RichardHowe.com – Voices from Lowell & Beyond

A stunning Japanese fiction writer talked music with brilliant maestro Seiji Ozawa by Marjorie Arons-Barron

The entry below is being cross posted from Marjorie Arons-Barron’s own blog.

Absolutely on Music: Conversations is a gift to classical music lovers and a perfect book to read as the Boston Symphony Orchestra, having successfully resolved its contract negotiations, prepares to start its 146^th season. The book comprises the recordings of a series of conversations between late BSO music director Seiji Ozawa and best-selling Japanese fiction writer Haruki Murakami. The conversations were held after Seiji’s surgery for esophageal cancer, a time when he was unable to conduct.

Murakami, whose short stories have recently captivated me, is quite learned about both jazz and classical music. The book evolved after he had gone to observe the Seiji Ozawa Music Academy, an annual project in Kyoto. The two continued their conversation afterward at a local bar and, at the suggestion of Seiji’s daughter Seira, decided to record a series of discussions. We are so blessed that the two followed her idea.

They listen to and critique different concerti and symphonies and identify the time markings of the parts of the pieces they are discussing.  They note the differences in the same piece under different conductors (except perhaps for the Vienna or Berlin Philharmonic, where Seiji describes the German sound no matter who wields the baton).  They also compare youthful to more mature recordings by the same conductor.  Given Ozawa’s 29 years with the BSO, much attention is paid to the special quality of that orchestra. (Full disclosure: I have been on the board of advisors for more than three decades, but I keep learning more with every concert, and this book furthered by understanding immeasurably.)

The discussion prompted me to play Brahms First Symphony and Beethoven’s Third Piano Concerto, and I listened with new ears, wondering which tempo and dynamics were dictated by the score and which were the players and conductors’ interpretations. They also explore uniquely Eastern ways of playing Western music.  (Here is Seiji conducting the Seito Keinin Orchestra in Japan with Mitsuko Uchida playing the Beethoven.)

When they discuss the roles of conductor and soloist in a concerto (and the question of ‘who is the boss’), Murakami and Ozawa talk about the dispute between Bernstein’s unprecedented introduction to pianist Glenn Gould’s interpretation of Brahms Piano Concerto no. 1 with the New York Philharmonic. Bernstein and Gould were at odds and made an unprecedented speech to the audience explaining why he didn’t pass off the baton to an assistant conductor. I found a recording of his speech, which I can share with you here.

There is a deep dive into Leonard Bernstein’s popularization of Gustav Mahler, and the energy and intuition that the composer and New York Phil music director brought to Mahler and his highly innovative approaches to traditional composition. We learn more about sustained phrasing, the sound of a blended orchestra versus one in which the component players are communicating with each other in a conversation. Ozawa opines that with Mahler the instruments are often “talking” simultaneously rather than in a dialogue.

Seiji and Murakami discuss the workload of a music director, starting with artistic programming. I was startled to learn that Ozawa had worked for half a century with a William Bernell, a San Francisco programmer, deciding what pieces to perform (even when the conductor was in Boston). They explored the responsibilities for choosing guest conductors and soloists, orchestra member personnel decisions, teaching and training of musicians.  They reflect on the complementarity of the symphonic repertory and opera. Their conversations get down to the fine points of violinists’ bowing and oboists’ breathing.

Murakami posits that, for a writer, listening to music improves his style and that, by improving his writing style, he improves his ability to listen to music.  “No one,” he says, “is going to read what you write unless it’s got rhythm.”

The back-and-forth conversations over a two-year period leave any lover of literature and music with head spinning and immense gratitude that so many of their references to scores and performances can be found on YouTube. Seiji Ozawa died in 2024, but it can easily be said that, beyond his recorded legacy, he has been kept even more alive by Haruki Murakami.  Musicians and non-musicians will both find much to embrace in Absolutely on Music: Conversations.

Lowell Politics: Lowell in Congress

There was no Lowell City Council meeting this week so in today’s newsletter I’ll write about some Lowell political history, specifically our representatives in Congress since 1960.

