Classical Music

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  • Berglund's silence of Jarvenpaa

    On An Overgrown Path
    27 Jan 2012 | 2:55 am
    Nielsen's Fifth Symphony has been well served by the record industry. I grew to love it through a long-deleted 1975 LP. Producer David Mottley and engineer Stuart Eltham captured the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra conducted by Paavo Berglund in that wonderfully rich yet realistic sound that was the hallmark of EMI's recordings of the period. Simon Rattle said of Berglund "He is one of the great conductors still among us", an opinion I will happily concur with. I remember a blistering Shostakovich Seventh Symphony in the acoustically magnificent Caird Hall in a freezing Dundee in the 1980s,…

  • Classical music is not a spectator sport

    On An Overgrown Path
    25 Jan 2012 | 9:05 am
    Cut to the Britten Studio at Snape on Saturday evening (Jan 21) where the 'Returns Only' sign was posted at the box office. So what sold out this remote venue in the middle of January - a pop-up concert by Gustavo Dudamel and his Simón Bolívar band perhaps? Well actually no, the event was an exploration of symmetry presented as part of Aldeburgh Music's Faster Than Sound experimental series. A major factor in the box office appeal was that Marcus du Sautoy was animating the event - author of several best selling books and a frequent TV presenter, his day jobs are Simonyi Professor for the…

  • Degenerate music from the land of the iPhone

    On An Overgrown Path
    24 Jan 2012 | 10:12 am
    Degenerate Music or Entartete Musik was a label applied in the 1930s by the Nazis to music that was proscribed because it was deemed harmful or decadent. Degenerate Music from the 1930s is now a fashionable cause but Entartete Musik from our own times is ignored, presumably because the regime doing the proscribing makes iPhones, hosts the Olympic Games and buys an awful lot of Bentleys. That great travel writer Colin Thubron takes up the story in his indispensable To A Mountain in Tibet:In a land maimed since 1950 by Chinese occupation, by mass killings and displacement, the Cultural…

  • Open the doors and let the sound stream out

    On An Overgrown Path
    24 Jan 2012 | 4:00 am
    To Alex Ross' growing list of Cage centenary events I would add Aldeburgh Festival's John Cage Musicircus curated by James Weeks and Exaudi on June 23. As the Aldeburgh Festival brochure explains - a plethora of Festival artists and others fling open the doors of the Hoffman Building and let the sound stream out. Centrepiece of the Musicircus is a repeat of Exaudi's performance of the John Cage Song Books. Their first performance at Snape of the Song Books provides my header image and an article here, while you can listen to James Weeks talking to me about Elisabeth Lutyens and more in an…

  • The sacred mystery of the concert hall

    On An Overgrown Path
    28 Jan 2012 | 6:30 am
    Liturgy comes from a word meaning "public work"; by its performance more is expressed than can be conveyed in verbal formulae. Like music, liturgy holds more than can be explained in a commentary. The meaning is implicit and conveyed by performance. It is not a theatrical performance but more like the performance of a string quartet, not in its aesthetics, but in the thing behind the music.Classical music's anti-silly conventions lobby has been getting quite a bit of airtime here recently, so I offer the thoughts above to add some balance. They come from Christopher Howse's book Sacred…
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    About.com Classical Music

  • A Synopsis of Bizet's Djamileh

    22 Jan 2012 | 7:56 pm
    Carmen wasn't the only opera written by Georges Bizet.  Djamileh tells the story of a "playboy's" monthly slave, Djamileh.  She falls in love with him, but he trades in his mistresses every month for a "new model."  The playboy's servant loves Djamileh and the two make a deal that if she can't make the playboy love her, she will marry him instead.  Learn how the story ends in this synopsis of Bizet's Djamileh.

  • A Synopsis of Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel

    22 Jan 2012 | 5:42 pm
    After watching ABC's hit television show, Once Upon a Time, I fell in love with the fairy tales of my childhood all over again.  Not only that, I remembered that the famous story of Hansel and Gretel was adapted for an opera composed by Englebert Humperdinck.  It's a fantastic opera that premiered on December 23, 1893.  To this day, it is traditionally performed during Christmastime.  Read the full synopsis of Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel.  Then watch the opening scene to the final act of the opera on YouTube.

  • 2012 Golden Globe Winner for Best Score

    15 Jan 2012 | 5:41 pm
    Normally, I have trouble predicting the winner of an an award, whether it's an Oscar, Golden Globe, or Grammy. This year's winner for the Golden Globe for best film score, however, was a no-brainer. The moment I heard the music, I instantly fell in love, and I knew others would too. I didn't even need to hear the other 2012 Golden Globe nominees. If you haven't had a chance to listen to Ludovic Bource's The Artist, you simply must. You can preview, purchase and download tracks at Amazon, or you can listen to one of my favorite tracks on Youtube.

  • Cosi fan tutte Synopsis

    14 Jan 2012 | 7:15 pm
    Mozart's famous opera, Cosi fan tutte, or "Women are like that" tells the story of two men and the faithfulness or "supposed faithfulness" of their fiancées.  After making a bet with a bitter old man, the two men craft a plan to dupe their fiancées into quickly exchanging their steadfast love for other men when the two officers claim to have been sent off to war.  Despite the opera's not-so-perfect view of women, it's one of Mozart's most beloved operas, and has been since its creation in 1790.  Read the entire Cosi fan tutte synopsis.

  • The Ringing Cellphone at the NY Phil's Performance of Mahler 9

    14 Jan 2012 | 11:51 am
    Last week, during a moving performance of Mahler's Symphony No. 9 with the New York Philharmonic, the New York Times reported a strange incident of a ringing cellphone.  Sadly, these kinds of interruptions are all too common, not only during a classical music performance, but even at the movie theater.  (Perhaps, it's time to move "not turning off your cellphone" to the top of the list of ways to ruin a classical music concert.)  What makes this incident so unique, is that the phone began ringing during the final passages of the symphony - one's that are calm, quiet,…
 
 
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    Slipped Disc

  • So far, how good? Nico Muhly premieres in Seattle

    Norman Lebrecht
    27 Jan 2012 | 4:03 pm
    The hot young composer takes big risks, both in music and with his titles. So how did his new piece go down? Here‘s a first review.

  • Just in: Mozart makes his debut in the Cowboys Stadium

    Norman Lebrecht
    27 Jan 2012 | 3:40 pm
    Dallas Opera is planning a free simulcast of Magic Flute at the city’s famous football stadium. It’s on April 28. More here.

  • UNESCO names classical music heritage city – and it’s not Vienna

    Norman Lebrecht
    27 Jan 2012 | 11:26 am
    Any guesses? Report here.

  • Singalonga Beethoven, with Barenboim on the baton

    Norman Lebrecht
    27 Jan 2012 | 11:05 am
    Germany is trying to put together the biggest ever virtual chorus for Beethoven’s ninth on July 29 (eat your heart out, Gustav Mahler, that Symphony of 1,000 will sound like a chamber piece in comparison). Barenboim’s conducting on the Waldbuehne and he wants to hear from YOU. Here’s his how-to on video:   More details [...]

  • Finnish maestro: a mourning on the south coast

    Norman Lebrecht
    27 Jan 2012 | 10:52 am
    We have received this fond remembrance from the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, where Paavo Berglund served as chief conductor in the 1970s: “Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra is sad to hear of the loss of its Conductor Emeritus Paavo Berglund, its Principal Conductor from 1972-1979.  Berglund’s performances and recordings of Sibelius with the BSO are legendary and his [...]
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    Chamber Music Today

  • Kristen Plumley, Star Fleet Soprano

    DSM
    28 Jan 2012 | 7:16 am
    I   think that the science fiction genre has inspired so many artists... painters, poets, and certainly musicians. It is such an imaginative form of expression that speculates on our destiny — where are we going in the future? Science fiction and the music we associate with it truly resonates with many, many people.”  — George Takei.I t takes real guts and musicianship to pull off pieces like the ones we heard last night at Kansas City’s Kauffman Center! Let’s just say that it tests the mental and emotional stamina in a different way, compared to,…

  • Communion with the Audience: Encores taken from Bach’s Solo Cello Suites

    DSM
    23 Jan 2012 | 3:55 am
    M    any movements from Bach’s unaccompanied string works contain implied polyphony. Although earlier approaches describe this technique as a way of using arpeggiation to embellish a melodic line, to disguise an otherwise unacceptable melodic progression, to delay the resolution of dissonance, or to create underlying voice-leading patterns, these descriptions cannot account for the variety and complexity of the implied polyphony in these pieces. ...[using analysis based on auditory stream-segregation techniques, I come to the conclusion that—] Bach did not treat implied…

  • Chamber Music for Dressage Freestyle (kür)

    DSM
    18 Jan 2012 | 11:04 am
    I   want people to feel that it’s not just a kur but something like art. I hope people have a physical feeling as they hear the music—for me it is so special. I want them to be excited as they listen and watch. I think there’s a lot of emotion in it... My music before was mostly French, and this kur has some international music, but I’m also using some music by Polish composers... It’s difficult to put a name to this music, but it’s like a mix of classical with trance.”  — Michal Rapcewicz, FEI World Cup 2009.T his November 2011 post about the…

  • How likely to sing after radiation therapy for head-and-neck cancer?

    DSM
    16 Jan 2012 | 5:40 pm
    F   or oropharynx and nasopharynx cancers, it is sometimes possible to limit the dose received by the larynx according to the extent of the primary lesion. Thus, if the tumour constraints permit, the maximum dose to the larynx must be less than 63 to 66 Gy. To reduce the risk of laryngeal edema, it is recommended if possible to limit the mean non-involved larynx dose to 40 to 45 Gy [to prevent dysphonia or significant damage to vocal cords/folds].”  —  C. Debelleix and co-workers, Centre Hospitalier Dax-Côte d'Argent, France.T he question in this post's…

  • Cheryl Melfi: Digital Reeds Extraordinaire!

    DSM
    15 Jan 2012 | 7:57 am
    S   pace is social, and each society produces its own space—space that is simultaneously mental and physical. Space is always ‘produced’, in the sense that it is always a set of relationships; it is never a ‘given’; never inert or transparent; never in a state of nature untouched by culture. There is no such thing as an ‘empty’ space. You have already filled it...”  — David Wiles, p. 10.I   n electroacoustic music the interrelationship of spatial attributes and spatial schemata is often engaged in a play of perceptual grouping—one that…
 
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    Adaptistration

  • Smart QR Code Design For Maximizing Conversion From Mailings

    Drew McManus
    27 Jan 2012 | 2:00 am
    It’s always fun when unrelated items converge in just the right way at just the right time to uncover something useful. Case in point, I received four single show sales mailings from performing arts organizations (one orchestra, one opera, and two performing arts centers) and a domain name renewal notice and when all five pieces were strewn across the desk, it was tough to miss how the renewal notice was vastly superior in conversion-oriented design.Smart & simple QR Code design that takes users directly to a mobile optimized, streamlined shopping cart. Brilliant.The domain name…

  • Can You Have Ticket Deals That Are Too Good?

    Drew McManus
    26 Jan 2012 | 2:00 am
    Following up on last Monday’s Placebo Pricing article, the ever sharp Lisa Hirsch from Iron Tongue of Midnightstarted doing some digging around in her neck of the woods on ticket price issues and turned up some very intriguing results. In a post titled Pricing and Audience Resentment she provides a few apt observations on timing and steep price cuts.In a follow-up article, A Bit More on Pricing and Audience Segmentation, she takes aim demand pricing strategies and I know, it’s a topic that for some is well worn but for others it is still relatively new. Add Hirsch’s candid…

  • Another Orchestra vs. Unemployment Incident

    Drew McManus
    25 Jan 2012 | 2:00 am
    The 2011-12 season seems to be the year of pushing back against paying musicians unemployment benefits for some orchestras. In Louisville, the orchestra association fought hard to get their state’s Office of Employment and Training to revoke musician unemployment benefits and to pay back what they had received in 2011. Now it looks like the Richmond (VA) Symphony Orchestra (RSO) has decided to deal out a little damage of their own.The 1/23/2012 and 1/24/2012 editions of the Richmond Times-Dispatch published a pair of articles written by Wesley P. Hester that reports on legislation being…

  • I Wonder Which Gins Are Available At The Concession Stand

    Drew McManus
    24 Jan 2012 | 2:00 am
    It’s always fun when two divergent steams streams of thought coincide to produce something intriguing. Case in point, I recently joined the board of directors for a period-instrument orchestra here in Chicago, The Baroque Band, and shortly thereafter hopped on board a local dinner club/think tank (DCTT) that was the brainchild of Amy Calhoun, A.K.A. the Ticket Maven, for Chicago area arts professionals.On the Baroque Band side of things, one of my responsibilities as a new board member is to help refine their online presence and maximize the scope and efficiency of technology based…

  • Placebo Pricing And The Ticket Price Quandary

    Drew McManus
    23 Jan 2012 | 2:00 am
    Regardless of your view on whether or not the average ticket price at professional US orchestras is an accurate representation of the overall experience’s value or is artificially inflated to help pad earned income shortfalls (or a little of Column A and a little of Column B), Joe Patti presented a fascinating point of view on all of this at Butts In The Seats in a post from 1/18/2012. Whether intended or not, Patti presents a potentially useful option to help groups take a permanent step back from current pricing levels without looking like they’ve been gouging ticket buyers all…
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    listen.

