Monthly Archives: March 1998

The Pursuit of Hippiness

Robert Ashley’s music offends me, insults my intelligence, wearies my posterior. Twice in my career as ear-for-hire I have been moved to issue a resonant “boo” at a public event. Once was at a Bang on a Can marathon concert … Continue reading

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Finnish Touches

It was Magnus Lindberg’s week: music long awaited, handsomely produced, agreeably if not ecstatically received. Finnish-born in 1958 – three days older than Esa-Pekka Salonen – Lindberg is already known here for some extraordinary works on disc, music of intense, … Continue reading

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Confession of a Bruckner Dodger

A few weeks ago I expressed some rude thoughts in this space concerning the program chosen for the Philharmonic debut concert of the young British conductor Daniel Harding. Specifically, I feared that a string-orchestra version of Anton Bruckner’s String Quintet, … Continue reading

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Under New Management

In the realm of symphony-orchestra management there was some delicious double talk last week. On Friday, The New York Times broke the story that Kurt Masur, who has led the New York Philharmonic since 1991 and brought it out of … Continue reading

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