1960 – F. Bradford Morse – Republican Edith Nourse Rogers had represented Lowell’s Congressional District since 1925. When she died on September 10, 1960, her name was already printed on the ballot for the Republican Primary which was held just three days later. However, F. Bradford Morse, who had been a Lowell City Councilor but more recently had been a senior official in the Veterans Administration in Washington, mounted a successful write-in campaign and became the Republican nominee. In the November election, Morse (123,161) defeated Democrat William C. Madden of Lawrence (102,765).

1962 – F. Bradford Morse – Republican incumbent F. Bradford Morse defeated Democratic challenger Thomas J. Lane of Lawrence.

1964 – F. Bradford Morse – Republican incumbent F. Bradford Morse (137,735) defeated Democratic challenger George W Arvanitis of Lawrence (74,133). In the Democratic Primary, Arvanitis defeated Andrew L. Benson of Melrose and David G. Bloch of Billerica. In the Republican Primary, Morse was unopposed.

1966 – F. Bradford Morse – Republican incumbent F. Bradford Morse defeated Charles N. Tsapatsaris of Lowell.

1968 – F. Bradford Morse – Republican incumbent F. Bradford Morse defeated Robert Maguire. Both were unopposed in their respective primaries.

1970 – F. Bradford Morse – Republican incumbent F. Bradford Morse (116,666) defeated Democrat Richard Williams (67,646). Neither was opposed in their respective primaries.

1972 – Paul W. Cronin – In May 1972, incumbent F. Bradford Morse resigned from Congress when President Richard Nixon appointed him Under Secretary General for Political and General Assembly Affairs at the United Nations. In the general election, Republican Paul W. Cronin of Andover (110,970) defeated Democrat John F. Kerry of Lowell (92,847). In the Democratic Primary, Kerry defeated eight other candidates:

1. John F. Kerry – 20,771
2. Paul J. Sheehy – 15,641
3. Anthony R. DiFruscia – 12,222
4. John J. Desmond – 10,213
5. Robert B. Kennedy – 5,632
6. Frederick J. Finnegan – 2,558
7. Glenn M. Cooper – 2,282
8. Daniel P. Kiley Jr. – 2,221
9. Helen Gilbride Droney – 2,124

In the Republican Primary, Cronin prevailed over three others:

1. Paul W. Cronin – 10,812
2. Ellen A. Sampson – 4,330
3. Armand Morissette – 2,486
4. George P. Macheras – 790

1974 – Paul E. Tsongas – In the general election, Democrat Paul E. Tsongas (99,518) defeated Republican incumbent Paul W. Cronin (64,596). In Democratic Primary, Tsongas (45,655) defeated William C. Madden (17,215). Cronin was unopposed in the Republican Primary.

1976 – Paul E. Tsongas – In the general election, Democratic incumbent Paul E. Tsongas (144,217) defeated Republican Roger P. Durkin (70,036). Neither was opposed in their respective primaries.

1978 – James M. Shannon – Democratic incumbent Paul E. Tsongas ran for the U.S. Senate which left an open Congressional seat. In the general election, Democrat James M. Shannon (90,256) defeated Republican John J. Buckley III (48,685) and Independent James J. Gaffney III (33,835). In the Republican Primary, Buckley (11,772) defeated Nicholas D. Rizzo (9,881). In the Democratic Primary, Shannon defeated five other candidates:

1. James M. Shannon – 18,529
2. Raymond F. Rourke – 17,743
3. Robert F. Hatem – 16,359
4. John E. Markey – 14,046
5. Michael A. McLaughlin – 12,644
6. Ronald A. Burba – 3,524

1980 – James M. Shannon – In the general election, Democratic incumbent James M. Shannon (136,7580) defeated Republican William C. Sawyer (70,547). In the Democratic Primary, Shannon (41,207) defeated Robert F. Hatem (34,573). In the Republican Primary, Sawyer was unopposed.

1982 – James M. Shannon – In the general election, Democratic incumbent James M. Shannon (140,177) defeated Libertarian Angelo L. Laudani (25,224). Shannon was unopposed in the Democratic Primary.

1984 – Chester G. Atkins – Democratic incumbent James M. Shannon ran for U.S. Senate which left an open Congressional seat. In the general election, Democrat Chester G. Atkins (120,008) defeated Republican Gregory S. Hyatt (104,912). In the Democratic primary, Atkins (43,538) defeated Philip L. Shea (38,737). In the Republican primary, Hyatt (16,148) defeated Thomas Tierney (11,449).

