Blog – Page 13871 – ArtsJournal Wayback

SCAFFOLDING AND GREY PLASTIC SHEETING EVERYWHERE

Italy is cleaning up its architecture and monuments for the millennium. Too bad someone can’t stop the cars and industrial pollution that got them dirty in the first place. ARTnewspaper.com

HALLELUJAH

Frank McNamara has rewritten Handel’s “Messiah.” New version stars Gladys Knight (without the Pips), Chaka Khan and Roger Daltry. “I just thought it would be great to do a pop version,” says McNamara. “There are great tunes in it. At the end of the day, music is entertainment. I don’t think it should be challenging.” – Irish Times

FROM ICON TO DIRTY WORD (AND BACK?)

Norman Rockwell is hot again. New show tours blue-chip museums. And now a generous TV documentary reappraisal of Rockwell’s stature — Abstract Expressionism be damned. San Francisco Chronicle

And: Bad taste returns. Artnet.com 11/22/99

Atlanta Symphony signs –

– new contract with its musicians after three years of acrimonious negotiations. – Atlanta Journal-Constitution

REOPENING OF COVENT GARDEN –

– begins with a closure. Ligeti opera canceled. – BBC

BRITAIN LOST AN ORCHESTRA LAST WEEK

Bournemouth Sinfonietta goes out of business due to money problems. Did anyone notice? – London Telegraph

THE “IDEAL PERFORMANCE IN YOUR HEAD”

Mahler performance with Boston orchestra is good, but… a review. – Boston Globe

Previously: WALTER MITTY NEVER HAD IT GO GOOD: Millionaire businessman Gilbert Kaplan has a thing for Mahler’s Second Symphony – though not a conductor, he decided he must conduct it, hired an orchestra and performed it, performed it again with major orchestras around the world, made a recording with the London Symphony Orchestra, created a foundation for Mahler scholarship and performance, and amassed a collection of every Mahler photograph, which he published in his book, ”The Mahler Album.” – Boston Globe 11/19/99