Category: music

In the era of the iPod, any music is available at any time, wherever you are. But Bernard Holland wonders if maybe this easy access doesn’t cheapen the musical experience. “Is it all too easy? Any music critic will tell you that the eager anticipation of new recordings fades with their unsolicited, almost daily flow into the office. Would knowing a little less actually make us smarter, or at least hungrier? I do wonder if spiritual muscle tone is being softened.”

The Cleveland Chamber Symphony has “won numerous national awards for adventurous programming, presented more than 100 world premieres and kept a familiar group of the city’s superb players – not to mention a largely familiar audience – on the edge of their musical seats.” But after 23 years, the orchestra is on the verge of extinction…

A cache of privately recorings from pianist William Kapell’s last tour (he died in a 1953 plane crash in Australia at the age of 31) has surfaced. “The emergence of these more than three hours of recorded music is a tale of serendipity, of a collector’s passion and of a music lover’s act of selflessness. And when the recordings, preserved on three 16-inch acetate discs, are turned over to Kapell’s widow at a New York restaurant tomorrow, a new chapter will begin: the question of whether they will be commercially released.”

A new US report suggests that downloading hurts CD sales. “The report, commissioned by the US National Bureau of Economic Research, studied the habits of 412 students. It said the US music industry lost one fifth of a sale for each album downloaded from the internet. The study contradicts a previous report, conducted in 2002, which said swapping songs online had no negative effect on music sales.”

Scientists have discovered that Saturn’s rings “play” musical notes. “The tones are short, typically lasting between one and three seconds, and unlike the ethereal sliding tones associated with other cosmic processes, every one is quite distinct. The evidence suggests that each tone is produced by the impact of a meteoroid on the icy chunks that make up the rings.”

“After a three-year exile on the city’s outskirts, the famed opera company is returning to its renovated 18th Century theater in the heart of Milan in time for its traditional Dec. 7 opening night. The contested renovation was completed a few weeks ahead of schedule, giving conductor Riccardo Muti time for rehearsals. Muti tested acoustics of the “new” La Scala with a 40-minute rehearsal last Friday, and theater officials reported that the maestro broke into applause at the end to express his satisfaction with the sound quality.”

Twenty-three-year-old singer Gwyneth Herbet is the hottest young thing in UK jazz. “In only 18 months, Herbert has gone from trying to persuade landlords to turn off the telly and let her sing in their pubs, to rehearsing for the concert she’s giving at the Queen Elizabeth Hall to open the London Jazz Festival on Tuesday. Not long ago she was lucky if she could get someone with influence in the music world merely to agree to listen to her demo tape. Now she can count princes and pop legends among her admirers.”

Musicians of the Cleveland Orchestra are voting this week on a new contract. “The orchestra’s previous contract expired Aug. 29, but it was extended to Oct. 31 to allow negotiations to continue. Last week, the parties agreed to continue talks past the second deadline.”

William Fred Scott has resigned as Atlanta Opera’s director. “The artistic director’s exit caps a turnover of the $5 million opera’s top managers in the last 18 months. Almost since the company was formed in the mid-1980s — to fill the gap when New York’s Metropolitan Opera ceased its annual tours to the city — the Atlanta Opera has struggled with deficits, inadequate venues and artistic unevenness.”

Baritone Ian Vayne thought he was headed to his local opera house to spend a relaxing evening watching a new production of Bizet’s Carmen. Instead, Vayne wound up on stage in the role of Escamillo after the scheduled singer was felled by a heart attack. He knew the part, but had only fifteen minutes to learn the staging and choreography for the show. He received a standing ovation for his trouble, as well as the undying gratitude of the company.