Which artists do I like?

Directors

Justine Triet, Celine Sciamma, Eric Rohmer (although I may have outgrown it, a favorite at the age of 21), early Sofia Coppola, Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Stanley Kubrick, Spielberg (primarily for Munich). Complicated relationship with Haneke and Bergman.

Writers

Goethe, Marcel Proust, Van Gogh (letters), Milan Kundera, Stefan Zweig (his memoir on fin-de-siecle Vienna propelled to visit Vienna for an entire month), Pascal, Montaigne, David Hume, Tony Judt, Vassily Grossman, Jonathan Littell.

Composers

Shostakovich (No.5 Symphony, No.8 Quartet), Rachmaninov (Rach3 by Yunchan Lim), Mahler (Mahler 2, 5, and 9, easing my way into 10th Abbado and Bernstein are exceptional), Chopin (No. 1 Piano Concerto by Martha Argerich), Liszt (Transcendental Etudes, Argerich is exceptional here as always), Schumann, Schubert (Standchen, many many lieder!), Tchaikovsky 6 (I have heard Nezet-Seguin’s live conducting and it moved me to tears), Jean Sibelius (Hilary Hahn’s interpretation of violin concertos), Edward Elgar (Jacquline du Pre’s interpretation of Cello Concerto, variations too).

Poets

Paul Celan, Lord Byron, Percy Shelley, Wilfred Owen, Anna Akhmatova, Catullus, Ovid (maybe … )

Who do I not like?

Jeff Koons (plagued by kitsch in an ironic manner). Jacques Audiard (for his consistency in producing and directing the most extreme form of mediocrity).

Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia