Day at Night: Virgil Thomson, composer

[@tftkadawidalle6342]

Heavy. I enjoyed this, lovingly. Thank you.

[@allwinds3786]

"I was subjected to lots of religion as a child but not of it took on me much" got to be one the best quotes I have ever heard!

[@josephcarlbreil5380]

Virgil was a great whit as well. He once remarked on a visit to an art exhibit, "There were so many paintings that I couldn't see the people."

[@heterosectional]

Hey, this is one great program!

[@TheSanityInspector]

"What music do you listen to?" "Why, hardly any at all. I can make it in my head." lol

[@alexkije]

Yep! Then ya gotta notate it. And find the right instruments to orchestrate.

[@josephcarlbreil5380]

James Day is clearly out of his element in this interview. He hasn't done his homework, and it shows. Probably why VT interrupts him so often.

[@charlieclark983]

Indeed...way out of his element

[@pianoredux7516]

Disagree By the way, I met Thomson and once visited him at his Hotel Chelsea apartment about the time of this interview. He was much more respectful to a young music student than to this interviewer.

[@PeterLunowPL]

delightful man and the interviewer is a pain in the ass

[@heterosectional]

Verg got lucky with The Louisiana Story and the federal government disseminating his music to schools throughout the nation. His gig at the NY Times helped him tremendously for name recognition. His music is accessible to all. I note that his "Three Pictures" are on KZbin, to the left. And some other of his works. Great!

[@charlieclark983]

Herald Tribune

[@JeffreySelbst]

The questions are, by and large, annoying and inane. But it's wonderful to hear Thomson's voice. I never met him but I saw him once in the audience of his opera Four Saints in Three Acts in New York during a revival staged for his 85th birthday.

[@alexkije]

He was interviewed at a fancy shmansy college in Saint Paul years ago. He had lost a lot of weight. He passed away not long after that. Sure nice to see him in person.

[@pianoredux7516]

I myself find the questions intelligent and logical but VT's responses are somewhat rude and abrupt and dismissive at times.

[@nigelcoxe8427]

@@pianoredux7516

[@DangTootin-nl8lh]

VT was the quintessential mid-westerner: straightforward, blunt, succinct. I laughed out loud throughout this interview. But the southern part of me wishes he could have been a tad more polite to Mr. Day, whose function was, after all, simply to provide prompts for story-telling.

[@heterosectional]

Wish I could actually put all my music down on score paper. But I have a strange form of dyslexia in that regard. I hear the entire score played in my head. But can't get in down on paper.

[@josephcarlbreil5380]

I am sorry for you in this regard. I know of others who are so afflicted.

[@josephcarlbreil5380]

Sadly, this has happened to me after my stroke in 2019.

[@josephcarlbreil5380]

One of the worst ever interviews conducted by James Day. He is clearly out of his element.

[@robertwilderblue6395]

Did the interviewer go out of his way to appear ignorant about "serious" music? His condescendence for Kansas City is typical of the elite - Kansas City was one of the centers of jazz when Virgil Thomson was coming up.

[@alexkije]

Comes across a regular guy. No pretense. I like what he said the he liked the process of composing the best. aha Me, too. That is the best part of it. Just doing it. hahaha

[@Erickvazquezc]

Kansas city is not a hick town, YOU KNOW?

[@josephcarlbreil5380]

"Everything's up-to-date in Kansas City ...".

[@echorrhea]

This interview is a mess. Virgil Thomson looks clearly annoyed by it all. Still, it is wonderful to see and hear him. I have to admit to enjoying his music quite a bit, but his writings on music are something else. His prose is fine and made for a welcome contrast with the orotund verbosity of the likes of Olin Downes and Henry Edward Krehbiel who had preceded him in the craft of musical criticism. But his general utilitarian outlook on music sometimes borders on the barbaric and philistine, at least to me.