Category: music

“Pitchforkmedia.com has become the main arbiter of taste among independent music fans, a distinction once claimed by zines, college radio, and mainstream music mags that risked advertising dollars by taking chances on unknown bands. The news and reviews site has found its niche in catering to list makers, mp3 traders, and kids who are determined to love and leave a band before you’ve ever even heard of them. Pitchfork has plenty of faults—impenetrable writing, factual gaffes made by first-time critics—but they haven’t kept it from turning the music industry’s standard operating procedure on its head. It’s the website every music-head checks and the website every music-head hates.”

The Milwaukee Chamber Orchestra, which hasn’t given a concert in over a year for financial reasons, is showing signs of life. The orchestra has appointed a new music director, and resolved a dispute with the musicians’ union, and plans on mounting a 2006-07 season. “The MCO is carrying about $9,000 total debt. The board is working on grants and fund raising to pay that off and get the orchestra playing again as soon as next fall.”

As Toronto’s Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts held its official opening gala last night, the music almost seemed to take a back seat to the whole concept of having an opera house. “For years, Toronto was known around the world as the city that could not get an opera house built.” No more, and the opening went off without any of the usual speeches and bluster – the singing was the thing.

“The hall sounded like a winner. It’s got a very attractive resonance, flattering to all parts of the orchestra and especially to voices on stage. The sound is warm and a bit contained, but without dryness. It is clear enough to expose every section of the orchestra (a challenging asset), and to give maximum transparency to sung or spoken text.”

“Creative has asked the International Trade Commission to issue an order stopping Apple from marketing, selling or importing iPods into the US. It claims the iPod infringes its patent for a music player navigation menu.”

“Common wisdom has it that the social networking Web site is primarily a hangout for teenagers and 20-somethings, where middle-aged cops can entrap pervs preying on teenagers. But savvy classical music marketers are discovering that if you want to attract young people, you’ve got to go where they are. Thus MySpace is becoming a valuable marketing tool for some of today’s biggest classical stars – and is poised to be even more important as young musicians promote their own careers.”

“Tosca remains one of the ten most performed operas around the world and there is no arguing with the turnstile. Its secret, I suspect, is twofold. Like The Mousetrap, most people know how it is going to end, which means they can take guests again and again with a lightly-worn air of superiority. The attraction of repetition is reinforced by the richness of interpretative possibility.”

“Being culturally and historically informed is one thing, and having an artistic experience is quite another. The danger nowadays is that with musical scholarship calling the shots in ‘early music’, and so much energy devoted to reviving mediocre works, we’re losing sight of that distinction.”

“The Dallas Symphony Orchestra is ending the 2005-06 season with a balanced budget and an uptick in overall attendance and ticket revenues. But the news isn’t all good. Attendance at classical concerts declined 6 percent, and the annual fund fell 6 percent short of its $8,025,000 goal.”

Houston Grand Opera is expected to report a $2.5 million deficit at summer’s end. The red ink is a result of slumping ticket sales and donations, and comes despite cuts the company has made in education and outreach programs in recent years. A major capital campaign is planned for next year to help the opera stabilize its finances.