You could be forgiven for thinking you’d wandered into an uber-thrash heavy metal convention. But look, oh, up there on the stage behind the heavy metalers – it’s none other than the Berlin Philharmonic. It was loud. Bloody loud. – Irish Times
Blog
BEETHOVEN SELLS
A newly-discovered manuscript of a string quartet by Beethoven lasting only 52 seconds, sells for £180,000 at auction. – BBC
AND THE WINNER IS…
The name of the biggest-selling American recording of the century was revealed this week. Move over Michael Jackson… – San Francisco Examiner
REMEMBERING CELIBIDACHE
Recordings with which to remember one of the great conductors of the century. – National Post
THE SHOW EVERYBODY LOVES TO HATE
Hot names to surprises – the artists who made the cut with the curatorial team choosing next March’s Whitney Biennial. New York Times
CEZANNE SELLS FOR £18 MILLION –
– at London auction. BBC
PITTSBURGH gets –
– a major new Michael Graves-designed home for theater. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
CENSORING MYTHOLOGY
It’s as American as Huck Finn. When Seattle artist Michael Spafford added his version of the Hercules labors to the Washington state legislature’s neo-baroque chamber, lawmakers were scandalized and had them covered, then removed after years of controversy. The Oregonian
ARTIST ROYALTY SCHEME BLOCKED
An EU plan that would have given artists a 4 percent cut every time one of their works was sold in Europe has been voted down. BBC
E-BOOK BREAKTHROUGH
Three-quarters of the 3,000 e-books published are romances. Now the most popular has sold 6,000 copies. The Romance Writers of America requires that an electronic book sell more than 5,000 copies before it will recognize the author or publisher. Thus for the first time is legitimacy conferred. – Wired