Nielsen Rating

I'm old enough to remember the tail-end of the Nielsen revival of the 1960s and 70s, so when Alex Ross recently opined that Nielsen was his choice for "most underrated composer of the twentieth century," I thought ... well, I won't say what I thought, except that I felt there might have been worthier candidates.

Thus you can imagine the jaundiced eye I gave Ross's recent New Yorker piece on Nielsen. But you know how it is with Ross: his brilliantly apt descriptions of the music get into your head, and you start hearing things differently. I just listened to a live performance of Nielsen's Violin Concerto with Leonidas Kavakos and the Frankfurt Radio Orchestra conducted by Nielsenist Paavo Järvi, informed by Ross's portrayal of Nielsen's aesthetic. The abrupt shifts of mood and rhythm, the echoes of folk music, the "blazing individuality"--they were all there, but I must thank Ross for allowing me to actually hear them, whereas before Nielsen's music only sounded like a very good example of the usual neo-Romantic sumptuosity.

The New York Philharmonic's conductor designate, Alan Gilbert, is, according to Ross, a Nielsen booster, so perhaps we New Yorkers have some exciting performances to look forward to.

I Play Assignment Editor

I'm just going to say it: Larissa MacFarquhar is the best profile-writer there is. No intellect is too forbidding, no cranky genius is too crazy, no idea is too recondite for her. Her recent profile of Louis Auchincloss--not online as far as I can tell--brought to life Auchincloss, his world, and his oeuvre, with subtlety and penetration.

So I began thinking ... whom I would like to see MacFarquhar profile next? And then I thought: Jaromir Jagr. OK, so you are thinking my hockey obsession has gotten the best of me. But hear me out. Jagr is the intellectual of hockey players. Who better than MacFarquhar to explain how he ticks, and, at the same time, illuminate the world of hockey?

It's late, and this could be one of those fevered ideas that will seem only embarrassing in the morning. But why not toss it out there into the noosphere and see what happens?

Vanishing Horizon?

The Horizon, Commentary's generally smart culture blog, is, according to a post on the site, on hiatus. I'm not sure whether that means it's taking a break or it's done. Readers are directed to Contentions, Commentary's more political-minded blog. Which is a pity. Political discussion, especially of the ideological variety, is so damned easy; everyone can do it, and everyone does do it, and we're all bored with it. But good culture writing is really hard, and, in the end, far more important than yet another take on some politician that will go stale quicker than a quart of milk. I'm sorry there is one less place for it.

Emendation

Last night I attended Otello at the Met, and I need to emend my earlier post, which was based on listening to the Sirius-cast two weeks ago. It was completely ridiculous of me to say that Botha's voice "coarsened" when he pushed it. Last night, in the house, it was clear that he could bring it with the best of them, his voice ringing out with real ping and resonance when he pushed it--as was clear from his confident, flawless "Esultate"; in the more tender moments he found a beautiful, expressive, effective mezza voce. As has been noted elsewhere, he really attended to Verdi's dynamic markings as best as any tenor can.

What I want to know: how soon can he sing Siegfried?