QUOTE OF THE WEEK

From the desk of James Reel on Thursday, November 29th 2007 at 9:41

    I recently interviewed pianist Wu Han, co-artistic director of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and asked her why the society has launched its own CD label, even though it already has a download agreement with Deutsche Grammophon. She said, "I can’t imagine, after a concert, signing somebody ...

MESSIAH

From the desk of James Reel on Thursday, November 29th 2007 at 8:04

    We’ve been running a lot of underwriting credits for performances this weekend of Handel’s Messiah. Here’s some background on the concerts:

    Almost every year, Enrique Lasansky conducts performances of Handel's Messiah. Perhaps he's making up for lost time.
    "I had no exposure to it whatsoever ...

ST. LAWRENCE SWITCHEROO

From the desk of James Reel on Wednesday, November 28th 2007 at 6:51

    Tonight's Leo Rich Theater concert by the St. Lawrence String Quartet and pianist Stephen Prutsman, presented by the Arizona Friends of Chamber Music (of which I'm an officer), has some unfortunate changes. One of the quartet members won't be coming to town, because his father has just ...

SPARKS

From the desk of James Reel on Wednesday, November 28th 2007 at 6:45

    Last week, upon Amozon.com’s release of Kindle, its new e-book reader, I sent you to an old essay of mine about e-books, as well as Farhad Manjoo’s previews of the new device. Now Manjoo has a full-fledged review of it; here’s the gist:

    If you're ...

DANCING BOWS

From the desk of James Reel on Tuesday, November 27th 2007 at 7:02

    OK, here’s one for a very small audience: my piece in the current issue of Strings about bowing technique:

    The ancient Greeks knew of four elements: earth, air, fire, water. The periodic table of elements is a lot more crowded these days, but many dancers still reduce everything to ...

ALL IN THE FAMILY

From the desk of James Reel on Monday, November 26th 2007 at 7:26

    Last night I had dinner with actress Talia Shire (and nine other people). Toward the end of the meal, her son, actor Jason Schwartzman, called to find out how she’d done in that afternoon’s Chamber Music Plus Southwest show, in which she’d portrayed Fanny Mendelssohn (she was ...

THEY'VE GASLIGHTED SCROOGE

From the desk of James Reel on Friday, November 23rd 2007 at 7:13

    Here’s my effort to reduce my carbon footprint in the Tucson Weekly: a recycled review of a recycled show:

    The biggest trend this year has been talking about how we can each reduce our carbon footprint (talking about it, rather than actually doing it). One excellent way to go ...

KINDLING

From the desk of James Reel on Tuesday, November 20th 2007 at 7:37

    Amazon.com has unveiled an e-book reader called Kindle, which may finally be the commercially successful non-book book device that has been promised us by various seers and manufacturers for at least 10 years. You can see what Farhad Manjoo has to say about it here and here, although he ...

TSO TO RECORD

From the desk of James Reel on Tuesday, November 20th 2007 at 7:31

    The Tucson Symphony Orchestra will soon record its first commercial CD, it says here. I just wish the composer to be showcased were less justifiably obscure. (The first time the TSO played one of his pieces, a former orchestra employee mouthed to me from a couple of rows away, “Wasn ...

MOMADAY'S DAY

From the desk of James Reel on Monday, November 19th 2007 at 7:31

    N. Scott Momaday, who won the Pulitzer Prize in 1969 for his novel House Made of Dawn, is one of the recipients of the 2007 National Medal of Arts, presented last Thursday. Momaday is currently the poet laureate of Oklahoma, where he has a home; he also resides part-time in ...

REVIEW: LARA ST. JOHN/TUCSON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

From the desk of James Reel on Friday, November 16th 2007 at 9:27

    American orchestras have locked themselves into two concert formats: a very heavy overture/concerto/symphony routine, and a shlocky pops formula of hack arrangements than can be played after only one rehearsal, before backing up performers who have no natural place in the orchestra habitat. So it’s especially refreshing ...

WHY MINE IS A PAPERLESS OFFICE

From the desk of James Reel on Friday, November 16th 2007 at 7:15

    Without further comment, I advise you to read Douglas McLennan’s concise explanation of how newspapers have gotten so dumbed down.

SATIRE AND SEAFOOD

From the desk of James Reel on Thursday, November 15th 2007 at 9:03

    In the latest Tucson Weekly, I review two plays and one restaurant. Here’s my main point about the production of Stones in His Pocket at Beowulf Alley:

Director Susan Arnold doesn't slight the play's comedic elements, but she does seem more interested in the serious implications ...

FOUND IN TRANSLATION

From the desk of James Reel on Wednesday, November 14th 2007 at 7:35

    Join me on a journey into my archives, to save me the trouble of coming up with something new to write. Here's another of those essays I wrote for a literary e-zine nearly 10 years ago, so remember that anything I claim to be "current" or "recent" isn't ...

AS THE WEB SPINS

From the desk of James Reel on Tuesday, November 13th 2007 at 8:11

    A few days ago, a fellow in Canada was surfing the Web and stumbled upon my old Timid Soul’s Guide to Classical Music. This surfer sent the link to a music enthusiast (and attorney) in Washington, D.C., who subsequently contacted me with some kind words and hopes that ...

UNDER WRAPS

From the desk of James Reel on Friday, November 9th 2007 at 7:42

    National Public Radio is ashamed of classical music, its cultural mainstay since the network’s beginnings in the early 1970s. How can I say that? The classical presence is severely downplayed on the home page of the new NPR Music site. NPR describes this as “a free, multi-genre Web site ...

BACK IN BUSINESS

From the desk of James Reel on Thursday, November 8th 2007 at 8:31

    For the latest edition of the Tucson Weekly, I decided not just to preview a new production but look into the condition of the company that’s mounting it:

    After several months of production hiatus and an administrative makeover, Beowulf Alley Theatre is switching off the ghost light and illuminating ...

QUINZAINES DE PELERINAGE: SUISSE

From the desk of James Reel on Tuesday, November 6th 2007 at 10:56

    Back to work for me, after two weeks in Switzerland (off season, but still pricey). There, I trod upon a glacier, dined with an official from the Swiss ministry of culture, looked at books that are more than a thousand years old in a beautiful old library, and ate more ...