A dentist's musical Odyssey

A music lover's Odyssey: What my dad learned from his children

Most people develop a taste for serious music because their parents push them into it. In the case of my Dad the dentist, the opposite was true: He was introduced to classical music by his kids, albeit inadvertently.

Maria Thompson Corley

Jul 20, 2009 · Articles · 9 minute read

Tom Hunter's war photography

One perceptive teenage GI, armed with a camera

Tom Hunter enlisted in the U. S. Army the day after he graduated from high school in 2003. He didn't find a home in the Army, but he found his life's mission: documenting people, places and events that most of us will never experience.

Anne R. Fabbri

Jul 20, 2009 · Articles · 3 minute read

Timothy Rub's challenge

Here come the grownups: The good news about Timothy Rub

In a museum world that's preoccupied with entertainment aimed at mass audiences and schoolchildren, the Art Museum's new director Timothy Rub is a rare bird: an “object” man who delights in the act of seeing a work of art. He could conceivably teach the museum world how to regain the respect of mature art lovers and serious scholars. But he'll be swimming against the tide.

Victoria Skelly

Jul 14, 2009 · Articles · 5 minute read

LaBute's "The Shape of Things'

The goddess and the dork, and what else is new?

Neil LaBute's The Shape of Things purports to offer us a new take on a familiar literary theme: a man or woman trying to change in order to deserve someone else's love. But LaBute adds little to the theme, other than the shock of exquisite viciousness.

Jim Rutter

Jul 14, 2009 · Articles · 4 minute read

Ephemerality and the art of earthworks

Here today….

Why would an artist create a work that nature is certain to destroy— if not tomorrow, surely in a few months? Because an ephemeral work reminds us that nothing, not even art, can possibly last forever.

Victoria Skelly

Jul 14, 2009 · Articles · 3 minute read

Buxtehude Consort's religious cantatas

The case for summer music

In the last few years Philadelphia's music season has grown steadily shorter— until this year. Half a dozen music groups extended their seasons into June, and the Buxtehude Consort made its debut in a perfect setting. Good news for tourists and musicians alike.

Tom Purdom

Jul 14, 2009 · Articles · 3 minute read

Michael Mann's "Public Enemies'

Dillinger the doomed

In Michael Mann's crime films, the lines between good and bad are never clear. In his ambiguously titled Public Enemies, Mann suggests that the exuberant if bloody bank robber John Dillinger and the straitlaced G-men who pursued him were in many respects brothers under the skin.

Mark Wolverton

Jul 14, 2009 · Articles · 5 minute read

Billie Holiday after 50 years

She never wasted a note: Music's debt to Billie Holiday

Billie Holiday was less of a “pop star” (and much more of a true artist) than the likes of Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley and Michael Jackson. But I would argue that Billie Holiday deserves equal recognition as an icon of American music, and her legacy is timeless.

Victor L. Schermer

Jul 14, 2009 · Articles · 5 minute read

Composing music: A reply to Beeri Moalem

So you want to write about composing? A critic's reply to Beeri Moalem

Dan Coren, responding to Beeri Moalem's recent article, “So You Want To Compose Serious Music?”, finds it “a mishmash of half-baked ideas and some very odd perceptions of music history.”

Dan Coren

Jul 13, 2009 · Articles · 5 minute read

Something different: Ambient/space music

The music that dare not speak its name (because no one can pin it down)

Beethoven was inspired by Napoleon; now meet ambient/space music composer Jóhann Jóhannsson, who's inspired by Henry Ford. His genre is hard to define, but it can be challenging, inspiring, soothing, sometimes disturbing and often beautiful. And Philadelphia has become a center for this misunderstood innovative form of music.

Mark Wolverton

Jul 11, 2009 · Articles · 5 minute read