Samuel Lipman

1 week ago | newcriterion.com | Douglas Murray |Samuel Lipman |Heather Mac Donald |Brooke Allen

Recent stories of note:“To know or not to know”Costica Bradatan, The Times Literary SupplementMark Lilla’s recent book Ignorance and Bliss, a wandering exploration of the “will to ignorance” reviewed by Costica Bradatan in The Times Literary Supplement, begins with a version of Plato’s famous Allegory of the Cave. In this version, however, the man who is compelled to leave his shadowy bondage pities the condition of those around him and brings along a young boy.

1 week ago | newcriterion.com | Douglas Murray |Heather Mac Donald |Samuel Lipman |Brooke Allen

America, so the received wisdom goes, is home to five great orchestras: the New York Philharmonic, the symphony orchestras of Boston and Chicago, and the orchestras of Philadelphia and Cleveland. To this “Big Five,” one should rightly add the National Symphony Orchestra, which performs mainly at Washington’s recently newsworthy John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

2 weeks ago | newcriterion.com | Douglas Murray |Heather Mac Donald |Samuel Lipman |Brooke Allen

There is considerable irony in the upcoming events centering on Paul Cézanne in his hometown of Aix-en-Provence, France. Although today there is a large statue of the artist at the city’s central plaza, Place Charles De Gaulle, and the sidewalks are studded with medallions bearing the artist’s name and a large C encircling the city crest, Cézanne was virtually a stranger to his own municipality during his lifetime.

2 weeks ago | newcriterion.com | Douglas Murray |Heather Mac Donald |Samuel Lipman |Brooke Allen

Art:“A Home for Art” and “Closer Look at Turner’s Cologne, the Arrival of a Packet-Boat: Evening,” at the Frick Collection, New York (May 2): If you’re thinking of swinging by the newly reopened Frick Collection sometime this May, try this Friday evening, when two talks will add an extra dollop of learning to your visit.

2 weeks ago | newcriterion.com | Douglas Murray |Heather Mac Donald |Samuel Lipman |Brooke Allen

In the last few days, the New York Philharmonic has been conducted by Iván Fischer, the Hungarian. He is one of the Fabulous Fischer Brothers, the other being Ádám, also a conductor. Iván’s program with the Philharmonic consisted of Mozart on the first half and the Fischers’ fellow Hungarian, Béla Bartók, on the second. I attended Saturday night’s concert. The program began with an overture (a good way to begin): that to The Magic Flute. The orchestra started almost together.