Author: ethanlitwin

Life-long New Yorker. Graduate of Duke University and Georgetown Law. Solicitor of England and Wales. Recognized by Chambers & Partners, The Legal 500, Global Competition Review, Super Lawyers and others as one of the leading antitrust litigators in the United States. Former Chairman and current Board member of Gingold Theatrical Group. Former Young Patron Board member at the Met Opera.

Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos

As I think is clear by now, Bach only needed a single instrument to create a complex world of sound.  You could study these for a lifetime and still hear new things every day.  That would have been enough, but, fortunately for us, Bach was Baroque to the core and liked it big and loud … Continue reading Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos →

Bach, The First Jazzman?

In the film High Society, Bing Crosby takes to the stage to educate "the great and the good" of Newport about the basics of jazz: Take some skins,Jazz begins,Take a bassSteady pace,Take a box,One that rocks,Take a blue horn New Orleans-born.Take a stickWith a lick,Take a bone,Dixie-grown,Take a spot,Cool and hot,Now you has jazz jazz … Continue reading Bach, The First Jazzman? →

Bach For the Heart; Bach for the Brain

Bach isn't solely music for the brain. For example, his Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue is a bit of exuberance, clearly meant for performance rather than intellectual analysis.  It’s a bloated, emotional, sprawling mess of virtuosity.  I love it to bits.  And, it is a bit of a Conversation for Liszt (which we will get to … Continue reading Bach For the Heart; Bach for the Brain →

A Light in the Darkness: Bach’s Goldberg Variations

The Goldberg Variations, composed towards the end of Bach’s life, are one of his “summation” works. In these works, and here on a single instrument no less, he presents the entire history of music, synthesizing diverse styles from Italian Aria to French Overture. Depending on how many of the repeats are taken, a performance can … Continue reading A Light in the Darkness: Bach’s Goldberg Variations →

A Musical Conversation in a Time of War

Sting released an accoustic version of his 1980s solo hit Russians in light of the war in Ukraine. It is, I think, a decided improvement on the original. https://youtu.be/r5qhS9Ic96A This new version, stripped of the lyric about President Reagan, is a bit more one-sided, but the message of universality remains the same. Perhaps this is … Continue reading A Musical Conversation in a Time of War →