The Houston Symphony performs onstage with giant video screens. But the orchestra has announced “video-free sunday” performances. “All the pops people love (the system). Most of the classical people love it. A small minority don’t,”
Blog
Building A Better Piano?
Paolo Fazioli thinks he’s made a better piano. He “insists that he never wants to make more than 150 instruments annually (so far he hasn’t topped 100), because of the personal attention given each one. ‘The Steinway is a very good piano, but it is not the only way to make a piano, just as there is not only one way to make a car. There used to be many piano makers but after World War II, one piano came to dominate the market and I thought that was ridiculous. I wanted to make a piano in which there is an evenness through all the sections, with a very clean sound, a long sound. Not every pianist will prefer it, but they should have a choice’.”
How Old Man Won Hemingway A Nobel
The Nobel committe considered Ernest Hemingway for seven years before finally awarding him its literature prize. So what finally won him the honor? Hemingway’s 1952 novel “The Old Man and the Sea” convinced members of the Academy he had earned his place alongside other laureates for “his mastery of the art of narrative.”
The DVD Wars (Coming Soon To A Player Near You)
The next generation of DVDs will set off a war in your player. “The advent of Blu-ray and HD DVD may give rise to a format war reminiscent of the Betamax-VHS contest in the early days of videocassette recorders. At stake are potentially billions of dollars in hardware and discs as the demand for high-definition content grows.”
Long-Lost (Gems? Duds?)
“Lost plays have a romantic pull for theater people, especially for those in love with the past. Resurrecting a forgotten work is a bit like recovering a gold cigarette case from a sunken ocean liner: Wipe away the barnacles and who knows? You may find something that glitters. Of course there’s also the possibility that the thing will simply come apart in your hands. That danger, too, is part of the attraction. And in the case of regional theaters that need to hold on to subscribers, to strike a balance between unorthodox program choices and seat-filling chestnuts, adventurism can come at a price.”
Put Off – The Writer’s Curse
Ah, the writer’s curse – writer’s block. But even worse, perhaps – procrastination. “At its worst, procrastination is a form of slow suicide, a kind of stand-off with life. Why act, when we know the end of all endeavour? Days, weeks, months creak past, but still no attempt to advance the work is made. Procrastination is surely worse than writer’s block, less involuntary: you see what you need to do, you know you can do it, and yet … and yet.”
Contemporary Africa – A Cinderella Story
“While the traditional masks and figures that so influenced Picasso and other early modernists are now universally accepted as part of the canon of great art, contemporary work has remained on the margins – barely known in the West, even to the regular gallery-goer.” A new show in Europe is the biggest-ever assemblage of contemporary African work. “Yet, if the exhibition gives an exhilarating sense of the creativity of the modern African city – a world where traditional masquerading exists alongside hip-hop, internet cafés and satellite TV – modern African art remains a Cinderella phenomenon.”
TKTS Begins Plays-Only Service
The TKTS half-price theatre ticket booth in Times Square is starting a “palys-only” line. “Tickets to both Broadway and off-Broadway nonmusical plays will be sold at the play-only line, while tickets for both plays and musicals will continue to be sold at the other lines.” The idea is to encourage sales of tickets to plays, which are a harder sell than musicals.
Maestro Switch – What If Philly And NY Had Gone Another Way?
If not for a few details, Christophe Eschenbach might be leading the New York Philharmonic while Lorin Maazel could have settled in Philadelphia. “History could have been reversed. Eschenbach was a top contender for the New York position, and had Maazel not unexpectedly clicked with the Philharmonic in a November 2000 guest-conducting engagement, Eschenbach might now have his job. Just as easily, orchestra chemistry could have conspired to put Maazel in Philadelphia. If that had happened, would their talents have been wasted? Or better utilized?”
Rockwell: Fresh Winds Blowing
Does “crossover” modern into ballet diminish ballet? John Rockwell argues the point: “Ballet is not over. Of course its choreographers should still be steeped in ballet vocabulary; nearly all serious dancers have ballet training these days. Of course experimentation that is silly or destructive should be condemned. Of course different dance genres should maintain their integrity, even as they evolve. But beware of a mind-set that shuts off all innovation for fear of infection. To close oneself off to anything beyond the embattled walls of the academy is to ignore a whole wide world of potentially exciting dance and of ballet evolution.”