Author Archives: Wendy Lesser

Making a Murderer

Not since I watched Errol Morris’s The Thin Blue Line, eons ago in a theater, have I been as powerfully affected by a documentary about the miscarriage of U.S. justice. And this time it came right into my house, courtesy of Netflix … Continue reading

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Bountiful Beethoven

Last week the Berlin Philharmoniker came to Carnegie Hall and played all nine Beethoven symphonies in the course of five nights. Two of the Times’s critics—Anthony Tommasini at the beginning of the cycle, and David Allen in his review at the … Continue reading

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Leila Josefowicz at Zankel

I first learned about Leila Josefowicz eight years ago, shortly before she won her MacArthur award, and because I was working on Shostakovich at the time, I acquired her recording of his notoriously difficult Violin Concerto No. 1.  It was a knockout, and I resolved … Continue reading

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A Full October

Once again I have been so frantically attending things that I’ve neglected the blog. Here, in summary form, is my attempt to catch up. A few of these items may reappear later in longer, printed essays. October 10 and 11: … Continue reading

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Pacifica Perfection

It’s no secret that the Pacifica Quartet is my favorite string quartet in the world, and this means I take every opportunity to see and hear them play. Yet as their September 30 date at Rockefeller University approached, I had my doubts. … Continue reading

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Orientalism on the Stage

By pure chance, I suppose, the first three performances I saw in New York this season were all afflicted with Orientalism, that hokey variety of East-West fusion which Edward Said brought to our collective attention a number of years ago. … Continue reading

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The Power of Performance

Last Saturday I attended yet another musical marathon, this one devoted to Schubert’s final year. He died in 1828 at the age of only thirty-one, in terrible health but with all his musical faculties working overtime. This I had learned, … Continue reading

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Translating the Past

Before we get to the end of July, I want to acknowledge the two most compelling art events I took in during the month of June.  One was a concert, the other a book, and both raised some interesting ideas … Continue reading

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Apu

One of the most rewarding things I’ve done in the past month is to see all three films in The Apu Trilogy for the first time in about forty years. They were showing at Film Forum in a beautifully restored … Continue reading

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Progress

Musically and dramatically, the production of The Rake’s Progress that I saw last night at the Met was practically perfect. From the moment Paul Appleby appeared onstage in the central role of Tom Rakewell—swinging his arms and shuffling his feet … Continue reading

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