Category: music

George R. Steel said on Tuesday that he was resigning as executive director of the Miller Theater at Columbia University, which he has turned into a vital and adventurous part of New York’s music scene, to become general director of the Dallas Opera, starting on Oct. 1.

Roger Norrington proposes to perform at the Proms sans the vibrato. “The dispute sits atop the intersection of deeper issues, like British national pride and how to bring art of the past back to life. At the heart of the kerfuffle lies the reputation of Edward Elgar, the quintessentially British composer in a country that can be sensitive about its relative dearth of great masters.”

In their lists of favorite music, the two US presidential candidates had only one performer in common. Democrat Barack Obama included You’d Be So Easy To Love and John McCain I’ve Got You Under My Skin in the lists compiled by US magazine Blender.

“When I go to a recordings store these days I find myself going through the motions. My eye drifts nervously up to the clock as I calculate what time it is at various radio stations across the globe, plotting my next date with the live concerts on my computer. Radio has won back my heart and I know I will never have to leave it again.”

The British show puts celebrities in front of an orchestra to compete against one another. “All the contestants are convinced that Maestro can help to de-mystify classical music and remove some of the elitist aura that surrounds it.”

“Monday was the first day that season subscription holders were allowed to exchange individual tickets for other performances. Lines had been long in previous years, but several factors made it worse this year. The first person in line showed up about 5 a.m., five hours before the box office opened, Met officials said.”

“The idea that it is possible not only to pass, but to excel, in the mainstream of secondary musical education seems as ridiculous as the idea that one might be able to pass English GCSE without ever learning to read and write. But in so far as the roots of western musical notation lie in its role as an heuristic device for practicing musicians – theorists of music at the time used numbers and ratios to express musical intervals – it is also possible to conceive that in contexts where this is no longer a practical advantage, the learning of musical notation may have become unnecessary.”

“Like such durable industries as liquor, fast food and health care, the genre is arguably recession-proof. Sales of country CDs remain strong and the nation’s hottest disc right now is by Sugarland, a country duo that bumped pop/TV supernova Miley Cyrus from the top spot last week as they headed to Minnesota for the annual We Fest in Detroit Lakes.”

There is no other fair way to compare countries musically. National anthems are the same the world over – a short, classical piece meant to stir up pride. They have got to be boisterous and bombastic, with a tune simple enough that you can shout it whether drunk in a stadium, or drunk in front of the TV.

“A rare Stradivarius cello is expected to set a world record when it goes to auction this fall. The cello, which was owned for decades by the British cellist Amaryllis Fleming, is being sold by the online instrument auction house Tarisio and carries an estimate of $1.75 million to $2.3 million.”