Why has classical music been on the decline in America? Joseph Horowitz tells a history aimed at suggesting some reasons. “History with a moral is by definition suspect. But Horowitz, for all the enthusiasm with which he espouses his various musical causes, is for the most part an impressively fair-minded historian who takes care to avoid superimposing contemporary agendas on past events. One need not always agree with his interpretations of those events in order to profit from his account of how European classical music took hold in a new world with sharply different cultural priorities—as well as from his speculations regarding its prospects of survival in the 21st century.”
Category: music
Boston, Philly, New York, Cleveland, Chicago… & San Diego?
Three years ago, the San Diego Symphony received a $120 million gift from a local couple, and instantly, the ensemble was vaulted from the lower ranks of full-time American orchestras to… well, where the vault ends is still unknown. The SDS is fiscally secure for the future, to be sure, and salaries have risen, as have budgets. But can money – even that unbelievable amount of money – really catapult an orchestra into the upper ranks? San Diego’s CEO thinks so, and is even speculating about a future in which the SDS is mentioned alongside America’s fabled Big Five orchestras.
For That Price, Could We Get Some Decent Speakers?
Most attendees at rock concerts in the U.S. probably don’t spend a lot of time thinking about audio quality – after all, you just plug in the mics and guitars and crank the amps up to eleven, right? Actually, there’s a lot more to it than that, and George Varga writes that some of his most recent experiences suffering through concerts that “sounded as if they were either being performed from inside trash compactors in overdrive or through a giant car stereo with busted woofers… are symptomatic of a troubling decline in audio quality at concerts across the nation – a trend made more annoying by the concurrent rise in ticket prices.”
Rare Jazz Great Recordings Never Heard In US Found In Library Of Congress
“The U.S. Library of Congress says it has uncovered long-forgotten recordings by some of the superstars of American jazz -Thelonious Monk, John Coltrane, Ray Charles and the Dizzy Gillespie Orchestra. Recorded in 1957, the tapes have never before been heard in the United States. The Voice of America recorded the music at a Carnegie Hall concert in New York City for broadcast to the rest of the world.”
Do Pulitzers Proclaim The Best In American Music?
What to think about Steven Stucky winning this year’s Pulitzer for music? Particularly after last year’s decision to broaden the definition of music eligible for the award? Frank Oteri chews on it: “I do think in some ways, we music folk are a little too obsessed with other people determining for us what the best is—residue from Beethoven and the gang, which is the same “masterpiece syndrome” that keeps so many in the classical community from ever paying attention to any new music in the first place. I sincerely wonder if novelists and poets scratch their heads in dismay every year when their favorite writer fails to win a Pulitzer. So then, what to make of the results of the 2005 Pulitzer jury?”
Possible New Mozart Work Found In Vienna
Austrian state television is reporting that experts are examining newly discovered sheet music found in Vienna’s famed Musikverein concert hall to determine if they could be part of a previously unknown composition by Mozart.
Putting It Together In San Antonio
The San Antonio Symphony, one year removed from bankruptcy and hoping to stabilize its financial situation, has received a $250,000 challenge grant from the Kronkosky Foundation. The money “will help fund five free concerts, co-sponsored by Radio Disney, that will target youth and families and, symphony leaders hope, reinvigorate interest in the orchestra among old and new audiences.”
Levine: A Man Of Two Cities
Leading the Boston Symphony and the Metropolitan Opera are (at least) two full time jobs. But “those who doubted that James Levine could juggle two of the most demanding and prestigious music directorships in the United States have been proved wrong. Moreover, in Boston, the question of his physical health and stamina has been a nonissue. But what about his creative health and stamina?”
How Muti Was Edged Out Of La Scala
Riccardo Muti’s departure from La Scala was a long time coming. He maintained artistic standards in the opera house, but elsewhere in Italy opera is in decline. “Artistic standards have plummeted. With so many jobs to fill, orchestras and choruses are enfeebled. Most of the great voice teachers long ago emigrated to the richer pastures of American campuses, and the quality of native singing is now in terminal decline. Against such corruption and mediocrity, Muti has resolutely set his face. Like all dictators, he ultimately overestimated his own power and allowed his ego to get the better of his judgment. But La Scala will be hard pushed to find a successor – Riccardo Chailly? Daniele Gatti? – to match his charisma and idealism.”
Music, War, And Memories of Britten
Benjamin Britten’s “War Requiem,” isn’t often performed, largely because of its massive personnel requirements – a full orchestra, a separate chamber orchestra, plus several choirs and vocal soloists – but this week, the Minnesota Orchestra and St. Paul Chamber Orchestra will combine for the first time in decades to bring the anti-war opus to life. And the music won’t be the only star: as luck would have it, a 93-year-old musician who played in the Requiem’s emotional premiere in Coventry, England lives three hours from the Twin Cities, and is being brought in to attend the concert and speak to the audience about the impact Britten’s work had on a shattered post-war British public.