Michael Linton

Why Classical Music Still Matters by Lawrence Kramer University of California Press, 251 pages, $24.95 It’s perhaps the most stunning comment I’ve ever read about music. Fairly early in his recent book Why Classical Music Still Matters , in an aside discussing the effort required to listen to . . . . Continue Reading »

In a recent daily article on the First Things website, Santiago Ramos writes about the New York Philharmonic’s February trip to Pyongyang, North Korea, and speculates that the performance of great music before the North Korean politicos will be a bit like a real life version of the cinematic . . . . Continue Reading »

It’s probably the best music in New York. OK, I’m not in New York, I’m in Tennessee. And, even if I were in New York, I wouldn’t be able to hear all the music in the city to say which was the best¯but I bet I’m right anyway. And I’m not talking about the . . . . Continue Reading »

Imagine a book on Renaissance art without any pictures. And I don’t mean without illustrations, I mean without any pictures. No frescos by Michelangelo, Madonnas by Raphael, springtime scenes by Botticelli, or even woodcuts by Dürer. We might have a few fragments of a bit of a panel by . . . . Continue Reading »

It’s big. No, I mean really BIG. And I’m not talking about the Burj Dubai , which when it reached 1,680 feet on July 21 became the tallest building on earth (and a thousand feet short of its completed height¯yes, I said a thousand ). I’m talking about that huge project on the . . . . Continue Reading »

With the failure of the immigration bill still causing murmurs across the nation, the topic of immigration, legal and illegal, has finally moved to the front burner of American politics. And while most frequently thought a problem in the big cities of such states as California, Arizona, and Texas, . . . . Continue Reading »

The Bible is coming to Rutherford County. Yes, the Tennessee home I share with both the photogenic hog that now graces the new editions of Charlotte’s Web and those teachers who, as a prank, told students on a camping trip that a crazed gunman was loose near their cabins—as well as the . . . . Continue Reading »

Wow. We didn’t know. The “Hallelujah Chorus” is a paean celebrating Titus’ sack of Jerusalem and the Christian’s God’s bloody vengeance upon the Jews. That was the New York Times’ Easter Sunday gift to its readers , courtesy of Swarthmore professor Michael . . . . Continue Reading »

Johann Sebastian Bach: Life and Work by martin geck harcourt, 752 pages, $40 The collected works of Johann Sebastian Bach take up slightly more than six feet of shelf space and, according to the list on ArkivMusic.com, are represented by almost five thousand recordings commercially available. . . . . Continue Reading »

“Balaam got up in the morning, saddled his donkey and went with the princes of Moab . . . ” ( Num. 22:21ff )Alexandra Pelosi, who took her handheld camcorder on the campaign trails of George W. Bush in 2000 ( Journeys with George , nominated for six Emmy Awards) and Democratic . . . . Continue Reading »