The New Criterion

James Panero reads “Like a Rock,” his Letter from Plymouth in the November 2020 issue of The New Criterion.

That’s what Dido sings in Purcell’s opera, about her and Aeneas: “Remember me!” Jay is reminded of this when filling out forms on the Internet. In this episode, he plays Dido, plus Charlie Parker, Franz Schmidt, Leonard Bernstein, Lyle Lovett, and others. An unusually eclectic show—which also brings the Op. 1 by a young woman from Las Vegas: a “quarantine rag.” Trad., “The Parting Glass” Parker or Davis, “Donna Lee” Verdi, “Parmi veder le lagrime,” from Verdi’s “Rigoletto” “Glow-Worm” Schmidt, Adagio from Quintet in A major Mosca, Kristen, “Quarantine Rag” Bernstein, “I Am Easily Assimilated,” from “Candide” Lovett, “If I Had a Boat” Purcell, “Dido’s Lament,” from “Dido and Aeneas”

Roger Kimball, the Editor and Publisher of The New Criterion, discusses highlights of the October 2020 issue and reads from its opening pages.

That’s a lot to promise in one humble music podcast, isn’t it? Greatness, consolation, and transcendence? But it is truth in advertising. Handel, “Dopo notte atra e funesta,” from Handel’s “Ariodante” Pärt, “Cantus in Memory of Benjamin Britten” Mozart, Clarinet Concerto Trad., “Shenandoah” Brahms, Piano Trio No. 1 in B major, Op. 8 Bach, “Mache dich, mein Herze, rein,” from St. Matthew Passion

Mozart wrote his “Orphanage Mass” when he was twelve. Pretty good. Mendelssohn wrote his Octet in E flat when he was sixteen. Really good. Jay provides excerpts from these works, and also presents Chopin and Argerich, Strauss and Davidsen, and more. As the episode begins with Mozart, it ends with Mozart: a heavenly soprano aria from some vespers. You could well nigh ascend. Mozart, Mass in C minor (“Waisenhausmesse”), K. 139 Mendelssohn, Octet in E flat Chopin, Largo, Piano Sonata No. 3 in B minor, Op. 58 Strauss, “Cäcilie” Strauss, “Ruhe, meine Seele!” Mozart, “Laudate Dominum omnes gentes,” from “Vesperae solennes de confessore”

That is a line from a hymn. Jay says it must apply to Bach’s Cello Suites, which players of that instrument get to live with all life long — through good times and (maybe most important) bad. Of course, all of the pieces on this program may be called “great companions”: from the pens of composers famous and obscure. An appetizing, companionable episode. Bach, Allegro assai, Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 Bach-Rachmaninoff, Preludio, Violin Partita in E major Tchaikovsky-Wild, Pas de quatre, “Swan Lake” Bach, Sarabande, Cello Suite in C minor Mancini, “Quanto dolce è quell’ardore” Dalza, “Calata ala spagnola” Monteverdi, “Quel sguardo sdegnosetto” Price, F., “Down a Southern Lane” Trad., arr. F. Price, “My Soul’s Been Anchored in the Lord”

Roger Kimball, the Editor and Publisher of The New Criterion, discusses highlights of the September 2020 issue and reads from its opening pages.

Jay begins with a gigue, a jig, by Leclair. We also have Haydn, Brahms, and Penderecki. (The Brahms is played by Leon Fleisher, the great American pianist who has died in recent days.) There are also two items from the American Songbook — one of them sung by Jack Teagarden, the other by Frank Sinatra. This episode ends with a spiritual, a powerhouse. Leclair, Jean - Marie the Elder, Gigue from the Violin Concerto in B flat, Op. 10, No. 1 Haydn, Presto from Piano Sonata in G, H. XVI:40 McHugh/Adamson, “ Where Are You? ” Penderecki, Chaconne from “Polish Requiem” Brahms, Rondo from Piano Concerto No. 1 in D minor Whiting/Mercer, “Too Marvelous for Words” Trad., “Soon I Will Be Done with the Trouble of the World” (sung in recital by Latonia Moore)

James Panero, the Executive Editor of The New Criterion, discusses the pathology of recent protests and the impending demise of Teddy Roosevelt’s statue at the American Museum of Natural History. https://newcriterion.com/issues/2020/9/a-classical-illness

The title of this episode pretty much tells the story: Jay discusses, plays, and celebrates piano duets. Schubert, “Marche militaire” No. 1 in D major, Op. 51, No. 1 Debussy, “En bateau,” from the “Petite Suite” Mendelssohn, Andante and Allegro brillante, Op. 92 Mozart, Concerto for Two Pianos in E flat

