“A year ago, moving to Portland would have seemed inconceivable to me,” writes Allan Kozinn in Sunday’s (8/30) Portland Press Herald (Maine). “I was born in New York City … I began writing for The New York Times as a freelancer when I was just out of college, and I eventually became a staff critic. According to the paper’s database, between 1977 and my departure in 2014, I wrote more than 7,000 articles, including interviews, reviews and critic’s notebooks, covering every corner of the classical music world.” Kozinn and his wife, Paula, moved to Portland in spring of 2015. “Then the Press Herald called with an offer I couldn’t refuse. Since I’d be in Portland, and would undoubtedly be exploring Maine’s musical life anyway, why not review concerts for the paper? … That raised the question of how to cover music in Portland. Do I hold the Portland Symphony Orchestra, for example, to the same standard I would bring to performances by the New York Philharmonic or the Chicago Symphony Orchestra? … Reviewing musical performances is not really about comparing them to other performances you’ve heard. It’s about whether the ensemble or soloist gets to the heart of the composer’s score, and ideally, tells you something fresh or surprising.”
Posted September 1, 2015