  • American Song

    Steve Hicken
    20 Jan 2012 | 8:47 am
    Phil Freeman has generously posted a recording of John Mindemen's heroic performance of my American Song (trombone, 2008) from last year's New Music Festival at Western Illinois University.While you are at Burning Ambulance I hope you'll read Phil's other postings on a wide range of cultural subjects.

  • Burning Ambulance 5

    Steve Hicken
    13 Dec 2011 | 7:09 pm
    Just in time for Christmas!Burning Ambulance 5 is out. In addition to the usual outstanding writing on music, film, and culture, the issue includes my "Everything at Once: A Love Story", a meditation on the experience of time in music. A taste:In the beginning was Incident.Incident was and is all. In the beginning, though, Incidentwas constricted. It had no way of playing out—no “nonspatial continuum” inwhich Incident could play out and have meaning. Everything was happening atonce. Out of necessity, so that everything wouldn’t happen at once, as AlbertEinstein would later say when…

  • EC103

    Steve Hicken
    11 Dec 2011 | 6:16 am
    Happy 103rd birthday to Elliott Carter, one of my favorite composers and an important influence on me in so many ways. My posts about Mr. Carter and his music can be found here.

  • Some Informal Research

    Steve Hicken
    15 Jun 2011 | 7:13 pm
    For research purposes: What do you consider to be the most important concert music institution where you live? Define the terms any way you wish. Please provide an answer in comments, through email, on your own blog, or anywhere else you think I'll find it.Thanks.

  • Tough Times

    Steve Hicken
    10 Jun 2011 | 7:58 pm
    Tallahssee, Florida (June 19, 2011) -- The City Council of Tallahssee (FL) voted yesterday to attempt to balance the city's budget by removing the third "a" from the city's name. A council spokesperson said that there were numerous attempts to save the letter, but to no avail. Church leaders were happy, saying tey had "never liked [the letter] in combinatio with the two letters after it". The change was effective immediately, but critics say most of the savings were spent changing of the books in local libraries.Florda Governor Rick Scott, speaking in Tallahssee, said he was…
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    NewMusicBox

  • NEA and Jazz, Part 3

    Ratzo B. Harris
    27 Jan 2012 | 10:18 am
    It’s important for the National Endowment for the Arts to bestow honors on individuals who spent their lives performing, producing, and promoting jazz. For one thing, the genre is young enough that the lineage from its inception is intact.

  • Old Friends

    Rob Deemer
    27 Jan 2012 | 9:33 am
    You can’t have enough friends, especially while you’re a student composer. Too often we focus so much on where we’re going that we forget that we’re already somewhere and miss opportunities that are literally sitting right next to us.

  • We Sing Life: Conspirare

    Andrew Sigler
    26 Jan 2012 | 10:03 am
    Since its founding in 1991, vocal ensemble Conspirare has become not only part of the firmament of the Austin music landscape but also part of the national and international scene. This year, Conspirare has wasted no time in presenting two concerts of new music multiple times over the past few days.

  • Impermanence

    Alexandra Gardner
    26 Jan 2012 | 9:49 am
    I am continually struck by the fleeting nature of a musical performance relative to the amount of human labor involved in making a single performance happen. With artists who produce a physical product such as a book or a painting, there arrives a point at which the thing is done and can be directly experienced by nearly anyone from that point on. But in the time-based medium of music, there always has to be that additional layer of translation in linear time.

  • James Falzone—Music Through Other Lenses

    Devin Hurd
    25 Jan 2012 | 9:25 am
    As an accomplished performer, composer, improviser, and educator, James Falzone pursues a musical vision rooted in the middle ground between the fully notated world of conservatory-trained musicians and the improvisation-based energy of jazz and creative music. It is a territory he explores with an omnivorous appetite for musical influences and aesthetic directions, whether leading his quartet KLANG through a set of contemporary jazz compositions at a late night haunt, directing liturgical music with the Grace Chicago Consort, or composing for orchestra.
 
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    Alex Ross: The Rest Is Noise

  • George Eliot on new music

    Alex Ross
    28 Jan 2012 | 6:28 am
    Those who are familiar with the history of music during the last forty or fifty years, should be aware that the reception of new music by the majority of musical critics, is not at all a criterion of its ultimate success. A man of high standing, both as a composer and executant, told a friend of mine, that when a symphony of Beethoven's was first played at the Philharmonic, there was a general titter among the musicians in the orchestra, of whom he was one, at the idea of sitting seriously to execute such music! And as a proof that professed musicians are sometimes equally unfortunate in…

  • München im Schnee

    Alex Ross
    25 Jan 2012 | 9:52 am
    A Munich ritual: no matter how sleepless I feel on the first day, I go to the Alte Pinakothek, perhaps my favorite museum, and revisit familiar sights one by one. Today I walked down slowly down the great central corridor, attempting to minimize the noise that my boots made on the wood floor and keeping my eyes fixed on Dürer's "Four Apostles" at the far end. The museum felt like a vast theater created for this one fearfully potent painting, and it held the stage. I came to Munich to accept the Belmont Prize, an unexpected and extraordinary honor. At the ceremony, I thought it…

  • January overload

    Alex Ross
    24 Jan 2012 | 12:22 pm
    The square-dance section at Encore Records. The new-music schedule in New York becomes exceptionally hectic during the last week of January. To wit: 1) Tonight, the Austrian Cultural Forum and Manhattan New Music Project's Emancipation of Re:Sonance project continues with Sarah Weaver's meditation on Das Lied von der Erde. 2) Beginning tomorrow night, ISSUE Project Room officially inaugurates its new Livingston Street space with a New York edition of the celebrated Dutch festival Gaudeamus Muziekweek. Participating are Wet Ink, ICE, Ensemble MAE, Iktus Percussion, and others;…

  • Critics convene

    Alex Ross
    24 Jan 2012 | 7:08 am
    Last week I participated in the inaugural edition of the Rubin Institute for Music Criticism at Oberlin, an experiment in fostering future practitioners of an endangered art. Stephen Rubin, a publisher with a sharp musical ear, engendered the project, and David Stull, dean of the Oberlin Conservatory, fleshed it out. It was partly a symposium of present and former critics (also present were Anne Midgette, John Rockwell, Heidi Waleson, Tim Page, Don Rosenberg, Charles Michener, Daniel Hathaway, Mike Telin, and Brian Alegant) and partly a workshop for student fellows (ten young writers from the…

  • The Cage year begins

    Alex Ross
    23 Jan 2012 | 7:42 pm
    The official John Cage site has an increasingly vast list of events marking the composer's centenary year. Among them are a day of Cage at the University of Iowa (Feb. 12); a Musicircus at English National Opera (March 3); various Cage offerings amid Carnegie's American Mavericks series in late March; and a Cagefest in Washington, DC (Sept. 4-10). Much more remains to be announced, including two large festivals out west. The first big event of the Cage year is Juilliard's FOCUS! Festival, which begins this Friday. The final program, on Feb. 3, includes Fourteen, Litany for the…
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    Sequenza21/

  • Hope on the Horizon for New Opera in New York

    Christian Carey
    25 Jan 2012 | 7:56 pm
    From Bora Yoon's "Weights and Balances." Photo: Julia Frodahl Many of us waited with bated breath during the recent breakdown of talks between management and the orchestra at NYC Opera. Even though the season is proceeding, the company’s plan to keep themselves afloat (if not artistically viable) seems dubious at best. No music director, draconian cuts for the players and chorus, and no base of operations. Instead NYCO will present a truncated season at several venues. After hearing how shabbily the company has treated its employees – while George Steel continues to…

  • Emerging Composers, Hie Thee to Pavia

    Jerry Bowles
    22 Jan 2012 | 8:33 am
    If you’re an emerging composer looking to produce and promote your work, hear it played before live audiences by first-rate musicians, learn from and hang out with music notables like Christopher Theofanidis and Irvine Arditti in the historic drop-dead gorgeous Northern Italian city of Pavia, check out the highSCORE Festival, Italy’s leading annual contemporary music festival and master classes program. The dates are July 23 – August 4. “Last year’s program was a huge success,” says Artistic Director Giovanni Albini. “In 12 intense days we had nine…

  • Long Distance Poison … On Cassette!

    Christian Carey
    21 Jan 2012 | 9:03 am
    Long Distance Poison Gamma Graves Ecstatic Peace Cassette Gamma Graves is a prime example of the kind of release that has helped to fuel the cassette resurgence on the indie/experimental music scene. Produced by a variety of sources, from bedroom DIY collectives and small tape-only labels to established imprints like Ecstatic Peace, the audio cassette format, long thought extinct, is back. Tapes have been unassumingly encroaching their way onto the shelves of connoisseur collectors and music critics (no less than Steve Smith is a devotee): even record sellers such as Insound and Other Music…

  • Einstein is Coming

    Garrett Schumann
    19 Jan 2012 | 9:36 am
    This weekend, Ann Arbor’s University Musical Society is putting on its most ambitious project since I’ve been in town: Philip Glass‘s legendary opera Einstein On The Beach. The production is directed by Robert Wilson with choreography by Lucinda Childs and includes a stunning cast hand-picked by Mrs. Wilson and Glass for the revival. Performances are this Friday (7 PM), Saturday (7 PM) and Sunday (2 PM) at the downtown Power Center performance space. Alas, the shows are sold out at this point, but if you are a diehard fan, or just an interested individual in the area, there…

  • Steve Reich and Friends in Los Angeles

    PaulM
    18 Jan 2012 | 2:32 pm
    Last night Steve Reich, the Bang on a Can All-Stars and red fish blue fish appeared in front of a full Disney Concert Hall as part of the LA Philharmonic 2011/2012 Green Umbrella series of contemporary music. Steve Reich was warmly greeted by an enthusiastic audience and performed the first piece Clapping Music along with percussionist David Cossin. Clapping was followed by Video Phase an updated version of Reich’s 1967 Piano Phase. This was created by David Crossin in 2000 by playing the piece on MIDI percussion pads that trigger piano samples of the notes. A prerecorded video of this…
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    PlaybillArts.com

  • Vienna Teams Extend

    26 Jan 2012 | 4:00 pm
    In a major endorsement of General Director Dominique Meyer's first two years as Intendant of the Vienna State Opera, Austria's Culture Minister announced that his contract has been extended until the end of August 2020.

  • The Music Director, Uncensored

    24 Jan 2012 | 3:00 pm
    New York Philharmonic Music Director Alan Gilbert is a man of many ideas and interests, and he has candidly shared his musings on his blog, aptly titled Curiously Random.

  • 20 (PLUS) QUESTIONS WITH: Conductor Pablo Heras-Casado

    22 Jan 2012 | 7:00 pm
    One of the hottest young conductors today, and known for his “astonishing flexibility and range as a conductor” (Wall Street Journal), Pablo Heras-Casado is the newly-appointed Principal Conductor of the Orchestra of St. Luke’s.

  • Cinderella: She's No Disney Princess, But She's a Real Role Model

    18 Jan 2012 | 2:00 pm
    The Cinderella that Houston Ballet will revive in February, the one Stanton Welch originally choreographed for The Australian Ballet in 1997, is dark. And Cinderella does not end up with the prince.

