Category: music

The science of building a great string instrument has long been a subject of obsession for craftsmen and musicians around the world. Most believe that the secret to the old masters lies in the combination of great wood and perfect varnish. But if that’s the case, why are some of today’s hottest soloists trotting around with shiny black violins and cellos made from something called carbon fiber? Could there be such a thing as a great synthetic instrument?

The Boston Pops has fired its principal guest conductor, who had been with the ensemble since 1979. Bruce Hangen says he wasn’t told the specific reason for his dismissal, but “speculated that perhaps he angered management by turning down Pops concerts to accept engagements with other orchestras.” The Pops, which is operated by the Boston Symphony and made up mainly of BSO musicians, isn’t commenting on the reason for the change.

Newark Symphony Hall exists in the shadow of the New Jersey Center for the Performing Arts, but the city’s revitalization efforts could mean a chance for the older, once-illustrious venue to redefine itself and recapture an audience. “There appears to be a fresh opportunity to transform the more than 80-year-old concert hall — perhaps into a version of the Brooklyn Academy of Music or Symphony Space in New York, community landmarks where the programming veers creatively away from the fare offered by Lincoln Center and other major concert halls.”

“Two pillars of the classical musical establishment, Carnegie Hall and the Juilliard School, have joined forces to give birth to a music academy whose fellows will go forth and propagate musicianship in New York public schools. … Under the new program elite musicians will receive high-level musical training, performance opportunities at Carnegie Hall and guidance from city school teachers in how to teach music.”

“From Australia to Germany to Maui, there is something of an explosion under way in the use of science and new materials to test the limits of instrument making. And the traditional violin-making and violin-playing world is taking note.”

Countless thousands of schoolchildren get their first exposure to musical performance on the dreaded (but cheap and sturdy) recorder. But a number of UK music teachers are reporting that the much-maligned ukulele is fast eclipsing the recorder in popularity.

“After 60 years of producing operas singularly over a fall and winter season, Fort Worth Opera has announced a major change in its presentation format: it will condense its entire schedule to an annual festival – with all of its operas and concerts being presented over a four week period” in early summer. The change will eliminate scheduling conflicts with the nearby Dallas Opera, and will hopefully make the company’s operations more efficient.

There are a lot of opinions on the proper way to perform Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, especially when it comes to tempo. Recordings of the piece often differ in length by several minutes, in fact. But it’s a fair bet that Beethoven never conceived of a performance of his groundbreaking work that would last 24 hours, take place in a grimy bar beneath one of Vienna’s great concert halls, and play to an ever-revolving sequence of curious listeners who stop in to catch a few beats before moving on. Grotesque? Maybe. But Mark Swed says that the experience was well worth it.

When news broke late last week that the Charleston (SC) Symphony was perilously close to bankruptcy, it sparked a lot of questions about just how high the orchestra’s costs really are. As it turns out, the CSO is something of a bargain compared to larger U.S. orchestras – the music director makes only $85,000 a year, and the musicians pull down just $21,000. Still, some local arts supporters wish the organizations they support would make greater efforts towards fiscal transparency.

When the Chicago Symphony spent $120 million to renovate its concert hall in the mid-1990s, critic John von Rhein was initially impressed with the results. But the passage of time has seen him (and many other observers) revise that opinion: “Musicians and veteran listeners came to realize the acoustics were and are worse for symphonic music in the 2,310-seat auditorium than before the renovation. The upper strings lack shimmer and warmth. Players on one side of the stage cannot properly hear their colleagues on the other side, uncertain about how they fit into the general sonic perspective.”