New Name

Puggingham Palace has a new name, "Pictures on Silence". The name is taken from a quote by the great conductor Leopold Stokowski:“A painter paints pictures on canvas. But musicians paint their pictures on silence.” Since 99% of my posts in the past couple of years have been about concerts, recordings and music, I thought the title needed a change to reflect the blog's purpose.

For the last couple of seasons, I have been featured reviewer and blogger for the Kansas City Symphony, a role I relish since I get to spread the word about our remarkable local orchestra. In late 2012, I began contributing to "I Care If You Listen", a web magazine focusing on contemporary classical music. As this role has grown, I found my reviews quoted, re-tweeted, and referred to by the artists and sometimes the record companies. I always cringed when I saw the "Puggingham Palace" moniker and wondered if  the unusual title lessened my credibility. So a search for a new name was conducted and I found the one noted above by Stokowski.

"Pictures on Silence" just seemed to neatly sum up the glorious art of music. Music is nothing but organized sound, said Edgard Varèse, so silence is the canvas on which the composer and musicians realize their art.Pictures on Silence is music reviews from an audience member's view. I am not a professional musician and do not have a music degree. However, after years of listening (I started listening to classical music around 12 years old and now 44 years later I show no signs of stopping) I think I know a bit about what makes a great performance, what can move an audience to bravos or to boos. I may not be able to point out that the 3rd bassoon did not correctly articulate the dotted triplets at measure 32, but frankly... with the exception of the 3rd bassoon, who really cares?

Most of my concert review posts are from the music scene in and around Kansas City. We may not be the world's Mecca for music like London or New York, but our local orchestra is outstanding, we get some of the best artists in the business for recitals and have an incredible performing arts center that is the envy of many. If I get a chance to hear a concert elsewhere, you will read about it here.Look for a couple of concert reviews coming up with the Kansas City Symphony and a short hop to St Louis in February for a rare performance of the Zemlinsky Lyric Symphony.

Thanks for reading!

DC