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Sep 13 2006
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David Patrick Stearns

David Patrick Stearns has been a Philadelphia Inquirer classical music critic and general arts writer for the past six years, having come there from a 17-year stint at USA Today, where he contributed to one of the original prototypes and worked as classical music and theater critic. His most formative years were spent at the now-defuncted Rochester (N.Y.) Times-Union, 1977-83, where regularly heard and reviewed the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra under David Zinman as well as concerts at the Eastman School of Music featuring then faculty members such as the Cleveland Quartet, Jan DeGaetani and composer Warren Benson at their considerable artistic peaks.

In his freelance life, Stearns has contributed to publications from Cosmopolitan to Opera News, TV Guide to Gramophone, and has had ongoing relationships with Stereophile, BBC Music Magazine, The Independent (in London) and The Guardian (in Manchester). For six years, he was music commentator on NPR's Morning Edition program.

Stearns is originally from Sycamore, Illinois, holds a BA in journalism from Southern Illinois University, and, much more recently, earned a masters in musicology at New York University in 1996.

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These comments pose some interesting questions about what constitutes success. The St. Louis recordings under Vonk, which seemed not to have had much circulation (partly out of lack of promotion) were extremely polished, but came into the world in the wake of more distinctive repertoire from Vonk’s predecessor Leonard Slatkin. Expectations would have to be high, particularly since the orchestra had been declared in many quarters to be better than many of America’s Big Five.

Nashville’s recent recordings, which I consider to be a success, are less posh on a number of levels, but surprised a lot of people with their well-defined interpretive viewpoints and interesting repertoire (Beethoven Missa Solemnis, Elliott Carter Piano Concerto, lots of Villa Lobos). And this is where the Naxos association might’ve worked very well for the orchestra – with a budget price and coming from a city far better known for country music, those discs had no steep expectations awaiting them. Also, Nashville’s new Porgy and Bess, which is now coming out on Decca, represents a serious and valid revisionist viewpoint on the piece itself (cuts are restored, after years of the opposite).

So Nashville seems to be doing it right. But what’s right for Nashville may not be right for anybody else.

About the author

David Patrick Stearns

David Patrick Stearns has been a Philadelphia Inquirer classical music critic and general arts writer for the past six years, having come there from a 17-year stint at USA Today, where he contributed to one of the original prototypes and worked as classical music and theater critic. His most formative years were spent at the now-defuncted Rochester (N.Y.) Times-Union, 1977-83, where regularly heard and reviewed the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra under David Zinman as well as concerts at the Eastman School of Music featuring then faculty members such as the Cleveland Quartet, Jan DeGaetani and composer Warren Benson at their considerable artistic peaks.

In his freelance life, Stearns has contributed to publications from Cosmopolitan to Opera News, TV Guide to Gramophone, and has had ongoing relationships with Stereophile, BBC Music Magazine, The Independent (in London) and The Guardian (in Manchester). For six years, he was music commentator on NPR's Morning Edition program.

Stearns is originally from Sycamore, Illinois, holds a BA in journalism from Southern Illinois University, and, much more recently, earned a masters in musicology at New York University in 1996.

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