Richard Taruskin, English-speaking world's leading scholarly authority on Stravinsky and indeed Russian music at large, author of The Oxford History of Western Music, delivered a fascinating 3 1/2 hour-long lecture on Thursday evening at Confidencen. Answer to the question he posed: "Words or Music: Who's Really on Top?" perhaps lies just in the very theme of O/Modernt 2012: "Monteverdi / Music is the servant of the words". Got to give props to the festival's organizers for bringing forth this terrific idea and thanks a million for the choice of featured music. How inspiring!