  • Revisiting Romeo + Juliet

    16 Jan 2012 | 1:00 pm
    This February Sterling Hyltin and Robert Fairchild return to the roles they originated in Peter Martins' Romeo + Juliet
 
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    JDCMB

  • Friday Historical for Mozart's Birthday, plus some news

    27 Jan 2012 | 10:19 am
    First of all, I'm delighted to announce that I have "a new gig", contributing to The Spectator Arts Blog. My first piece is out today and it's a look at six of the best young opera singers I've come across in the last year or so. First up is Sophie Bevan, who will be singing her namesake in Der Rosenkavalier for ENO from Saturday. And five more budding superstars... Read it here.And it's Mozart's birthday, and it's Friday, so here is some Friday Historical Mozart: the first movement of the Concerto for Three Pianos, with Sir Georg Solti (conducting and playing), Daniel Barenboim and…

  • PAAVO BERGLUND, April 14 1929 - January 25 2012

    26 Jan 2012 | 7:26 am
    Sad news today that the Finnish conductor Paavo Berglund has died at the age of 82. I heard him many times and will long remember his strange, elf-like figure presiding over intense and alert Tchaikovsky and especially revelatory accounts of Sibelius symphonies.Here is his official biography. I'm sure full obituaries will be out shortly and I'll post links to those in due course.Paavo Berglund has over a long time been associated with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra in his native Finland. He has been Principal Conductor of the Stockholm…

  • Sergei Polunin jumps ship

    24 Jan 2012 | 12:38 pm
    And just as we were wondering if men in ballet are upwardly mobile... the Royal Ballet puts out a statement saying that Sergei Polunin has resigned with immediate effect. I interviewed him in the autumn for The Independent and sensed he was champing at the bit, so I'm not wholly surprised - though hadn't expected him to jump ship quite this soon, given the prominence the company was according him. Well, he's off. No reasons have been stated for his resignation, thus far (and I hope it's nothing to do with the tattoos).The news is causing quite some shock in the dance-loving Twitterverse, and…

  • Marvellous men?

    24 Jan 2012 | 2:01 am
    They're upwardly mobile, this lot. Get down to Sadler's Wells from Friday and see some seriously amazing dancers - Men in Motion, starring Ivan Putrov (who's put the evening together), Sergei Polunin and balletic friends from the Bolshoi, the Mariinsky, ENB and more. My article about the show is in today's Independent. I also have a little e-interview with Ivan Putrov himself...JD: Do you think that male dancers are starting to eclipse female ones when it comes to international stardom? If so, why might that be happening?IP: The word "Eclipse" sounds very much utopian. I wouldn't…

  • Debussy's bustin' out all over

    20 Jan 2012 | 2:38 am
    Here we go...it's the Debussy anniversary! A grand 150 years since the birth of (almost) everyone's favourite French composer, a figure without whom the entire face of 20th-century music would have been utterly different. I've written two relevant pieces which are both out today.First, here's my interview with Michael Tilson Thomas from this week's JC. The American conductor is presiding over the LSO's Debussy series which starts next week. His family background is truly fascinating, though: the American Yiddish theatre proved a rich and radical field for artistic development of many kinds,…
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    Classical Music Features from Minnesota Public Radio

  • Puccini's Tosca from the Met

    28 Jan 2012 | 8:00 am
    This weekend, the Metropolitan Opera broadcasts Tosca, one of the most popular operas ever written, by one of the most popular of all opera composers, Giacomo Puccini.

  • Minnesota Varsity Submissions Online

    27 Jan 2012 | 3:47 pm
    The submissions for Minnesota Varsity are in and online. Browse and listen to all of the talented young artists who submitted their music.

  • Regional Spotlight - Summer Singers

    26 Jan 2012 | 6:00 am
    The lake place can wait when the Summer Singers are performing. Vicki Peters is the director of a most dedicated group of singers who bring passion and commitment to their performances when most choral singers are taking time off. The joy of their music making will capture your heart. In this week's Regional Spotlight are two pieces recorded in concert last July. Both are hauntingly beautiful.

  • Minnesota Opera - Donizetti's Mary Stuart

    25 Jan 2012 | 9:00 am
    Two of history's most commanding women, Queen Elizabeth I and Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots, engage in a ruthless fight for the English throne - and the heart of one man. While Mary languishes in prison, Elizabeth forges a devastating plot to secure the crown. Judith Howarth (Mary) and Brenda Harris (Elizabeth), star as the dueling divas.

  • New Classical Tracks - Sibelius from Minnesota

    25 Jan 2012 | 12:00 am
    Conductor Osmo Vanska has begun recording the Sibelius symphonies with the Minnesota Orchestra. Though he's been intensely involved with the composer's music for years, he finds it as compelling as ever.
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    Ionarts

  • Ionarts-at-Large: Alex Ross' Belmont Prize and an Evening of Americana

    jfl
    28 Jan 2012 | 5:00 am
    When Douglas Boyd spoke passionately—in his beautiful melodic Scottish—about Charles Ives as one of the most enigmatic 20th century composer to the audience of the Munich Chamber Orchestra’s audience, the introductory excerpts of the hymn tunes took on a slight melancholic Scottish twang. His preparatory remarks fell on fertile ground, as a good part of the audience had already been readied to

  • Cunning Little Vixen at the Kennedy Center

    Charles T. Downey
    27 Jan 2012 | 8:19 am
    Monument of Bystrouška, from Janáček's The Cunning Little Vixen, in Hukvaldy, the composer's hometown Sharp-Ears, otherwise known as the Cunning Little Vixen, has taken up residence with her mate at the Kennedy Center. Not, unfortunately, because Washington National Opera is staging Janáček's brilliant, loveable opera of that title (last produced there in 1993), but because an actual pair of

  • For Your Consideration: 'The Artist'

    Charles T. Downey
    26 Jan 2012 | 8:57 am
    One of my Christmas presents was Brian Kellow's biography of movie critic Pauline Kael, an enjoyable read. If Kael's critical voice represents the beginning of modern film reviewing, it is significant that she cut her critical teeth on the first talkies as a young woman in the 1930s. Kellow notes that Pauline was most taken with the independent spirit of the smart, fast-talking heroines of

  • Joshua Bell Does It Again

    Charles T. Downey
    24 Jan 2012 | 11:13 pm
    French Impressions, J. Bell, J. Denk (released on January 10, 2012) Sony 88697820262 | 66'58" Joshua Bell is one of the regulars on the Washington Performing Arts Society roster, a celebrity performer virtually guaranteed to fill the hall every other year. The American violinist's popularity with Washington audiences continues unabated, even though his recitals here are remarkably similar from

  • Reviving Monsigny

    Charles T. Downey
    24 Jan 2012 | 2:53 pm
    P.-A. Monsigny, Le Déserteur, Opera Lafayette, R. Brown (Naxos, 2010) Charles T. Downey, Monsigny’s “Le Roi” receives admirable revival from Opera Lafayette (The Classical Review, January 24) Pierre-Alexandre Monsigny (1729-1817) was a primary force in creating the genre of the opéra comique, in partnership with librettist Michel-Jean Sedaine. Monsigny did this in spite of deficits in his
 
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    Soho the Dog

  • Curtains

    15 Jan 2012 | 6:30 am
    Why Boston is "not an opera town." The Boston Opera Company (1908-1915) and its upshots.Boston Globe, January 15, 2012.Additional tangents:If I had to guess who first said that Boston wasn't an opera town, I'd say Heinrich Conried, the onetime manager of the Metropolitan Opera; after disappointing Boston box office during the company’s 1905 tour, Conried bypassed the city altogether the following season. (Read between the lines of this article, for instance.) Was the founding of the Boston Opera Company and the building of the Opera House, in some small part, a riposte to Conried? The…

  • Und ihre Rosen in purpurner Glut, Bächlein, erquicke mit kühlender Flut

    2 Jan 2012 | 7:07 pm
    Raise a glass! You made it to 2012!Lucy's Purple Aurajuice of 1 limejuice of ½ lemon1 tablespoon grape jelly1 teaspoon grenadine1½ oz. gina decent handful of mint leavesShake it all with big chunks of ice until the jelly is liquefied and the mint is in confetti-like bits. Strain (keeping the mint, leaving the ice).According to the same psychic who filled in the corners of my CV, my wife's aura is, in fact, purple. For those not inclined towards gin (like, say, my wife), this makes for a good mocktail; just replace the gin with still or (better) sparkling water.

  • Are met in thee

    19 Dec 2011 | 12:15 pm
    It's less than a week until Christmas, which means it's probably time for me to get my act together and get ready for this deluge of services. It also means it's time for that Christmas prerogative of organists everywhere, the willfully perverse reharmonization of familiar carols! This year, the changes really are changes (click to enlarge):Happy Holidays! See you in 2012—when we'll run out this thirteenth b'ak'tun in style.

  • Think of it as maybe the soil of some great past civilization

    19 Dec 2011 | 11:42 am
    Reviewing Cappella Clausura.Boston Globe, December 19, 2011.

  • Ride pattern

    13 Dec 2011 | 11:06 am
    New England's Prospect: Stolen Moments. The 2011 Boston Conservatory New Music Festival and BMOP cross paths with jazz.NewMusicBox, December 13, 2011.
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    Opera Today

  • Don Giovanni, Royal Opera

    gary@operatoday.com
    27 Jan 2012 | 2:31 pm
    Introducing the winter-spring season, ROH Chief Executive Tony Hall explains the (perhaps a tad spurious) Olympic ‘concept’ which has inspired the season’s programming, the five interlocking rings of the Olympic insignia motivating the performance of a series of works staged in ‘cycle form’.

  • Basel Chamber Orchestra, Wigmore Hall

    gary@operatoday.com
    27 Jan 2012 | 1:56 pm
    Founded in 1984, the Basel Chamber Orchestra has developed a penchant for programmes which combine the modern and unfamiliar with the traditional and renowned.

  • La Bohème in Toulon, Marseille and Genoa

    gary@operatoday.com
    27 Jan 2012 | 12:39 pm
    Three La Bohèmes in ten days, a critic’s nightmare that was more fun than a barrel of monkeys.

  • The Enchanted Island, Metropolitan Opera

    gary@operatoday.com
    25 Jan 2012 | 12:07 pm
    This year is a big year for the Met. Of the seven new productions on the roster, two are the last two installments of a much-anticipated Robert Lepage Ring.

  • Haydn’s The Seasons at Barbican Hall

    gary@operatoday.com
    25 Jan 2012 | 11:48 am
    This buoyant, refreshing performance of Haydn’s late oratorio, The Seasons, by Paul McCreesh’s superb Gabrieli Consort and Players conjured a calendric kaleidoscope of seasonal climes, from the warm bucolic breezes of spring to summer’s fierce suns and flashing storms, from autumnal harvests and hunts to the frozen mists and fiery hearth-sides of winter.
 
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    aworks :: "new" american classical music

  • Sonata for Guitar (1986). Miklós Rózsa

    rgable
    24 Jan 2012 | 12:18 am
    Little or no relevant classical music in this week's releases on rdio. Best so far is an album of guitar music written by Miklós Rózsa. Sonata for Guitar was composed in the US towards the end of the composer's life:

  • Einstein on the Beach (1976). Philip Glass /ecstatically dumbounding/

    rgable
    22 Jan 2012 | 10:45 pm
    Image via Wikipedia Ok, I'm all in for Einstein on the Beach, at UC Berkeley in October, as I just bought tickets for all three performances. I figure this could be my one and only time to see it. Alex Ross just attended the opera in Michigan: I've waited half my life to see the piece, and I was decidedly undisappointed: what an ecstatically dumbfounding thing this is. Related articles Einstein (therightglass.wordpress.com) Einstein on the Beach (allmusic.com) Symphony No. 9 (1909-10). Gustav Mahler /a missed american multiplicity moment/ (rgable.typepad.com)

  • I Hear It in the Rain (1985). Michael Jon Fink /recently-rain-deprived/

    rgable
    20 Jan 2012 | 10:37 pm
    This work may have more topical relevance for those of us in the recently-rain-deprived Bay Area...

  • Goodnight Moon (). Eric Whitacre

    rgable
    20 Jan 2012 | 12:40 am
    Image via Wikipedia Eric Whitacre has composed a choral version of Goodnight Moon, with a recording to follow in the spring.

  • Giraffe (2011). Philip Glass /g.d.b.p.w.s.n.b.d.g./

    rgable
    19 Jan 2012 | 11:56 pm
    I can't determine if the blog is properly called Pretty Awful Giraffes, Giraffes Drawn by People Who Should Not Be Drawing Giraffes, or G.D.B.P.W.S.N.B.D.G. Regardless, if you scroll down after clicking this link, there's a giraffe drawn by Philip Glass.
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    Sounds & Fury

  • Tonight's The Night

    A.C. Douglas
    26 Jan 2012 | 11:05 pm
    [NOTE: This entry has been updated (1) as of 11:42 PM Eastern on 27 Jan. See below.] Tonight's the night we all find out whether...

