Musical Assumptions

I have loved Ilya Kaler's playing ever since his Schumann Violin Sonatas and Paganini Caprices on some early Naxos recordings arrived at the radio station where I worked at the end of the twentieth century. What a thrill it is to hear his particular old-world sound embrace Florence...

I asked the Canadian violinist/filmmaker Lara St. John if I could have a chance to see her new documentary, which was streaming, for a short time, only in Canada, and is, fortunately, having a handful of showings in a few select theaters in the United States. She made it possible for me to watch...

While we were on our usual walk of the hospital hallways yesterday, I noticed that the exercise room door was open, and inside was a young woman with a violin. Indeed it was part of a hospital musical program where they have musicians play in various locations on various days.

Our first experience with this was hearing Spanish and Brazilian music played by a guitarist in ...

Imagine my surprise when coming upon this passage in David Copperfield: "I came out to inquire whether Annie would like to go to the opera tonight," said Mr. Maldon, turning to her. "It's the last good night there will be, this season; and there's a singer there, whom she really ought to hear. She is perfectly exquisite. Besides which, she is so charmingly ugly," relapsin...

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