The last sentence prompted a question. If you were to compile a general syllabus for a curriculum of seriousness, what books or things would you include?

If I were to compile a general syllabus for a curriculum of seriousness, what books or things would I include?

Well, this is a tougher question than it appears. My first reaction would be to offer the consensus of right-thinking people—try to avoid making my list too much the product of one life or one mind. So I might suggest lists like the ones on CCEL and NR:

http://www.ccel.org/shortlist.html
http://www.nationalreview.com/script/printpage.p?ref=/flashback/flashback200510190827.asp

But that’s not what you asked. And you asked about books and things, which is important. I keep harping about the irrecoverability of a culture, the importance of conservation and the necessity of teaching our children, and I really do think this gets to the heart of the matter. I wouldn’t put the recordings of these master classes on any list of essential viewing in the same sense that I might put the legendary performances of Horowitz—except insofar as they do meet a real need: they give the laymen a glimpse into what the professionals are really doing.

Children growing up with Shelly Hamilton and Dino Kartsonakis (America’s Piano Showman) are not going to have a clue. And then you have CT which in its listing of Christmas recordings can come no closer to serious music and “classical” than Josh Groban.

To my mind this is the real problem. This will not produce a serious people. It’s not that the legendary performances won’t do their magic, but we have to have some understanding of the differences between what Barenboim does—which he himself calls “a way of life”—and what Dino does.

So my impromptu answer would be to make a curriculum out of both elements, art and criticism: videos, art classes & great paintings; master classes & legendary performances; piano lessons & trips to the Meyerson or Carnegie Hall; readings of Shakespeare & readings of Coleridge…

And this kind of comparison is not the sort of thing that makes a handy, useful list. I’ve attended master classes by Perlman, Galway, Rosand, Ricci, etc. To my recollection, Barenboim is the best at it, but if I were setting up a curriculum, it would be more important to have the balance and to make it work in your context (as with Olivia and Hilary Hahn).

I haven’t made too much of a collection of DVDs, but there is the Rostropovich cello suite recording where he addresses the seriousness of his work, there is a series of master classes of Ruggiero Ricci put out by the Strad Society w/ Bein&Fushi, there is The Art of the Violin, Art of the Piano, and Art of Conducting. But I’m not sure all of these get at what you want.

I’m not sure if I’ve understood your question or if this answers it. Feel free to correct my impression. But I do think that to teach seriousness, to have a “curriculum of seriousness”, we first have to climb out of this pop culture pit where Revelation and cartoons are indistinguishable.

Thank you. We'll have to look into the things you list.

I was just looking for any ideas of gobsmacking things that one might use on oneself or others.

It seems to me the main problem with getting out of the hole is complacency. We are too optimistic about ourselves, to willing to view things contentedly, too little disconcerted, too concerned about being nice to be honest. We could use a continual supply of gobsmackers.

Have you looked at this book: Counterpoints: 25 Years of The New Criterion on Culture and the Arts? I'm wondering if it has a few.

Thanks--this is very helpful.

I’ve not read 25 Years of…, but as a longtime subscriber to The New Criterion and avid reader of Kimball and especially Hilton Kramer (at one time John Simon was my go-to guy for the theater) I can’t imagine it is anything but good.

I’ll be more sensitive to what you’re looking for in the future and be a little quicker to devote a post to something I think may be helpful. But this thing by Barenboim is really good in that you can immediately hear the distinctions in the music, he is articulate and he is experienced. There are a lot of top-flight performers who can’t convey these things as well as Barenboim.

I didn’t even think to check this before this morning’s post, but there is some of this stuff on YouTube. Search under Barenboim Masterclasses.

Unk, don't you think Fundamentalism needs a resident Gobsmacker as well as a resident contemplative? Perhaps we could combine the office. It will be exempt from the rules and regulations of N.I.C.E., of course.

Dissidens,

This is the second, or perhaps third time I've taken you up on your recommendations and have been well pleased.

In my line of work, I have to buy materials for an institution that knows little of what it really wants or needs. My own expertise is slim, but borrowing brains and experiences helps. Students actually check out this stuff when we get it, and the Skunk Holler Bluegrass Praise Band stays on the shelf.

So, can we list you as a staff acquisitions consultant for the music recording section?

Well, first of all, I cannot imagine anything more alarming to your administration than that I should be any kind consultant for any part of your institution. Maybe we should keep this a secret?

But seriously, as I told Unk, I will keep an eye out for the sort of thing that might be of more general interest. I’ve generally been slow to do too much recommending because I hate to spend others’ money (especially students’) for something that might only be of topical interest. If something illustrated a point under discussion, I nervously recommended some things.

I’m not a good consumer of CDs (and especially DVDs). My wife is the ranking shopper in this house.

As a matter of fact, this DVD was a bit of a fluke. It was a fluke that I was watching—I think it was on PBS—a clip from these master classes. I looked it up casually and came away with the notion that it cost $190 or something. So I blew it off. Then some Christmas gift cards came along about the time Renfrow began marketing his rubbish. I knew there would be no use for that, so when my wife asked me if there was anything I wanted, she found this set for $22 and it rounded out an order that would include free shipping.

All of which is to say, I’m no authority. In the future I’ll try to be a little more chatty about what I’ve seen and come up with some sort of rating system. Maybe One Finger Down the Throat, Two Fingers Down the Throat, Two Thumbs Up….

As for being a staff acquisitions consultant, maybe we could do that—but you could list me as “George Soros” or something so as not to put your people in the cardiac ward.


P. S. Would my being a Staff Acquisitions Consultant include travel expenses to Leipzig, Prague and Budapest?

We will make you a sort of unofficial consultant. To do an official consultant proper justice would require trips to those European cities. Such trips, however, are difficult to keep secret from administration.

I will privily instruct the college bursar to send you checks of undiminished amounts of gratitude.

Thanks for the notice; I just ordered this through interlibrary loan.

I'm at Liberty University, so you can imagine the aesthetic dearth that is my collegiate environment (in general - there is the small cadre of classical musicians), and I appreciatee the recommendations.