  • Smashingly Good Concept

    A.C. Douglas
    23 Jan 2012 | 3:03 pm
    Leave it to the Brits to come up with this smashingly good and perfectly apposite concept: When Alex Ross started writing The Rest is Noise...

  • Ave Atque Vale, Gustav

    A.C. Douglas
    17 Jan 2012 | 2:10 pm
    Pioneer practitioner in and pillar of the then-called "Authentic Performance" movement (the forerunner of the present day Historically Informed Performance (HIP) movement), voluminously recorded Dutch...

  • Fully Worthy

    A.C. Douglas
    15 Jan 2012 | 3:20 am
    Here's the lede graf of a concert review by Fiona Maddocks of The Guardian fully worthy of the work described: Double basses quiver and swirl...

  • The Kindle Touch: A Near-Paragon Of An eBook Reader

    A.C. Douglas
    13 Jan 2012 | 3:36 pm
    In November of 2009 we made a plea on S&F to Amazon's Jeff Bezos to price the Kindle eBook reader at $99 rather than the...
 
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    The Collaborative Piano Blog

  • The Art Song Recital is Alive and Well: Sparks and Wiry Cries Relaunches as an Ezine

    Chris Foley
    24 Jan 2012 | 11:28 pm
    Calling all champions of the art song genre: Sparks and Wiry Cries, the brainchild of Erika Switzer and Martha Guth which previously had its debut as a podcast, has now relaunched as a blog an ezine. Here is just a sample of some of the articles that you'll be able to find on the new SWC format: Graham Johnson: The Songmakers' Almanac Returns Laura Loewen: Health and the Collaborative Pianist Susan Youens: A Life in Lieder Convincing Your Audience that Attending Your Recital is Less Painful Than Going to the Dentist Sparks and Wiry Cries also has a Facebook page, which you're obligated to…

  • 10 Things Every Collaborative Pianist Should Have

    Chris Foley
    24 Jan 2012 | 8:05 am
    Today's guest post is written by Nancy Harder, who speaks to musicians about being entrepreneurial and tossing out the status quo on her blog, The Composed Musician. She's an active collaborative pianist, teacher, and writer. She's also on the faculty at Virginia Tech's Department of Music. Sign up for her free monthly newsletter on The Composed Musician for inspiration and news. These are the things I've needed time and again as a collaborative pianist. Some of them have taken me a while to learn about and implement, but they've all made a big difference in my career as an entrepreneurial…

  • Rob Ford, The Opera Premieres on January 22nd at the University of Toronto

    Chris Foley
    4 Jan 2012 | 2:03 pm
    Image by sniderscion As part of its Student Composer Collective, the Faculty of Music at the University of Toronto will be presenting one performance of Rob Ford, The Opera on Sunday, January 22nd at 2:30pm in the Macmillan Theatre. Admission will be free. The concept and libretto (based on Toronto's colorful and controversial mayor) are the brainchild of U of T Resident Stage Director (and Tapestry LibLab dramaturg/animateur) Michael Albano. From the U of T press release: To celebrate the 15th successful year of the Student Composer Collective, the Faculty of Music will present Rob Ford, the…

  • Meme of the Day

    Chris Foley
    3 Jan 2012 | 7:22 am

  • Remembering Martin Isepp

    Chris Foley
    3 Jan 2012 | 6:45 am
    Martin Isepp, one of the world's great vocal coaches and mentor to countless singers and pianists, has passed away over the holidays. Although I never worked with Martin, his influence on those I have worked and studied with over the years, both in the art song and opera realms, was palpable. Here is Martin Isepp with tenor Paul Austin Kelly in a 2010  performance of Britten's On This Island: More remembrances from around the blogosphere: Two posts from Norman Lebrecht (also read the comments) Brian Dickie of the Chicago Opera Theater Musical Toronto Lewes Classical Nicholas Phan If you…
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    parterre box

  • Plebe! Patrizi! Zzzzz!

    La Cieca
    27 Jan 2012 | 3:18 pm
    In what will doubtless come as a surprise to no sentient being currently in existence, Placido Domingo has, after long months of consideration, decided to offer his New York public a startling novelty, the title role in Simon Boccanegra, as his contribution to the “comeback” season of Opera Orchestra of New York. Since the city has had only six opportunities previously to hear the tenor (or whatever) in this role—most recently in the mistily-recalled past era of February, 2010—both he and the management of OONY are to be congratulated on this bold programming decision.  …

  • Welch Chat leuchtet dort?

    La Cieca
    27 Jan 2012 | 8:55 am
    Yes indeed, cher public, there will be a chat (or, given the length of the work, perhaps a symposium) tonight during the premiere of Götterdämmerung from the Met. The performance, which begins at 6:00 pm, will be broadcast on the Met’s Listen Live as well as on Sirius XM. Of course, La Casa della Cieca will be open all night long.

  • Fortuna caeca est

    La Cieca
    27 Jan 2012 | 8:44 am
    Which soprano, whose honeyed voice has been heard at the Met as a cover and in second casts, is about to receive the Beverly Sills Artist Award just as she sings her first official performance of a starring Verdi role?

  • Second prize song

    Adriel
    26 Jan 2012 | 10:16 pm
    Performing Die Meistersinger in concert is a little like doing Shakespeare on the radio. The opera’s portrayals of human foibles and its palpable sense of community can leach away in a format that restricts the interplay between characters and is focused entirely on the music. There also are logistical and acoustic challenges cramming such a large cast on a stage with a Wagner orchestra and sizable chorus. All of which makes Marek Janowski’s newly released account with the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra and Chorus on PentaTone Classics CD a triumph of clarity over circumstance. The Old…

  • Clang, clang, clang

    La Cieca
    26 Jan 2012 | 1:26 pm
    The 2012-2013 season brochure for Carnegie Hall—which features as its cover a photo of La Scoopenda that appears to be an outtake from a Self magazine shoot—notes that the venerable venue will host exactly two operas in concert next year: Handel’s Radamisto (Harry Bicket, David Daniels, et. al.) and, you guessed it, A Streetcar Named Desire. Complete details (including cringeworthy styling choices by some of the recitalists, notably Elina Garanca), may be downloaded here.
 
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    The Wagnerian

  • Listen to: Gotterdammerung - MET premiere Friday January 27, 2012

    26 Jan 2012 | 10:45 pm
    Sorry  I have not been posting much the last few weeks - a rather busy schedule has made things difficult. While things remain somewhat "hectic" they will be less so then in the last few weeks  and thus normal service will return next week. But in the meantime do not forget to catch the premiere of the new MET Gotterdammerung tomorrow live and streaming at 6:00 pm ET. (11:00pm London) I will certainly be. Click the link below to be taken directly to the live stream. Cast details follow plus Lepage's thoughts on the final part of the Ring. Click to Listen Live Cast   Jay…

  • Lepage: "...suddenly you're just the guy who has this big set that makes noise."

    26 Jan 2012 | 10:35 pm
    NEW YORK (AP) — Early in Wagner's "Ring" cycle, Wotan glimpses the new home he has commissioned for his fellow gods and exclaims: "Vollendet das ewige Werk!" (The everlasting work is finished!") Robert Lepage might feel some of that same pride and relief as he nears the Metropolitan Opera premiere this Friday night of "Goetterdaemmerung" ("Twilight of the Gods"), the fourth and final installment in a production nearly six years in the making. But Wotan's boast carries unintended irony, since Valhalla turns out to be far from everlasting: The seeds of the gods' destruction have already been…

  • Excerpt from 'Parsifal' - Berlin 1992 - Waltraud Meier/Poul Elming/ Daniel Barenboim

    26 Jan 2012 | 9:54 pm

  • Heinrich Schlusnus accompanied by Richard Strauss (1917)

    24 Jan 2012 | 8:26 pm
    I believe these were recorded in 1917, unless someone would like to correct me. Richard Strauss (1864-1949): Lieder per voce e pianoforte (1885/1898): I. "Heimkehr" op.15 n.5 (1886) II. "Ich liebe dich" op.37 n.2 (1898) III. "Ruhe, meine Seele" op.27 n.1 (1894) IV. "Zueignung" op.10 n.1 (1885) V. "Die Nacht" op.10 n.3 (1885) VI. "Das Geheimnis" op.17 n.3 (1886/1887) Heinrich Schlusnus, baritono Richard Strauss, pianoforte VII. "Breit über mein Haupt" op.19 n.2 (1888) VIII. "Morgen !" op.27 n.4 (1894) Robert Hutt, tenore Richard Strauss, pianoforte

  • Missed McVicker's Glyndebourne Die Meistersinger ? Then catch it in Chicago, 2013

    22 Jan 2012 | 6:13 pm
    Lyric Opera of Chicago have announced their 2012/13 season. In among an interesting set of productions - including a new Electra - is the announcement that McVicker's highly regarded  2011 production of Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg will be making its debut in Chicago in February 2013. Full cast below: Dates    8, 12, 16, 20, 23, 27(m) February, 3 March 2013 Cast: Hans Sachs  -  James Morris Veit Pogner -  Dimitry Ivashchenko Sixtus Beckmesser - Bo Skovhus Fritz Kothner  - Darren Jeffrey Walther von Stolzing  -  Johan Botha David - David Portillo…
 
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    Naxos AudioBooks New Releases

  • SAPPER: Third Round (The) (Unabridged) (NA0057)

    31 Dec 2011 | 6:00 pm
    When Professor Goodman discovers a method of creating flawless diamonds at almost no cost, it is much more than a scientific curiosity—especially to the members of the Metropolitan Diamond Syndicate, who determine to stop this threat to their healthy profits. But their plans backfire when the man they recruit to keep the Professor’s discovery a secret turns out to be the world’s greatest villain. Only one man can stop the ensuing intrigue, kidnappings, plotting and murder: Bulldog Drummond. Yet even he is pushed to the limit when he faces his nemesis in the waters off the…

  • DICKENS, C.: Hard Times (Unabridged) (NA0023)

    31 Oct 2011 | 7:00 pm
    Hard Times is Dickens’s most political novel. Set in the industrial north of England, in the fictional Coketown, he examines the lives of working people, who are taught by the capitalists Gradgrind and Bounderby to think only of the facts of life and not to indulge in imagination. Gradgrind’s own children have been educated thus, and as a result are dysfunctional and disconnected from their feelings. Only Sleary’s travelling circus company seems to offer any hope of humanity in Coketown. Hard Times is a deeply moving story written in anger to strike a blow for the victims of…

  • HAGGARD, H.R.: She - A History of Adventure (Abridged) (NA0058)

    31 Oct 2011 | 7:00 pm
    Somewhere in Africa, a tiny, primitive tribe, the Amahaggers, live secretly amongst the debris of a lost Egyptian civilization, ruled by the beautiful semi-goddess Ayesha, or She-who-must-be-obeyed. Ludwig Horace Holly, a Cambridge academic, is reluctantly drawn into plans for a voyage in search of this legendary queen. With his adopted son, Leo, he sets out on a brave journey, following a trail of clues. Shipwrecked and captured by cannibals, their voyage soon turns into a nightmare. This masterpiece of suspense and adventure, by the author of King Solomon’s Mines, contains some of the…

  • WHITFIELD, P.: History of Western Art (The) (Unabridged) (NA0055)

    31 Oct 2011 | 7:00 pm
    What is art? Why do we value images of saints, kings, goddesses, battles, landscapes or cities in eras utterly remote from our own? This history of art shows how painters, sculptors and architects have expressed the belief systems of their age—religious, political and aesthetic. From the ancient civilisations of Egypt, Mesopotamia and Greece to the revolutionary years of the 19th and 20th centuries, the artist has acted as a mirror to the ideals and conflicts of the human mind. He has always started with reality, but has selected and reshaped that reality to create a parallel world: a…

  • SHELLEY, M.: Frankenstein (Unabridged) (NA0026)

    30 Sep 2011 | 7:00 pm
    Mary Shelley’s poignant exploration of the true depths of human ambition has had a profound effect on readers since its conception in 1816. When scientist Victor Frankenstein forms a creature from the body parts of corpses, thus shattering the perceived limits of scientific understanding, the consequences are devastating. As Frankenstein becomes disgusted with his experiment, he thwarts the creature’s desire for a companion, and what ensues is singularly chilling.
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    Naxos Historical New Releases

