Yesterday, Norman Lebrecht leaked that The New York Times has taken Allan Kozinn off the music-criticism beat. The news spread fast, and it did not go over well.

Robert Schwimmer started a petition almost immediately on change.org to reinstate Kozinn, and now has 899 signatories.  Fellow critics chimed in: Alex Ross expressed his disappointment; Tim Smith smelled a rat; Tim Page rambled on in the comments section of Lebrecht’s blog post.

As complimentary as people have been of Kozinn, the outcry is really as much about a general dissatisfaction with the Times‘s classical-music coverage as it is about this particular “reassignment.”
The comments section accompanying Lebrecht’s original post is loaded with Times-related animus. Pianist and From the Top host Christopher O’Riley, calling Kozinn a “level headed, agenda-free music critic,” took a clear shot at the Grey Lady: “the (sic) same cannot be said for the posers and pretenders who’ve come and gone (and now appear to be taking up residence) at The Times.”

The person taking up residence is, apparently, Zachary Woolfe. Lebrecht claims that the situation is “rooted entirely in the poison of internal politics” at the Times, and claims that it is a not-so-subtle attempt to install Woolfe as Anthony Tommasini’s heir apparent at the expense of Kozinn. Commenters piled on, criticizing Woolfe’s writing for being petty, overly critical, and just plain mean.

Kozinn’s own statement on Facebook confirming the change was entirely classy, yet telling in what it omitted. While making a point of mentioning fellow Times critic Steve Smith as one of his colleagues whose work he will follow, Kozinn made no mention of Tommasini, Woolfe, or any of the other classical-music writers.

When I was a publicist, Kozinn was always incredibly professional and collegial, and treated me with respect. That good naturedness is reflected in his writing: like Steve Smith, I always get the sense that he genuinely loves music, loves his job, and wants to share that love–free of condescension–with all of us. Give his recent piece on John Cage a read–with hope that Kozinn will do more like this as the Times‘s new culture reporter.

The recently approved “millage” that would provide $23 million a year over the next 10 years to the Detroit Institue of Arts was met with praise by Terry Teachout, who sees the small property tax as a creative and responsible way for an arts organization to raise funds:

To begin with, the DIA showed it was serious about money by slashing every thimbleful of fat out of its budget. It simultaneously showed itself to be responsive to the wishes of its patrons by undertaking an imaginative resinstallation of the museum’s permanent collection that was both user-friendly and artistically responsible. Then, when the DIA asked for public funding, it sweetened the pill with an equally imaginative free-admission plan that targeted not just Detroiters but local suburbanites. 

Not so fast, says Mark Stryker of the Detroit Press.

He points out that the resulting givebacks to the community–free admission for Wayne, Macomb, and Oakland county residents, and extended museum hours for school trips–would not only result in $4 million in lost revenue, but would also grow the overall budget from $25 million to $30 million.

The World Socialist Web Site is against the millage.

Diane Ragsdale gives a good round-up of responses to the Detroit Institute of Arts tax, and raises her own questions here.

What’s a millage? I’ll punt to Wikipedia.

Debussy’s 150th birthday was Wednesday; now’s as good a time as any to get to know more about him.

Last week, WQXR broadcast a series of programs dedicated to Debussy’s music for the piano, and you can hear them all on its website.

Also on WQXR.org is an interview with Pierre-Laurent Aimard. On his Telegraph blog, Stephen Hough discusses just how different Debussy and Ravel are.

Oxford University Press posted a biographical essay on its blog. Gramophone magazine has its own page devoted to Debussy, complete with a top-ten recordings list.

In October, Eastman School of Music hosts a month-long Debussy festival, and the Rochester Philharmonic performs the composer’s Petite suite and Fantaisie for Piano and Orchestra with Matthias Bamert and pianist Stefan Arnold.

Boy, you think you know a person. Her New York Times obituary notes that throughout the 1970s, Phyllis Diller performed as Dame Illya Dillya with over 100 orchestras. Janelle Gelfand, on the Cincinnati Enquirer website, recounted a 1972 appearance with the Pops and Erich Kunzel that included not just performances of Bach and Beethoven, but also Diller singing “The Ladies Who Lunch.”

In 1969, she played harpsichord with Liberace:

 Here she is playing saxophone on the Muppet Show:

If you can’t read, here’s NPR’s report on her death.

Phyllis Diller, Gong Show co-host (among other things), died this week.
So did Jerry Nelson, the voice of Count von Count who also had a role in Robocop 2. (Buzzfeed tribute with videos and GIFs here.)

Colony Music, housed in Times Square’s famous Brill building, will close in September, the same month that The Office starts its final season. And hippie-dippy weirdo label New Albion is going out of business too.