Going Home

In a recent interview with Jonathon Van Maren, I was asked, given my life background, about the meaning of home. Part of my answer is below.

“To go back home really was going home, even though for us children, we also had the home where we grew up and the country to which we were grateful and of which we also felt a strong part, so there is a duality there. These questions to do with home and belonging are fascinating and difficult ones to identify and verbalize, because they seem to go right to our subconscious; to some innermost area that is not open for easy examination.””

Tending the Gardens of Music

Interesting re-post at Voegelin View of Jay Nordlinger’s survey of the classical scene, a long time before COVID. Some quotes worth re-reading today from David Shifrin, Joe Polisi, Marilyn Horne, and yours truly.

“They’re marketing singers as opera singers who aren’t opera singers! Andrea Bocelli, Charlotte Church …Whatever else they are – and a person may like them – they’re not opera singers. I let out a yell the other day, because I was doing the crossword puzzle, as I do daily, and one clue was ‘Tune for Bocelli.’ It turned out to be ‘aria,’ and I went, ‘&*@!’ I wish him well, and he has a place, but please don’t call him an opera singer”

— Marilyn Horne

LISTEN: Music, Truth, and Hope for the Future

Here’s a discussion I recently had with my young colleague, cellist (and writer) Justin Hall, on his delightfully named Notion Club podcast. We range across many big topics, and you can also hear some of the greatest F#-minor music: a snippet of my live performance with Mariinsky Orchestra of Shostakovich Fifth, and, at the end, my recording of Beethoven’s cosmic Hammerklavier.

WATCH: PROKOFIEV SONATAS 7 & 8

Première stream tomorrow: Solzhenitsyn plays Prokofiev Piano Sonatas 7 & 8

SOLZHENITSYN AND PROKOFIEV: THE WAR YEARS
IGNAT SOLZHENITSYN, PIANO

New post-concert conversation with Ignat Solzhenitsyn

Prokofiev: Piano Sonata No. 7 in B-flat Major, Op. 83; Piano Sonata No. 8 in B-flat Major, Op. 84

In the intimate Menil Collection, renowned pianist Ignat Solzhenitsyn performs two of Sergei Prokofiev’s monumental sonatas, written after the composer’s return home to Stalinist Russia following 18 years of exile. Solzhenitsyn joins Sarah Rothenberg in a post-concert discussion about growing up Russian in Vermont, the life and career of Prokofiev, and the life and work of the pianist’s father. Alexander Solzhenitsyn was the Nobel prize-winning author of One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, the historic publication that revealed life in the Stalinist gulag to the western world.

“Mr. Solzhenitsyn played with fearlessness and command.” – The New York Times

“In Solzhenitsyn’s hands, [Prokofiev’s sonatas] are varied and nuanced, with influences from Chopin to Poulenc contributing to some of Prokofiev’s most compelling moments.” – Philadelphia Inquirer

How it works: This event is free and registration is required. Several days before the stream, and again on the day of the event, you will receive the link to watch on YouTube live. Watch on demand for one week following the premiere. Members get an additional week of on-demand viewing, so join today, starting at $100.