  • PRIMROSE, William: Recital, Vol. 2 (1939-1952) (8.111383)

    31 Dec 2011 | 6:00 pm
    Considered the first really modern violist, legendary Scottish musician William Primrose first came to prominence with the violin in the 1920s, turning to the viola on the recommendation of his greatest mentor, Eugène Ysaÿe. This programme includes four Paganini Caprices, which did more than any other of Primrose’s recordings to spread his fame among his peers, as well as two major works written especially for him: Arthur Benjamin’s Sonata, and Roy Harris’s Soliloquy and Dance. Primrose performs here with numerous noted accompanists, and alongside Jascha Heifetz…

  • RICHTER, Sviatoslav: Early Recordings, Vol. 2 (1956-1958) (8.111387)

    31 Dec 2011 | 6:00 pm
    By the time he made these recordings, all three of the sonatas had been in Sviatoslav Richter’s repertory for years. He had first performed Tchaikovsky’s Sonata in G major in 1942, recording it in Moscow in 1956. His recordings of the music of Prokofiev are the stuff of legend. He had just four days to learn the Seventh Sonata for its first performance in early 1943. Richter spoke of the work reflecting ‘murderous forces unleashed’ and his 1958 recording is a graphic realisation of the sentiment. The Ninth Sonata was dedicated to him and its ‘radiant, simple,…

  • Heifetz, Jascha: Miniatures, Vol. 2 (1944-1948) (8.111380)

    31 Oct 2011 | 7:00 pm
    This second of two volumes (Vol. 1 is available on 8.111379) completes the repertoire recorded by Jascha Heifetz during his short wartime period with American Decca. Aware of the need for lighter music while touring for the US troops, Heifetz nonetheless refused to play down to his audiences, praising the G.I.s’ ‘interest in good music’. This more classical programme represents the violinist’s staggering virtuosity and range, from a spectacular paraphrase of Rossini’s The Barber of Seville to the lyrical expressiveness of Saint-Saëns’s The Swan. The…

  • PRIMROSE, William: Recital, Vol. 1 (1939-47) (8.111382)

    31 Oct 2011 | 7:00 pm
    The great Scottish violist William Primrose revolutionised the playing of his instrument through both his virtuosity and the myriad colours he could evoke. Fully the equal of his colleagues Heifetz and Feuermann, he recorded a number of concertos and sonatas. But he also committed a substantial number of shorter pieces to disc, from Chopin and Dvořák to Kreisler and Arthur Benjamin. They reveal his lustrous, vibrant sound in some of the most beautiful pieces in the repertory. Two feature the great singer Marian Anderson. There are also two pieces from 1927 in which Primrose plays…

  • MENOTTI, G.C.: Maria Golovin [Opera] (Duval, Cross, Neway, Las, Handt, P.H. Adler) (8.111376-77)

    30 Sep 2011 | 7:00 pm
    Menotti’s powerful romantic opera Maria Golovin explores the issues of love and jealousy. It premièred in Brussels in 1958, transferring to Broadway toward the end of the year, but closed after only five performances. The composer himself described it as ‘his unlucky work’. Between these two dates RCA recorded the work in Rome with an outstanding cast of Menotti regulars, such as Patricia Neway, and brilliant newcomers like Richard Cross. The LP is rare and this is its first reissue in 50 years. Another rarity is Tossy Spivakovsky’s still-unequalled 1954…
 
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    Kenneth Woods- A View From the Podium

  • Hans Gal- The Lost Interview

    Kenneth Woods
    26 Jan 2012 | 7:36 am
    What follows is a bit of a treasure. It is an  interview with Hans Gál, done in 1971. It is unknown who the interviewer was, or if , when and where it was published. Nevertheless, it contains some of Gál’s most extensive commentary on his own creative work, his activities as a performer. He shows his wit in several places, notably saying of conducting that “But I am afraid I could not have been a professional conductor, properly speaking; I am all but physically unable to perform music I dislike. Doing music is, as I see it, an act of love. Doing it without, resembles dangerously the…

  • Guest Blog- Peter Davison, How music speaks to power? The doubtful legacy of Theodor Adorno

    Kenneth Woods
    25 Jan 2012 | 7:10 pm
    How music speaks to power? The doubtful legacy of Theodor Adorno Readers of this blog will know that Ken is a great enthusiast for composers like Shostakovich, Sibelius, Elgar and Schumann – among many others. His taste is catholic, and he is even open to composers found on the fringes of musical history like Hans Gal and Havergal Brian. And why not? These are unusual talents who, in other circumstances, might have reached much greater prominence. But there is one influential personality who, if he were alive today, would consider such taste highly regressive, and that person is Theodor…

  • Whatever happened to good old C major, anyway?

    Kenneth Woods
    23 Jan 2012 | 6:55 pm
    In the comments for my previous blog post on the Real Top 20 C Major Symphonies of All Time“, I assembled a list of the greatest “C minor symphonies that end in C major.” The first four pieces I thought of were   Beethoven 5 Brahms 1 Bruckner 8 and Shostakovich 8 When I saw the two great Beethoven and Brahms works alongside the Shostakovich, I was hugely struck by the contrast in affect. For Beethoven and Brahms, the move from C minor to C major was probably the ultimate musical embodiment of affirmation, of triumph. C major to them was the key of Earthly celebration, defined…

  • Bernard Sherman top 10 Classical CDs of 2011- Orchestra of the Swan Bobby and Hans vol. 1

    Kenneth Woods
    21 Jan 2012 | 5:11 pm
    A big thank you to Jason in Iowa, who alerted us to the fact that the eminent musicologist and Brahms scholar, Bernard D. Sherman,  picked Orchestra of the Swan’s recording of the Third Symphonies of Hans Gal and Robert Schumann as one of his top 10 best Classical CDs for 2011, as listed on his website. Get your copy direct from Avie Download from iTunes From Mr. Sherman’s website: Dec. 5, 2011- Talk-show host/interviewer supreme Charity Nebbe is having me on her show, Talk of Iowa, tomorrow to review the top classical CDs of 2011. Here’s what will cover, as well as some…

  • Call for Applications- Conducting Masterclass with Orchestra of the Swan, May 20th, 2012

    Kenneth Woods
    21 Jan 2012 | 3:02 pm
    Magicians of the orchestra: revealing the conductor’s art On Sunday 20 May 2012 the Two Rivers Festival (ww.tworiversfestival.co.uk) will present a special day-long workshop at The Bushell Hall, Birkenhead School working with an ensemble of players from the Orchestra of the Swan directed by Kenneth Woods. Magicians of the orchestra: revealing the conductor’s art Lecture, masterclass, concert and live recording session including a performance of movements from Brahms Serenade No.1 in D (arr. Boustead) From 14.00-17.00 members of the public will be able find answers to some…
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    Iron Tongue of Midnight

  • Call Me Cynical

    26 Jan 2012 | 6:20 pm
    Email from LA Opera trumpets a new web site feature: select your own seat! We're happy to finally be able to offer this! And we're waiving the handling fee for online orders for Simon Boccanegra and Albert Herring tickets, starting on January 29!Um, well, yes, it is a good thing that LAO has caught up with every other major presenting organization I've bought tickets from in the last five or six years. Why they didn't enable this module from Tessitura long ago is beyond me. And I consider handling fees for online orders to be vile. Roll those fees into overall ticket prices so…

  • I Am Ashamed of Myself.

    24 Jan 2012 | 6:06 pm
    This afternoon's background music is Orinoco Flow and Exile. Feel free to post derisive comments when you pick yourself up off the floor.

  • A Bit More on Pricing and Audience Segmentation

    24 Jan 2012 | 1:52 pm
    Elsewhere on the intertubes, a friend suggests that if all the tickets aren't sold, the price was too high, and that's the justification for the American Mavericks pass.Well, hold your horses. It's more complicated than that.As the biggest game in town, San Francisco Symphony has many constituencies, or market segments, or niches that it's trying to fill. People attend for social reasons; because they want to hear the old classics and not much more; because they want to hear the latest and greatest; because they want to hear particular soloists; because their…

  • Pricing and Audience Resentment

    24 Jan 2012 | 10:59 am
    Drew McManus had an article at Adaptistration the other day called Placebo Pricing and the Ticket Price Quandry; he points to Joe Patti's Butts in the Seats article Info You Can Use: Forget Dynamic Pricing, Use Placebo Pricing. Both articles are well worth a read, followed by some contemplation as to how events are priced and why.Ticket discounting is rampant in various ways. Some presenters just plain have inexpensive tickets, from amateur choruses to the wonderful Old First Concerts. Others have rush ticket programs, such as the senior rush and standing room tickets at San Francisco Opera…

  • Don't Do This

    24 Jan 2012 | 10:32 am
    The LAPO sends along email ostensibly containing the Hollywood Bowl 2012 season announcement. However, what's in the mail is a pretty graphic and a link. Click the link and you're taken to a pretty web site, where if you click the correct link, a 23-page PDF downloads.Folks, just don't do this. Don't make people click twice just to download your press release. Paste the essentials - say, five pages of essentials - into the email, with a "more details" link that goes directly to an HTML page.P. S. This is why I haven't actually read the press release yet.
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    Musical Assumptions

  • Apollo the Violist!

    28 Jan 2012 | 7:44 am
    Is that a viola I see strapped to Apollo's belt?[from this post on Bibliodyessey]

  • Grocery, Grocer-ah, Grocery, Grocer-ha ha ha ha ha ha

    27 Jan 2012 | 8:21 am
    It might be difficult for readers of this blog to understand exactly the kind of town I live in. Our kids used to describe it to their college friends and urban colleagues, and the usual response was disbelief, because there is so little to do here. It is no longer the cozy and somewhat vibrant town we moved to around 25 years ago, and from tales I have enjoyed from our plumber (one of my favorite people in town), it is not the same town it was when he was growing up. Our town used to have a courthouse square as its hub, and a small university a mile down the road from the square. The square…

  • Marion Bauer, Guest Blogger

    23 Jan 2012 | 2:14 pm
    Marion Bauer (1882-1955) is no longer alive, but her music (when I am not practicing it) lives in my head. The more I practice and rehearse her Viola Sonata, the more I admire her as a composer. She was once an important force in New York musical circles as both a composer and a teacher of all musical subjects, before she was relegated to the margins of music history by luminaries like Virgil Thomson. In the 1980s he said that she was not any part of a modern movement, and that she should not be grouped with Boulanger or Copland, and that was that. He obviously didn't know that Bauer was…

  • Slow Practice

    21 Jan 2012 | 7:45 pm
    My father used to always practice music slowly. It was always a great comfort to hear him practice when I was a kid (perhaps my greatest comfort) because everything always sounded so beautiful. It didn't matter what he was practicing (perhaps therein lies my fondness for scales and etudes) and it didn't matter whether it was tonal or not. 12-tone music was the new music of choice in the 1960s and early 1970s, and I still feel kind of goofy when I tell people about the comfort it brings me to hear Schoenberg played well. I also feel a little goofy telling people how much I enjoy practicing the…

  • Street Signs: Spoils from My Walk

    21 Jan 2012 | 2:49 pm
 
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    mostly opera

  • Mozarts best opera - vote

    27 Jan 2012 | 1:17 pm
    In celebration of Mozarts 255th birthday: Which is Mozarts best opera I dare assume, few will choose an opera not listed above.

