Once more, I have abused my platform as host of Q&A to ditch Q&A and do a music program: this one devoted to America, in honor of Independence Day. It’s about 25 minutes long. I have a mish-mash. Some Louis Moreau Gottschalk, some Scott Joplin (in collaboration with Louis Chauvin), some Aaron Copland, some Maurice Ravel. (Friendly foreigners are included too.) I close with two star-spangled singers, doing their things, incomparably. This is just a little gift, to America, from America, for us, and so on. Again, the podcast is here.
P.S. If you’re still hungry for the non-political, and would like to try some ballet, I have a couple of new pieces for you, at The New Criterion: one on Swan Lake and one on Romeo and Juliet. There’s also some ballet in the music podcast: excerpts from Copland’s Rodeo. One of the excerpts, “Hoe Down,” was used in those ads for beef, narrated by Robert Mitchum.
In Honor of Independence Day, a Podcast of American Music, Hosted by Jay Nordlinger