Category: music

“Traditionally, Inuit women would throat-sing to entertain themselves and their children when the men were off hunting. Like many other centuries-old Inuit games and traditions such as drum-dancing and ice-hopping, it was discouraged and sometimes banned in the Central and Eastern Arctic when missionaries arrived in the early 1900s. … However, many young Inuit in communities around the Arctic are proudly reclaiming these fledgling arts as a way to connect with their past and with nature.”

“Retail sales, for which figures have been compiled since 1969, the year that the Beatles’ Abbey Road album was released, have never fallen by so much, although there was a 9 per cent decline in 1982 before the arrival of the compact disc. Wholesale revenues, for which figures date back only a decade, have never fallen by more than 7 per cent in a year.”

Prince “recently outraged the music establishment by giving away CDs of his Planet Earth album to British fans who purchased last week’s Mail on Sunday newspaper. In light of the giveaway, Sony/BMG refused to distribute the album in Great Britain, provoking outbursts from music retailers who had been cut out of the action. Part of the problem, according to retailers, is that Prince’s move helped solidify a growing perception on the part of consumers that music is free.”

“Figures compiled by the British Phonographic Industry show that 6.5m fewer albums have been sold this year compared with the same period in 2006. Consumers failed to make up the shortfall online, with digital album sales increasing by just 2 million.”

“Few if any classical music institutions west of the Mississippi have flourished as Bravo has: What began in 1987 with chamber music now hosts three symphony orchestras in five weeks. And this in Vail – a ski resort that didn’t exist before 1962. Bravo is considered, within the classical music industry, a very enviable gig. Festival audiences have doubled in the last 10 years, from 33,000 to 66,000, and those audiences have plenty to feast on.”

“It’s obvious that classical music is not important to most people. Why not? The obvious implication is that classical music, like 19th-century narrative, is not popular because its form of narrative has become antiquated. If the symphony is in decline, and love of great literature is in decline, too, then clearly something important has changed in our culture. But what? And what does it mean?”

“To organ purists who have had epochal debates about whether organs with electronic keyboards can equal the more time-honored pneumatic action, and to organ agnostics who simply have a soft spot for traditional instruments in historic settings, the notion of replacing Trinity’s Aeolian-Skinner with a ‘virtual’ instrument was a horrifying sign of the times. But the digital organ, built by Marshall & Ogletree, has had a thorough workout since it was installed in 2003, and its performance has persuaded the church’s music office, as well as a good number of visiting organists, that it is worthy of its setting.”

The Houston Symphony has extended its contract with music director Hans Graf. “The Austrian-born conductor, who joined the orchestra in 2001 as its 15th music director, had previously contracted to remain through the 2008-09 season. This announcement extends his commitment for an additional three seasons.”

“A year short of its 70th anniversary, the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra will close down for good on July 15 unless a solution can be found to the latest and most perilous crisis in a series of recent financial reverses.”

UK Tory leader David Cameron has “appealed to the British Phonographic Industry to bring its influence to bear on the ‘anti-learning’ and pro-violence culture blighting Britain’s youth. Mr Cameron repeated a plea he first made last summer for an end to violent and misogynistic lyrics which, he believes, are contributing to Britain’s ‘broken society’.”