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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Category Archives: The Lesser Blog
Back with Esa-Pekka!
No sooner had I bid a regretful adieu to Esa-Pekka Salonen, as he departed the Bay Area last June, than he reappeared in my life by way of the New York Philharmonic. And New Yorkers are not the only ones … Continue reading
Mark Morris at the Joyce
I tend to avoid the hot, muggy months in New York, so I have missed most of the Mark Morris company’s recent summer performances at the Joyce Theater. But this year I had to be in New York anyway in … Continue reading
This Past Month or So
It’s a truism, I suppose, that there is no such thing as listening objectively to music. But criticism is somehow built on the idea that the critic is doing exactly that—bringing her expertise to bear on the sounds emerging from … Continue reading
A Welcome Visit from the Danes
Sometimes I think I organize my geographical existence around the concert schedule of the Danish String Quartet. This is not actually true. What is true is that I once flew from California to New York to catch their Beethoven cycle … Continue reading
The Boycott
When I heard last month that the marvelous German violinist Christian Tetzlaff was canceling all his forthcoming U.S. concerts, my first reaction was “Good for him!” I am a big fan of everything he does—musically, socially, and politically—and I was … Continue reading
Chamber Music at Herbst and Hertz
Symphonic music may be about to take a nose-dive in San Francisco, due to the imminent departure of conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen, shamefully let go by the short-sighted administration of the S.F. Symphony. Chamber music, on the other hand, is still … Continue reading
Again with The Hard Nut
I have to say, I never tire of it. I must have seen this Mark Morris production at least a dozen times over the course of the past three decades, and each time I see something new in it. I … Continue reading