Essays
Below are some of my recent essays on music. To read my other writings, ponderings, diatribes, on topics other than music (politics, culture…at times the occasional baseball essay), check out my Substack: https://robrankin.substack.com/
At Mahler’s Grave
A Postcard from Grinzing
Why Mozart?
A Postcard from Salzburg
Score Studying
How and Why?
Ghost Writing
Why Does A.I. Music Pull The Wool Over Our Eyes?
What Do We Make Of Schoenberg?
Arnold Schoenberg and the Myth of Modern Music
Unfinished Work
Oliver Knussen’s long awaited ‘Cleveland Pictures’
The Trump Mix-Tape
The Use of Classical Music At Trump's Impromptu Dance Party
Beethoven Contemplates Nature
Then and Now: Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony
Reminiscing With Bernstein
Listening back to a childhood idol
Deceptive Tunes
Mozart and the art of lying beautifully
To Kajia Saariaho
Hail and farewell
The Last Dance
The Life and Death of New York's Savoy Ballroom
Safe and Sound
The Metropolitan Opera's New Interest In Contemporary Music