Category: music

Are musicians of the St. Louis Symphony on strike or have they been locked out? Drew McManus goes looking for answers…

Contract negotiations between musicians and the St. Louis Symphony broke down Sunday night, and the players will vote whether to strike today. “There are a number of issues under discussion, including benefits and work rules, but the biggest one is economic: Management has asked the musicians to take a pay cut, and they want a raise.”

Musicians of the St. Louis Symphony voted 85-3 to strike Monday. “The impasse comes as a blow to the symphony, which seemed to be making strides after nearly going bankrupt in 2000 and after the debilitating illness and death of its former music director, Hans Vonk. The hiring of David Robertson, a darling of the critics, as music director next season had brought a sense of excitement to the orchestra.”

It was 50 years ago today that pianist Glenn Gould made his American debut at the Philips Collection in Washington DC. “With the exception of his celebrated pan of singing first daughter Margaret Truman (which elicited a threatening letter from the White House), this is probably the most famous review Washington Post critic Paul Hume ever wrote. And rightly so, for Gould’s debut stands out as one of the highest peaks in the history of Washington musical life — an unheralded Sunday afternoon concert in a small venue that helped set a magnificent career into play.”

This is the time of year when most publications put out top ten lists. “The most glaring trend in these lists is the lack of agreement as to what constituted the best music of the past year, not only among critics but also – especially – between critics and popular tastes (as judged by album sales and radio airplay). Comparing the 10 best albums as ranked by the New York Times, Washington Post, Newsweek, and Amazon.com, one finds that exactly half of the albums mentioned appear only once among the lists. Only one record – Kanye West’s “The College Dropout” – appeared on all of the lists; no other album appeared more than twice.”

“Today, the environments that music occupies have gotten either very small or very large: the isolation chamber of headphones or the anonymity of the stadium. Live, unamplified music still exists in the cloistered precincts of the concert hall; local bars soldier on and dance clubs still find new ways of embroidering a heavy beat. But for much of the world, music has become either a solitary experience or a form of mass ritual. Yet the history of music is inseparable from the history of places where people gathered.”

Shanghai opens a glittering new $120 million concert hall. “With a new look, stunning architecture, advanced facilities and modern management, the center will be the crowning jewel of Shanghai’s many performing venues.”

The Cleveland Institute of Music is launching a new weekly radio show on WCLV. ‘Each show will explore the work of an artist or delve into a musical topic in-depth. CIM described the series in a news release as a combination of great music, interesting guests and slightly off-the-wall commentary.”

Last year Norman Lebrecht brashly predicted that 2004 would be the end of the classical recording business. But a funny thing happened in the form of numerous interesting new releases. “With such exuberance on offer and more promised in the year ahead, what then of my rock-solid prediction 12 months ago that 2004 would see the end of the classical recording industry? Must I now eat humble pie, not mince? The evidence suggests otherwise. For effervescent as the new crop may seem, no-one is making any money.”

The Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra says it will donate $136,000 to the World Health Organization to help provide drinking water to survivors of the tsunami disaster. “We wish to express our solidarity with all those who have lost everything.” The orchestra typically donates $68,000 to humanitarian causes every New Year’s day from the poroceeds of its worldwide New Year’s broadcast.