Category: music

Florida Grand Opera seems to be appealing to ticket-buyers, but artistically, there’s plenty to complain about, writes Lawrence Johnson. “It’s the logical culmination of several unsettling trends that have been apparent over the past few years, with the depths plumbed this season pointing to a company that seems to be artistically adrift.”

Neighbors complained about the noise from a ragtime band practicing. So they called the police, who came and confiscated the band’s instruments. “Acting with the full force of the law, they took an upright piano (white, slightly bashed), two electric pianos, a violin, a trombone, an acoustic guitar, four CD players, two tape decks and a portable stereo. They also loaded a £10,000 viola into the back of their van, but allowed its owner to rescue it when he produced proof that he would need it for an audition in Barcelona the next day.”

“If the current anarchy leads to cheaper music for all of us and a fairer distribution of profits to artists, it can only be a good thing. It is to everyone’s benefit — artist, fans and industry — that there is now greater access to music of all ages, provenance and genre than ever. Piracy may be rife, but the appetite to consume and produce music is also booming. What the current developments also point to is the decrease in the cost of making music, which has accelerated dramatically with the cheapening of technology.”

“Scottish Opera has put planning for its coming season on hold after it was told not to enter into any binding contracts. The crisis-hit company now has to wait for the Scottish Arts Council (SAC) and the Scottish Executive to agree on its financial future. In the latest sign of continuing problems, Scottish Opera’s accounts for last year have not been signed off by an auditor.”

“For whatever reason – and speculation could fill many a book – modern visual art is far more widely accepted than modern classical music. Exhibitions of Picasso and Matisse draw huge crowds, and even hotels mount abstract art on their walls. But mainstream modern music by the likes of Stravinsky, Poulenc and Janácek, some of it nearly a century old, remains a hard sell. Genuinely atonal music, from Arnold Schoenberg to Elliott Carter – the equivalent, you might say, of abstract expressionism in painting – isn’t popular even among highly trained professional musicians. Surrounded by modern painting and sculpture, though, modern music can make more sense.”

Gerard Schwarz returned to conduct the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic after members of his orchestra voted last week not to renew his contract. “The members voted against the 57-year-old music director’s contract being renewed when it comes up for renewal in 2006. But Mr Schwarz appears to have the support of the paying public as record crowds turned up to see him conducting the Liverpool Young Musician of the Year contest.”

Once again, US troops are using loud American rock music as a weapon against its foes. Last week the Americans blared music into Fallujah, hoping to set militants nerves on edge. “The loud music recalls the Army’s use of rap and rock to help flush out Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega after the December 1989 invasion on his country, and the FBI’s blaring progressively more irritating tunes in an attempt to end a standoff with armed members of the Branch Davidian cult in Waco, Texas in 1993.”

Christian music is big business now. “Sales of praise and worship albums have doubled since 2000, to about 12 million in 2003. While music sales over all slumped last year, including Christian music in general, worship music was up 5 percent. A series of CD’s marketed on television by Time-Life, “Songs 4 Worship,” has drawn a million subscribers and sold about 8 million CD’s since 2000.”

Universal is abandoning its lower retail pricing plan, and increasing its suggested retail prices. “Universal’s competitors didn’t follow suit with wholesale price cuts. Some record label executives privately dismissed the price-cut plan as a promotional ploy aimed at boosting short-term sales numbers. Moreover, some retailers complained that the new system unfairly squeezed their profit margins.”

Why did musicians of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic vote to not renew music director Gerard Schwarz’s contract? “If it’s because the Liverpool orchestra rejects him aesthetically, that might be a problem. If it’s because the orchestra resents some changes he’s making, that’s different. They might resent him for firing somebody’s brother. They might think that just because the tuba player is 80 years old, that’s no reason for him to go away.”