Category: music

“To see the iPod as an agent of isolation rather than a symptom of, or a clever adaptation to, that isolation is to confuse cause and effect. When I was in college, I heard almost all of my music on stereos in friends’ dorm rooms and apartments. Few of my students today have that luxury; they simply don’t have the time. So maybe we professors can change our perspective somewhat and see in those white iPod earbuds a symbol not of willful retreat, but of community deferred.”

“Ever since it opened in 1951, this showpiece of the Festival of Britain – designed by a London County Council architectural team, led by Leslie Martin and Peter Moro under the influence of Le Corbusier and ’30s modernism – has been a problem awaiting a solution.”

For years, arts groups have stepped in to fill the gap in music education caused by funding cuts in public schools. Now, pop stars are joining in, starting programa to teach music in schools that have lost funding.

“Despite costly efforts to build buzz around new talent and thwart piracy, CD sales have plunged more than 20 percent this year, far outweighing any gains made by digital sales at iTunes and similar services. ‘Everyone in the industry thinks of this Christmas as the last big holiday season for CD sales, and then everything goes kaput’.”

“At tea-time on Monday, the world’s oldest record company declared losses of £264 million and no hope of recovery. A sale was announced to Terra Firma, an equity firm which will strip the ship for early resale, probably to Hollywood rival, Warner. A century of record history and the heart of British music was tossed onto the auction block with no regard for public sentiment or the devastating cultural consequences that attend the destruction of tradition.”

The piece was moving along when everything suddenly collapsed and music director Franz Welser-MÖst uttered, “Sorry.” He took the ensemble back a bunch of bars and tried again, to no better effect. “You see how difficult this is,” the conductor said to the audience. “It worked this morning.” Finally, Welser-MÖst got his meters straight, and the music proceeded to its inevitable, touching end. One suspects the weekend’s remaining performances will go more smoothly.

“The Chinese are crazy about piano playing. Among city dwellers, there’s been nothing like this enthusiasm since the ’80s, when an embrace of the Japanese-originated Suzuki teaching method created a national army of child violinists. According to some estimates, as many as 15 million hopefuls in China — most of them young — are toiling to gain proficiency in this highly competitive skill, and the number is growing. Those unable to make it through the tough entrance exams of the country’s nine overflowing conservatories opt for one of hundreds of private piano schools sprouting all over.”

“Like many ‘American Idol’ devotees, I have a love-hate relationship with the show, which is often inspiring and infuriating at the same time. In Wednesday’s blowout it was apparent how tight its co-dependent grip has become on an increasingly desperate record industry. What other phenomenon has minted so many instant pop superstars? Its commercial impact recalls Elvis’s teenage-idol phase, Beatlemania and the heyday of Motown.”

The radio show has expanded this year. “The show’s efforts to challenge the stereotype of the ‘orchestra geek’ and to place inspiring young talent before a national audience are sorely needed. But a key element of the organization is what happens off the stage and screen. ‘From the Top’ provides scholarships and sends its young stars into about 50 schools a year to play for students who are clearly not headed to Juilliard.”

“A record box office of $34.4 million and increased government grants resulted in a record surplus of $1.6 million for Opera Australia last year, in which it also celebrated its 50th anniversary. … Opera Australia’s chairman, Gordon Fell, says the return is an important milestone that puts the company in ‘an unambiguously strong position’ and allows it to create a fund to support new operas and more tours, with an initial contribution of $1 million.”