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 is nothing short of exceptional), Pascal, Montaigne, David Hume, Tony Judt, Vassily Grossman, Jonathan Littell

Composers

Shostakovich (No.5 Symphony, No.8 Quartet), Rachmaninov (Particularly Rach3 by Yunchan Lim), Mahler (Mahler 2nd and 5th are my favorites, Abbado and Bernstein are both strong), Chopin (No. 1 Piano Concerto by Martha Argerich), Liszt (Transcendental Etudes), Schumann, Schubert (Standchen, many many lieder!), Philip Glass, 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