Biography
Freelance journalist and critic James Reel contributes regularly to Fanfare, Strings, the All Music Guide, and the Tucson Weekly. His borderlands reporting has appeared in such online and print publications as Salon.com and the National Catholic Reporter. He has previously toiled as editor of the Tucson Weekly, arts editor of the Arizona Daily Star and music director of KUAT Radio. He gives pre-performance talks for the Arizona Friends of Chamber Music and Arizona Opera, and has written program notes for Arthur Weisberg's Ensemble 21 and liner notes for New World Records, Koch International Classics, Summit Records, and Musical Heritage Society. His books include The Timid Soul's Guide to Classical Music.He believes that writing about music for a general audience should be clear but, when appropriate, reasonably colorful and entertaining. While he resists troweling layers of academic jargon across his prose, he also believes that readers are intelligent and curious enough to handle the most essential technical terms, and shouldn't be pandered to with music-appreciation baby talk. He also adheres to the old-fashioned, pre-postmodern notion that music or any other work of art can be fully understood not only by studying its internal workings, but by exploring its wider cultural and social context.
Some (too many) favorite CDs:
"Songs of the Sephardim" (La Rondinella; Dorian)
"Ancient Airs and Dances" (Paul O'Dette; Hyperion)
Music of Samuel Barber (Slatkin/Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra; EMI)
Beethoven: Symphonies 5 and 7 (Carlos Kleiber/Vienna Philharmonic; DG)
Elmer Bernstein: Film music suites (Elmer Bernstein/Royal Philharmonic Pops Orchestra; Denon)
Brahms: Symphony No. 4 (Bruno Walter/Columbia Symphony Orchestra; Sony)
Haydn: Symphonies 94 and 101 (Pierre Monteux/Vienna Philharmonic; Decca)
Janacek: Sinfonietta; Taras Bulba (Sir Charles Mackerras/Vienna Philharmonic; Decca)
Mahler: Song cycles (Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau/Rafael Kubelik/Karl Boehm; DG)
Monteverdi: Vespro della Beata Vergine 1610 (Jordi Savall/La Capella Reial; Astree)
Nielsen: Symphonies 3 and 5 (Leonard Bernstein/Royal Daish Orchestra/New York Philharmonic; Sony)
Piazzolla: Tango Zero Hour (Astor Piazzolla/New Tango Quintet; Pangea)
Piston: Symphony No. 6; Incredible Flutist (Leonard Slatkin/Saint Louis Symphony; BMG)
Praetorius: Dances from "Terpsichore"; Motets from "The Muses of Zion" (David Munrow/Early Music Consort of London; EMI)
Ravel: Piano Concertos (Krystian Zimerman/Pierre Boulez; DG)
Roussel: Symphonies 3 and 4; The Spider's Feast (Ernest Ansermet/Suisse Romande Orchestra; Decca)
Schmidt: Symphony No. 4 (Zubin Mehta/Vienna Philharmonic; Decca)
Schubert: Piano Trios (Beaux Arts Trio; Philips)
Vaughan Williams: Symphonies 4 and 6 (Sir Adrian Boult/New Philharmonia Orchestra; EMI)
Vivaldi: L'Estro armonico (Fabio Biondi/Europa Galante; Virgin) ~ James Reel, Rovi
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