Category: music

“The Curtis Institute of Music yesterday asked the Philadelphia Historical Commission for a delay in considering a proposal to demolish all or part of several buildings on the 1600 block of Locust Street to make way for an expansion of the school.” The plan has caused controversy among preservationists.

Two British violinists were threatened with the confiscation of their instruments by a town council responding to a neighbor’s complaint about their practicing. “Controversy over the case caused a furious reaction in the town hall,” and despite attempts by the council to backtrack, the couple intends to move out of their flat.

A new program offering instruments and music lessons to inner-city kids who can’t afford either launches this month in Ottawa. Teachers volunteering their services for the program include graduate students, professional teachers, and even members of the National Arts Centre Orchestra. The program’s founder conceived the idea after hearing about Venezuela’s wildly successful youth music initiative, El Sistema.

Compared to some other orchestral contract negotiations this fall, the talks at the Minnesota Orchestra didn’t make many headlines. But behind the scenes, both musicians and management went in knowing exactly what they had to get out of a new deal, and both profess to have gotten it. The musicians will see an impressive 26% raise over the life of the five-year deal, and the orchestra will be assured that health care costs will not rise more than 10% a year without musicians agreeing to shoulder some of the increase.

In another sign of th disintegration of the traditional recording industry, “Madonna is widely expected to leave her longtime record label and sign a $120m (£59m) recording and touring contract with concert promoter Live Nation.”

“Radiohead’s new website http://www.inrainbows.com was doing brisk business last night, with the blogs documenting thousands of downloads and fans proudly stating how much, or little, they paid. Even so, their jubilation may be somewhat overdone. The age of the almost-free download got off to a shaky start as the site crashed under the sheer weight of demand, with other fans swamping http://www.radiohead.com instead.”

The acoustics in Philadelphia’s Kimmel Center, home of the Philadelphia Orchestra, have been criticized ever since the center opened in 2002. The main concert hall was designed to be as acoustically adjustable as possible, but the orchestra still hasn’t managed to find the right combination to create a full, warm sound throughout the hall. Still, Philly Pops, a separate orchestra from the Philadelphia, has been tinkering as well, and they may have uncovered some important methods for improving the Kimmel acoustic.

“The message, apparently, is this: ‘We’re idiots.’ The RIAA, after all, is the guardian of an industry so antiquated and oppressive that having sympathy for these guys is a little like feeling sorry for a Georgia slaveholder after watching Sherman’s troops fire his mansion and scatter his livestock. So when their first victim, Thomas, turns out to be a single American Indian mother of two making a measly $36,000 a year — latte money for the RIAA boys — you have a hard time picturing these guys nailed to a cross.”

In some ways, Alex Ross says, “classical music is the new underground. That may sound ridiculous, but there’s a grain of truth to it. People are talking about the power that comes with being apart from mainstream pop culture. You can make a living and get stuff performed.”

“BBC Radio Scotland is to mark the eve of St Cecilia’s Day, dedicated to the patron saint of music, by playing no music at all. On November 21, the station will instead host discussions and interviews about music and our relationship with it, as part of No Music Day.”