Category: music

Haydn – Admired From Afar

“Today, nearly all of Haydn’s music is available on CD—but he remains a composer who is more admired than played, at least in the concert hall. No celebrated conductor or instrumentalist champions him; no stylishly written English-language narrative biography has yet been published. The absence of such a biography from the extensive Haydn literature helps to explain one reason for his comparative obscurity, which is that his life, though interesting, was not notably eventful.”

John Eliot Gardiner Launches His Own Recording Company

Sir John Eliot Gardiner was stunned when his long-time recording company Deutsche Grammophon canceled his contract on the eve of his biggest project ever. “Sir John faced a crisis when the company pulled the plug just as he was planning the gargantuan project of touring with and recording live the complete Bach cantatas throughout the year 2000, which would have resulted in over 50 CDs.” So Gardiner has started his own recording label to issue the music…

Rachmaninov Ruckus

“A legal battle will begin this week to determine who owns an autographed manuscript of Sergei Rachmaninov’s best-loved symphony. The work was found last year after being lost for almost a century. Relatives of the Russian composer will argue that they are entitled to the manuscript of the Second Symphony in E Minor, Op.27, which is worth up to £500,000 and was to have been auctioned by Sotheby’s last month. Sotheby’s, however, is expected to say that it was entitled to sell the manuscript on behalf of a private European collector.”

Is St. Louis A Canary In The Coal Mine?

The work stoppage at the St. Louis Symphony may be indicative of a larger systemic problem that no one in the industry wants to face: orchestras are very, very expensive, and the majority of cities may simply no longer be able to afford them as they now exist. “Intense and often divisive contract negotiations consumed three of the nation’s top orchestras last fall: Chicago, Cleveland and Philadelphia… [and] close to 90% of the country’s orchestras ran a budget deficit last year.”

Tsunami Benefit Goes On Despite Work Stoppage

This week, the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra will perform a benefit concert to aid the victims of the Asian tsunami. The event is notable because the SLSO is still technically on strike. (Or locked out, depending on whom you ask.) However, anyone hoping that the concert could lead to a reconciliation between musicians and management will probably be disappointed: the benefit, which was organized entirely by the musicians, won’t be held at the orchestra’s home at Powell Symphony Hall, and the official SLSO web site contains no information on the benefit.

Babes In The (Chinese) Wood

Touring China with a symphony orchestra is a tricky undertaking, but doing so with a youth orchestra has to be considered a Herculean task. But last month, Toronto’s Royal Conservatory Orchestra spent 18 days touring the world’s most populous nation, playing in conditions that would make professional orchestras blanch, adapting to culture shock after culture shock, and generally having the time of their lives. William Littler went along for the ride…

Kentucky Opera Ditches Orchestra For Students

Kentucky Opera drops the Louisville Orchestra for performances of its next production in favor of using students from the University of Louisville. Why? The company explains that “scheduling conflicts made it difficult, if not impossible, to use the orchestra for this particular production, which involves parallel student and professional casts. When you are rehearsing two casts you have a lot of orchestral rehearsals, and there were several services where (the Louisville Orchestra) would be unavailable because of contractual restrictions.” But an Louisville Orchestra spokesperson expressed surprise at the decision…