Roger Kimball, the Editor and Publisher of The New Criterion, discusses highlights of the March 2023 issue and reads from its opening pages.

Robert Erickson and James Panero discuss Plutarch, plays, pastrami, and more. The second of our podcasts on the Hilton Kramer Fellowship.

The texts used in the New Criterion classics reading group are as follows:

—Histories, Herodotus, Landmark Edition, tr. Andrea L. Purvis, ed. Robert B. Strassler

—Persians, Aeschylus, tr. Janet Lembke & C. J. Herrington

—Theogony and Works & Days, Hesiod, tr. M. L. West

—Parallel Lives, Plutarch, tr. John Dryden, ed. Arthur Hugh Clough

—Metamorphoses, Ovid, tr. Charles Martin

—Aeneid, Vergil, tr. Sarah Ruden

Paul Johnson, the great English historian and journalist, passed away last month. Music was important in the life of Paul Johnson. Jay has arranged a little program, in tribute.

Mozart, Clarinet Concerto, first movement

Bruckner, Scherzo from Symphony No. 9

Brahms, Intermezzo in B-flat minor, Op. 117, No. 2

Mozart, Ave verum corpus

Nelson, “Crazy”

Mozart, Clarinet Quintet

Schumann, Finale from “Faschingsschwank aus Wien”

Kern & DeSylva, “Look for the Silver Lining”

Benjamin Riley and James Panero discuss the Hilton Kramer Fellowship, the bridges of Robert Adam, and what it takes to write for The New Criterion.

This is the first podcast in a series celebrating the tenth anniversary of the magazine’s Hilton Kramer Fellowship.

Roger Kimball, the Editor and Publisher of The New Criterion, discusses highlights of the February 2023 issue and reads from its opening pages.

Remarks from Harry Mount on the publication of his new book Et Tu, Brute? The Best Latin Lines Ever.

This episode features the “Nokia tune”—which actually comes from a Spanish guitar piece. We also have tributes to two late-greats: the clarinetist Stanley Drucker and the organist Frederick Swann. And music by Handel, Berkeley, Guillaume Connesson (b. 1970), et al. A wonderful assortment.

Poulenc, Sonata for Clarinet and Piano, last movement

Debussy, “La plus que lente”

Handel, “No, no, I’ll take no less,” from “Semele”

Tárrega, Gran Vals

Connesson, “Céléphaïs” from “Les Cités de Lovecraft”

Bach, Gigue from the French Suite No. 1 in D minor

Berkeley, Sonatina for Guitar, first movement

Elvey, arr., Swann, “Crown Him with Many Crowns”

Roger Kimball, the Editor and Publisher of The New Criterion, discusses highlights of the January 2023 issue and reads from its opening pages.

A Christmas podcast: with carols, songs, and other things from all over. Various musical presents under this Tannenbaum.

Bach, “Grosser Herr, o starker König,” from the Christmas Oratorio

Trad., “The First Noël”

Trad., “Joy to the World”

Rinker & Huddleston, “December”

Trad., “O du fröliche”

Trad., “Balulalow”

Trad., “Everywhere I Go, Somebody Talkin’ ’Bout Jesus”

Gruber and Mohr, “Silent Night”

Tormé & Wells, “The Christmas Song”

Trad., “Angels We Have Heard on High”

Bach, “Herr, wenn die stolzen Feinde schnauben,” from the Christmas Oratorio

As our heading suggests, Jay fills this episode with preludes and other short pieces, and songs—by Tchaikovsky, Debussy, Shostakovich, and others. A wonderful, filling assortment.

Shostakovich, Fugue in A major, from Preludes and Fugues, Op. 87

Debussy, “La fille aux cheveux de lin”

Debussy, “Minstrels”

Shostakovich, arr. Tsyganov, Prelude in D flat, Op. 34

Shostakovich, arr. Tsyganov, Prelude in C-sharp minor, Op. 34

Bach, arr. Kanneh-Mason, “Komm, süsser Tod”

Tchaikovsky, Scherzo, from “Souvenir d’un lieu cher”

Tchaikovsky, Mélodie, from “Souvenir d’un lieu cher”

Clarke, “The Cloths of Heaven”

Dunhill, “The Cloths of Heaven”

Debussy, arr. Hartmann, “La fille aux cheveux de lin”

Clarke, “Down by the Salley Gardens”

Trad., arr. Britten, “Down by the Salley Gardens”