By PHILLIP LOPATE, New York Times, Published: December 2, 2011
To celebrate the 120th birthday of Carnegie Hall, whose very name is synonymous with musical excellence, its overseers have put together a lavishly illustrated volume and accompanying trove of memorabilia. CARNEGIE HALL TREASURES (Harper Design/HarperCollins, $75), by Tim Page and the Carnegie Hall staff, is a sort of glorified publicity kit — the kind of thing you might give donors as a souvenir or sell to members of the public who wish they had been there. Do not look for complexity, skepticism or critical analysis, much less sober institutional history. What we have here is an orgy of self-congratulation that is both awkward and touching.
Illustration from “Carnegie Hall Treasures”