Submitted by Charles Scirbner III, Jan 14, 2008 22:39

Jay Nordlinger is the finest writer on classical music and opera these days: I love reading his every word. Thank God for the Sun! Reading him is like listening to Schwarzkopf sing Strauss lieder. He combines supreme musicality with literary craft, sound judgment and refreshing wit. On my last visit to Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, the year she died, she asked me, as we said our auf wiedersehens, 'Why do you want to write about music when you can make it?' I took her words to heart and now practice the piano more religiously. But reading Nordlingler reminds me that it is possible--if all so rare today--for someone to write about music in such a way that we may henceforth hear music with far greater understanding and, yes, joy than before. Vielen Dank!

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