Neil MacGregor has been director of the British Museum since last August. He says the museum’s relationship with the government is better. And that the museum is thinking on new ways of displaying its collections. “It is clearly possible to construct many different narratives. One of the questions is where the universal story should begin: where do you site prehistory? Do you then want visitors to move from prehistory into Mesopotamia? Or, as much of our material is British, do you want to start the sequence of British archaeological galleries? Or do you want to go on to the hunting societies of North America?”
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The New New Composing
A new music learning program – a toy – teaches kids about composing music. “Hyperscore, the composing portion of Tod Machover’s ‘Toy Symphony’ trinity, is a sophisticated musical tool in the guise of a simple computer game. Children position drops of sound and colored lines on the screen, building up layers and length into a texture that is as complex as they can manage. It is not, however, just a matter of drawing a picture and getting a pretty tune…”
What Makes A Great Piano?
“Yes, pianists grouse that Steinways are not what they used to be. Yes, pianists ascribe whatever faults they found in whatever Steinway they just played to every Steinway. And no, the majority would never play anything but. Steinway knows all this. Every new piano that rolls out of the Steinway & Sons factory — in Astoria, Queens, next to oil tanks that block the view of the Rikers Island jails — is an attempt to refute the notion that the only good Steinway is an old Steinway.”
MPR’s New Take On Contemporary Music
MPR’s new “American Mavericks” series explores contemporary music. “In some ways as daring as the composers it brings to life, the show departs from the standard classical-radio recipe, using sound effects from train whistles to ocean waves to shrieking cats. It plays rock and art music in the same episode. It deftly moves music from background to foreground and back again. It tells complicated stories with a breezy, youthful irreverence underpinned by airtight research and writing, courtesy of Village Voice music critic Kyle Gann.”
London – Skyline Busting
London is contemplating building Europe’s tallest building. It’s designed by Renzo Piano, and the design has been greeted positively. But many are reluctant to see the city bust out of its current gracious skyline. “London is under siege from tall buildings and tall building proposals. We do feel a bit conflicted opposing something so wonderful. Piano’s design is exciting. It’s just the wrong scale in the wrong place.”
Saying Goodbye To LA’s Dorothy Chandler
Esa-Pekka Salonen gives his final performance in Dorothy Chandler Pavilion with the LA Philharmonic before he and the orchestra move to the new Disney Hall in the fall. None too soon, writes Mark Swed: “I have attended Philharmonic performances in the Chandler every season since, and it was there that I learned much of the orchestral repertory. But it has never been a good symphony hall. One gets used to it, learns to listen through the acoustical limitations, but when you see cellos sawing away and don’t hear them, as can happen from the orchestra seats, you are forced to choose between believing your eyes or your ears.”
Municipal Opera That Works
Opera Holland Park is summer opera on a budget. But good opera. “With top tickets at £40 this year, Opera Holland Park has found itself in the curious position of not being taken seriously on the bucolic summer opera circuit because it’s too cheap. Yet it enjoys some of London’s boskiest greenery in Holland Park, including a Japanese water garden, strolling peacocks and the picturesque ruin of the Jacobean Holland House. OHP may not be dressy — in fact it’s determinedly democratic — but last year saw more hampers and popping corks than ever before.”
Wanted: Books In Translation
How come there are so few translations of books by Europeans in UK bookstores? Britain’s Minister for Europe tries to answer the question. “It is weird that in the age of globalisation, we are more provincial and parochial than ever. Like the eager young Marxist who decided to learn Russian to read Karl Marx in the original we tend to get foreign wrong as often as right. Still, the best way into any country is to read one of its books.”
Le Monde In Crisis
“For the past few months, France’s newspaper of reference and flagship of the world’s francophone press has been engaged in a crisis unheard of since it was founded after the liberation in 1944. The house of Colombani has been shaken by the publication of La face cachee du Monde (The Hidden Face of Le Monde), a 630-page ‘investigation into an institution above all suspicion’. The book has raised profound questions about the power the newspaper wields in France, and about the ethics and methods of those at its helm. The Hidden Face accuses Le Monde of everything from trafficking influence, running secret campaigns for favoured politicians and harassing businessmen for commercial gain to publishing anti-French propaganda, stifling internal debate and misrepresenting the group’s sales figures and financial results.”
Refugee From Graz
Karen Stone is Dallas Opera’s new general director – but she’s largely unknown in American opera. Her career has been in Europe, in England, Germany and Austria. Most recently she’s been running the opera company in Graz. The opera there has a $30 million budget and produces long repertory seasons. Dallas – with a $10 million budget is much smaller. So why leave? “We have huge fixed costs [in Graz], because of the huge amount of employees in the technical department. And we are going through a phase with politicians who are trying to reduce the funding they give us. They want to semi-privatize us. But we don’t have the possibility of seeking funds outside. It’s incredibly dangerous for the future.