Category: music

Not that the AI could do it alone: It “analysed the timbre, pitch and meter of the first and second movements, using this data to generate melodies replicating Schubert’s style. Huawei then employed Emmy-winning composer Lucas Cantor to arrange those melodies into a hypothetical completed Symphony No 8.” – Irish Examiner

That’s right, it’s back. Why? And who the heck is feeling nostalgia for the days when you had to clean the tape heads, carefully wind any escaped tape back with the judicious use of a pencil (or two, to hold it flat), and make extremely precise mixtapes? – The Observer (UK)

The town used to be known for casinos, and then for being “a musical retirement village,” but now it’s getting “residencies” from stars like Britney Spears and, suddenly, both Drake and Cardi B. That says something about Las Vegas, but “it also says they are at the forefront of the next stage of hip-hop’s total cultural dominance, with a Vegas residency the ultimate in infiltrating middle America.” – The Guardian (UK)

Argento was always a force apart. He belonged to no compositional school, preferring a distinctly eclectic language that appealed both intellectually and emotionally to his audiences. At a time when most of the celebrated American composers were based on either the East or West coasts, where they could work together and help promote one another’s music, Mr. Argento lived and worked in Minneapolis throughout his career, teaching composition at the University of Minnesota and working closely for many years with the director Sir Tyrone Guthrie at what became the Guthrie Theater. – Washington Post

An investigation last year found that the national broadcaster’s two orchestras, the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra and the RTÉ Concert Orchestra, were under-utilized, underfunded, and plagued by low morale and mistrust. RTÉ National Symphony general manager Anthony Long talks with a reporter about how things got to such a pass and what’s being done to improve things. – The Journal of Music

Last May, company general director William Florescu resigned because of what the Board described as because of “violation of the Florentine Opera’s policies and prohibitions concerning sexual misconduct.” His successor, the company’s first female leader, is Maggey Oplinger, currently director of community partnerships at the Milwaukee Symphony. – Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

The Federal Trade Commission held an entire hearing in 1937 to evaluate the Hammond’s sonority. The Commission sought to determine whether a series of advertising claims about the Hammond’s timbre were “deceptive, misleading and false.” Though many of the hearing’s participants believed their testimony would go down in history as an important reckoning of what constituted “real” and “good” musical sound, the affair is largely forgotten today. What the hearing does offer is an unusually detailed record of contemporaneous arguments over the quality and value of a new electronic sound. – New Music Box

Robert Massey comes to Louisville from the Jacksonville Symphony and previously held executive positions at Orchestra Iowa and the Washington Bach Consort. – Insider Louisville

It was played at the funerals of Einstein and FDR; TV and radio stations played it after JFK was shot; it’s been used to signify sadness in numerous films; orchestras added it to their concerts after 9/11. Then the electronica DJs got hold of it, and the remixes went over surprisingly well on the dance floor. – NPR