Actually, Jay says “an ingenious, joyful jolt.” He is speaking of the Toccata in G by Théodore Dubois. That’s how the podcast begins. We also get Grieg (and a memory of a TV game show, long ago). Lead Belly (singing “Study War No More”). Mozart, Hahn, and “America” — a fugue on “America,” which is also known as “My Country, ’Tis of Thee” (and as “God Save the Queen” by some of our cousins). Dubois, Toccata in G Grieg, “Morning Mood” from “Peer Gynt” Trad., “Study War No More” Mozart, “Soave sia il vento” from “Così fan tutte” Hahn, Danse, Piano Concerto Thayer, Fugue on “America” from the Organ Sonata No. 2

In honor of Independence Day, Jay does an all American program: ending with “Plenty Good Room,” the spiritual. He begins with some ballet, cowboy style: “Hoe Down” (Copland). Along the way, we have songs, piano pieces, an aria, some bluegrass—Happy Fourth, to all. Copland, “Hoe-Down,” from “Rodeo” MacDowell, “By a Meadow Brook,” from “Woodland Sketches” Beach, “Ah, Love, but a Day” Wheeler, Scott, “Isolation Rag” Hoiby, “Lady of the Harbor” Meyer, Edgar, et al. (?), “Death by Triple Fiddle” Floyd, “Ain’t It a Pretty Night?” from “Susannah” Gershwin-Heifetz, Prelude in C-sharp Minor Trad., “Plenty Good Room”

This episode begins with a shout -- “a shout of joy on the organ,” Jay says. It also has a poem, written and recited by Langston Hughes. And a song, setting that same poem. The episode includes a little Broadway -- and other curiosities, finds, and wonders. Enjoy “music for a while.“ Hughes-Manz, “God of Grace and God of Glory” Langston Hughes, “I, Too” Margaret Bonds, “I, Too” Frederic Rzewski, “The People United Will Never Be Defeated!” Coleman-Stewart, “Thank God I’m Old” Herbert Murrill, “Carillon” Handel, “O Lord, whose mercies numberless,” from “Saul” Trad., arr. Bonds, “This Little Light o’ Mine”

In a new podcast from The New Criterion, Eric Gibson and James Panero discuss sculpture in exile and culture under siege. Eric Gibson's book "The Necessity of Sculpture: Selected Essays and Criticism, 1985–2019" can be found at https://newcriterion.com/bookstore?mode=criterion. Cover photo: the recently defaced Robert Gould Shaw Memorial in Boston, Massachusetts, depicting Shaw and the 54th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, an African-American regiment during the Civil War.

“Got a real smorgasbord for you,” says Jay—“even more than usual. An almost wacky variety.” He begins with Rachmaninoff, turns to Satie, then to a classic American song, then to Satie again, then to Penderecki, and on to Fauré and Busoni (no, not Bach-Busoni). Some interesting issues, points, personalities, and, of course, music. Rachmaninoff, “Spring Waters” Satie, “Vexations” Androzzo, Alma Bazel, “If I Can Help Somebody” Satie, “Gymnopédie” Penderecki, “La Follia” Fauré, “Le secret” Busoni, “Berceuse”

Roger Kimball, the Editor and Publisher of The New Criterion, discusses highlights of the June 2020 issue and reads from its opening pages.

Jay begins with some festive music: specifically, the “Festive Overture” of Shostakovich. He has a showtune: “Some Other Time.” He has an Aretha Franklin hit, about zoomin’. He has a spiritual: “Ain’t Got Time to Die.” Some French organ music. And more. He ends with Karel Ančerl, the great Czech conductor who endured horror and produced much beauty and brilliance. Tracks played: Shostakovich, “Festive Overture” Bernstein and Comden & Green, “Some Other Time,” from “On the Town” Aretha Franklin et al., “Who’s Zoomin’ Who?” Trad., “Ain’t Got Time to Die” Guilmant, March on a Theme by Handel Tchaikovsky, “Garland Waltz” from “Sleeping Beauty” Mahler, Symphony No. 9, final movement

James Panero, the Executive Editor of The New Criterion, reconsiders the Gilded Age author Anna Bowman Dodd and her uncanny predictions about the future.

Jay plays some music by a Bach son. There is also Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Saint-Saëns, and other composers. The episode ends with a tribute to Rosalind Elias, the late American mezzo-soprano: the thirteenth and last child of Lebanese immigrants. Tracks played: Bach, Carl Philipp Emanuel, Rondo II in C minor Saint-Saëns, “Aimons-nous” Beethoven, Sonata for Piano and Violin in G major, Op. 3, No. 3, final movement Hahn, “À Chloris” Dohnányi, Serenade in C Wolf, “Benedeit die sel’ge Mutter” Tchaikovsky, String Sextet in D minor, “Souvenir de Florence” Verdi, “Stride la vampa,” from “Il trovatore”

Roger Kimball, the Editor and Publisher of The New Criterion, discusses highlights of the May 2020 issue and reads from its opening pages.