Category: music

Simon Rattle conducts a dreary first installment of Wagner’s “Ring” at the Aix Festival. “Rattle has been taking some flak in the Berlin press — mostly for not being the late Herbert von Karajan, which you might think would be something of a blessing — but he sounded in danger of “Karajanising” his Wagner here, luxuriating in the wondrous sounds he coaxes from the Berliners and almost loving the music to death. There were exceptional moments — the rasp of the lower brass heralding the giants’ entrance suggested terrifying menace — but the overall effect was soporific.”

Chicago public radio station WBEZ is dropping its current jazz format and turning to news and information. It’s a trend that has swept the public radio world. But jazz fans in Chicago are angry…

Music downloading hit new highs in the first half of 2006, with more than 14 million full albums downloaded (legally) by consumers, a 77% increase over the same period last year. Sales of traditional albums fell by 4.2%. “Although digital sales are growing, music fans are eschewing the more profitable full-album downloads in favour of cherry-picking a few songs.”

The Detroit Symphony may still be looking for a music director to replace the departed Neeme Järvi, but the ensemble is enjoying rising attendance and a stability that most other American orchestras would kill for. How did they accomplish such a thing in a city famed for its crippling poverty? Rather than simply making an appeal to the business community for help, the DSO has become a major investor in the urban revitalization of its hometown, and is endeavoring to show the community the same long-term commitment it requests from others.

It was a good year for Opera Theatre of St. Louis, a small but important company that each summer draws opera aficionados from across the country to the Midwest for a month-long festival. A $400,000 challenge grant, “for which the company had to raise $7.5 million and attract 1,000 new donors by June 30, was not only met but surpassed in both dollars and donors… The company made a major push to bring in young people to its performances,” and continued its efforts to assist talented young singers in making the transition to the professional world.

The Toronto Symphony has come a long way since nearly succumbing to bankruptcy a few years back. But William Littler says that the TSO still lacks one of the crucial amenities of a major North American orchestra: “Unlike most orchestras of its class, Toronto’s still lacks the summer season that would keep its profile before the public and its players more extensively employed.”

Cooler heads may be prevailing at the Seattle Symphony, where news recently leaked out of an internal survey conducted by the musicians to express their dissatisfaction with the leadership of longtime music director Gerard Schwarz. The musicians now insist (contrary to some earlier reports) that the survey results were never intended to become public, and that they intend to settle their differences with the symphony’s board and management in-house. For his part, Schwarz is taking the high road, barely acknowledging the controversy and declaring that his relationship with the orchestra is “all about the music.”

Edward Reichel has a problem with the results of the just-completed Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition. “The six who were chosen to compete in the finals unquestionably should have been there. They deserved it. But those who took the top three prizes did not give the best performances.”

Summer used to be the time classical musicians took some time off. In most cities, classical concerts were scarce. No more. “Exact figures are hard to come by, but in the last five years alone, summer festivals and workshops in America have doubled, from about 100 in 2001 to more than 200 this year, according to Chamber Music America.”

Online music is stealing audience. But can it rival radio? “Despite numerous attempts, no one online has found a way to turn the hat trick that sustained radio through six decades of dominance of the music industry. The iTunes store is just a very alluring retailer; it has no defining personality and therefore hasn’t developed into the kind of mass community that assembled around the most successful radio DJ shows. Various adventures in file-sharing have been a bonanza for music collectors, but have done little to advance the cause of sounds that weren’t already popular.”