Dan Erwin

Leonard Bernstein and the Hebdo Massacre in Paris

I happened to be listening to the elegiac and emotionally laden Andante of the Barber Violin Concerto when I was drawn to an article describing the New York Philharmonic’s response to the Hebdo massacre in Paris. The movement pits the warm brilliance of the violin against the hauntingly beautiful oboe, a never to be forgotten relationship that nearly always melts my heart. What should be the response of musicians to such evil?

Alan Gilbert, the music director, quoted the sadly timeless words of Leonard Bernstein after the assassination of President Kennedy in 1963: “This will be our reply to violence...

Movie: "The Lives of Others"

The best business people, say the editors of the Harvard Business Review, read great literature and observe great pieces of art. It’s an issue I will touch later in this post. But I owe my knowledge of The Lives of Others to my best friend, Liam O’Dea (Gen-Yer) and my youngest daughter, Kristin Erwin (Gen-Xer). The film won the 2006 Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. But somehow, it slept under my radar screen until yesterday when the two insisted I should see it. So, streaming from amazon.com, I watched last nite.

Some of the comments attached to reviews include: “Stunningly beautiful.” “Simply exquisite. A breath-taking film.” “It will leave you stunned by its Orwellian content.” “A triumph on every level.”

Anthony Lane’s first statement in his 2007 New Yorker review sets the context aptly: If there is any justice, this year’s Academy Award for best foreign-language film

Revisiting a Glorious Experience

Saturday’s Wall Street Journal had one of those occasional articles on a masterpiece.  This time it was comprised of pictures of King’s College Chapel at Cambridge University.  Fifteen years ago my wife and I joined friends on a sabbatical at Cambridge for Even Song at the chapel.  It was a glorious building, glorious service and music.  A never-to-be-forgotten experience.

It is from King's College where each year on Christmas Eve the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols is broadcast to millions of people around the world.

The Journal article is especially useful for the historical background of this late middle ages architectural masterpiece.  The chapel, as the writer indicates, is the product of royal favor, religious politics, civil wars, labor strife and superb craftsmanship.  In 1820 William Wordsworth referred to the chapel as “this immense and glorious work of fine intelligence.”  The article and pictures can be found here.

Enjoy.

Metallica, AC/DC, LedZeppelin, perhaps Billy Joel and Elton John. . .or??

I have an even better idea, although getting tickets may be tough.  The Marlboro Festival in Marlboro, Vermont.  It's where the elite classical music geniuses meet for the summer and perform every nite.  Marlboro has been compared to a "kibbutz, a hippie commune, Shangri-La, a cult (but a 'good one'), Princeton's Institute for Advanced Study, and George Orwell's Animal Farm, where 'all animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.'"

It was the most glorious experience of our 25th anniversary--and we went all over the East Coast to something like 15 festival concerts, including Tanglewood.  But Marlboro was two days of unbelievable performances with recent conservatory grads and the leading classical lights. 

One episode:  We were standing outside the barn (where the concerts take place), along with 75 - 100 others and the maestro, Rudolf Serkin, slowly walked down the hill toward the barn.  The conversations came almost to a complete stop in silent deference as he walked through the crowd.  But the performances? Oh my God.

The last day was a morning performance with strings, Serkin on the piano, orchestra and volunteer choir doing Beethoven's Choral Fantasy.  The nite before they'd asked for volunteer singers, and being a trained bass-baritone my wife suggested I go.  Shyly, I refused, an act I will rue until the day I die. 

Well, all this because the June 29 New Yorker has an enightening, even hilarious article on our beloved Marlboro:  The Music Mountain: What makes the Marlboro Festival so great?