Category: music

Pianist Andras Schiff has a sore spot for those who come to his concerts and cough: “Luckily I was in a good disposition, so I just very quietly stood up and said, ‘Could we now make a coughing break. Please feel free to cough,’ and I just walked off. I was told by friends that this person got very red and left the hall, and after five minutes I came out and started again, and all went beautifully.”

“Running a big band in a world with no patience for jazz requires an odd combination of benevolence and ego. To survive the economics of dividing jazz’s subsistence wages among 15 or more musicians, you have to really love music at the same time you have to be convinced the world needs to hear your tunes…”

HipHop is 30 years old. But to read many critics, you’d think it was on life-support, if not already measured for the coffin. Hmph! “For music critics, the only assignment greater than proclaiming the arrival of something new and great is announcing the death of a once sacred cow. But, in this case, it is both lazy and, more importantly, wrong.”

Jazz musicians, listeners and critics – take your pick – often seem embroiled in one kind of feud or another. Sometimes they’re over finicky little things; other times they’re deep-seated and deadly serious. In either case, however, they’re often odd, out-of-the-way sorts of quarrels, reserved for insiders alone. But right now, that’s just not true.” The topic of the day? Singers. Jazz singers are selling big time, all out of proportion to traditional jazz. Singers like Diana Krall and Norah Jones are posting popstar-size sales. One question – are jazz labels abandoning instrumentalists in hopes of hitting the next big thing?

The Grammys have not enjoyed a good reputation among classical music critics. But there are a few encouraging trends developing with this year’s nominations – The influence of independent labels continued. “Across 12 categories, independent labels garnered 32 nominations this year and the majors 29, versus 31 for independents last year and 29 for the majors.” Also, writes Bradley Bambarger, this years nominees reflect “an impressive percentage of modern and rare repertoire figures across the field.”

Chad Hugo and Pharrell Williams, the songwriting and producing team known around the world as the Neptunes, were considered shoo-ins for a Grammy nomination for producer of the year, non-Classical category. But when the nominations were announced, industry insders were shocked their names were not on the list. What happened? They forgot to enter…

The Vienna Philharmonic has admitted its first woman musician as a member. American musicologist explains why it’s important to protest the orchestra until its policies about admitting women improve. “There has never been a more important time for all people to realize that chauvinism is a bottomless pit of hatred, violence and death. Every time we protest violence against human dignity, whether physical or cultural, we help make the world a better and more peaceful place for everyone.”

“Hip-hop is everywhere these days, dictating fashion and music, rewriting opera and hawking products from Sprite to Budweiser on TV. Even the Pillsbury Dough Boy tried rapping out a beat in a recent commercial. The mass media is now so full of hip-hop idioms like ‘stankin’ (which means good) and ‘mo betta’ (sex) and beeper codes like ‘1812’ (war) that the average Joe is having a real hard time, basically, getting jiggy wit it all.”

Cracks in the music recording business are becoming more obvious as there is a growing recognition that senior recording execs are out of touch with new realities. “The industry is now selling 100 million fewer CD’s and cassettes than it did in 2000. According to Nielsen SoundScan, which tracks album sales, 681 million were sold in 2002, down from 785 million in 2000. At the same time, music-swapping on the Internet, perceived as a major threat, continues to grow. The industry’s immediate problem is that although costs must be cut, the biggest costs of all — talent and marketing — are the toughest to rein in.”

Hiring musicians is one of an orchestra music director’s biggest responsibilities. “A music director has to put his stamp on the orchestra.” But James Levine, chosen to be the Boston Symphony’s next music director, wasn’t able to begin the job for three years. In the meantime, what about hiring players? Surprisingly, Levine isn’t part of the process – the players themselves will choose who gets hired. It’s an unusual arrangement – only one other US orchestra chooses players this way – Levine’s Metropolitan Opera Orchestra.