1986 – Chester G. Atkins – Democratic incumbent Chester G. Atkins was unopposed in the general election and in the primary.

1988 – Chester G. Atkins – Democratic incumbent Chester G. Atkins was unopposed in the general election and in the primary.

1990 – Chester G. Atkins – In the general election, Democratic incumbent Chester G. Atkins (110,232) defeated Republican John McGovern (101,017). Atkins was unopposed in the Democratic primary. In the Republican Primary, McGovern (26,940) defeated Doral T. Coleman (14,548).

1992 – Martin T. Meehan – In the general election, Democrat Martin T. Meehan (133,844) defeated Republican Paul W. Cronin (96,206). In the Democratic Primary, Meehan (50,300) defeated incumbent Chester G. Atkins (26,855). In the Republican Primary, Cronin (11,545) defeated Michael Conway (10,249).

1994 – Martin T. Meehan – In the general election, Democratic incumbent Martin T. Meehan (140,725) defeated Republican David E. Coleman (60,734). In the Democratic Primary, Meehan (35,739) defeated Thomas J. Quinn (10,978). In the Republican Primary, Coleman was unopposed.

1996 – Martin T. Meehan – In the general election, Democratic incumbent Martin T. Meehan was unopposed. In the Democratic Primary, Meehan (23,405) defeated Patrick Raymond (4,156).

1998 – Martin T. Meehan – In the general election, Democratic incumbent Martin T. Meehan (127,418) defeated Republican David E. Coleman (52,725). Both candidates were unopposed in their respective primaries.

2000 – Martin T. Meehan – In the general election, Democratic incumbent Martin T. Meehan was unopposed. In the Democratic Primary, Meehan (16,394) defeated Thomas P. Tierney (4,253) and Joseph F. Osbaldeston (1,687).

2002 – Martin T. Meehan – In the general election, Democratic incumbent Martin T. Meehan (122,562) defeated Republican Charles F. McCarthy (69,337) and Libertarian Ilana Freedman (11,729). Both Meehan and McCarthy were unopposed in their respective primaries.

2004 – Martin T. Meehan – In the general election, Democratic incumbent Martin T. Meehan (179,652) defeated Thomas P. Tierney (88,232). Neither faced opposition in their respective primaries.

2006 – Martin T. Meehan – Democratic incumbent Martin T. Meehan was unopposed in the general election and in the primary.

2007 – Nicola S. Tsongas – Democratic incumbent Martin T. Meehan resigned from Congress in March 2007 after being named Chancellor of University of Massachusetts Lowell. In the special election held to fill the seat, Democrat Nicola S. Tsongas (54,359) defeated Republican Jim Ogonowski (47,782), and unenrolled candidates Patrick O. Murphy (2,175) and Kurt Hayes (1,126). In the Special Republican Primary, Ogonowski (12,022) defeated Thomas P. Tierney (1,471). In the Special Democratic Primary, Tsongas defeated four other candidates:

1. Nicola S. Tsongas – 19,821
2. Eileen M. Donoghue – 17,385
3. James B. Eldridge – 8,042
4. Barry R. Finegold – 6,999
5. James R. Miceli – 3,297

2008 – Nicola S. Tsongas – Democratic incumbent Nicola S. Tsongas was unopposed in the general election and in the primary.

2010 – Nicola S. Tsongas – In the general election, Democratic incumbent Nicola S. Tsongas (122,858) defeated Republican Jonathan A. Golnik (94,646) and unenrolled candidates Dale E. Brown (4,387) and Robert M. Clark (1,991). In the Democratic Primary, Tsongas was unopposed. In the Republican Primary, Golnik (11,384) defeated Sam S. Meas (7,601), Thomas J. M. Weaver (6,143), and Robert L. Shapiro (4,351).

2012 – Nicola S. Tsongas – In the general election, Democratic incumbent Nicola S. Tsongas (180,928) defeated Republican Jonathan A. Golnik (91,559). Neither had opposition in their respective primaries.