  • David McVicar

    27 Jan 2012 | 12:59 pm
    DAVID MCVICARScottish. Born 1966. Studied acting initially graduating from Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. Detailed biographical information here. Directorial approach: Multilayered productions, often surprisingly traditional in the outlook, with opulent costumes (McVicars favourite period is the 18th Century) but come with a nasty twist. Reknowned for his direction of the singers

  • Munich Don Carlo with Kaufmann, Harteros, Pape

    24 Jan 2012 | 3:15 pm
    Don Carlo. Bayerische Staatoper, January 22 2011 LIVESTREAMING. Prod: Jürgen Rose. Cond: Asher Fish. Cast: René Pape (Filippo), Jonas Kaufmann (Don C), Anja Harteros (Elisabetta), Anna Smirnova (Eboli), Daniel Boaz (Posa), Eric Halfvarson (Inquisitor). According to the opera house about 459.000 people watched the free online-streaming, which worked perfect in my region (Scandinavia). Jürgen Roses

  • Paris Forza del Destino

    22 Jan 2012 | 4:53 pm
    La forza del destino. Paris Bastille Opera, November 28 2011. Production: Jean-Claude Auvray. Conductor: Philippe Jordan. Cast: Violeta Urmana (L), Marcelo Alvarez (Alvaro), Vladimir Stoyanov (Don C), Nadia Krasteva (Preziosilla), Kwangchoul Yun (Padre Guardiano), Nicola Alaimo (Fra Melitone) In summary, the Bastille Opera has presented  us with and entirely unconvincing staging of Verdis La

  • Diana Damrau Thielemann Strauss

    1 Nov 2011 | 4:03 am
    Richard Strauss orchestral lieder. CD. Poesie. Diana Damrau with Christian Thielemann conducting the Munich Philharmonics. 2011 From the dazzling coloratura of Amor to the innigkeit of Morgen and the broad expressiveness of Zueiningung. In this, her best disc until now, Diana Damrau sings a wide selection 22 of Richard Strauss´ songs accompanied by the Strauss-specialist Christian Thielemann,
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    An Unamplified Voice

  • Belated anniversary 1

    JSU
    23 Jan 2012 | 4:39 pm
    In December, this blog had its seventh anniversary. I had some thoughts on the subject, but I think I'll save them for the next birthday proper. Nevertheless, a year (December-December) of the more interesting posts here: On the baloney brutality of Willy Decker's Traviata On Meyerbeer's L'Africane On Tchaikovsky's Queen of Spades and Russian Francophilia On Schubert's Edenic Die schöneMüllerin On Strauss' Capriccio On Lully's Atys Review: Siegfried On Angela Gheorghiu and Cilea's Adriana Lecouvreur

  • The week in NY opera (January 16-22)

    JSU
    16 Jan 2012 | 2:20 pm
    Metropolitan Opera: Faust (M/Th), Enchanted Island (T*/SM), Tosca (W/SE) Aleksandrs Antonenko brings his forceful tenor to Tosca. * Tuesday's (starred) Enchanted Island is the one just before this Saturday's matinee moviecast, which means that the camera equipment and lights will be out in force. Do not sit in side orchestra, front orchestra, or side parterre -- the house is not interested in optimizing patron experience on these nights, but in making the eventual broadcast go well. Carnegie Hall: Megan Hart/Elliot Madore recital (Monday 5:30PM) Mireille Asselin/José Rubio recital (Wednesday…

  • The week in NY opera (January 9-15)

    JSU
    9 Jan 2012 | 12:45 pm
    The calendar is slowly, slowly coming out of holiday slowness. Metropolitan Opera: Faust (M/F), Tosca (T/SM), Enchanted Island (Th/SE) Although Calleja dropped out ill after the first intermission of his first scheduled Faust, he's again on the calendar this week. Tosca -- with Racette, Alagna, Gagnidze, and new conductor Mikko Franck -- starts its season tomorrow. My own bit of illness has kept me from writing up a full Enchanted Island post, but for now I'll just say it's terrible theater with some good singing. Carnegie Hall: Met Orchestra concert (Sunday 3pm) Not exactly opera, though…

  • The week in NY opera (January 2-8)

    JSU
    2 Jan 2012 | 1:20 pm
    Metropolitan Opera: Fille (M/F), Hansel&Gretel (T/SM), Enchanted Island (W/SE), Faust (Th) Although there aren't any new shows this week, there are two notable turns: first, Wednesday's first regular (non-holiday, non-gala) chance to see The Enchanted Island, and second, Thursday's debut of the season's third Faust cast. Joseph Calleja, Ferruccio Furlanetto, and Kate Lindsey are exciting additions to the latter who might perhaps offset Marina Poplavskaya's excessively humorless Marguerite.

  • Faust, cast 2

    JSU
    26 Dec 2011 | 2:16 pm
    Faust - Metropolitan Opera, 12/23/2011 Byström, Alagna, Mulligan, Pape / Nézet-Séguin It works, it works, it works! Never mind the vocal issues -- that Alagna is (as was announced at the worst possible time) indisposed and that Malin Byström is, um, a mezzo. Having a pair of leads actually interested in telling the story makes all the difference. It's the virtues that stand out. Alagna in French has a conversational-improvisational way with phrases that puts even his difficulties in a favorable light. Met debutante Byström, with her lovely mezzo sound and disconnected/iffy top notes (and…
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    On An Overgrown Path

  • The sacred mystery of the concert hall

    28 Jan 2012 | 6:30 am
    Liturgy comes from a word meaning "public work"; by its performance more is expressed than can be conveyed in verbal formulae. Like music, liturgy holds more than can be explained in a commentary. The meaning is implicit and conveyed by performance. It is not a theatrical performance but more like the performance of a string quartet, not in its aesthetics, but in the thing behind the music.Classical music's anti-silly conventions lobby has been getting quite a bit of airtime here recently, so I offer the thoughts above to add some balance. They come from Christopher Howse's book Sacred…

  • Berglund's silence of Jarvenpaa

    27 Jan 2012 | 2:55 am
    Nielsen's Fifth Symphony has been well served by the record industry. I grew to love it through a long-deleted 1975 LP. Producer David Mottley and engineer Stuart Eltham captured the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra conducted by Paavo Berglund in that wonderfully rich yet realistic sound that was the hallmark of EMI's recordings of the period. Simon Rattle said of Berglund "He is one of the great conductors still among us", an opinion I will happily concur with. I remember a blistering Shostakovich Seventh Symphony in the acoustically magnificent Caird Hall in a freezing Dundee in the 1980s,…

  • Classical music is not a spectator sport

    25 Jan 2012 | 9:05 am
    Cut to the Britten Studio at Snape on Saturday evening (Jan 21) where the 'Returns Only' sign was posted at the box office. So what sold out this remote venue in the middle of January - a pop-up concert by Gustavo Dudamel and his Simón Bolívar band perhaps? Well actually no, the event was an exploration of symmetry presented as part of Aldeburgh Music's Faster Than Sound experimental series. A major factor in the box office appeal was that Marcus du Sautoy was animating the event - author of several best selling books and a frequent TV presenter, his day jobs are Simonyi Professor for the…

  • Degenerate music from the land of the iPhone

    24 Jan 2012 | 10:12 am
    Degenerate Music or Entartete Musik was a label applied in the 1930s by the Nazis to music that was proscribed because it was deemed harmful or decadent. Degenerate Music from the 1930s is now a fashionable cause but Entartete Musik from our own times is ignored, presumably because the regime doing the proscribing makes iPhones, hosts the Olympic Games and buys an awful lot of Bentleys. That great travel writer Colin Thubron takes up the story in his indispensable To A Mountain in Tibet:In a land maimed since 1950 by Chinese occupation, by mass killings and displacement, the Cultural…

  • Open the doors and let the sound stream out

    24 Jan 2012 | 4:00 am
    To Alex Ross' growing list of Cage centenary events I would add Aldeburgh Festival's John Cage Musicircus curated by James Weeks and Exaudi on June 23. As the Aldeburgh Festival brochure explains - a plethora of Festival artists and others fling open the doors of the Hoffman Building and let the sound stream out. Centrepiece of the Musicircus is a repeat of Exaudi's performance of the John Cage Song Books. Their first performance at Snape of the Song Books provides my header image and an article here, while you can listen to James Weeks talking to me about Elisabeth Lutyens and more in an…
 
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    rogerbourland.com

  • Pilgrimage to Mazatlán

    Roger Bourland
    22 Jan 2012 | 1:06 pm
    Angela Peralta THE STORY: Internationally renown opera star, Angela Peralta (1845-1883) travels to Mazatlán with her company, where they struggle to make music in the face of a plague. As the death toll mounts, Angela and those closest to her come to terms with their complex feelings for one another. Last week, I went to Mazatlán with friend, colleague and librettist of my opera, Mitchell Morris, to do some final research on Angela Peralta, the heroine of our new opera, ANGELA PERALTA. I wanted Mitchell to see where our Angela met her untimely demise. We found two books with extensive…

  • Teatime with Alan Rickman

    Roger Bourland
    13 Jan 2012 | 11:23 am
    Should you be so lucky as to have tea with Alan, realize that sometimes he gets a little capricious.

  • Roger Bourland: Serenade No.2: Paintings (1987)

    Roger Bourland
    8 Jan 2012 | 3:17 pm
    "Dancer" by Roger Bourland “Paintings” was in many ways an homage to a teacher and colleague of mine: William Thomas McKinley, who composed many works called “Paintings”––a collection of short contrasting pieces composed to show off the colors of the ensemble and the talents of the performers. The work was commissioned, premiered by, and dedicated to Pacific Serenades in 1987. Serenade No.2: Paintings for flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano (commissioned by Pacific Serenades) 1. Orange Dancing 2. Pink Mobile 3. Red Glass 4. Blue Tears 5. Grey Heat 6.

  • Piano as Art

    Roger Bourland
    31 Dec 2011 | 2:07 pm
    C Major (2009) Recycled antique ivory piano keys; 19 x 33 x 5 Check out a very new way of looking at pianos: Piano as Art. © 2011 Penny Putnam and Shauna Holiman BenisonStudios.com

  • Seven versions of “Chimes of Freedom”

    Roger Bourland
    20 Dec 2011 | 1:53 pm
    Here are five versions of one of my all time favorite songs, Chimes of Freedom. First, Bob Dylan’s original: Second: The Byrds’ version (live) who made the song famous Third: Gene Clark’s version from ca. 1985. Fourth: Roger McGuinn revisits the song solo with his famous Rickenbacker 360/12 Fifth: Concert composer John Corigliano sets Dylan’s song in a completely new way. According to a comment in the YouTube video, John never heard Dylan’s original. Go figure. Sixth: A wonderful reworking by Youssou N’Dour. And finally, the finale with Bruce Springsteen,…
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    Jason Heath's Double Bass Blog

  • No Surprises – Double Bass Live Looping from Todd Matthews

    Jason
    23 Jan 2012 | 7:20 am
    No Surprises – Double Bass Live Looping on Vimeo on Vimeo via No Surprises – Double Bass Live Looping on Vimeo.

  • early 1800s Tyrolean Bass for Sale in Chicago

    Jason
    23 Jan 2012 | 7:18 am
    This message came in from a fellow Chicago bassist–I’m just putting it out there in case someone wants to get in touch with this individual. Bass for Sale I am a bass player too but I developed a medical condition so I am not playing anymore. I have a fine bass that I like to sale. It is early 1800 Tyrolean bohemian instrument. evaluated at $20000 Maybe you know somebody interested thanks for attention Carmelo carmelo d'amico cardam54@gmail.com tel 312-451-1732

  • How to Reduce Anxiety Before a Concert

    Jason
    23 Jan 2012 | 7:14 am
    The following article was contributed by Ryan Rivera, who has had five years of experience helping people with anxiety and related issues.  These tips should prove to be valuable for people preparing for auditions and performances.  Enjoy! How to Reduce Anxiety Before a Concert by Ryan Rivera Playing an instrument on stage is a lot like public speaking. You’re using your instrument as a method of communicating and as you play, all eyes are on you and your performance. Even the best bass players with years of experience feel a little nervous before a big event, knowing that they need…

  • Release of 2013 National Solo Competition Audition Repertoire

    Jason
    23 Jan 2012 | 7:05 am
    Release of 2013 National Solo Competition Audition Repertoire.

  • Beethoven Romance, Guy D. Tuneh, Andreas Schulze Bonhage. – YouTube

    Jason
    22 Jan 2012 | 8:06 am
    Beethoven Romance, Guy D. Tuneh, Andreas Schulze Bonhage. – YouTube.
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    The Omniscient Mussel

  • Mozart @ 256

    Miss Mussel
    27 Jan 2012 | 5:56 pm
    The old guy’s still got it. © Miss Mussel for The Omniscient Mussel, 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us Post tags: Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

  • XKCD: Connoisseur

    Miss Mussel
    25 Jan 2012 | 1:33 pm
    You know it’s true. © XKCD © Miss Mussel for The Omniscient Mussel, 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us Post tags: Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

  • Best Music Writing Needs You

    Miss Mussel
    24 Jan 2012 | 12:34 pm
    The Best Music Writing anthology – the 2011 version of which included #Operaplot (!) – is going independent and is running a Kickstarter campaign to raise the funds needed to get the new press started. Have a look at the video below and consider joining me in helping to keep this fantastic project going. The campaign finishes at 8am on Tuesday 31st January. Any donation over $15 means you get a copy of Best Music Writing 2012 for freesies. © Miss Mussel for The Omniscient Mussel, 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us Post tags: Feed enhanced by Better Feed from…

  • Um! Yah! Yah!

