be another.

Maybe it’s Tommasini’s condescending tone (“I don’t do rankings”), or his ignorance of the music media that exists all around him (which contributes to the condescension), or his cloying set-up (that whole thing about the high-school student), but today’s how-to-make-a-top-ten-composers-list-if-you-really-want-to article annoyed me.

One of the goals of this article (I guess; it’s hard to say what’s going on) is to question assumptions about the canon. As an alternative, I suggest Benjamin Carlson’s series on the Atlantic’s web site, published last  spring.

Carlson can come off as a little didactic, but his list of instructions on how to listen to classical music can be helpful. For people new to Bach, Beethoven, and the boys, it provides a firm launch pad; for more experienced listeners, the list helps focus in on aspects of the music we take for granted. I found myself disagreeing with Carlson at times (he wrote three articles in all), but at least he gave me points to think about.

I may just be grumpy this morning. What do you think? You can
e-mail me if I’m full of beans.

Toot, Whistle, Plunk, Boom—the hippest music appreciation class ever–won the Academy Award for best short animated film in 1954; it was up against this:

There was some crazy stuff going on in the 1950s. Don’t let anyone tell you different.

Today’s the first day of Kwanzaa, the seven-day festival that black nationalist Maulana (Ron) Karenga started back in 1966. Each day celebrates a theme, and today’s is umoja, unity.

Karenga founded the US Organization in the wake of the 1964 Watts riots to build a positive, independent self-identity for African-Americans; the seven-point Nguzo Saba value system that Kwanzaa reflects was meant to help achieve this end.

Kwanzaa has a definite Afro-centric political bent (the Nguzo Saba principles are Swahili words), and Karenga designed it specifically as a secular cultural celebration that African-Americans could observe in conjunction with any religious holiday (it’s a common misconception that Kwanzaa is tied to a religion).

Across the US, a number of organizations are marking the start of Kwanzaa: in Charlotte, the Harvey B. Gantt Center has events planned from 1-5 PM; in New York City, the American Museum of Natural History, from 12-5 PM.