I’m a retired 35-year public radio classical music professional, a classical music presenter (plug, plug), a former Uber and Lyft driver (almost ten thousand rides!) and lifelong lover of music of many kinds, especially the good kinds. I live contentedly in Shutesbury (not Shrewsbury) Massachusetts with my wife, composer and music teacher Karen Tarlow, two cats and many CDs.
Stay Tuned... 
Dear John,
I so wish you were still on the air. Every time I listen to the music of Nino Rota- which is often- I thank you for playing his scores on the radio. The present morning program is too full of Renaissance pipes and drums for my taste, and I tend to wait until the afternoon comes around with your former colleague Walter Carroll.
It’s nice to know you live just up the road in Shutesbury.
Hi Alice! Thanks for the nice words. A shout-out for Nino Rota is always welcome. Goodness, it’s been almost seven years since my retirement. I don’t comment on the current programming on NEPM, or whatever it’s called nowadays, but I’m glad you still enjoy Walter’s programming. Take care!
Hello John,
I didn’t find your blog yesterday with a DuckDuckGo search. I tried Google this am and it came up #1. As we have listened mainly to jazz on NEPR/M, your name didn’t immediately register in my 75 ear old brain. Sorry to have stirred the pot more than most area residents may be comfortable with, but it’s done now. As I dislike DJT far more than Biden, I’d personally have left that out of your blog post. Otherwise I agree with you as you can surmise from my comments. BTW, our son is head of the Sound Recording Dept at Hartt School of Music:
https://www.hartford.edu/directory/hartt/kurtz-justin.aspx
Stir the pot? I’ll hand you the spoon, and grab one myself. The Valley, or a large subset of it, needs a good stirring up once in a while. That’s life in a political monoculture, where seldom is heard a dissenting word. Take care!
Hello, John Montanari,
I went to Iceland in February to hear a performance of Busoni’s “Piano Concerto” with the soloist
Benjamin Grosvenor. After that, he was to perform the work two times in Germany. Today I was
hunting for any reviews of the concerts but found none. However, I did stumble across some re-
marks of yours about a recording of that work by my teacher and mentor, Gunnar Johansen. MANY
thanks for your kind words. Gunnar was an incomparable artist and human being.
James P. Colias, Trustee, Gunnar and Lorraine Johansen Charitable Trust
President, The Busoni Foundation
Consultant, Victor Borge Productions, Inc.
203.622.8888 and jpcolias@gmail.com
Hi James: Thanks for reaching out! I presume my comments were on Dave Hurwitz’s YouTube channel. Did I mention there that I actually got to meet Gunnar Johansen? I had developed a bit of a correspondence with him while ordering some of his LPs for my radio station. Then I invited him to appear on a panel of small classical record labels at a conference in Chicago of public radio music directors. He arrived at the panel slightly late, and came over to me after someone pointed me out to him. “Montanari?” he asked. I nodded. “Johansen!” he replied. He was extremely charming. Take care!
P.S. FYI: My friend Jiayan Sun, a superb pianist who teaches at Smith College in Northampton, MA (where my series, Valley Classical Concerts, presents chamber music), is considering doing a weekend-long Busoni Festival this fall to commemorate the 150th anniversary of his death. Stay tuned!