Amateur Hour

• Lisa Moore: “Frederic Rzewski: No Place to Go but Around” (Cantaloupe)
• The Crossing, Donald Nally: “Born” (Navona Records)
• Anthony Cheung: “All Roads” (New Focus Recordings)

When did “amateur” become an aspersion? The late 1780s, according to the Online Etymology Dictionary. But the etymology of the word is written across its forehead: Its roots are in the word “amateur,” French for a lover or one who loves. To be an amateur is to do something out of love.