Category: music

Two high-profile scandals in high-end violin appraisals and dealing reveal a shadowy world in which little is as it seems. “Authentication is slippery, essential and a near-contact sport among dealers, who regard one another like Yankees and Red Sox and certify the authenticity of their products themselves. And as both of the current dramas demonstrate, pricing tends to the notional, with no instrument quite like any other. Brokers and consultants flourish in the interstices.”

Klezmer has become a phenomenon in Germany. “National interest in this genre, broadly defined as Eastern European Jewish folk music, has surged, with experts counting more than 100 klezmer bands across the country. Record sales are strong, and festivals and workshops have multiplied. One label director called Germany the strongest klezmer market in the world. But with few exceptions, the klezmer scene in Germany is a non-Jewish phenomenon, a renaissance of Jewish culture without Jews, prompting a wide range of reactions here and abroad, from bewilderment and cautious approval to cynicism and reproach.”

Second-hand record stores – the kind die-hard vinyl collectors love – are disappearing, as more and more customers turn to the internet to find rare recordings. “The switch has taken its toll on some specialist retailers and record dealers, prompting them to turn their attentions to sites such as eBay in search of profits without the overheads. And as the appetite for downloads hits new album sales, some observers are predicting the death knell for the bigger bricks-and-mortar multiple record stores, too.”

Now that Klauspeter Seibel has left the job as music director of the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra in New Orleans, the search is on for a replacement. This season is being given over to possible candidates for the job…

Looking for classical music on the radio? Traditional broadcast radio isn’t likely to do it. But the web has become a goldmine for music fans looking for variety…

Andrew Druckenbrod is dismayed to learn that his precious CDs may be self-destructing. “Indeed, what does it say that a music box metal disc made 150 years ago or a paper piano roll from the turn of the previous century may outlive a digital product of today? It makes me want to pack a 19th-century survival kit: Dangnabit, where are my lard candles, salt pork and wool undergarments?”

The World Air Guitar Championships end in controversy in Finland this weekend, and two winners are declared after votes are miscounted. “This shouldn’t happen in the world championship level. I am devastated. We can’t do anything else but to apologize for the mistake and congratulate both winners. At least you can’t say that this year’s contest didn’t offer tons of excitement and drama.”

The Chicago Symphony is running out of time in its contract negotiations with musicians. “With only two weeks remaining until the present labor agreement between the musicians and management of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra is due to expire, both sides are bracing themselves for what is expected to be the most contentious cliffhanger in the orchestra’s 113-year history.”

In general American conductors have not done well with British orchestras. But why? “In Britain, one problem has been the resistance, by management and musicians alike, to the American model of the music director, which in turn is a watered-down holdover from the dictatorial maestros of yore. According to many London critics, British orchestras are adept sight readers and can rip off a plausible performance at the first rehearsal. But they apparently balk, by and large, at the hard work, directed from the podium, that would allow them to reach the exalted level of several American orchestras — or, indeed, of such self-governing Continental bands.”

South Florida is losing some classical music radio programming. “Radio station WKAT-1360 AM, which has helped fill the void left by WTMI’s demise since 2002, has to scale back its programming because of dips in advertising revenue. The station has, on average, 100,000 listeners, and the 35-and-older demographic prefers listening to news in the mornings and music in afternoons and evenings.”