Rich, Alan

Rich, Alan , muckraking American music critic; b. Boston, June 17, 1924. He pursued a premed course at Harvard Univ. (A.B., 1945), studied musicology with Bukofzer and Kerman at the Univ. of Calif, at Berkeley (M.A., 1952) and with Deutsch in Vienna (1952–53), and learned the rudiments of conducting from Gmeindl. He was asst. music critic of the Boston Herald (1944–45) and the N.Y. Sun (1947–48). Rich was a contributor to the American Record Guide (1947–61), the Saturday Review (1952–53), and Musical America (1955–61). After serving as asst. music critic of the N.Y. Times (1961–63), he was chief music critic and ed. of the N.Y. Herald-Tribune (1963–66). In 1966–67 he was music critic and ed. of the N.Y. World-Journal-Tribune, and then was a contributing ed. of Time magazine in 1967–68. From 1979 to 1983 he was music and drama critic, as well as arts ed., of California magazine, and then served as a contributing ed. to it (1983–85). After holding the post of general ed. of Newsweek magazine (1983–87), he was music critic of the Los Angeles Herald-Examiner (from 1987). In 1970, 1973, and 1974 he won ASCAP-Deems Taylor awards.

Writings

Careers and Opportunities in Music (1964); Music, mirror of the Arts (1969); Simon & Schuster Listeners Guide to Music (3 vols., 1980); The Lincoln Center Story (1984); American Pioneers: Ives to Cage and Beyond (London, 1995); Johann Sebastian Bach: Play by Play (San Francisco, 1995); Ludwig van Beethoven: Play by Play (San Francisco, 1995); Pyotr Ilich Tchaikovsky: Play by Play (San Francisco, 1995); Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Play by Play (San Francisco, 1995).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire