Page 27 - Weiss, Jernej, ur./ed. 2024. Glasbena kritika – nekoč in danes ▪︎ Music Criticism – Yesterday and Today. Koper/Ljubljana: Založba Univerze na Primorskem in Festival Ljubljana. Studia musicologica Labacensia, 7
P. 27
classical music criticism: an american perspective
smaller groups, unknown young composers, enterprising projects in un-
likely locations. For example, in June, 2017, I wrote about Renée Fleming
and Alan Gilbert’s farewell appearances at the Met and the Philharmon-
ic; in the same month, I went to Rangely, Colorado, to see a defunct wa-
ter tank that has been converted into a hyper-resonant performance space.6
That zig-zag motion between the famous and the obscure exemplifies my
mission.
In addition to the columns, I have also undertaken a series of longer
essays, generally running around five thousand words, as well as profiles of
leading musicians and composers. The essays have often centered on ma-
jor composers of the repertory, from Hildegard von Bingen to Morton Feld-
man, with most of the familiar names appearing in between. My intention
in these articles is both to provide a kind of general introduction for lay
readers as well as to summarize recent developments in scholarship and in-
terpretation for the benefit of those who follow the field more closely. The
essays sometimes involve a fair degree of research, and I find myself in the
fortunate position of being able to pursue these projects over the course of
many months. In 2013, I published an article about the Afro-Swedish con-
tralto Luranah Aldridge, daughter of the great African American tragedian
Ira Aldridge; her name had almost vanished from history, and I was able to
reassemble traces of her career, including her surprising relationship with
the Wagner family and the Bayreuth Festival.7 The patient interest that my
editors show in these undertakings – I must name with gratitude Daniel
Zalewski and David Remnick – is something exceedingly rare in Ameri-
can journalism.
At the outset of my career, I could look back on a rich history of Amer-
ican music criticism, extending up to the present day in the extraordinari-
ly learned reviews of the English-born Andrew Porter, who wrote the New
Yorker’s Musical Events column from 1972 to 1992. Colleagues in both Eng-
land and America regarded him with awe: he heard everything, remem-
bered all, brought to bear profound cultural knowledge, and cast his im-
mense learning in an elegant, fluid style. His New Yorker columns were a
mesmerizing fusion of criticism, scholarship, and cultural commentary. He
would give the literary background of an opera libretto, delve into multiple
editions of the score, and recount its performance history before proceed-
6 Alex Ross, “Departures and Arrivals,” The New Yorker, July 3, 2017; Alex Ross, “Tank
Music,” The New Yorker, July 24, 2017.
7 Alex Ross, “Othello’s Daughter,” The New Yorker, July 22, 2013.
27
smaller groups, unknown young composers, enterprising projects in un-
likely locations. For example, in June, 2017, I wrote about Renée Fleming
and Alan Gilbert’s farewell appearances at the Met and the Philharmon-
ic; in the same month, I went to Rangely, Colorado, to see a defunct wa-
ter tank that has been converted into a hyper-resonant performance space.6
That zig-zag motion between the famous and the obscure exemplifies my
mission.
In addition to the columns, I have also undertaken a series of longer
essays, generally running around five thousand words, as well as profiles of
leading musicians and composers. The essays have often centered on ma-
jor composers of the repertory, from Hildegard von Bingen to Morton Feld-
man, with most of the familiar names appearing in between. My intention
in these articles is both to provide a kind of general introduction for lay
readers as well as to summarize recent developments in scholarship and in-
terpretation for the benefit of those who follow the field more closely. The
essays sometimes involve a fair degree of research, and I find myself in the
fortunate position of being able to pursue these projects over the course of
many months. In 2013, I published an article about the Afro-Swedish con-
tralto Luranah Aldridge, daughter of the great African American tragedian
Ira Aldridge; her name had almost vanished from history, and I was able to
reassemble traces of her career, including her surprising relationship with
the Wagner family and the Bayreuth Festival.7 The patient interest that my
editors show in these undertakings – I must name with gratitude Daniel
Zalewski and David Remnick – is something exceedingly rare in Ameri-
can journalism.
At the outset of my career, I could look back on a rich history of Amer-
ican music criticism, extending up to the present day in the extraordinari-
ly learned reviews of the English-born Andrew Porter, who wrote the New
Yorker’s Musical Events column from 1972 to 1992. Colleagues in both Eng-
land and America regarded him with awe: he heard everything, remem-
bered all, brought to bear profound cultural knowledge, and cast his im-
mense learning in an elegant, fluid style. His New Yorker columns were a
mesmerizing fusion of criticism, scholarship, and cultural commentary. He
would give the literary background of an opera libretto, delve into multiple
editions of the score, and recount its performance history before proceed-
6 Alex Ross, “Departures and Arrivals,” The New Yorker, July 3, 2017; Alex Ross, “Tank
Music,” The New Yorker, July 24, 2017.
7 Alex Ross, “Othello’s Daughter,” The New Yorker, July 22, 2013.
27
