Taking a Break from the Rough & Tumble

As young progressives continue to block bridges and major roads (to airports, for example) and antisemitic bullies at elite universities are emboldened, Jay Nordlinger, a senior fellow at NRO, reminds readers how music adds sparkle to life: “All politics and no joy make Jack a dull boy,” writes the would-be maestro.

Mr. Nordlinger begins his latest music podcast — his latest Music for a While — with James P. Johnson’s “Carolina Shout,” of which Jay says, “It’s hard to keep still, or unhappy, when you’re playing or listening to “Carolina Shout.”

He ends the podcast with a calypso song: sung by Jeanine De Bique, a soprano from Trinidad, whom he reviewed in New York recently.

In between, Nordlinger picks a smorgasbord of songs: songs by Schumann and Bonds (Margaret). Piano preludes by Szymanowski and Gorecki, two estimable Poles. Excerpts from La rondine, the Puccini opera (or is it an operetta?). Some Bill Evans (which Daniil Trifonov, the Russian pianist, has adopted as an encore).

Thanks to Jay Nordlinger: Enjoy the sparkle.