Category: music

More top violinists are playing modern instruments. “The great violinists from 1800 onwards always went back to the instruments by Stradivarius or Guarneri. For the 19th-century makers, there was never the thrill of building for the best violinists, so they didn’t have the incentive. They were more like repairmen. They would build instruments, but they would build for the lesser player. There were quite a few good Italian instruments, but some of them have really died and are not playable any more. Now all of a sudden there is a demand. And so we go to the makers and say, sorry, we need a great instrument. We don’t need something in between.”

There is much to be gloomy about for the state of classical music, writes Norman Lebrecht. “Why the world has gone off classical concerts is a conundrum in which almost every reasonable assertion is disputable. Take the attention-span thesis. Many in the concert world believe that its decline stems from the public’s flickering tolerance for prolonged concentration. If politicians speak in soundbites, how can we expect voters to sit through a Bruckner symphony? It is a persuasive argument but one that I have come to find both fatuous and patronising.”

The English National Orchestra has had a rough few years. Now it’s looking for a new conductor – but it’ll be a tough job walking through the door. “There’s a chance that a new chief conductor with a really solid knowledge of opera repertory and casting, and a commitment to the company’s principles, could just turn the place around. The ENO orchestra is sounding much stronger now than it has been for a while.”

Musicians and managers have finally agreed to mediation in the St. Louis Symphony strike, but bizarrely, the first session isn’t scheduled until the middle of next week. Meanwhile “more of the orchestra’s younger musicians than usual have been auditioning for other ensembles around the country. Though the SLSO is generally considered to be among the top 10 orchestras in the United States, St. Louis ranks 19th in base pay for its musicians.” In other words, time is of the essence in this dispute, and the lack of urgency on both sides is beginning to grate.

Since the demise of the Florida Philharmonic two years ago, observers have been wondering just exactly who the under-construction Greater Miami Performing Arts Center is being built for. Now, an answer has emerged, courtesy of the chairman who presided over the Phil’s disbanding: the center will open in 2007 with a 3-week residency by the Cleveland Orchestra. It’s good news for South Florida music lovers, of course, but some former Philharmonic musicians are furious, suggesting that chairman Daniel Lewis, who has given $12 million to the Clevelanders over the years, allowed the Phil to die knowing that he could bring in a visiting orchestra more cheaply.

A UK company is experimenting with the music its customers hear while on hold on the telephone. It is presenting live music while you wait, with a string quartet. “The exercise reflects the increasing exploitation of the time customers spend on hold as a marketing opportunity – whether by subtly expressing corporate values via the choice of music, or taking advantage of a captive audience to “advise” customers about services or offers.”

Cleveland’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum is suing two journalists and a radio company executive from putting up a website called the Jewish Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The trio “misappropriated Rock Hall’s substantial intellectual property rights as well as the goodwill associated therewith. Unless restrained … by the court, such conduct will, permit defendants to gain an unfair advantage over Rock Hall.’ It said the Cleveland museum has suffered irreparable harm and was seeking damages in excess of $100,000.”

A design for Atlanta’s new concert hall, designed by Santiago Calatrava, has been unveiled. “The building, roughly as tall as 13 stories, features a ribbed-glass roof surrounded by a metal collar. A smaller version, which houses a recital hall and learning center, nestles on the south side. Each is adorned with a free-standing, ridged steel arch that is 186 feet (about 18 stories) at its highest point. The Spanish architect calls it the feather.”

The Atlanta Symphony’s new hall is just one more sign of the orchestra’s soaring fortunes. “It might open in 2011, at the earliest. But in the short term, it’s likely these designs further invigorate an orchestra that’s already on a steep ascent, since the 2001 debuts of conductors Robert Spano and Donald Runnicles as its artistic leaders.”

What are the most popular songs in the land? As the music business has changed, it’s been harder and harder to tell. Some songs have made the bestseller list for sales of only 5,000 copies. “This week, Billboard began figuring in download sales in its main pop singles list, mixed with the two other factors it long leaned on — radio play and retail sales. At the same time, the magazine has introduced a new, download-enhanced chart that more accurately measures those songs that truly are the most popular.”