Changing Tunes – The New York Times

I loved reading about the 27-year-old French pianist Alexandre Kantorow, a rising star in the classical world who’s won major awards, played in the rain in the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics and is set to make his debut at the Los Angeles Philharmonic on Friday. What struck me about Kantorow is his commitment to keeping his life and his working practices the same, even as he seems destined for fame, even as fans crowd outside his performances holding signs begging for seats.

“I don’t really like change, and unnecessary change in life,” Kantorow told The Times. He’s had the same manager and teacher since he was 16 and remains with his small record label.

Resisting unnecessary change, what a concept! In the stock fantasy of fame, one imagines all the ways in which their life will transform, each upgrade bigger and flashier. I can’t pretend to know what it would feel like to be a musician on the precipice of stardom, but I’d guess the temptation to shed one’s old ways of working would be fierce.

Listening to Kantorow’s latest album, a collection of Brahms and Schubert pieces, I wondered how a commitment to keeping things stable affects an artist’s output. Will the “intriguing tension between Kantorow’s lucid, pearly touch and the Romantic wildness of his music-making,” as the classical music critic Zachary Woolfe put it, be altered by the inevitable changes that accompany success? What about an artist is essential, impervious to any external forces?

I recently rewatched “Shine a Light,” Martin Scorsese’s concert film of the Rolling Stones’s performances at the Beacon Theater in New York in 2006. The intimate way the film is shot makes you feel that you’re onstage, up close watching artists make art. You forget that you’re observing one of the most successful rock bands in history, that these people have played these songs a million times, that they are basically unknowable in their fame and riches and the way the world regards them. Instead they feel familiar, almost cozily accessible. The ways in which celebrity and fortune have changed them feel beside the point. The early 21st-century Mick Jagger of “Shine a Light” is to this fan essentially the same as the one strutting in 1970’s “Gimme Shelter,” the same one romancing the crowd during the Stones’ “Hackney Diamonds” tour last year.

The idea of there being something fundamentally stable about an artist, independent of outside forces, makes sense. It’s what allows them to experiment with style and genre and persona and still be legible to their audiences. Of course, fans are well known to accuse the artists they love of abandoning their them-ness (see: Bob Dylan at the Newport Folk Festival), of changing beyond recognition. As annoying as this must be for an artist, I wonder if there is something sort of wonderful about having a fan base that wants you to stay true, that so loves what they think is the elemental part of you that they want to help you safeguard it.

We do this with the people we actually know all the time, provide them with a mirror that reflects back to them the person we love. The challenge, in art and life, is to allow people to morph and experiment while trusting that the essence we adore is basically indelible. It isn’t going anywhere, no matter how much change we opt for or resist.

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THE WEEK IN CULTURE

Film and TV

• Hamas freed four female Israeli soldiers held hostage in Gaza in a carefully choreographed display. Israel is expected to release 200 Palestinian prisoners in exchange, as part of the cease-fire deal.

• The Senate approved Pete Hegseth to lead the Department of Defense. Vice President JD Vance broke a 50-50 tie after three Republicans voted against Hegseth: Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski and Mitch McConnell.

• President Trump, during a visit to hurricane-damaged areas of North Carolina, said states should take a greater role responding to disasters and suggested he might try to eliminate FEMA.

• Trump also traveled to California, where he and Gov. Gavin Newsom pledged to cooperate on wildfire recovery. But Trump has threatened to withhold aid unless the state imposes voter ID laws.

• Elon Musk said his DOGE program would reshape the federal work force. In its first week, the project’s scope appeared more limited.

• The Interior Department says the Gulf of Mexico is now, officially, the “Gulf of America.”

Other Big Stories

CULTURE CALENDAR

🎬 “Dog Man” (Friday): If you’ve got a grade schooler, it’s hard to avoid Dav Pilkey’s Dog Man series (it occupies six of the top 10 spots on The Times’s Graphic Books and Manga best-seller list). Dog Man — a spinoff of Pilkey’s other popular series, Captain Underpants — tells the story of a half-man, half-dog police officer who battles a villainous cat named Petey. After being adapted, improbably, into a successful musical, Dog Man now makes the leap to the big screen, with animation befitting the books’ kid-drawn art style.

Vegetable Dumplings

Lunar New Year is this Wednesday, ushering in the year of the wood snake with all its prudent intelligence. Eating dumplings is a time-honored way to celebrate, and Sue Li’s plush vegetable dumplings are a deeply flavorful option that happen to be vegan. Her trick is to bind the vegetables with tofu in place of the pork fat that’s more traditionally used. Homemade dumplings do take time to prepare, but they freeze well, meaning you can make them this weekend to cook up on Wednesday. And if making the wrappers from scratch seems like one step too many, fear not. Store-bought dumpling skins will work here, too.

REAL ESTATE

Health: Ten gut myths, corrected by experts.

Looks: In New York, clashing prints was the street trend of the week.

Travel: Spend 36 hours in Quebec City.

Dry January: Round the month with these fun and easy nonalcoholic drinks.

ADVICE FROM WIRECUTTER

Stellar instant noodles

Ramen is shedding its reputation as college survival food. But if a basic pack is all you have on hand, you can still make it shine. My advice is to slice veggies thin so they cook quickly with the noodles. Bok choy and napa cabbage are my favorite additions. For protein, I love tofu, a poached egg or leftover roast chicken. It helps to start with great instant noodles: Wirecutter experts have tasted dozens of varieties, and we have a new lineup of spicy, zingy and flavorful recommendations. And for optimal slurping, these are the best chopsticks. — Marilyn Ong

Buffalo Bills vs. Kansas City Chiefs, A.F.C. Championship: The Super Bowl will be the most watched game of the season. For N.F.L. fans, though, this is probably the most anticipated game. Patrick Mahomes has led the Chiefs to seven straight A.F.C. title games, and he’s beaten the Bills and their quarterback, Josh Allen, in all three of their playoff matchups. But Mahomes is not quite invincible. Of the 16 games he started this season, he lost just one — to Allen and the Bills. Tomorrow at 6:30 p.m. Eastern on CBS

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