2014 – Nicola S. Tsongas – Democratic incumbent Nicola S. Tsongas (139,104) defeated Republican Roseann Wofford (81,638). Neither faced opposition in their respective primaries.

2016 – Nicola S. Tsongas – In the general election, Democratic incumbent Nicola S. Tsongas (236,713) defeated Republican Ann Wofford (107,519). Both were unopposed in their respective primaries.

2018 – Lori Loureiro Trahan – Democratic incumbent Nicola S. Tsongas did not seek reelection which left an open seat. In the general election, Democrat Lori Loureiro Trahan (173,175) defeated Republican Rick Green (93,445) and unenrolled candidate Michael P. Mullen (12,572). In the Republican Primary, Green was unopposed. In the Democratic Primary, Trahan defeated nine other candidates:

1. Lori Loureiro Trahan – 18,580
2. Daniel Arrigg Koh – 18,435
3. Barbara A. L’Italien – 13,018
4. Juana B. Matias – 12,993
5. Rufus Gifford – 12,873
6. Alexandra E. Chandler – 4,846
7. Beej Das – 1,492
8. Jeffrey D. Ballinger – 1,381
9. Bopha Malone – 1,365
10. Leonard H. Golder – 584

2020 – Lori Loureiro Trahan – Democratic incumbent Lori Loureiro Trahan was unopposed in the general election and in the primary.

2022 – Lori Loureiro Trahan – In the general election, Democratic incumbent Lori Trahan (154,496) defeated Republican challenger Dean Tran (88,585). Both were unopposed in their respective primaries.

2024 – Lori Loureiro Trahan – Democratic incumbent Lori Trahan was unopposed in the general election and in the primary.

2026 – The 2026 state election will be held on Tuesday, November 3, 2026. For the office Representative in Congress, Democratic incumbent Lori Trahan is being challenged by Republican Gary Grossi of Acton, and unenrolled candidate Dennis Conlon of Hudson.

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This week in my Seen & Heard column, I commented on a New York Times article about home title theft; noted another Times article about two people who are trying to save old filmstrips from destruction; commented on the obituary of Gloria Steinem; reviewed the book Two Lives, One Russia by Nicholas Danilov; and recommended the YouTube channel, Moodi Foodi Berlin, which is about street food vendors in Berlin, Germany.

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Here’s some info on some Lowell Walks I’ll be leading this fall:

Saturday, September 26 & Sunday, September 27, 2026, both at 10am – Walking tour of Lowell Cemetery. The tour takes 90 minutes and begins at the Lawrence Street entrance to the cemetery. It is free and requires no registration. The same tour is offered on both days.

Saturday, October 17, 2026, at 10am – “Secrets of Lowell Cemetery” tour which is part of the of the Poe in Lowell Festival. Edgar Allan Poe came to Lowell at least three times to lecture but also to spend time with a female friend who is buried in Lowell Cemetery. Learn their story and the stories of others involved in their orbit. This tour is free and begins at the Knapp Avenue entrance of the cemetery (77 Knapp Avenue).

Just Sayin’–Jonathan Lemire and “The Atlantic” Festival

Just Sayin’—Jonathan Lemire and The Atlantic Festival in NYC

What is the acronym, iykyk? But if you have not heard, this is just to say Lowell’s Jonathan Lemire (living in New York now), top-tier journalist and book-writer, regular on MSNOW’s “Morning Joe” broadcast, and staff writer at The Atlantic, which, since 1857, has been into big ideas, thoughtful reporting, and creative expression–well, Jon was featured at the magazine’s annual festival this month.

In Massachusetts we still think of The Atlantic as one of our natural intellectual resources, but after 150 years the operation moved to Washington, D.C. That’s OK, we still subscribe and look forward to the latest writing in print or increasingly online.

The festival roster was large and included Pete Buttigieg, Anne Applebaum, Colin Kaepernick, Sen. Mark Kelly, David Brooks, Padma Lakshmi, Laura Linney, Haberman & Swan from the NYTimes, Derek Wang, Karl Rove, Vivian Tu, Kurt Anderson, Mae Ngai, and many more interesting folks from various sectors of society.

