Beethoven & the Pianists by Samuel Lipman The good news on the classical-music front is that the 32 Beethoven Piano Sonatas are still being played in concert…
A New Masterpiece by Samuel Lipman The 1980 New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians described the American modernist Hugo Weisgall (born 1912) as “perhaps America's…
Furtwingler and the Nazis by Samuel Lipman The controversy surrounding the career of the German conductor Wilhelm Furtwängler (1886-1954) refuses to die.
“Ghosts” and American Opera by Samuel Lipman This past December, the Metropolitan Opera of New York, the only music-performance institution in the United States now prospering financially,…
The Second Death of Leon Klinghoffer by Samuel Lipman On October 7, 1985, the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro, while on its way from Alexandria to Port Said, was…
Musical Competitions by Samuel Lipman There is only one criterion by which the stature of a music-performance competition can be judged: the ability to provide…
Charity Begins at Home, by Teresa Odendahl by Samuel Lipman Most people regard philanthropy—the giving away of one's own resources to worthy causes—as a virtue.
Where the New Music Went Wrong by Samuel Lipman Bare ruin'd choirs, where late the sweet birds sang. —Shakespeare, Sonnet 73
Backward & Downward With the Arts by Samuel Lipman This spring and summer will witness a bitter fight in Congress, and perhaps even across the country, over the quinquennial…
Cutting Beethoven Down to Size by Samuel Lipman By the 1970's, the struggle between the "moderns" and the "romantics" of classical music had degenerated into a generalized cult…
Does the Piano Have a Future? by Samuel Lipman It is unclear how long the piano will be around. To understand what the piano has been in the past…
A New Look at Prokofiev by Samuel Lipman There have been three great modern Russian composers: Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971), Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975), and Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953). Prokofiev began…
