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-
Recent Posts
Archives
- December 2024 (3)
- November 2024 (1)
- October 2024 (3)
- June 2024 (1)
- May 2024 (2)
- April 2024 (3)
- March 2024 (2)
- February 2024 (1)
- December 2023 (1)
- November 2023 (1)
- October 2023 (1)
- September 2023 (1)
- July 2023 (1)
- June 2023 (1)
- May 2023 (1)
- March 2023 (1)
- February 2023 (1)
- October 2022 (1)
- March 2022 (1)
- November 2021 (2)
- August 2021 (1)
- July 2021 (1)
- May 2021 (1)
- October 2020 (1)
- June 2020 (1)
- March 2020 (2)
- February 2020 (2)
- January 2020 (1)
- November 2019 (1)
- October 2019 (1)
- September 2019 (1)
- July 2019 (1)
- May 2019 (2)
- April 2019 (2)
- March 2019 (2)
- December 2018 (1)
- November 2018 (1)
- October 2018 (1)
- September 2018 (1)
- August 2018 (1)
- July 2018 (2)
- May 2018 (1)
- April 2018 (1)
- March 2018 (1)
- February 2018 (1)
- January 2018 (2)
- December 2017 (1)
- November 2017 (1)
- October 2017 (2)
- September 2017 (1)
- July 2017 (1)
- May 2017 (1)
- April 2017 (1)
- March 2017 (2)
- February 2017 (2)
- January 2017 (1)
- December 2016 (1)
- November 2016 (1)
- October 2016 (2)
- September 2016 (2)
- July 2016 (1)
- June 2016 (1)
- May 2016 (1)
- April 2016 (1)
- March 2016 (2)
- February 2016 (2)
- January 2016 (1)
- December 2015 (1)
- November 2015 (3)
- October 2015 (1)
- September 2015 (1)
- August 2015 (1)
- July 2015 (1)
- May 2015 (2)
- April 2015 (2)
- January 2015 (2)
- November 2014 (1)
- October 2014 (2)
- September 2014 (2)
- August 2014 (2)
- June 2014 (3)
- May 2014 (1)
- April 2014 (4)
- February 2014 (2)
- January 2014 (1)
- December 2013 (2)
- November 2013 (4)
- October 2013 (1)
- September 2013 (2)
- August 2013 (3)
- July 2013 (3)
- January 2013 (1)
- May 2012 (1)
- March 2012 (1)
- October 2011 (1)
- April 2011 (1)
- January 2011 (1)
- December 2010 (1)
- August 2010 (1)
- May 2010 (1)
- March 2010 (1)
- February 2010 (2)
- December 2009 (1)
- November 2009 (2)
- September 2009 (1)
- April 2009 (1)
- December 2008 (1)
- October 2008 (1)
- May 2008 (1)
- March 2008 (1)
- February 2008 (1)
- November 2007 (1)
- June 2007 (1)
- March 2007 (1)
- January 2007 (1)
- October 2006 (1)
- September 2006 (1)
- July 2006 (1)
- June 2006 (1)
Tag Archives: schumann
Superlative Quintets
I am in Berlin now—a long-planned trip, so not an immediate reaction to November 5, but an escape nonetheless. It is good to be away, even if only for a short time, from the horrific goings-on I read about daily … Continue reading
Esa-Pekka Times Three
People I know were delighted when they learned, a couple of years ago, that Esa-Pekka Salonen had agreed to take over the leadership of the San Francisco Symphony. I too would have been delighted if I had known then what … Continue reading
Two in a Row
This past weekend was rather incredible. On Friday night I attended a chamber music concert at Carnegie Hall‘s Zankel auditorium that featured my favorite violinist in the world, Christian Tetzlaff. And on Saturday night—again at Carnegie, but this time in … Continue reading
Rattle’s Berlin Philharmonic
A great deal of what I know about music, it turns out, has accrued to me over the years through my attendance at Simon Rattle’s performances with the Berlin Philharmonic. When I first arrived in Berlin in 2003, Rattle had only recently taken … Continue reading
Great Performers
In this wintry New York spring, I have thus far managed to attend two Great Performers concerts at Lincoln Center. Both of them, not at all to my surprise, completely lived up to the series name. The first, on March 28, featured my favorite … Continue reading
Carnegie Hall
Sometimes I think that my main reason for spending a lot of time in New York is Carnegie Hall. The city boasts many other attractions: great dance performances, occasional good theater, several opera companies (including some very good small ones), excellent … Continue reading
A Stupendous Saturday
Living in a place like Berkeley, one can sometimes feel deprived of great music, as if it is all happening somewhere else, in the great capital cities of the world. But I have never, in New York or London or Berlin, had … Continue reading
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