Category: music

“Shostakovich subtly manoeuvred his way round the Soviet system and enshrined in his music a message that could be interpreted in different ways – optimistic, despondent, crushed or defiant. With the advent of his centenary year in 2006, there will be ample opportunity to consider what the music meant to Shostakovich and what it still means to us.”

Colorado’s Central City Opera is a terrific company. But it is neglected when discussions of great American opera companies come up. “The perplexing question is: Why? It certainly is not because of any lack in production quality. The diversity and daring of Central City’s programming easily competes with any summer festival in the country. Part of the problem lies with geography. The company is not only a bit isolated, it is also a long way from either of the two coasts, where nearly all the major classical-music critics live. And travel budgets are being cut everywhere.”

Scottish Opera is in dire straits. Some say “unless urgent action is taken on funding, Scotland could be forced to merge its national opera company with Opera North in Leeds, England to survive. Shouldn’t Scotland be funding its own opera?

A new music aggregator on the internet feeds you music from a data store of 3 million tunes. “Listening to Mercora is like tapping into a million iPods all at once. You can control what you listen to, returning to the search engine after each tune to select your next cut, or you can open yourself to the choices and discoveries of whatever random music lover happens to have been playing the tune you first sought.”

Country music is having a great year on the touring circuit. “While other genres struggle to maintain superstars and develop new headliners, country music has been performing extremely well on both fronts, particularly for the past two years. Last year, five country acts were among the top 25 touring acts for the year, following a long dry spell when the genre was lucky to have one or two acts among touring’s elite. Country’s current boom stems from a premise that is often forgotten by much of the concert industry: Offer great talent at a fair price in an appealing setting, and fans will respond.”

Gershwin’s Concerto in F is getting its regular-season premiere at the Boston Symphony (the piece had always been relegated to the Pops season). Why has Gershwin’s much-loved “serious” music taken so long to be embraced by symphony orchestras?

The readers of the UK’s Gramophone magazine have voted San Francisco Symphony music director Michael Tilson Thomas their Artist of the Year. “Thomas beat out a slate of musicians compiled by the editors that also included mezzo-soprano Susan Graham, pianist Marc-André Hamelin, violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter and tenor Rolando Villazón.”

“For the first time in four years , the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra has raised prices on the cheap seats at Powell Hall. This comes in the midst of a publicity blitz for new symphony music director David Robertson, who is drawing raves. Before this year, the cheap seats were a terrific bargain at just $10. That’s for 71 seats in the first three rows (called Orchestra Front on the symphony’s Web site). These seats are not for everyone: they’re like the front row at the movie theater. But if you enjoy being really involved with the sound, you can’t beat it: the music is all around you. This year, the cheap seats went up to $15.”

For the most part, the days when a conductor could rule his orchestra with rage and threats are gone, and most musicians expect the rehearsal atmosphere to be one of collegial, if not exactly friendly, collaboration. But as conductors have changed, the art of conducting has, as well: the physical demands are not nearly as great as the riddle of how to motivate a group of players and draw out their best performance. The best conductors are frequently those who never seem to be imposing their will on the orchestra, but still maintain a firm grip on the reins of interpretation. In other words, friendly is good, but respect is still the main thing.

There was a time when the audience for classical music preferred – nay, demanded – that the genre be presented as a dressed-up affair, all formality and glamour, and that those in attendance listen “not only with their senses, but their soul.” These days, most classical presenters are considerably less picky – as long as there are butts in the seats, who cares what they’re wearing or if they squirm a bit? Amanda Holloway suggests that, in a world of seemingly endless entertainment options, catering to supposedly modern tastes just isn’t ever going to bring new audiences to the concert hall, and neither is reminding them constantly that culture is good for them. “No clever direct-mailing approach from an arts centre can replace… personal motivation.”