Category: music

“I can move a piano by myself if I have to. There are guys who do it. But it’s just not worth it. The average piano weighs 450 to 500 pounds, but a 9-foot concert grand can weigh 1,300 pounds. ‘Come into the world alone, leave it alone, but I’m not working alone.’ That’s my motto.”

“More than 20 feet of water covered the heart of operations of the Schermerhorn [Symphony Center]. No room was spared in the damage, and the pianos in the storage room were barely recognizable.” Said the symphony’s president and CEO: “One thing we know for certain is [the cost of repairs will] be more than we have insurance for.” (With video.)

“Clichés about jazz’s being a dying art form — the province of a generation reminiscing about the “good old days” of smoky clubs in the Fillmore district and North Beach — linger in the Bay Area. And, as is the case elsewhere around the country, the local jazz vista isn’t what it once was.” But things are looking up…

“Treme” — named for America’s oldest black neighborhood, in New Orleans — stands to alter America’s perception of a music long marginalized in our popular culture. Until now.”

“There’s no question he is inordinately talented, a brilliant and inspiring podium dervish who can get an orchestra to do anything he wishes while lifting an audience out of its seats. Even so, there sometimes appears to be a disconnect between the musical ends and the means he employs to achieve them. Half-formed interpretative ideas betray a lack of musical depth. The problem is not so much one of faulty instincts as where and how he channels those instincts.”

“The live album, once an obligatory component of a band’s discography and in some cases, a defining work, doesn’t seem as culturally prevalent as it did 35 years ago.”

“Only relatively recently have classical music ensembles started to regard their names as opportunities for creativity. Pop musicians have always had a healthy regard for names. They understand that a name is an opportunity to create an image and that it makes sense for that image to convey something about their intentions.”

“I find the public a lot more enthusiastic here, because they allow themselves to be transported by the emotion. In Italy, because opera is such an integral part of the culture, everyone thinks they’re a critic. Being a singer is not considered a serious job in Italy. People say, ‘Oh, you sing, you travel the world, you should consider yourself lucky.’ I do consider myself lucky, but it’s also a life full of sacrifices.”

“In this particular production I experienced what I would consider the darkest side of Regietheater, where the back of Beethoven was used for a concept. … This concept used and abused Beethoven’s greatness in a way that was very disturbing to me.”