By Alex Ross October 10, 2012 The world première of Esa-Pekka Salonen's Violin Concerto, one of the more potent orchestral works of recent years, took place in the spring of 2009, during the final weeks of the composer's epochal, seventeen-year tenure as the music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
During the 35 years before this most influential of 20th-century architects adopted his pseudonym of Le Corbusier in 1922 (the year his epochal career shifted into high gear), he was Charles-Edouard Jeanneret.
If 2016 endures in American history as a year of epochal disaster, then it will be fair to ask, in the grim years to come: how on earth could artists have joked around so much while the darkness gathered?
The epochal hits of the year included the Temptations' "Cloud Nine" and Marvin Gaye's "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" (a vinyl 45 of the latter comes with the set), but there were also high-water marks from the Isley Brothers ("Behind a Painted Smile") and the Supremes ("Love Child"), not to mention dozens of obscurities, alternates, and one-offs.
Twenty years ago, epochal pop historical moments used to congregate around albums rather than songs, and within five years of its release Paul's Boutique was acclaimed the Pet Sounds of hip-hop.
But, recalling those epochal reforms of 30 years ago, it is worth remembering that they too tended to come in baby steps rather than great leaps, and often were formulated retrospectively.
This was an epochal shift: A three-year whaling voyage produced at most 4,000 barrels of oil, whereas one well could pump 3,000 barrels a day.
Ang Lee's Taking Woodstock is as unlikely and enjoyable a memento of that long-gone moment in the age of Aquarius as we're likely to find in this 40th anniversary year of the epochal rock festival.
That 20 years after this epochal event an iron curtain remains around Cuba makes this anniversary poignant.
