Leta Miller's book Music and Politics does what few histories or musicological studies do: offers a lively and entertaining read dealing with San Francisco's history of classical music.
David Ramadanoff's downbeat for the Vallejo Symphony's season-opening concert marks two remarkable, contrasting events: the 80th season for the orchestra of a small city, and a comeback from last year's seemingly terminal money problems.
Repeating the adjective on purpose: An extraordinary event is being planned on 
However ambiguous you may feel about the mix of history, hype, (literal) flag-waving, a huge production effort (including a