    Miss Mussel
    23 Jan 2012 | 11:17 am
    St Olaf’s is a Lutheran college in Northfield, Minnesota. They got some new pianos. All the old ones were brought into the main hall, lined up and 30 staff and students bashed through St Anthony’s Chorale and their fight song Um! Yah! Yah! (apparently the only college fight song in the U.S. in 3/4 metre) Somebody’s in the wrong key for a few bars but no matter, it’s all in good fun. I bet Ives would have loved this. © Miss Mussel for The Omniscient Mussel, 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us Post tags: Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

  • Speaking of Volumes

    Miss Mussel
    22 Jan 2012 | 8:51 pm
    A few back of the envelope calculations for a piece I’m working on led to the to following. Lady Blunt Strad $16 million or $44,000/cubic inch Bonjour Strad cello $6 million or $1100/cubic inch 5-storey Upper East Side townhouse $23 million or $0.18/cubic inch I make no editorial comment other than only one comes with an elevator. What do you make of it? © Miss Mussel for The Omniscient Mussel, 2012. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us Post tags: Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh
 
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    Naxos Blog

  • To stream or not to stream?

    Andy Doe
    26 Jan 2012 | 10:33 am
    A lot gets written about streaming music. It isn’t all true. Perhaps even more frustratingly when it is true, it isn’t always the whole truth. Here are ten misconceptions about music streaming, which I’ve attempted to explain. If you have questions, please use the comments section, and I’ll do my best to answer them or, at least, to explain why I can’t. 1) Streaming services are all basically the same Streaming services are not all the same. They all play you music over the Internet, but that doesn’t make them the same. They use different technologies, have…

  • The future of music books?

    Andy Doe
    12 Dec 2011 | 11:44 am
    Books have been around for thousands of years. They’re a great place to put words. Their batteries don’t run out, you don’t need anything else in order to use them, they can last for hundreds of years and nobody tells you to put them away just before the plane takes off. Books about music, though, can be a bit frustrating It has been said many times that writing about music is a bit like dancing about architecture. I don’t really think this is either true or particularly helpful* but words alone can struggle to describe the sound of great music. I’m no…

  • Bleeding Chunks of Wagner

    Andy Doe
    27 Sep 2011 | 4:27 am
    In my last post, I talked about digital only releases. One thing I didn’t mention is that, when it comes to compilations, you can take much bigger risks with a digital-only product. Here’s one we might not have dared put out on CD. It’s a collection of Wagner highlights. ClassicsOnline | iTunes | Amazon You’ll sometimes hear people use the term “bleeding chunks” to describe excerpts of operas, played out of context. The phrase was coined by Sir Donald Tovey in his 1935 Essays on Musical Analysis Vol. II (1935) p.71, where he wrote, “Defects of form…

  • 5 misconceptions about digital-only releases

    Andy Doe
    15 Aug 2011 | 11:48 am
    If you’re shopping on iTunes or ClassicsOnline, listening on Pandora or Spotify or Naxos Music Library, you mostly don’t care where else a record is available. You’re just happy you can listen to it however you choose. It wouldn’t affect your life if the album never came out on CD at all. I have, though, run into some strange ideas about digital-only releases, so I’d like to take this opportunity to set the record straight about five major misconceptions: 1) A digital-only release isn’t a proper release Not true. In the US, more than half of all record…

  • Top ten digital stores: where do people actually download classical music?

    Andy Doe
    25 Jul 2011 | 4:56 am
    According to the Nielsen mid-year report, record sales in the US are up for the first time since 2004. That’s obviously great news for musicians and labels, but it’s also good for the record-buying public – more sales means more recordings to choose from. CD sales for the first half of 2011 are actually a bit lower than in the first half of 2010. The growth has come from an 11% increase in digital downloads. Where are people buying all this music? It’s not easy to find out. I looked around online and found a lot of stories about where people can download classical…
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    Spotify Classical Playlists

  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Complete Chronological Catalogue on Spotify, Version 2.0

    ulyssestone
    27 Jan 2012 | 6:03 am
    "We cannot despair about mankind knowing that Mozart was a man."  - Albert EinsteinI compiled first version of this playlist in July, 2010, it was the Philips's 180-CD Complete Mozart Edition rearranged in chronological order. I totally remade it last month, because: 1, I want to add more variety into this playlist; 2, About half of the Philips recordings are not available in Spotify USA. 3, There are dozens of works are not recorded for the Philips Edition, including newly discovered pieces.After the remake/expansion, this playlists now include 2802 tracks from more than 470 recordings,…

  • EMI 20th Century Classics on Spotify

    ulyssestone
    20 Jan 2012 | 8:14 am
    This series features recordings of both popular and rare 20th Century works. All are 2CD releases, with the repertoire taken from both the EMI and Virgin Classics catalogues. It offers a wonderful introduction to the more accessible classical music from the last century, and also covers the some of the most famous avant-gardists.EMI listed 44 titles in their official site, but thanks to Mark Whitehead, I found more than 60 titles on Spotify. Composers features in this series include: Bartók (3 volumes), Berg, Britten, Debussy, Delius, Dukas, Dutilleux, Elgar, Enescu, Falla, Glazunov,…

  • Guest Post: The Art of Binary, or Music To Code To - Domenico Scarlatti's 555 Keyboard Sonatas

    ulyssestone
    16 Jan 2012 | 2:32 am
    Marc van Oostendorp is a Professor of Phonology - that is: the study of the sound systems of human languages - in Leiden, the Netherlands, a lover of music and a Spotify enthusiast.--------------------Many things are unknown about the Italian composer Domenico Scarlatti (1685-1757). During the first half of his life he lived in Italy and in the shadow of his father Alessandro (1660-1725), who was a much more famous (and productive) composer at the time, even though he is now less well-known than his son. The second half of Domenico’s life was spent on the Iberian peninsula. He worked at the…

  • 1000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die: A Spotify Playlist after Tom Moon's Book

    ulyssestone
    7 Jan 2012 | 9:43 pm
    "This is a book both broad and deep, drawing from the diverse worlds of classical, jazz, rock, pop, blues, country, folk, musicals, hip-hop, world, opera, soundtracks, and more. It's arranged alphabetically by artist to create the kind of unexpected juxtapositions that break down genre bias and broaden listeners' horizons— it makes every listener a seeker, actively pursuing new artists and new sounds, and reconfirming the greatness of the classics. Flanking J. S. Bach and his six entries, for example, are the little-known R&B singer Baby Huey and the '80s Rastafarian hard-core punk band…

  • Collaborative Playlist: 2012 New Classical Releases

    ulyssestone
    3 Jan 2012 | 9:41 am
    Three days into the new year, we already have more than 100 new classical releases on Spotify. I created a collaborative playlist for newly recorded classical recordings released in 2012, please feel free to add any new recording you stumble upon. I appreciate it if you can 1, check if the recording is already in the playlist (press Ctrl+F for the filter bar, then type in the album title to look up); 2, make sure it's not a compilation or repackaging of previously released materials, or newly reissued/remastered historical recording.Thanks to many contributors, the 2011 new classical releases…
 
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    Classical CD Reviews

  • Liszt for Cello and Piano, Francesco Dillon and Emanuele Torquati

    Gavin Dixon
    26 Jan 2012 | 4:44 am
    Liszt: Complete works for cello and piano Francesco Dillon celloEmanuele Torquati pianoBrilliant Classics 94150Buy from: Liszt's original works for cello and piano are few, but all are well worth hearing. The five pieces date from 1874 to 1883, towards the end of the composer's life, when he had long given up his soloist career and had turned instead to more spiritual pursuits in his

  • Miklós Perényi plays Britten, Bach and Ligeti

    Gavin Dixon
    20 Jan 2012 | 11:17 am
    Britten: Third SuiteBach: Suite No.6Ligeti: Sonata for solo celloMiklós Perényi celloECM 476 4166 Buy from: This new solo disc from Miklós Perényi comes hard on the heels of a very similar offering on the Wigmore Live label. In both cases, Perényi bases his programme on works by Britten and Bach, composers with whom he clearly has a deep affinity. They also invoke the spirits of two the

  • Superbrass: Under the Spell of Spain

    Gavin Dixon
    13 Jan 2012 | 10:31 am
    Music for brass and percussion inspired by the vibrant country and people of Spain. Musicians: Mike Allen, Philip Cobb, Toby Coles, Mike Lovatt, Jim Lynch, Paul Mayes, Brian Thomson, Adam Wright, Chris Parkes, Matthew Gee, Mike Hext, Phil White, Andy Wood, Roger Argente, Kevin Morgan, Andy Barclay, Paul Clarvis, Michael Doran, Matt Perry, Frank Riccott, Mike SmithSBCD1 Buy from: London's

  • Bruckner 6 Ivor Bolton Mozarteumorchester Salzburg

    Gavin Dixon
    12 Jan 2012 | 4:15 am
    Anton BRUCKNER (1824-1896)Symphony No.6 in A majorMozarteumorchester SalzburgIvor Bolton conductor recorded live at the Large Hall of the Salzburg Festspielhuas 23 and 25 October 2010 Stereo DDDOehms OC404 [54:36] Buy from: Ivor Bolton's approach doesn't suit every Bruckner symphony, but he has some valuable and rare insights to offer on the Sixth. Previous instalments in this cycle have

  • Josquin Missa De beata virgine Tallis Scholars

    Gavin Dixon
    9 Jan 2012 | 4:37 am
    Josquin des Pres (c.1440-1521) Missa De beata virgine [38:03]Credo quarti toni (Cambrai Credo) [9:23]Plainchant: Ave maris stella [0:36]Missa Ave maris stella [27:56]The Tallis ScholarsPeter Phillips directorGimell CDGIM 044 [75:58] Buy from: The Tallis Scholars' ongoing, if sporadic, series of Josquin Masses has been a treat for fans of both the ensemble and the composer. Like Tallis,
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    Piano Musings

  • The Man Who Sold New Age Music

    Edward Weiss
    17 Jan 2012 | 11:07 am
    Remember Windham Hill? It was the preeminent New Age label back in the 80’s and 90’s. And Will Ackerman, former CEO of the first (and best) label for New Age music sold his beloved Windham Hill to BMG. And now, Sony owns it.Ackerman made a lot of money off the deal. Many millions. But he also made good money (I hope) as CEO of Windham Hill. Which makes me wonder. ..I wonder why someone who was so passionate about a style of music he literally coined, would sell the label - and along with it, pretty much the entire genre of New Age music.You see, Windham Hill was a very respected label in…

  • How to ‘Present’ Your Music to Others or Why You Should Never Apologize

    Edward Weiss
    10 Jan 2012 | 9:52 am
    A present. Something you give or offer to someone as a gift. Does that sound like you playing your music for others?Because that’s essentially what giving your music to others is - a gift. And you’d be amazed how many students belittle and try to degrade this gift by apologizing for it in the following way:Saying it’s my first piece. This is like saying you really aren’t ready to perform or present your music to others either via concert or video. NEVER apologize for putting yourself out there! Even if it is your first piece. Why? Well for one thing, they don’t know it’s your…

  • Two Ways to Learn Piano?

    Edward Weiss
    28 Dec 2011 | 10:42 am
    I’ll never forget the time one of my college professors talked about types of learners. There are two I’d like to discuss here and they are the A to B learner and the one that learns in leaps and jumps.The A to B learner, or linear learning for lack of a better term likes to progress from one point to another.That is, they don’t want to learn anything new unless they get point A down. Then, it’s on to the next point.These types of learners excel in science and math because these disciplines require a solid foundation based on previous knowledge. For instance, you really can’t do…

  • Darker Melodies for New Age Piano?

