Virgil Thomson: Music Chronicles 1940-1954

"Virgil Thomson (1896-1989) was in a select category of composers — including Robert Schumann and Hector Berlioz — who wrote as well with words as with notes. Thomson’s phrasing was original, irreverent, intriguing to a broad audience and spot on. One of his reviews begins: “Even through the mud and sugar of Rachmaninoff’s Second Symphony, it was clear in Carnegie Hall last night that Karl Krueger is a virtuoso conductor.” There’s more quantity than quality in music criticism now, so it’s bracing to read someone authoritative, curious, unbound by genre and able to tell general readers what old and new music sounded like and why they should care."