One of the new crop of pianists featured in the article was Kiril Gerstein, who played the Liszt B-minor Piano Sonata last season at Merrill Auditorium under the auspices of Portland Ovations. Of course, Gerstein isnt exactly a wunderkind, having been born in 1979. The subject of virtuosity has been on my mind since attending the opening of the Salt Bay Chamberfest last week, where Wilhelmina Smith and Jennifer Koh played fiendishly difficult works for solo cello and violin by Esa-Pekka Salonen. Actually, Ive been thinking about virtuosity ever since attending a recital in Rochester, NY, many years ago with some Eastman School students, who referred to a visiting pianist as a poet — a term of contempt for anyone who, in their opinion, lacked sufficient technical ability. I hope things have … Read entire article »

Yes! Vindication! I am one of those people who cant read a book without flicking to the end to check whats going to happen, and it turns out that, rather than being an impatient idiot who is spoiling it for myself, actually I am very wise. Scientists say so, so it must be true. A study by Nicholas Christenfeld and Jonathan Leavitt of UC San Diegos psychology department, due to be published in the journal Psychological Science, gave subjects 12 short stories, by authors including Agatha Christie, Roald Dahl and John Updike. Some were presented in their classic form, others with spoiler paragraphs, with each version read by at least 30 people. And you know what? The spoiled readers actually had more fun. Subjects significantly preferred the spoiled versions of ironic-twist stories, … Read entire article »