Norman Lebrecht has been proclaiming the death of classical music recording for some time, and now, he is confidently predicting that 2004 will be the last year of the classical recording industry’s existence as a distinctive branch of the music business. Classical records have become a niche market, says Lebrecht, and haven’t even begun to utilize the new technologies available to them. Worse yet, the labels themselves have abandoned any effort to invest in new talent for more than a paltry few albums, thus making it impossible for emerging musicians to develop an international following.
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Cut! Print! NEXT!
It’s a game, but it’s a cinematic challenge, as well: New York City Midnight Moviemaking Madness, held last October, challenges competing teams to “write, cast, shoot, score, and edit an entire movie” in 24 hours. With deadlines like that, you might think that nothing of real artistic quality could emerge from all the scrambling, and, as a matter of fact, you’d be right.
Promises, Promises
“Britons want to be more cultured and attend more arts events next year, a survey suggests. About 90% of the 1,000 respondents said they would aim to see more theatre, opera and exhibitions in 2004. Only one in 10 went to the ballet or opera in 2003, despite research suggesting nearly 70% of UK citizens think they are ‘cultured’.” The high cost of tickets and the lack of enough spare time seem to be the major obstacles keeping more Britons from experiencing their local arts scene.
Hollywood Gets Tough On Piracy
The movie industry, taking a cue from the success of the music industry’s hardline efforts to curb illegal copying and distribution, is lobbying for tougher laws against videotaping of films inside of movie theaters. “Offenders caught during the latest crackdown in Ohio could face six months in jail and a $1,000 fine. The penalty in Michigan, by contrast, is up to five years in jail and a $250,000 fine.”
2003: Year In Review
What were the top stories of 2003? Here’s our updated archive of year-end stories from publications around the world.
Return of the Kings
Just in case you missed it (as if that were even possible,) Matthew Broderick and Nathan Lane are back on Broadway, reprising their starring roles in The Producers. “The two actors, whose performances so delighted critics and audiences that the show has not been able to sustain its once formidable ticket sales without them, were enticed to return for 14 weeks at a salary of $100,000 a week each, an enormous sum for the theater.” It’s a situation that seemed ripe for a huge, high-profile flop, but the reviews this morning, a day after the pair’s re-debut, are unanimous in their assessment: Lane and Broderick own these roles, and the public is unlikely to accept anyone else.
Producing Chemistry
The Broadway public is on record: Lane and Broderick are Bialystock and Bloom, and no one else will do. Michael Riedel agrees, and chalks it up to the easy, almost improvisational interaction between the two stars: “They broke each other up several times throughout the show, and, during the final number, when Broderick dropped his cane, Lane burst out in joyous laughter. That chemistry is in many ways a key to the success of the show, which, at its heart, is a love story between two lonely misfits.”
Resolutions of a Critic
Paul Horsley has a few things he’s hoping to do better in 2004 than he did in 2003, and he’s not afraid to share. “I will write less, listen more… I will not whine… I will have agendas. A newspaper critic has two basic functions: to cover the arts news and to comment on it. I’m going to work harder in my commentary to uphold certain things that I deem to be worthy of further support.” Horsley also resolves not to be too nice, and laments having left a particular sentence out of a recent review of a Mahler symphony: “We wept at the usual places, but for different reasons.”
Ararat To Get A Showing In Turkey
“Ararat, the film by Toronto-based Atom Egoyan about the genocide of Armenians at the time of the First World War, can be shown in Turkey but at least one scene will be cut, a Turkish culture ministry official said yesterday. The film by Egoyan, a Canadian of Armenian heritage, tells of the plight of Armenians in Ottoman Turkey when a 1915-23 campaign to force them from the eastern part of the country left as many as 1.5 million dead. Turkey says the figures are inflated and that Armenians died during civil unrest and not as the result of a planned campaign.”
A Nation Of Idiots? Or Just Navel-Gazers Addicted To TV?
“The American intelligentsia is anxious these days… Anyone who watches television for more than five minutes can be forgiven for worrying about dumbing down, but the past year has seen a lively renewal of debate on this perennial topic.” From Terry Teachout’s blog post (here on ArtsJournal) calling for a re-embrace of 1950s-style “middlebrow” culture, to Curtis White’s disgust with a new breed of self-important intellectual wannabes which “wants to protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and has bought an SUV with the intent of visiting it,” America’s thinkers are unanimous that we need more old-fashioned thinking in our lives, but Canadian Kate Taylor feels they may be missing the point.