Entries by Peter Cates

PLATTER PERSPECTIVE: Christina Rossetti

by Peter Cates Christina Rossetti Christina Rossetti (1830-1894) has in recent years become my favorite poet. She wrote with a spiritually transcendent perspective born out of her love of the Creator, of her involvement in the Anglican Church, of her fascination with nature and of her acute awareness that life in this world is very […]

REVIEW POTPOURRI – U.S. President: Martin Van Buren

by Peter Cates Martin Van Buren When I was in third grade, an aunt gave me a calendar with paintings and photos of all the presidents from George Washington to Dwight D. Eisenhower. I remember being fascinated by these names and faces: Washington’s implacable dignity, John Adams’ cherubic candor, Jefferson’s humane inscrutability, etc. Martin Van […]

REVIEW POTPOURRI: Sir Malcolm Sargent

by Peter Cates Sir Malcolm Sargent Sir Malcolm Sargent (1895-1967) conducted a huge number of fine recordings from the 1930s to not long before he died in 1967. Ones that particularly stand out are a 78 set of a Vieuxtemps 5th Violin Concerto with Jascha Heifetz from the early 1930s and their stereo remake in […]

REVIEW POTPOURRI: Andrew Jackson

by Peter Cates Andrew Jackson The seventh former President Andrew Jackson (1767-1845) has drawn much controversy during the more than 180 years since his years at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue from 1829 to 1837. His stand against the abolition of slavery, his being a wealthy plantation owner with slaves at his large Tennessee mansion known as […]