by Peter Cates Continuing with memories – when I applied at the personnel office of Jordan Marsh, I remember seeing three teenage boys sitting bare-chested, wearing cheap looking hats, giggling among themselves, smoking cigarettes one after another, the sign of “No smoking” apparently not applicable to those who can’t read. Meanwhile, I was wearing a […]
by Peter Cates Living in the Cambridge suburb of Somerville, I quickly discovered how much easier it was to walk a mile without noticing it on city streets than in the countryside of East Vassalboro. And I quickly discovered the joys and ease of walking to Harvard Square, from 23 Wyatt Street, in Somerville. The […]
by Peter Cates To continue from last week – after landing a job at Jordan Marsh’s record department in its Annex, I initially shared an apartment with a woman friend in Somerville, a working class street within easy walking distance of Cambridge’s Central and Harvard Squares. My share of the rent was $70 a month […]
by Peter Cates Looking back After I received my Bachelor of Science degree in English in May 1973, from the University of Southern Maine, I was now qualified to teach that subject at the secondary high school level. Soon I would discover that job openings were scarce in Maine so I worked as a menial […]
by Peter Cates The Kids from Spain Los Chavales de Espana (The Kids from Spain)- International Favorites; RCA Victor LPM-3119, ten-inch LP, recorded 1953. Los Chavales was a performing group of 11 very gifted men from Barcelona, Spain, each of whom sang and played four or five instruments. Originally formed in 1940, they spent their […]
by Peter Cates Anne-Sophie Mutter Vivaldi 4 Seasons and Tartini’s Devil’s Trill Sonata. Anne-Sophie Mutter, violinist and conductor of the Trondheim Soloists. Recorded 1999. Deutsche Grammophon 2894632592, compact disc. Anne-Sophie Mutter collaborated with Maestro Herbert von Karajan (1908-1988) and the Berlin Philharmonic on a very good record of the Mozart Violin Concertos 3 and 5, […]
by Peter Cates Benno Moiseiwitsch Weber: Invitation to the Dance. Benno Moiseivitch, pianist. Victor Red Seal 18050, 12- inch 78. Moisevitch had a very playful type of piano artistry and joy in the pieces he chose to perform. The Weber Invitation has always been loved for its graceful opening depiction of somebody being asked to […]
by Peter Cates George Gershwin Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue and An American in Paris. Jesus Maria Sanroma, pianist in Rhapsody; William Steinberg conducting the Pittsburgh Symphony. Everest records, 12-inch LP, recorded late 1950s. Concerto in F. Oscar Levant, pianist; Andre Kostelanetz conducting the New York Philharmonic. Columbia Masterworks, 12-inch LP, recorded 1946. Barber: Violin Concerto […]
by Peter Cates Kenneth Roberts Kennebunk’s Kenneth Roberts (1885-1957) wrote the historical novel Boon Island in 1956. Boon Island is a ledge 300 by 700 feet in the Atlantic Ocean, 14 miles south of Kennebunkport and, since 1811, has the tallest lighthouse in New England. The novel is based on the December 1710, shipwreck of […]
by Peter Cates Moritz Moszkowski My first exposure to the music of the early 20th century Polish composer Moritz Moszkowski (1854-1925) came via a WQXR radio broadcast of an out of print recording on the Concert Hall label from the early ‘50s of his Piano Concerto from pianist Hans Kahn with the very underrated Walter […]