Category: music

Composer Peter Maxwell Davies has started his own recording company. But not just any company. “The solution was radical. Rather than simply reissue set-packaged discs, the decision was made to offer a much more flexible product through the medium of the internet. The formula they came up with does just that, and at remarkably low prices. There are two ways of obtaining your personalised disc. One is simply to download the required pieces, together with an “owner’s booklet”, which will contain the required sleeve notes (including a libretto in the case of an opera), to your hard disc, then pay the appropriate money. The other is to choose your tracks, pay for them, and place a request for the disc to be compiled and posted out to you.”

Why did the Youngstown [Ohio] Symphony part ways with music director Isaiah Jackson earlier this month? “Though some say Jackson lifted the orchestra during his nine years as director, confusion has superseded accomplishment since the Symphony Society made it appear nine days ago as if Jackson had made the decision to not renew his contract. It remains unclear why he was let go, who initiated the departure and why the board never discussed his contract with him.”

Philadelphia’s Curtis Institute has chosen Roberto Díaz, 44 – “principal violist of the Philadelphia Orchestra, active soloist, and Curtis faculty member” – to succeed Gary Graffman as director. “Díaz’s candidacy was a late entry in the search process, but he was the unanimous choice of the 12-member search committee.”

McDonald’s is “reported to be launching a campaign that will offer financial incentives to rap artists who mention its Big Mac burger in their lyrics. McDonald’s will not pay an upfront fee, but intends to pay the artist between $1 and $5 (53p-£2.68) each time a track is played on the radio. It hopes to have several such songs on the airwaves by the summer.”

When the Seattle Symphony fired longtime concertmaster Ilka Talvi last summer, he took the orchestra to arbitration. But this is the internet age, a time when the agrieved… write a blog. In the week since Talvi started Schmaltzuberalles he’s dished deep and unflatteringly about his former orchestra and Gerard Schwarz, its music director. Sure names have been changed in the blog, but it’s not difficult to figure out who’s who. Word of the blog has spread like wildfire through the orchestra world, and evidently has even caught the attention of Seattle Symphony management. Talvi writes that a few days after the blog began, the orchestra called to fire his violinist wife from her contracted SSO work. The next day Talvi writes of getting a visit from Seattle police, acting on a complaint about the blog…

“For decades, rock bands have acknowledged their influences by reinterpreting the old guys’ songs. It was a kind of Oedipal tribute: honor thy forebears by reinventing them. Our post-postmodern era of mash-ups, music blogs, file sharing and near-instantaneous distribution, however, has given rise to a new phenomenon: a certain species of indie bands is covering their peers’ brand-new songs – in those first heady days of release when the songs seem to be playing in every cafe and club, or even earlier, before they’ve made an impression at all.”

Hip-hop music and culture has been taking a nasty beating in the wider culture in recent weeks, and David Hinckley says that all the brouhaha shows that the critics don’t understand the genre, and aren’t even trying to. “Much of the criticism indicts all rappers and further carries the insulting implication that rap fans take nothing from the music except swaggering self-promotion, derogatory slaps at women and verbal violence… From the ancient Greeks up through opera, folk songs, detective novels and television, entertainment media have focused on excess, that is, behavior beyond normal standards, as a way of making a point. Audiences get this. Rap audiences get this. If violent lyrics really had the direct impact its critics warn about, America’s streets would be knee-deep in dead rap fans.”

“Your average newbie may not be sure why he or she should want to sit through a 30-minute symphony 200 years old, and the field devotes a lot of energy to trying to explain the reasons. Its methods include program notes, preconcert lectures and, increasingly, thematic programs that set out to illuminate the wonders of Beethoven or Charles Ives or Nordic music (whatever that is). But all of this runs counter to the way more and more people listen to music today. Witness the popularity of features like the iPod Shuffle, which yanks music out of context by randomly combining tracks into a musical stew. It’s not about the idea; it’s all about the sound.”

“Until recently, musicians didn’t talk about their ailments — especially professionals, who feared losing their livelihood. Doctors weren’t trained to deal with these specialties, but that’s changing; clinics have sprung up. A recent survey of orchestra musicians found that 76 percent had suffered at least one playing-related injury serious enough to keep them from working for a period of time. An ear specialist in Texas, after screening Houston Symphony Orchestra members, found permanent hearing loss in some violinists’ left ears, the left being the side exposed to continual sonic blasts from the rest of the orchestra. A 2001 survey revealed that 80 percent of female keyboard players ages 10 to 20 have a muscle-skeletal problem, although no one knows why it’s worse for women.”

Nine years after staging Wagner’s complete Ring Cycle to international acclaim, Chicago Lyric Opera is reviving the production this week, and the team in charge of the staging is enjoying a rare opportunity in the opera world: the chance to review what does and doesn’t work about a particular production, and actually make the show better. “The performances are musical marathons, the final three operas running for more than 5 hours including intermissions. But Lyric has the benefit of having already performed it as a complete cycle three times, and many of the staff members and orchestral musicians who made that 1996 “Ring” so successful are still with the company.”