Welcome to another conversation from the high/low art divide between opera-singer-turned-experimental-performer Ema Katrovas and comedian-and-TV-writer-turned-novelist Nicholas Anthony.

For this end-of-the-year episode, Nick and Ema decided to talk about The Beatles and their influence on a few pieces of “high art”: new journalist Joan Didion’s essay “The White Album” and avant garde singer Cathy Berberian’s covers of Beatles’ songs. They also briefly talk about American composer Ned Rorem’s essay “The Music of the Beatles”. Their starting point is a 2021 documentary by Peter Jackson, Get Back.

Nick and Ema circle around the question: Were the Beatles exceptional, lucky, or both? Does one need opportunity or even fame to create one’s best work? Is trying to tell a story about the Beatles, or any other iconic artist, that answers these questions even useful? 

Music excerpts from this episode: 

• Revolution 9 from the Beatles’ White Album (1968)
• Gavin Bryars' “Jesus’ Blood Never Found me Yet”(1971)
• Cathy Berberian’s cover of “She’s Got a Ticket to Ride” (1977) 
• Cathy Berberian’s Stripsody (1966) 

Things mentioned in the episode (in order of appearance):

• “Now and Then” (new Beatles’ song): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Opxhh9Oh3rg
• Deresiewicz’s essay “We’re All Bored of Culture Now”: https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/arts-letters/articles/bored-of-culture-william-deresiewicz
• Get Back, the Beatles documentary by Peter Jackson (it didn’t come out “last year” like we said but in 2021): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beatles:_Get_Back
• Bernstein’s lecture on the Beatles: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v32U0mjGz6g
• Rick Beato’s music channel: https://www.youtube.com/@RickBeato
• Joan Didion’s book of essays “The White Album”: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_White_Album_(book)
• Ned Rorem’s essay “The Music of the Beatles”: https://jdsalas.files.wordpress.com/2019/07/article-the-music-of-the-beatles-.pdf
• Susan Sontag’s “Notes on Camp”: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Notes_on_%22Camp%22
• Collection of academic essays on Cathy Berbarian: https://www.routledge.com/Cathy-Berberian-Pioneer-of-Contemporary-Vocality/Karantonis-Placanica-Verstraete/p/book/9780367669294

 Links:

• 💋👁👂🏼 Artists on the Verge website: ⁠⁠⁠https://artists-on-the-verge.com/⁠⁠⁠
• 👀 Instagram: @artists_on_the_verge

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