Category: music

“In his signals, he’ll do whatever it takes. Friday, one witnessed double-handed ax slams, saber jabs, swaying hips, spread eagles, and, head down, whipping the horse to the Kentucky Derby win by a nose. He was also airborne more than any conductor I have seen. His approach may take some time for the Philharmonic to get used to.”

A few years ago, few orchestras were recording. But “several world-renowned American orchestras have figured out how to start recording again — many adopting a do-it-yourself mind-set that centers on digital retail. Already familiar to indie rock acts, the approach was entirely new terrain to orchestras that in decades past had enjoyed lavish contracts.”

With the traditional recording business tanking, more bands and promoters are returning to the specialty festival model. “Modeled on successful ventures in Europe, the fests provide dozens of thematically and culturally aligned bands, a considerable bang for the buck and an air of exclusivity in which like-minded fans can gather. A number of acts are booked in multiple U.S. festivals.”

This month marks the tenth anniversary of the MP3 player, a device that has revolutionised both the music industry and the way we listen to music.

“That the symphony has kept playing appears nothing less than heroic to the outsider. Aside from location, Karim Wasfi has to worry about the audience, orchestra members, instruments and sheet music, funding, punctuality, electricity, bathrooms, air supply — every aspect of the job. He is also the orchestra’s solo cellist. Many essential professionals have fled the country, from musicians to technicians.”

“Bloviating about the [music] industry’s shortcomings is Bob Lefsetz’s shtick. It’s made him famous, and infamous, as the sharply opinionated author of the widely read Lefsetz Letter, which has become a viral sensation… Yet his acumen draws readers who include some of the most powerful figures in the music business.”

For Iraq’s National Symphony Orchestra, keeping its concerts free of terrorist attacks (accomplished by not telling very many people about them) is only one of many challenges. Even finding a venue the ensemble can perform in, and once such a place is secured, some musicians may not make it if getting there means having to travel through unsafe areas of Baghdad.

“Hamburg’s spectacular new philharmonic concert hall will reportedly cost up to €20 million than previously planned. The project – which is intended to give Hamburg a world-famous landmark like Sydney’s Opera House – apparently has run into trouble trying to cool the glass structure to be perched atop a massive brick shipping warehouse right on the Elbe [River].”

Florida Orchestra music director Stefan Sanderling likes contemporary music. So do many of his musicians. Sadly, the orchestra’s core audience appears to hate it, to the extent that angry letters are received whenever Sanderling programs something new or complex. What’s a forward-thinking orchestra to do?

“The Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra and its music director David Robertson have just released their first download-only recording,” one in a series that the orchestra plans to produce. The release, which consists of John Adams’s Harmonielehre, is the SLSO’s first commercial recording in many years.