Three recent events involving newspaper writing about classical music:

• November 12, 2017: New York Times devotes its Sunday classical page to an upcoming album of pop songs sung by a former opera singer.
• November 12, 2017: Philadelphia Inquirer devotes its classical page to a preview of upcoming new music events in Philadelphia.
• November 16, 2017: David Patrick Stearns announced on his blog that he is accepting a buyout from the Philadelphia Inquirer.

I’m not saying there is an causal relationship among these events. But the juxtaposition of the two Nov. 12 articles was striking - by wasting the limited space available for classical music that day, the Times seemed parochial compared with the Philadelphia paper.

I am sad to see David Patrick Stearns go. His writing annoyed me, it pleased me, it offered me fresh insights - sometimes all in the same article. But it was always solid and thoughtful writing and never boring. He will be greatly missed.