Category: music

“Time and again, European orchestral conductors roar into America’s side doors, virtually unknown but fully matured and ready to assume major appointments.” Their anonymity — which is not necessarily a bad thing — is due in part to changes in the recording industry, David Patrick Stearns says. “Recordings continue to be made, but coherent electronic calling cards have been replaced by scattershot appearances in a variety of labels, big, small, and so local as to be almost invisible.”

“Responding to a musicians union’s claim of unfair labor practices, Pasadena Symphony executive director Tom O’Connor said Monday that the filing was ‘part of a normal process.’ The union grievance is in response to a proposed merger between the symphony and the Pasadena Pops Orchestra.”

“A 36-year-old dentally challenged cellphone salesman wins a nationally televised talent contest in Britain, and suddenly, all sorts of questions are raised about the role of classical music in our world. That is because the winner, Paul Potts, from Wales, triumphed with a rendition of ‘Nessun dorma,’ the tenor aria from Puccini’s ‘Turandot,’ at a contest with the trappings and audience — seemingly — of the mass entertainment world.”

Musicians of the Pasadena Symphony are protesting plans by the orchestra to merge with the Pasadena Pops Orchestra. The musicians union charges of unfair labor practices and grievances.

“WETA’s return to classical this January after a two-year experiment with news and talk is looking like a ratings winner: The station (90.9 FM) saw its audience more than double in the first Arbitron report since the format change. And, equally important for perennially cash-strapped public radio, the size and number of listener donations to the station soared with the switch back to classical.”

“During the height of the rock era, if one of your songs was used in a TV commercial, your career was on the way out. And after the late ’60s, hit singles weren’t even cool again until the ’80s. But now the opposite is almost true. If you don’t have a song in a TV commercial your career is over. I’m exaggerating slightly but you get the point.”

“Artists buy in bulk a set of cards that they can design with their own custom artwork and text. Each card has a unique redemption code and holds 15 credits. Participating artists then upload their music in MP3 format to their profile on the DiscRevolt site, which can also accommodate a bio, contact info and artwork. Bands can either sell or give away these cards to fans, who use the redemption code to download individual tracks — one credit per track.”

Chamber music has always been the ultimate “insider” experience for classical music aficionados. But the form’s always limited audiences have been declining in recent years, leading some to rethink the way small-scale concert music is prepared and presented. “A small group of musicians playing in an intimate setting is, after all, one of the most popular forms of music making today. You can find ‘chamber music,’ by this definition, in bars and clubs across the country on any given night. But those invested in maintaining traditions — including some presenters and commendably passionate audiences — want a more conservative definition that keeps out the innovation.”

The 20th century was supposed to spell the end of the symphony, a 19th-century musical construct that many said had outlived its usefulness in an age when orchestras were no longer the playthings of emperors and kings. “But it took root elsewhere, acquiring a nationalist character in Finland (Sibelius), Denmark (Nielsen), Mexico (Chavez), Brazil (Villa Lobos), Britain (notably Vaughn Williams) and America… Many composers today simply write orchestral pieces and give them fanciful names. Only in Russia and the onetime Soviet satellites has the symphony thrived in a direct line between the 19th and 21st centuries.”

“As many as 50 percent of music professionals suffer at least some hearing loss. [Worse,] recent Northwestern University study found that almost all incoming freshman music majors already have a playing-related physical ailment.” The problem is exacerbated by the fact that most musicians don’t even consider the risks they are taking until a problem that can’t be ignored manifests itself.