Category: music

“The controversial subject matter of Greek and the libretto’s copious use of the F-bomb and other profanity rarely heard on the opera stage were judged too raw and edgy by one of the company’s main financial supporters. They backed out, leaving a $10,000 shortfall in the show’s budget, which accounts for about a third of the cost of the production.”

“With the exception of a couple of old jazz tracks on Sony’s single-disc 80th-birthday celebration (as well as tiny excerpts of his film music), there is little hint of Previn’s early Hollywood career as a film composer and jazz pianist. His unhappy but not insignificant tenure with the philharmonic — which began with fireworks shot off in the Music Center plaza in 1985 and ended with his sudden angry resignation in 1989 — seems to have been all but erased from history.”

“Cassettes are not without their flaws. They hiss. You have to flip them over. Sometimes ghettoblasters chew them up and regurgitate your music as brown ticker tape. But it’s also a fundamentally democratic technology: dirt cheap, simple and proudly DIY.”

“As the music industry searches for a way to make up for plunging sales of compact discs, it is pushing to generate new revenue, not just from Australian clubs but also from Italian restaurants, Chinese karaoke bars and U.S. radio stations, as well as fitness centers, retail stores and myriad other businesses that play music, around the world.”

“Their chief appeal is a reputation (est. 1895) for being ridiculously cheap. You can queue for standing room at 5 pounds or get in for less than half as much on a variety of season tickets. No other attraction, not even oldies’ afternoon at your local fleapit, offers nearly as much entertainment for so little money, and that’s without the inbuilt suggestion that the Proms are the best place in town to meet a single person of similar interests.”

“[A] group of Amato veterans – singers, administrators, a few board members – are trying to fill the void. On Wednesday, they held a meeting and formed a board, appointed officers and established a budget of $50,000. … In a tribute to its origins, the company is giving itself the name Amore Opera.”

“The Bellevue Philharmonic Orchestra’s 2008-2009 season has been marked by canceled concerts, a drop in donations and internal strife between management and musicians. At one point, players, donors and other supporters wondered if one of the Eastside’s key arts groups might fail under the weight of its debt and management problems.” But lately, things seem to be looking up.

“Where once the audience bought piano arrangements and played chamber music at home, fans now are simply listeners, whether in the concert hall or at home on CD. And the term amateur has changed correspondingly. Now, it tends to imply a lack of seriousness. And music has become a very serious business.”

“Loving music, to a critic, cannot simply mean bestowing praise. In fact, I think one of the biggest problems in the classical music field is that there’s too much praise. There’s an idea that our field is so small and beleaguered that we have to band together and all like everything all the time. … I happen to think that tough love is especially important now.”