A volunteer usher: “We don’t realize the richness this music brings into our lives until we don’t have it. … Our souls were hungry.” – Chicago Tribune
Category: music
Alex Ross: The Fascinating, Complicated, Difficult Legacy Of Furtwangler
“Could modern performers recapture Furtwängler’s elasticity of style? Most likely not. Scholars such as Robert Philip and Kenneth Hamilton have shownhow the advent of recording permanently changed the way music is played. Effects of rubato and portamento—bending the tempo, sliding from note to note—sounded messy when heard on disc, and they were already passing from fashion in the mid-twentieth century.” – The New Yorker
Tin Pan Alley Buildings Owner Doesn’t Want Landmark Status Because Of “Racist Songs”
The owner of five buildings on West 28th Street that comprise the core of the historic “Tin Pan Alley” is trying to block them from being landmarked by pointing to racist tunes emanating from the block a century ago. – New York Post
Canada’s Last Bricks And Mortar Classical Music Recordings Store Is Closing
“The store’s closing follows a similar move by Vancouver’s venerable Sikora’s, a dedicated classical music store in West Hastings that shuttered in February 28, 2019 after four decades in business. While Grigorian’s has not provided details behind the closure, it’s not hard to see the writing on the wall in this era of music streaming and a diminished profile for classical music on the culture scene.” – Ludwig Van Toronto
How Good Are The Acoustics In Philadelphia’s Newest Concert Hall? Complicated Question
“No definitive answer is possible,” writes Peter Dobrin about the 270-seat venue at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, “because it is in a way not a single hall, but many.” – The Philadelphia Inquirer
Peru’s Version Of El Sistema Shows Results
Among participants in the program, called Sinfonía por el Perú and founded by tenor Juan Diego Flórez in 2011, “[there has been] a 75% decrease in unwanted pregnancies, another 51% decrease in domestic violence as well as a significant increase in grades and even college admissions.” – Americas Quarterly
Survey: People Say They’re More Productive If They Listen To Music While They Work
“In the survey, 52% of respondents said they’re happier when listening to a favorite song (the other 48% were listening to Ed Sheeran), while 58% said that music helps boost their mood at work. That’s an important detail when you consider that, in a separate study, almost half of Americans admitted to crying in the workplace.” – Fast Company
A Choir For Dementia Patients Shows Real Therapeutic Benefits
Actress Vicky McClure got the idea to form the choir after seeing how much her ailing grandmother was helped by singing together. A BBC crew watches the choir rehearse, perform, and take part in a research study, with a focus on Daniel, a 30-year-old former engineer diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. (text and video) – BBC
Osmo Vänskä Named Music Director Of Seoul Philharmonic
South Korea’s flagship orchestra has been without a music director since Myung-Whun Chung resigned at the end of 2015, toward the end of an astoundingly tumultuous period at the ensemble. Vänskä, who will remain with the Minnesota Orchestra until the summer of 2022, begins work in Seoul in January of 2020. – Twin Cities Pioneer Press
Conditionally Loving Lili Boulanger – Time To Take Out The “Conditionally”
Justin Davidson: “The 24-year-old Lili Boulanger had died of Crohn’s disease, after years of physical pain and artistic glory. During her brief career and in the century since, she regularly received high, though conditional praise, which almost always boiled down to this: She was surprisingly accomplished for someone so young, ill, and female. It’s time to stop hedging.” –New York Magazine