For anyone wondering about the roots of The Atlantic, consider these early period contributors: R. W. Emerson, Longfellow, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Louisa May Alcott, J. G. Whittier, Julia Ward, Frederick Douglass, James Russell Lowell  . . .

Nun Too Happy

Nun Too Happy!

By Leo Racicot

The good Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur would be horrified to see or worse try to read my spidery, hieroglyphic scrawl; they labored tirelessly to drum into us students the Palmer Penmanship Method. I sometimes can’t read my own writing a minute after writing it. For years I did my creative projects in longhand on yellow legal pads like I’d heard real writers did. I did this until the final product became indecipherable. Thankfully, I’ve succeeded in transitioning from the pen-to-paper method to the fingers-to-keyboard technique.

The nuns of Saint Patrick’s School in those times worked, and worked valiantly, to teach us many skills they felt would serve us as we journeyed through life. They could be cruel in doing so but that was the way of a Catholic School education in the 1960s. My friend, David McKean, for example, was a southpaw, performed his cursive painlessly with his left hand. This didn’t sit well with the nuns who decided David needed to be retrained in the proper way to write; conformity was their strong suit, the way it must be which seemed to be the tenor of the times, governmental, cultural, societal. They wrapped David’s right hand in tightly wound elastics to keep it intact. I’ll never forget the look on his face as he winced in pain struggling to shapeshift his hand into what the sisters told him was the one and only way to write. The poor kid was prone to nosebleeds through his school years. And no wonder…

Equally harsh, especially on our knees, was the morning habit of classroom prayer. Each day we would as a unit say the rosary along with then-Cardinal of Boston, Richard Cushing, who’d be piped in over the intercom.  Taught to obey the commands of the nuns’ clickers, crude, hand-held wooden contraptions designed to keep kids in line, like trained seals, we’d first stand up next to our desk then kneel down on our hard wooden seats and recite the second half of the Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory Be following Cushing’s recitation of the first half of the prayer. The rosary is a long prayer and Cushing spoke very slowly, his low, bass growl sounding like Boris Karloff seeping through the disembodied wall before us. Glory be is right!  I don’t remember how long we children were on our knees but it was a… long… time…

Equally torturous, if not downright terrifying, was the nuns telling us that if we were bad or crossed a line, we’d be taken to The Spanking Machine, waiting for us behind the doors of the press (the press was the name they gave to the back-of-the-room closets — nuns gave odd names to lots of things. For years, we sat perfect still, hands locked in a praying position, silent as mice, in fear that if we so much as budged, the doors of the press would be flung open and Sister would drag us by the ear to THE SPANKING MACHINE. It never occurred to us that every morning when we hung our coats and belongings in the closet, we saw no such beast. I imagined that until it was called for, this torture device remained invisible until needed to inflict whacks on a naughty child’s backside. Alsoo unforgettable and a lesson in learning to think twice before impulsively letting loose with a curse word was the time Alfred Bellerose let the F bomb fly and was made to eat a bar of soap in front of the whole class. I don’t mean lick it. The sister forced him to take a chunk out of it and chew it. “That’s it, Bellerose. Get all the juices out of there!”, she ordered him. The screwed-up look on Alfred’s face as he did as he was told is still with me.

Medieval disciplinary tactics notwithstanding, I have a lasting gratitude for the nuns. They gave us a lot of good. Many of them were intelligent women, passing on their ample knowledge. In mid-century America, entering the convent was for women if not the only means to receiving a solid education, it also provided an escape from the limited path females in those days were expected to follow, roles as housewives, as secretaries. The religious life provided an accessible avenue to an intellectual life, future professional work they might otherwise be denied.  Love ‘em or not, the sisters guaranteed we students received a solid educational foundation. Sure, the times inflicted some emotional scars at school as indelible as getting the strap from dad, a spanking from mom at home. Those were the times. That was how things were done. I survived the strictness, The Spanking Machine, the molasses tones of Cardinal Cushing, lived to tell the tale, this tale, in fact, told with a tinge of bitterness, sure, but with more than a whole lot of gratitude and praise.

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Typical 1960s Catholic School classroom

St. Patrick’s School

Richard Cardinal Cushing

Signal clicker

Palmer penmanship method

Survivor T-shirt