Andante records the prominent classical musicians who died during 2003.
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Columbia House Drops Classical Music
Is Columbia House getting out of the classical music business? Greg Sandow writes: “Go to the Columbia House home page, and click the “join the Music Club” link (I can’t link there directly to save you that step). You’ll see a long list of musical genres to choose from, and classical isn’t one of them. Rotten corporate behavior. Columbia House stopped selling classical music, and (as Lang’s experience confirms) never even told its members. They even reassigned club membership, without asking permission (something members probably agreed to in advance, without knowing it, by signing off on some fine print when they joined).”
Time For A Colon-ectomy
“Over the last two decades, academic titles have become increasingly cumbersome, and it is rare to find an academic book title that is not lashed together with a subtitle and its colon. Some books even boast two subtitles, glued tenuously to the title with two colons. ‘We joke about the title and the subtitle needing colonoscopies. People have gone hog-wild with colons’.”
WTC Memorial Design Chosen
The memorial at the site of the World Trade Center has been chosen. It will be a teeming grove of trees above two deep reflecting pools within the outlines of the twin towers. “The announcement followed weeks of contentious debate in a city whose citizenry quickly scrutinized the eight finalists’ plans. The discussion underscored the difficulty of choosing one from the total of 5,201 entrants in the competition for a memorial that would encompass heroic sacrifice and unfathomable loss.”
Mexico’s New Music
“There’s a wave of alternative music coming from Mexico that belies the country’s tradition-laden and glitzy commercial images, one that provides a soundtrack to a very different – and very modern – world. It’s boldly experimental, with antennae tuned around the globe, bringing in electronica, hip-hop, ska, rock, punk and more, sometimes (though not always) mixing it with traditional Mexican genres and spitting it back out in a new Mexican sound. It’s music that’s open-minded, politically aggressive and sophisticated, music that rattles and echoes with the sound of a culture reinventing itself.”
Scotland: Land Of Publishing Opportunity
Sensing opportunity, the big English publisher Hodder Headline opens a house in Scotland. The company’s move to Scotland was “partly inspired by the huge success of both Edinburgh publisher Canongate, whose Life of Pi won the Booker Prize, and the success of the best-selling Edinburgh author, Alexander McCall Smith.” Plans are to seek out and promote new Scottish authors.
After 18 Years: New Sydney Theatre
After 18 years of planning, the new Sydney Theatre opens. “Snuggled into one of Sydney’s most artificial topographies is a new house of artifice. Its facade, dominated by that huge romanesque proscenium, declares up front a commitment to reality remade. Yet, at the same time, Walsh Bay’s new Sydney Theatre, opening on Saturday, is profoundly shaped by intimacy. You can call it ironic. Or you can relax in the knowledge that probing this truth-illusion relationship is theatre’s core business.”
Fans Flock To New Smithsonian Air/Space Museum Annex
The Smithsonian’s new National Air and Space Museum annex at Dulles Airport has attracted 250,000 visitors since it opened three weeks ago. “The facility houses 81 air- and spacecraft, including the space shuttle Enterprise, an SR-71 Blackbird spy plane, an Air France Concorde and the B-29 Superfortress Enola Gay.”
Shanghai Museums Being Forced Out
Shanghai has more than 60 private museums. But “after some 20 rough years, many private museums are now facing serious hardships in Shanghai, the birthplace of private museums. In the 1990s, the country had about 80 private museums. The figureincreased to 200 by 1996. But behind the glorious image of private museums, balancing thesheets is becoming a common problem facing almost all private museum owners. Insiders predicted that half of the private museums in Shanghai now have such problem.”
Director: London Museum Should Rebury 20,000 Skeletons
The Museum of London has a collection of 20,000 skeletons, and its director says he believes they should be reburied. “The skeletons’ fate has prompted debate among academics. Many of whom have previously said they should be held back for research into human origins and history. But Jack Lohman, the museum’s director, said it was an ‘ethical issue’ and that artefacts found alongside them suggested 70% of the skeletons unearthed in London in the past three decades had received Christian burials.”