A Day With Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy
Ever wonder what it would have been like to spend a day with, say, Felix Mendelssoh? Especially a day when Robert Schumann shows up? George Sampson did just that, and set down the experience for posterity.
Departments
‘You’ve Got To Chase the String While You Can’: Paula Poundstone Gains Wisdom From Her Vast Squadron Of Cats
Paula Poundstone has 16 cats. She loves cats. In the new installment of Talking Animals, the 'Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me' mainstay explains the invaluable lesson she's learned from her felines: 'You've got to chase the string while you can. It's deep, isn't it?'
A Woody Guthrie Centennial Moment: Woody and Moses
Folkways founder MOSES ASCH regarded WOODY GUTHRIE as a meaningful artist, but Woody's undisciplined ways agitated him. A look at how two strong personalities meshed during a period when Woody recorded his most important music.
It’s Got That Swing…: Alexandre Tharaud’s <i>Swinging Paris Le Boeuf Sur le Toit</i>
Recalling the glory days in the 1920s of the famed Paris nightspot Le Boeuf Sur le Toit, French classical pianist Alexandre Tharaud offers a program of material you might have heard in the club when it was sizzling, ranging from Ravel to Gershwin to W.C.…
NASA’S Fermi Measures Cosmic ‘Fog’ Produced by Ancient Starlight
Astronomers using data from NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope have made the most accurate measurement of starlight in the universe and used it to establish the total amount of light from all of the stars that have ever shone. Also, a review and free download…
The Cautionary Tale of Jenny Wren
From his last published novel, Our Mutual Friend, comes the tale of Jenny Wren, a character Dickens uses to illustrate the damage adult alcoholics inflict on their offspring. Vividly drawn, altogether unforgettable, and the inspiration for a wonderful Paul McCartney song in 2005.
Rocketship X-M
DEEP ROOTS THEATER: Now playiing--Rocketship X-M, a 1950 sci-fi opus starring Lloyd Bridges in a script by blacklisted screenwriter Dalton Trumbo that subtly proselytizes against the hazards of nuclear at a time when The Bomb was casting a large shadow over civilization. The film's eerie…
Rossini on Rossini, Byron on Rossini
From his 1886 book From Mozart to Marvio V1: Reminiscences of a Half Century, Louis Engel discloses the composer Giochino Rossini's slightly jaundiced view of his own legacy; in correspondence to two friends in 1818, Lord Byron describes an amusing encounter with Rossini.
A Master Returns to Bach, With Glorious Results
As a young pianist, András Schiff earned wide esteem for his 1980s recordings of the major keyboard works of J.S. Bach; in recent years, as part of his long-term relationship with ECM, he has gone back to Bach as a sage veteran, earning more acclaim…
Farm Bill Update
The fate of the Farm Bill, the effects of its not being passed, and wither the conservation compliance provisions? Plus, a statement in support of Conservation Compliance by the American Farmland Trust.