Alex Ross at the Fitzgerald last night
Alex Ross’s appearance at the Fitzgerald with Fred Child and the Turtle Island String Quartet last night was excellent. I wish it could have been twice as long (maybe on successive nights) so he could have covered more of the book.
For example, I wish he could have talked about the “Death Fugue” chapter, which I found especially fascinating. What does it mean when someone like Hitler is an appreciative (and knowledgeable) classical music (or just music, for that matter) fan? They did talk about Shostakovich and Stalin however.
Anyway, the last bit of the talk about the current state of music was excellent and I’m sure very inspiring for young composers. Me, if I were a young composer, I’d want to be a Milton Babbitt “Who Cares If You Listen”-noise rock composer.
Ross is appearing next on Nov. 10 at the Miami Book Fair (details TBA). For more details on the book tour, go here.