On May 26, 2021, Mene Ukueberuwa addressed a gathering of the Young Friends of The New Criterion in New York. Listen to his remarks on the state of American journalism and what it means to do journalism well. Mene is introduced by Roger Kimball, Editor of The New Criterion, with prefatory remarks by Executive Editor James Panero.

Mene works as an editorial writer at The Wall Street Journal, where he covers the economy, taxes and regulation, and other hot topics. He joined the Journal in 2018 after stints at City Journal and The New Criterion, where he was a Hilton Kramer Fellow.

Jay provides a program of songs and arias about spring: a variety of composers and languages. And performers. Maria Callas and Ella Fitzgerald are among them. This is a wonderful category of music: rhapsodic, hopeful, giddy, appreciative. Spring it up.

Argento, “Spring,” from “Six Elizabethan Songs”

Hahn, “Le printemps”

Strauss, “Der Lenz”

Wagner, “Du bist der Lenz,” from “Die Walküre”

Rachmaninoff, “Spring Waters”

Saint-Säens, “Printemps qui commence,” from “Samson et Dalila”

Hoiby, “Always It’s Spring”

Rodgers & Hammerstein, “It Might As Well Be Spring”

James Panero, the Executive Editor of The New Criterion, reads the essay “The right angle,” his reflections on Isaak Walton’s “The Compleat Angler” from the June issue of The New Criterion.

In this episode, Jay begins with some playing by Maxim Lando, a teenage pianist. There is also a solo-violin piece by John Corigliano: “Stomp.” At the end, Jay pays tribute to Christa Ludwig, one of the greatest singers of all time, who has passed away at 93. In a life of interviewing, he has been starstruck very few times, he says. He was by Christa Ludwig.

Sibelius, Piano Sonata in F, Op. 12

Led Zeppelin / Maxim Lando, “Stairway to Heaven”

Glazunov, finale, Symphony No. 5, “Heroic”

Corigliano, “Stomp”

Mancini, Theme to “Peter Gunn”

Brahms, “Wie Melodien zieht es mir”

James Panero, the Executive Editor of The New Criterion, reads the essay “Man & beast,” his reflections on the zoo from the May issue of The New Criterion.

This episode ends with “Embraceable You,” the Gershwin song—but in a piano arrangement by Earl Wild. An extraordinary thing. The episode begins with some Bach—the same piece, more or less, two different ways. Jay also has some music by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, known by some as “the African Mahler.” There is a story, too, about French horn playing. Does your pulse race when you have a big solo? You bet it does. Much to savor here.

Bach, Prelude in E minor from Book I of “The Well-Tempered Clavier”

Bach-Siloti, Prelude in B minor

Coleridge-Taylor, Clarinet Quintet in F-sharp minor, Op. 10, first movement

Dove, “Departure,” from “Airport Scenes”

Tchaikovsky, Symphony No. 5, slow movement

Gershwin-Wild, “Embraceable You”

Roger Kimball, the Editor and Publisher of The New Criterion, discusses highlights of the April 2021 issue and reads from its opening pages.

“Like many adult pleasures, poetry is an acquired taste. We don’t grow up surrounded by it, the way we do pop music and movies, whose conventions become second nature. Rather, poetry is to our usual ways of reading and writing as classical music is to pop, or as ballet is to dancing at parties.”

That’s from “On ‘getting’ poetry,” a feature essay in the April 2021 issue by our poetry editor, Adam Kirsch. Adam joins James Panero to discuss the state of poetry and the special April poetry section, for which he served as lead editor.

James Panero, the Executive Editor of The New Criterion, reads his essay from the April issue of The New Criterion on the rehanging of The Frick Collection in the former home of the Whitney Museum.

Roger Kimball, the Editor and Publisher of The New Criterion, discusses highlights of the March 2021 issue and reads from its opening pages.