Category: music

A new music learning program – a toy – teaches kids about composing music. “Hyperscore, the composing portion of Tod Machover’s ‘Toy Symphony’ trinity, is a sophisticated musical tool in the guise of a simple computer game. Children position drops of sound and colored lines on the screen, building up layers and length into a texture that is as complex as they can manage. It is not, however, just a matter of drawing a picture and getting a pretty tune…”

“Yes, pianists grouse that Steinways are not what they used to be. Yes, pianists ascribe whatever faults they found in whatever Steinway they just played to every Steinway. And no, the majority would never play anything but. Steinway knows all this. Every new piano that rolls out of the Steinway & Sons factory — in Astoria, Queens, next to oil tanks that block the view of the Rikers Island jails — is an attempt to refute the notion that the only good Steinway is an old Steinway.”

MPR’s new “American Mavericks” series explores contemporary music. “In some ways as daring as the composers it brings to life, the show departs from the standard classical-radio recipe, using sound effects from train whistles to ocean waves to shrieking cats. It plays rock and art music in the same episode. It deftly moves music from background to foreground and back again. It tells complicated stories with a breezy, youthful irreverence underpinned by airtight research and writing, courtesy of Village Voice music critic Kyle Gann.”

Esa-Pekka Salonen gives his final performance in Dorothy Chandler Pavilion with the LA Philharmonic before he and the orchestra move to the new Disney Hall in the fall. None too soon, writes Mark Swed: “I have attended Philharmonic performances in the Chandler every season since, and it was there that I learned much of the orchestral repertory. But it has never been a good symphony hall. One gets used to it, learns to listen through the acoustical limitations, but when you see cellos sawing away and don’t hear them, as can happen from the orchestra seats, you are forced to choose between believing your eyes or your ears.”

Opera Holland Park is summer opera on a budget. But good opera. “With top tickets at £40 this year, Opera Holland Park has found itself in the curious position of not being taken seriously on the bucolic summer opera circuit because it’s too cheap. Yet it enjoys some of London’s boskiest greenery in Holland Park, including a Japanese water garden, strolling peacocks and the picturesque ruin of the Jacobean Holland House. OHP may not be dressy — in fact it’s determinedly democratic — but last year saw more hampers and popping corks than ever before.”

The success of Apple’s music downloading service has surprised recording industry execs. But why? “People in the entertainment industry are traditionally Luddites – they don’t understand technology and they don’t use it. They didn’t perceive the danger [from file-trading sites] until too late in the game, and now they’re trying to play catch-up.”

A reporter tries out various legal online music services. It’s a mixed success. “Should I take it as a sign that trying to sample the wares of several of the leading legal music sites for PC users crashed my computer and wiped out its hard drive?” On the other hand, some of the sites are downright fun.

What’s wrong with contemporary music criticism? “The customary practice is that anyone can be approached for his or her opinion on the latest film, play, novel or exhibition. Behind the convention is an ideology: that the less you know about the subject in advance the better, since your ignorance connects you to the audience.” On radio, however, one can hear and compare the music and be guided by someone who knows what they’re talking about…

“It has been called ‘the greatest jazz concert ever.’ On May 15, 1953 – 50 years ago this Thursday – alto saxophonist Charlie Parker, trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie, pianist Bud Powell, bassist Charles Mingus and drummer Max Roach assembled at Massey Hall in Toronto for their first and only time as a unit…”

The Florida Philharmonic has laid off “all but five of their 111 employees and suspended operations Friday, saying the symphony had run out of money. The Philharmonic’s 80 musicians and the rest of the orchestra’s employees received their final paychecks Friday, two weeks before the scheduled end of the season. Eight concerts were canceled.”