Anthony Tommasini is impressed by the glare and glitter of Baz Luhrmann’s Broadway Boheme. “Yet from a musical perspective, many veteran opera buffs will be dismayed, as I was, by the compromises the production has made. Newcomers to opera who think they are experiencing the real thing are not. For all the dazzle and heart of this Broadway “Bohème,” I sat through three shows (to see the three pairs of rotating leads) getting more and more glum about the future of opera. Will traditional companies that play by the rules be able to keep up as the public embraces amplified opera on Broadway?”
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Do DVD’s Threaten CD Sales? Let’s Do The Numbers…
“There’s a growing sense in the music industry that DVD sales are surpassing those of CDs. In response, many music retailers have expanded their DVD selection, and even begun displaying hit movie titles along side the best-selling albums. In response, record companies have begun to rely on DVDs to assist their own marketing efforts — not only by developing more features for music video releases, but by using DVDs to cross-promote tours and new releases, or as sales-boosting bonuses. The effort is beginning to pay off, too.”
Christmas Music…Looking For The Good Stuff
“Christmas, like weddings, brings out people’s worst tastes. Houses are bedizened with too many garish lights, lawns cluttered with blow-up Santas and snowmen. Mall Muzak drills “Jingle Bell Rock,” perhaps the nadir of Western music, into our protesting brains. It’s hard to know if the insult is greater to devout Christians or those of other beliefs.” But there is great Christmas music… plenty of it…
Remembering a Visionary Of American Opera
“John Crosby, who died Dec. 15 at age 76, after a brief illness, was one of the great visionaries of American opera. Back in the 1950s he imagined a summer opera festival in what struck plenty of people as the very last place on Earth. He borrowed money from his father, a New York lawyer, to buy a 76-acre ranch on a hilltop just north of Santa Fe, N.M. And in July 1957, in a primitive hillside amphitheater, he inaugurated Santa Fe Opera by conducting ‘Madama Butterfly’.”
Getting Behind The Art-Theft Mentality
Stealing paintings from the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam is an act that hurst us all. “How dare they? Why would they? Van Gogh is so famous, experts argue, the culprits probably will have difficulty selling the works for the millions they’re worth. Assuming this isn’t the more whimsical scenario of a team of genuine van Gogh fanatics, the audacity of the heist wildly overshadows the practical financial benefit. Yet, such thievery happens.”
The Anti-Music Of Phones
Increasingly, our time in public is being interrrupted with music. Music? I guess that’s what they call those customized ring tones that cell phones make. “The proliferation of cellular phones has put the power of automatic melody into the pockets of your friends and neighbours, and there’s no freezer on Earth big enough to hide all the cheesy sounds they can produce.”
Melbourne Museum Disappointment Translates Into Job Losses
Two years ago the new Melbourne Museum attracted 800,000 visitors. A year ago attendance was down 20 percent. And this year looks to see further 20 percent decline. What to do? A management shakeup. After all – the museum opened with projections of 3 million visitors a year…
Dallas Opera Cancels “Tassie”
The Dallas Opera has cancelled the North American premiere of Mark-Anthony Turnage’s ‘The Silver Tassie,’ saying that “the cancellation of the antiwar opera was due to financial considerations and political sensitivities in the wake of the September 11th attack on the World Trade Center.”
The Right Version of “Correct”
So what does “authentic” mean in music? When there are 14 manuscript versions of a Mahler score, what were the composer’s final final thoughts? “Two years of note-picking research in Vienna have exposed almost 400 errors and oversights in the published score” of Mahler’s Second Symphony. On the other hand, maybe all 14 versions are “correct” in their own way. “It’s not wrong. In all 14 of Mahler’s scores he wants it to sound that way.”
Spielberg Vs. New Technology
Director Stephen Spielberg loves his special effects – but surprisingly, he’s not happy about the technical revolution in the movie business. “His objection is truly Luddite: it is to the idea that this technology represents progress at all. The digital moving image, unblemished by scratches, hairs, burn holes or splice marks, may mesmerise techies, but purists such as Mr Spielberg believe that it robs movie-making of its artistry. Spielberg shudders at the notion of atomised viewers calling up a film on their laptops at the touch of a button, home and alone. Mr Spielberg prefers the idea of strangers huddled together in the dark, watching a flickering image on the screen.”