Category: music

“Music-for-peanuts is suddenly flooding the Internet, much of the tide being released by at least eight Web sites, each one telling the world that it has a quarter of a million songs or more in stock. This wave of legitimate, low-cost music may eventually sweep away music stores as we knew and loved them, because it is such an easy wave to ride. If you can surf the Internet – and especially if you have a high-speed cable modem or DSL connection to the Net – you can do this.”

“Just when you thought it was safe to get in an elevator again, there comes a new twist on an old bastardization: the rearrangement of classical standards by performers whose chief selling points are not their musical chops but their sexy attire and cool attitudes. The Planets, a British acoustic-electronic ensemble, sell bizarre arrangements of Bach, Bizet and, of course, Clair de Lune on their Classical Graffiti disc. The OperaBabes, also British, indiscriminately mix arias and famous classical instrumental works – all arranged for vocal duet and backed up by various combinations of chorus, string orchestra and the inevitable electronic keyboards.”

Hard-core jazz fans can’t abide it, but the so-called “smooth jazz” has a large and growing following. “It’s supposed to be banal tripe for people too meek for real jazz. It’s the boring music played on ‘quiet storm’ radio stations or heard in the waiting rooms, lounges and elevators. It’s even the porno industry’s soundtrack. Nonetheless, smooth jazz has its champions. And its audiences are perhaps the most diverse and harmonious in all of music.”

“It is seven years since the Victoria State Opera disappeared in the merger that created the Sydney-based national company, Opera Australia, and started a stream of complaints that Melbourne’s needs are not being met.” The recharged Melbourne Opera Company looks to meet those needs, but the challenges are many. “For a start, it has no funding, so the budgeting skills are of the micro variety rather than the macro.”

While overall sales of recordings are down, music sales to older music lovers are strong. “The growing success of albums by older artists — and of singers like Norah Jones, who appeal to less cutting-edge tastes — offers some solace to an industry mired in a three-year sales slump. The older audience, typically more affluent consumers who grew up buying their music on vinyl LP’s, seldom uses the free file-sharing sites. And because they account for a growing segment of the record-buying public, labels are increasingly tailoring their releases and their marketing, particularly on television, to reach them.”

The economics of the recording industry are changing. “The success of iTunes has made clear to the music industry an uncomfortable truth: many people want to buy single tracks, not albums. Apple’s data show that its customers bought 12 singles for every one album at iTunes. That compares with 0.02 singles per album in American stores, according to research by Sanford Bernstein. The best artists may tempt people to buy a whole album. But the industry can no longer rely on getting the price of an album as a reward for backing a band.”

British pianist Julian Jacobsen performed all 32 Beethoven sonatas in one day Friady. “As the pianist began the challenge in St James’ church, Piccadilly, at 0915 GMT, he said: ‘It’s pretty crazy isn’t it?’ He told BBC Radio 4 it was a ‘self-test to see if I can get through it all and keep my concentration’, and a chance to raise money for his favourite charity.”

Musicians in the Charlotte Symphony ended their strike after getting close to a contract settlement. The proposed contract calls for an initial pay cut, but then increases. “The agreement leaves two key issues yet to be resolved: the management’s proposals to have players shoulder more health-care costs and to reduce the musicians’ paid time off. Those issues will be dealt with by task forces made up of players, management and staff members working with a federal mediator.”

Du Maurier-sponsored jazz festivals have been a longtime tradition in Canada. But with the tobacco company handcuffed by federal legislation, “many jazz festival organizers across the country feared the worst for their annual events. It’s no surprise then that TD Canada Trust was welcomed as a saviour yesterday when it stepped into the breach. As part of a four-year multi-million-dollar deal, the bank will assume title sponsorship for the Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Ottawa and Halifax jazz festivals. Additional support will be distributed to fests in Victoria, Edmonton, Saskatchewan, Winnipeg and Montreal.”

Mariss Jansons typifies the new generation of star conductors: he’s turned his back on America, writes Norman Lebrecht. “For most of the past century great conductors were drawn to America by its wealth and energy. Now, they are having second thoughts. Simon Rattle refused all offers. Riccardo Chailly, Antonio Pappano and Daniele Gatti have planted their feet resolutely in Europe; Riccardo Muti can hardly be bothered to board a plane; Christian Thielemann works mostly in Germany. The American way of making music – heavily unionised schedules, deadeningly conservative audiences – has lost its allure. This is the last year that Munich has to wait for a maestro to return from America.”