Art is meant to be uplifting

“Art,” announces Pat Buchanan to Charlie Rose, “is meant to be uplifting.”

What a relief!  After all these years I’d never realized that Art had a moral purpose.  No more need now to be upset by Shakespeare and Dostoevsky, Picasso and Goya, Stravinsky and Berg, Sophocles and Williams.  Pat has clarified the rules, set the noble standard.

Ned Rorem (2000) Lies: A Diary 1986-1999.  Cambridge: MA: Da Capo Press, p.290.

Posted

in

by

Greg

Tags:

, , ,

Featured Content

Einstein as a musician
“If I were not a physicist, I would probably be a musician. I often think in music. I live my daydreams in music. I see my life in terms of music… I get most joy in life out of music.” – Albert Einstein Cited in: Lyth, David (2019) The Road to Einstein’s Relativity. Boca Ranton: […]
Articles, papers, program notes
ARTICLES & PAPERS: PROGRAM NOTES:
The Rink
Title: The Rink (Silent film soundtrack) Composer: Greg Smith Performer: Greg Smith Instrumentation: Piano Product medium: MP3 soundtrack     Related products:     – The Rink – PDF score TRACK LISTING AND SAMPLES: TRACK TITLE LENGTH SAMPLE 1. Papa and Edna 0:55 2. Lunch order 2:03 3. Cocktails 1:34 4. Kitchen scurry 0:25 5. The flirty Mr and […]
Encouraging progress
“I have yet to find the man, however exalted his station, who did not do better work and put forth greater effort under a spirit of approval than under a spirit of criticism.” – Charles M. Schwab, American businessman Cited at Quotd.
Inspiration exists
“Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working.” -Pablo Picasso Cited at WikiQuote
Menken on the the strength of music
“It’s like, why move to Florida if you don’t like the sun?” says Menken when I visit his home in North Salem, an hour out of New York. “Music is a viscerally powerful medium, both on a bodily level and on an emotional level. There are intellectual components about it, but its basic strength comes […]
Beethoven’s piano
Franz Liszt owned Beethoven’s Broadwood piano.
It’s my apartment and I’ll play if I want to
Prokofiev and his family moved into a small top floor-apartments in Paris.  Prokofiev spent much time practicing a revised version of his second piano concerto (which was to be premiered 8 May 1924).  The apartment manager demanded that Prokofiev cease playing.  His wife Lina recalled Prokofiev’s response: All right then, you don’t want to hear […]
The musician’s contribution to the world
“As musicians, we are already doing something for the world … We make it more flowing? … Through music”. Pianist Lang Lang Shirley Apthorp, “Piano Man”, The Australian, May 14 2011.
Let My Tongue Be Silenced – Psalm 136 (137)
Title: Let my tongue be silenced Text: Psalm 136 (137) Composer: Greg Smith Instrumentation: SATB and piano (unison verses) Product medium: PDF score and part Sample: