Category: music

Finalists include musicians from South Korea, Italy, Bulgaria, the Netherlands, the US and Germany. would be the “survivors.” They’re competing for $250,000 in prizes.

Pretty much every week now there’s a new song at the top of the Billboard charts. “There are multiple reasons behind the instability at the top of the Billboard 200, as the chart is officially known. For one thing, album sales continue to decline (they’re off by about 7 percent this year), and the threshold for reaching No. 1 is dropping accordingly.”

After 48 years, the Chicago Symphony’s long-time concertmaster is going to retire. “Samuel Magad made his debut with the CSO at 11 as the winner of the CSO youth auditions. He joined the first violin section in 1958 under music director Fritz Reiner and was named assistant concertmaster in 1966. Georg Solti appointed him concertmaster in 1972.”

Norman Lebrecht is unconvinced by British musicians’ protests over new airline carry-on restrictions. “If an exception were made for concert soloists, executives would demand to carry their laptops, nursing mothers their baby kits and would-be jihadis their special-mix drinks. It is not even in the musicians’ own interest to set them apart as a special case for that would separate them from the rest of the human race at a time when their greatest need, in classics and jazz, is to be seen as integral and essential to the emotions and rhythms of the modern world.”

The City of Birmingham Orchestra is launching a monthly podcast. “Members of the public will be invited to review recent concerts, and each recording will aim to explain how the musicians work together. Each free podcast can be downloaded through the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra’s website.”

Classical music sells on iTunes in greater numbers than in CD stores. But what are the most popular downloads? The list is revealing, writes Marc Geelhoed.

“Both sides negotiating a new contract for Baltimore Symphony Orchestra musicians have maintained a media blackout, but, with the current contract set to expire Saturday night after the annual BSO gala, there are a few favorable signs – and also potential concerns. … As the orchestra’s management aims to balance a budget after a string of annual deficits, negotiating points may include the orchestra’s size and the length of its season – factors that can affect the BSO’s reputation and ability to attract and retain talent.”

After four years of renovation, Paris’ Salle Pleyel reopens this week. The theatre is the Carnegie Hall of Paris. “The acoustics used to be a weakness of the Salle Pleyel. To improve them, architect Francois Ceria and Artec Consultants Inc., the acclaimed New York sound gurus, have encircled the platform with a wooden wall and added four narrow side balconies and a number of rows behind the orchestra, replacing the old Cavaille-Coll organ with a human reflector.”

“Restrictions on hand luggage, intended to reduce the volume of baggage going through cabin security checks, have had a devastating impact on performers. Musicians who were used to stowing their Stradivarius in the cabin fear that irreplaceable instruments will be smashed by a careless baggage handler or wrecked by freezing temperatures in the hold. Instead, they are cancelling concerts or enduring exhausting train journeys.”