It is a stunningly beautiful, clear day in Manhattan and all the healthy people stand around on Broadway in their jogging outfits at 9:42 am, quite smug. I elbow past their toned calves and $300 headphones, humming the Berg Chamber Concerto. In Starbucks a man demonstrates that good jeans and a T-shirt can be the [...]
ROMEO AND JUILLIARD a tragedy in 5 acts DRAMATIS PERSONAE Romeo, an entering freshman cellist of aspect fair and true; The Juilliard School, the redoubted music institution; Mercutio, Romeo’s friend, an Italian violinist, also a freshman; The Ghost of Dorothy DeLay; Candy, a ballerina of slender build and slenderer intellect; Mary, Queen of PreCollege; Igor [...]
3 am Prussia Cove, I am sitting in the candlelit refectory, chatting about who knows, after a concert and well-spiced lamb stew and Ashley’s Cornish ale and eccentric lyrical speeches by the festival’s father figure, Hilary, and a dubious reading of the Brahms A Major Piano Quartet… As I said, it’s 3 am, and the [...]
Day 1. First reading. Apparently the charming, devastatingly handsome pianist of the group (a certain Jeremy M. Denk, Esq.) is a wee grumpy. There is some disagreement about tempo, with the group dividing more or less strings vs. piano (how unusual!), which devolves further and further into animosity. When asked his opinion of a passage [...]
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