Category: music

How Bach’s ‘Brandenburg’ Concertos Upend The Social Order

Bach scholar Michael Marissen observes that, throughout the set, the composer has solo instruments do things that, in the accepted order of things at the time, those instruments simply didn’t do. (Marrissen couches the argument in Christian terms — “the lowly shall be exalted while the exalted shall be brought low” — which is almost always a safe approach with J.S. Bach.) — The New York Times

Women-Only Music Festival In Sweden Found Guilty Of Gender Discrimination

A new ruling said that although festival organisers did not enforce the “man-free” rule, since “no differentiation based on sex was made between visitors at entry”, the statements the company issued prior to the event “discouraged a certain group from attending the event”, breaching a law banning gender discrimination. – Irish Times

How Skeptical Consumers Were Convinced To Accept Stereo

“A key challenge for selling stereo was consumers’ satisfaction with the mono music systems they already owned. … Something was needed to show people that this new technology was worth the investment. The ‘stereo demonstration’ was born — a mix of videos, print ads and records designed to showcase the new technology and its vibrant sound.” — The Conversation

Wall Street Banker Gives It Up To Turn Around Struggling Brooklyn Conservatory Of Music

Chad Cooper, a 45-year-old former managing director at Deutsche Bank in New York, left that lucrative job to become executive director of the conservatory, 121 years old but at that point nearly insolvent. And he seems to have rescued the BCM, which brings the only music lessons available to hundreds of public school students and provides music therapy to 1,500 clients, including seniors with dementia and children with autism. — Fast Company

Canadian Radio Banned “Baby It’s Cold Outside,” Then Reversed The Decision; Is This Progress?

Outrage — the hallmark of 21st-century discourse — still exists, but the radio flip-flop on banning indicates the paradigm may be shifting toward a reasonable middle ground, with space for the sorts of varied responses one hopes for in a debate that is in theory black and white but, in practicality, is filled with shades of grey. – Toronto Star

Regrets: I Never Knew My Father Shared My Bond With Music

“Throughout my childhood, my family had missed out on the joys of sharing music with one another. With three kids, two parents, two loud TVs, one bathroom and rarely anything approaching silence, music served as each individual’s private escape. How surprising to realize that my father had subscribed to our secret club all along. We had never listened to opera before that brief time in our lives. And after my father died, the opera music exited quietly. Pavarotti had left the building.” – The New York Times