Dear Osgoode — This issue is our last as co-editors-in-chief. We are excited to pass the baton to three of our senior editors: Tomislav Milos, Lauren Graham, and Alice Liu. They will be taking over the management of Obiter shortly, and we are confident that, in their hands, the paper will remain a forum for expression on issues that matter to the Osgoode community. We know, of course, that they...
The music of Maurice Ravel (1875-1937) is some of the most exquisitely crafted in the classical repertoire. The composer’s perfectionism is evinced by his small output. There are basically a handful or two of major works, and many of the orchestral pieces are simply arrangements of compositions for piano. But there are few, if any, duds. Take, for example, the String Quartet (1903). It is easy to...
It is often remarked that Prokofiev’s music started out spiky, and became more lyrical and harmonically conservative later on—especially after his return to Russia in the mid-1930s. While many of the earlier works are angular (e.g., the Scythian Suite) and many of the later works (e.g., Romeo and Juliet) are unabashedly melodious, there are also plenty of pieces that defy this categorization. For...
It may surprise you that many composers continue to write music in the classical tradition, broadly construed. One possible reason for the belief that the development of classical music ended some time ago is the “classical” label itself, which suggests that the category is historical. As well, it doesn’t help that “contemporary classical” is not really a coherent genre. Composers are engaging...
J.S. Bach hardly needs an introduction. I could have named the article “My Music: Bach” and you most likely would have known whom I was talking about—notwithstanding the fact that there are a number of other fine composers named Bach. Indeed, Bach’s reputation is such that, while his music is unquestionably great, I sometimes wonder whether he unfairly overshadows his contemporaries. Are we still...
Last issue, I suggested that Haydn—whose music is generally recognized for its technical mastery and historical significance—is still not played or listened to enough. This time, I turn to another (relatively) underrated composer, Francis Poulenc (1899-1963). Now, I suspect even Poulenc aficionados would not try to present him as an innovator or a jack of all trades. He did not influence...
Haydn’s music occupies a somewhat awkward place in the classical repertoire. Most musicians and listeners would include Haydn in the pantheon of great composers. But fewer, I think, would list him among their personal favourites, or their selections of the “greatest of the great” (see, e.g., the New York Times music critic Anthony Tommasini’s top 10 from 2011). Although he is by no means...
Obiter’s Survey of Books on China Continues At the heart of Canadian historian Timothy Brook’s new book, Great State: China and the World (Harper, 2020), is a desire to show that China’s interactions with the rest of the world—at least since the thirteenth century—have been varied and complex. Indeed, China did not exist in splendid isolation until being “opened up” in the eighteenth and...
Four More Books on China The internecine conflict between the Kuomintang (or Nationalists) and Communists defined Chinese politics for many decades. By the time the defeated Kuomintang fled to Taiwan in 1949, it had been going on for over 20 years—intermittently at first, and as a full-scale civil war from 1945. Thereafter, it continued as a mostly cold, very occasionally hot war before settling...
Four More Books on China The internecine conflict between the Kuomintang (or Nationalists) and Communists defined Chinese politics for many decades. By the time the defeated Kuomintang fled to Taiwan in 1949, it had been going on for over 20 years—intermittently at first, and as a full-scale civil war from 1945. Thereafter, it continued as a mostly cold, very occasionally hot war before settling...
Four More Books on China The internecine conflict between the Kuomintang (or Nationalists) and Communists defined Chinese politics for many decades. By the time the defeated Kuomintang fled to Taiwan in 1949, it had been going on for over 20 years—intermittently at first, and as a full-scale civil war from 1945. Thereafter, it continued as a mostly cold, very occasionally hot war before settling...
Taiwanese-Australian violinist at Koerner Hall with pianist Julio Elizalde The classical world finds itself in an odd predicament right now: it has a dearth of young audience members and a surfeit of young performers. Every now and then, we read op-eds pronouncing the imminent collapse of the industry, inevitable because of the greying of the consumer class. The malaise is attributed to various...
A Refresher Dear readers, Obiter Dicta is deeply committed to freedom of expression. We make an effort to present divergent viewpoints on a number of contentious issues. We also welcome responses – particularly written ones – by readers. It may be self-evident that the management of the paper does not endorse all of the viewpoints expressed in our pages, but we feel the need to reiterate that...
Four Books on Hong Kong My original intention was to do a follow-up piece to “A Modern China Reader”, which appeared on the back page of our January 22, 2019 issue. In that article, I recommended five books that I thought were good gateways into modern Chinese — that is, mainland Chinese — history and politics: Jonathan Spence’s The Search for Modern China (3rd ed.), Julia Lovell’s The Opium War...
Capping Off Year 1 for Gimeno, 10 for New Orford Summer is usually dry season for classical music in Toronto. The performance calendar ends in June, and musicians disperse to various summer festivals. Audiences follow. Some, like Verbier, have become tourist attractions in their own right. These festivals — with the notable exception of the Proms in London — are nice for those audience members...