    Edward Weiss
    13 Dec 2011 | 11:08 am
    A new student recently asked me about creating a 'darker' sound on the piano.Traditionally, New Age piano is known for pleasant, consonant harmonies with very little or no dissonance. And that's the way it is for most New Age piano pieces.Most of them are created in Major keys and stay there. But ... we can also create a 'darker' sound using something called 'modal' playing.For example, in the video 'Gone, but Not Forgotten,' I use something called the Aeolian mode.Based on the Aeolian scale, it's simply the white notes A to A. That is, if we start with a A minor chord and build our chords…

  • How to Get Past Creative Blocks

    Edward Weiss
    17 Nov 2011 | 10:38 am
    When I first began playing the piano and improvising, there were times when the music just wouldn't flow. No matter what I did, I couldn't make it go any further. Blocked and frustrated, I wondered why this happened. One minute I would be in flow and enjoying the process of playing the piano. The next, I would find myself trying to come up with materialI soon realized that the more I tried to "come up" with something, the more blocked I became. The solution to this particular problem is simple, yet many find it to be frustrating in itself.The answer is simply to walk away. That's right! If…
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    Classical CD Reviews

  • Liszt for Cello and Piano, Francesco Dillon and Emanuele Torquati

    26 Jan 2012 | 4:44 am
    Liszt: Complete works for cello and piano Francesco Dillon celloEmanuele Torquati pianoBrilliant Classics 94150Buy from: Liszt's original works for cello and piano are few, but all are well worth hearing. The five pieces date from 1874 to 1883, towards the end of the composer's life, when he had long given up his soloist career and had turned instead to more spiritual pursuits in his

  • Miklós Perényi plays Britten, Bach and Ligeti

    20 Jan 2012 | 11:17 am
    Britten: Third SuiteBach: Suite No.6Ligeti: Sonata for solo celloMiklós Perényi celloECM 476 4166 Buy from: This new solo disc from Miklós Perényi comes hard on the heels of a very similar offering on the Wigmore Live label. In both cases, Perényi bases his programme on works by Britten and Bach, composers with whom he clearly has a deep affinity. They also invoke the spirits of two the

  • Superbrass: Under the Spell of Spain

    13 Jan 2012 | 10:31 am
    Music for brass and percussion inspired by the vibrant country and people of Spain. Musicians: Mike Allen, Philip Cobb, Toby Coles, Mike Lovatt, Jim Lynch, Paul Mayes, Brian Thomson, Adam Wright, Chris Parkes, Matthew Gee, Mike Hext, Phil White, Andy Wood, Roger Argente, Kevin Morgan, Andy Barclay, Paul Clarvis, Michael Doran, Matt Perry, Frank Riccott, Mike SmithSBCD1 Buy from: London's

  • Bruckner 6 Ivor Bolton Mozarteumorchester Salzburg

    12 Jan 2012 | 4:15 am
    Anton BRUCKNER (1824-1896)Symphony No.6 in A majorMozarteumorchester SalzburgIvor Bolton conductor recorded live at the Large Hall of the Salzburg Festspielhuas 23 and 25 October 2010 Stereo DDDOehms OC404 [54:36] Buy from: Ivor Bolton's approach doesn't suit every Bruckner symphony, but he has some valuable and rare insights to offer on the Sixth. Previous instalments in this cycle have

  • Josquin Missa De beata virgine Tallis Scholars

    9 Jan 2012 | 4:37 am
    Josquin des Pres (c.1440-1521) Missa De beata virgine [38:03]Credo quarti toni (Cambrai Credo) [9:23]Plainchant: Ave maris stella [0:36]Missa Ave maris stella [27:56]The Tallis ScholarsPeter Phillips directorGimell CDGIM 044 [75:58] Buy from: The Tallis Scholars' ongoing, if sporadic, series of Josquin Masses has been a treat for fans of both the ensemble and the composer. Like Tallis,
 
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    The Classical Beat

  • Link: Bell, and Ethel

    Anne Midgette, Stephen Brookes
    25 Jan 2012 | 11:40 pm
    There were two significant concerts in Washington on Monday night. Stephen Brookes took on Joshua Bell. And I reviewed the string quartet-cum-band Ethel in a program of music about the Balkan conflict, 9-11, and the Holocaust. Read full article >>

  • Link: Music, or muzak, in public: crime deterrent, elitist territory-marking, or just plain annoying?

    Anne Midgette
    25 Jan 2012 | 11:32 pm
    Does classical music played in public spaces really act to cut down on crime? Is it really used to drive away the homeless? Do students really regard it as punishment? And just what kind of “classical music” are we talking about here? I took on a number of these questions in my Sunday piece Blasting Mozart to drive criminals away. The article got a lot of comments, including from at least one person who had used classical music in just this fashion. Others suggested that any music might have the same effect, which raises interesting questions about music and context. Read full article…

  • Links: this was the week that was on Washington’s classical scene

    Anne Midgette, other critics
    25 Jan 2012 | 11:15 pm
    While I was out of town, there were some excellent concerts in Washington. Here’s a survey of them to replace the blog post I wrote yesterday that somehow didn’t manage to get published. Edited to add: Robert Battey took a thoughtful look at the NSO’s somewhat muddled program under James Gaffigan on Thursday. Read full article >>

  • Teaching tomorrow’s critics?

    Anne Midgette
    24 Jan 2012 | 10:44 pm
    Five days spent working with gifted college students and talking about every aspect of music criticism at the Steve and Cynthia Rubin Institute at Oberlin last week proved a great crucible. I don’t know how the time went over with the students, but it certainly made me think a lot about what I do, to the point of self-consciousness. That’s nothing to how self-conscious the students must have felt having their work picked apart by a panel that included me, Alex Ross, Tim Page, John Rockwell, and Heidi Waleson, but they did some nice work (you can read it here) and there were two worthy…

  • 19th century Brazilian music finds the spotlight through Americantiga concert at NGA

    Stephen Brookes
    18 Jan 2012 | 12:25 pm
    Never heard of Joaquina Lapinha? Don’t worry. She was an obscure Brazilian soprano who briefly lit up the concert halls of Lisbon in the early 19th century. The closest she came to immortality was when a passing Swede caught her act and wrote, with admirable Scandinavian reserve, that she had a “good voice.” Read full article >>
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    Rosebrook Classical

  • The Social Media Minute – Google Music Artist Magnifier

    Rosebrook Classical
    27 Jan 2012 | 3:56 pm
    Jade Simmons and David Weuste present The Social Media Minute, a video program lasting only a few minutes, and appearing each Friday ! This week, David and Jade discuss Google Music’s launch of Artist Magnifier and the ability for artists to upload their content directly to Google Music without the need of a “middle man” distributor. Points in this episode: More Access means more competition  Must plan ahead for marketing strategies before expecting your music to simply “be discovered”  Same as having your music in iTunes, just having it there doesn’t…

  • The Social Media Minute – SOPA and PIPA

    Rosebrook Classical
    24 Jan 2012 | 9:48 am
    This week, since The Social Media Minute was late, and discusses a very important issue, we’re extending the episode to almost twice as long as normal. So for your patience, you’ll get twice as much information! In reference to this episode, we ask that you also read our blog Rosebrook Classical Stands Against SOPA & PIPA Jade Simmons and David Weuste discuss the SOPA & PIPA Blackout Strikes of last week (1/18/12) and the impact that these bills could have on independent artists and arts organizations.

  • New Classical Order – Music and Death

    Rosebrook Classical
    20 Jan 2012 | 6:12 pm
    This Episode of The New Classical Order Podcast centers around the wonderfully uplifting subject of Death. Over the centuries there have been countless compositions of all genres and instrumentation that have centered around the “inevitable” subject. Rosebrook Classical’s David Weuste and Purdue University’s Dr. Jen Hund take a look at music on this subject from Mussorgsky through the twenty-first century. Listen to the episode “Music and Death”: Download this episode and subscribe to the podcast in iTunes! Music on this Podcast: Track: Songs and Dances of…

  • Rosebrook Classical Stands Against SOPA & PIPA

    Rosebrook Classical
    18 Jan 2012 | 9:20 am
    We stand with the many websites and web-companies today in opposition to the current “Stop Online Piracy Act” and “Protect I.P. Act” in the House and Senate. Online piracy, especially illegal downloads, has helped to bring a massive decline to the independent recording sector, and we must strive to stop it, however, the current bills in the U.S. House and Senate do not help accomplish this. As a company, Rosebrook Classical helps independent artists, organizations, and record labels to expand their businesses and art through online marketing efforts. These efforts help…

  • Alexander String Quartet on Facebook and Beyond

    Rosebrook Classical
    17 Jan 2012 | 4:54 pm
    We wanted to start the week this week doing a little bragging on our new clients the Alexander String Quartet. Firstly, they have the very first rendition of our new-look Facebook Page Tabs. Rather than having five different tabs, we built a full iFrame mini-site into their Facebook Page: But Facebook isn’t the only site the ASQ has a new presence on: ASQ on ReverbNation ASQ on InstantEncore ASQ on Chamber Musician Today The ASQ is blogging again! This is one you REALLY want to subscribe to!
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    I Care if You Listen

  • Focus on Schoenberg at the Austrian Cultural Forum

    Lauren Alfano
    27 Jan 2012 | 11:21 am
    On January19th, the Austrian Cultural Forum presented the first concert in a new lieder series led by virtuoso pianist, Thomas Bagwell.  The focus of this series is–quite appropriately, given the venue–the founder of the Second Viennese School, Arnold Schoenberg and his composition teacher turned brother-in-law, Alexander Zemlinsky.  This first concert was dedicated to Schoenberg and [...]

  • Beauty from Ugliness

    Tai Livingston
    26 Jan 2012 | 8:30 am
    Discussing aesthetic principles and ideals is always a subjective topic, with the totality of what is “beautiful” or “sublime” being unique to each individual. Where one may find the music of Webern beautiful and deep, it may have others fleeing for the exits. As such, any conversation on “what is beautiful” usually ends in disagreement [...]

  • An earthly abode for ethereal sounds: Claire Chase’s “Terrestre” release party

    Neil Prufer
    25 Jan 2012 | 8:10 am
    On January 17th, Claire Chase celebrated the arrival of her new CD, Terrestre (earthly in French, Ed.). The setting was Le Poisson Rouge, and the ambience was set smoothly before a single note was played, as the room was lit primarily by swaths of cool blue lights and warm red ones, in a jagged pattern. The [...]

  • Asphalt Orchestra at the Met Museum

    Thomas Deneuville
    24 Jan 2012 | 3:01 pm
    Watch this video on YouTube. To celebrate the renovation of the Metropolitan Museum’s New American Wing Galleries for Paintings, Sculpture, and Decorative Arts, Asphalt Orchestra—”Not your mother’s marching band” (The Philadelphia Inquirer)—performed in the American Wing’s Charles Engelhard Court. The performance featured a world premiere arrangement by Ben Holmes of the Hymns Cavalry by Daniel [...]

  • Flirting with extremes, ensemblebash at Kings Place

    Steven Berryman
    24 Jan 2012 | 8:33 am
    The percussion quartet ensemblebash celebrate their twenty years of musical success with a series of three concerts at Kings Place, London. ‘Minimum Maximum’ – the first concert in the series – programmed significant works from the ensemble’s extensive repertoire from the past two decades that offers ‘rhythmic muscularity and technical dexterity’.  The performance opened with the [...]
 
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    Alberti Publishing

  • 22 Jan 2012 | 7:27 pm

    adam
    22 Jan 2012 | 7:27 pm

  • FREE scale book giveaway on Natalie Wickham’s Music Matters Blog

    adam
    3 Jan 2012 | 1:24 pm
    “Necessity is the mother of all invention…” certainly plays a central role in Natalie Wickham’s development of her latest teaching tool.  Her new scale and fingering book is now available on her Music Matters piano blog.  The site’s description of The Pianists Book of Musical Scales and Keys is as follows: A simple, but highly-practical resource for pianists of all ages and levels. Complete with a handy key signature chart and staff and keyboard diagrams for all major, natural minor, and harmonic minor scales, you can either print off each key as needed or…

  • What’s Your Piano?

    adam
    3 Dec 2011 | 12:41 am
    Click here and let us know! What kind of piano do you have?

  • Perfect Pitch Lesson 7A

    adam
    29 Nov 2011 | 12:08 pm

  • ‘Tis the Season With Gina Pruitt

    adam
    26 Nov 2011 | 9:40 am
    Pruitt's jazz tunes will make you sound like a pro. Gina Pruitt has done it again.  This time, Gina’s lively arrangements bring her pro-sounding jazz style to classic Christmas tunes.  The reading level is Intermediate and Late Intermediate, but a Late Elementary student could play these with a little determination. Most of the pieces start off with a standard intro or even jump right into the melody.  This is usually followed by a “solo” section which imitates off-the-cuff improvising.  Pruitt’s jazz genius comes to light here as she uses simple scales and…
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