Description
Book SynopsisSamuel Lipman's essays passionately defend high culture against what he sees as its growing banalization and politicization.
Table of ContentsPart 1 Composers: music and Mao; why Kurt Weill?; American music - the years of hope; Lenny on our minds; Hugo Weisgall's six characters; a new look at Prokofiev. Part 2 Pianists: Rubinstein the great entertainer; Bartok at the piano; Keith Jarrett joins the Bach parade; the pupils of Clara Schumann and the uses of tradition; does the piano have a future? Part 3 Conductors: Willem Mengelberg at the Philharmonic; Pierre Monteux's success; Toscanini and the love of great music; Roger Norrington and authentic performance. Part 4 Critics and writers: James William Davison of ""The (London) Times""; James Huneker and America's musical coming-of-age; Edward Said, music critic; but if the artist fails? Part 5 Culture and society: Ivy Litvinov - the commissar's wife; the muse under Mussolini; say ""no"" to trash - Mapplethorpe and the nea; opera and politics; backward and downward with the arts.
