About
I decided to start a blog for three reasons:
1) People felt that there should be a part of the Threepenny website that was available only online, not in the printed magazine.
2) Some of the things I wanted to write about seemed as if they would benefit from a slightly more timely response than our usual quarterly publication permitted.
3) I was seeing and hearing so much interesting art — especially in the areas of dance and music, though also in literature, theater, and the visual arts — that I couldn't fit everything I wanted to say into The Threepenny Review without taking over the whole publication. And if you are not Diderot or Karl Kraus (and I am certainly neither), it is never a good idea to write the whole magazine yourself. But I figured the rules of blogs would allow me to monopolize one of those.
I struggled to come up with a good title for the blog and at first resisted using my own name, feeling (as those named Lesser are bound to feel) that diminishment is not necessarily a selling point. But then I figured that if people named Grudge or Drudge can use their names on websites, I should certainly not be abashed at calling this The Lesser Blog. So here it is, and I hope you enjoy it.
Wendy Lesser
Editor, The Threepenny Review-
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Author Archives: Wendy Lesser
Berlin Music Diary
All told, I attended eleven musical events over the course of three weeks. As is usual in my Berlin stays, none was a waste of time. Another way of putting it is that all were at least worth the 35 … Continue reading
A Photography Show in Berlin
As I hinted I was going to, I spent late April and early May in Berlin. Normally what I would be writing about here are the excellent concerts I attended—and don’t worry, I will get to them in a later … Continue reading
Bonding with the Audience
I have loved the Danish String Quartet ever since I first started listening to them, and I’ve already written about them once or twice in The Threepenny Review, as well as many times on this blog. I have no trouble … Continue reading
Looking at Love Again
A couple of weeks ago, I was able to get another glimpse of Mark Morris’s delightful tribute to Burt Bacharach songs, The Look of Love, which was playing for four days at BAM. This was actually my third encounter with … Continue reading
Youth and Age
It’s always great to return to Carnegie Hall with a bang, and I certainly got that thrill last week. I was able to attend two amazing concerts with two days of each other, each exemplifying something completely different about the … Continue reading
The Italians and Schubert
About fifteen years ago, when I was engaged in writing a book about Shostakovich’s quartets, I interviewed one of the Emerson Quartet violinists, Eugene Drucker, about the intense impact those works had on the audience. “When we put a Shostakovich … Continue reading
Rainy Days and Live Music
January was a dry spell—not so much in terms of the California winter rains (we had the normal level) but in terms of live concerts I could attend. I wasted away at home, watching endless Netflix serials, some of which … Continue reading
Delirious Pleasure
In most years—and this one was no exception—my favorite concert of the year is the appearance at Carnegie Hall of Harry Bicket and his English Concert, performing yet another Handel opera or oratorio. Last Sunday it was Rodelinda, which happens … Continue reading
Some Notes for Peace
Like everybody else, New Yorkers are feeling pretty terrible these days. It was with the hope of forgetting about the world’s problems, at least for a couple of hours, that I attended last week’s performance of Beethoven’s Violin Concerto at Geffen … Continue reading