Category: music

There’s a growing body of science that shows sound has a very pronounced effect on the body. The big challenge is finding the right mix of sounds and music that works for you. Music created specifically for relaxation is often lumped together derisively by detractors as New Age or metaphysical music. But the reality is that the types of recordings that fall under this banner are incredibly diverse, though they are almost exclusively instrumental (if you don’t count the chanting). – The Globe and Mail (Canada)

Leonard Slatkin made his debut as chief conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra. “It’s no accident that the worst remark any critic has made over Slatkin’s appointment to the BBCSO is that he is ‘a safe pair of hands’. As Slatkin talks about the business of conducting, the words that come up are, well, business-like. He is even – unusually– eager to be involved in the marketing of the orchestra.” – The Independent (UK)

Female stars of the music world gather at a “Rockrgrl” conference to talk about women’s place in music. Many in the music industry still have a “pretty good for a girl” mentality. “They don’t say it that way anymore, it’s not that blatant, but it’s still there.” – Boston Herald

Daniel Barenboim’s dispute with the Berlin government over funding of Barenboim’s Staatsoper has gotten out of hand. “Like the fracture lines of a smashed mirror, its ramifications have darted in every direction, raising sensitive questions about the way the arts are funded in Germany, about how much culture a reunified Berlin can afford, about the authenticity of German reunification and even about whether Barenboim, an Argentinian-born Jew, is the victim of an anti-semitic plot. At heart, though, it is a simple issue of conservation.” – The Guardian

Melbourne just wrapped up a blow-out festival devoted to the music of JS Bach. “But did this 17-day program of events constitute a festival? Sadly, not really. A festival summons up images of a city caught under the spell of the performing arts: when shows are the talk of the town, where there is color and movement on the streets day and night, and there is such a flood of international artists that you might end up in a table-top tango with an Argentinian performance artist at five in the morning. Maybe that happens in Rio, or Adelaide, but not Melbourne.” – The Age (Melbourne)

SO WHAT’S THE POINT? “What is the charter of the multi-artform Melbourne Festival? To offer choice and take the odd gamble? Or to project the ideas and tastes of the artistic director charged with pulling the event together?” – Sydney Morning Herald

“In the past, masterclasses were held behind closed doors, which meant that embarrassments were mercifully limited to a small audience, composed mostly of peers. These days, however, things are different. Pinchas Zukerman’s three most recent masterclasses, held in cooperation with Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra, were webcast free to the public in an interactive distance-learning effort. With Zukerman on one continent, his students on another, and the audience potentially everywhere, the experiment became something more consequential than an open conservatory lesson. Something slightly scarier, as well.” – The New Republic

“Copland was the first, the only and probably the last American classical composer upon whose greatness and importance everyone could agree. His 100th birthday is Nov. 14, and the celebration has taken on something of an iconic status. If we fall into the temptation to look back at the 20th century as the American century, Copland, born as it began, becomes a ready symbol for a nation coming of age.” – Los Angeles Times

“In an evening of not quite high culture and a few moments of low comedy, a cast of 2,200 performed the tale of doomed love between an Egyptian general and an Ethiopian slave girl as the centerpiece of this year’s China Shanghai International Festival of the Arts. And while the sound was remarkably good for such a huge venue, the theatrics stole the show.” – New York Times

Conductor/musicologist Gillian Anderson has “restored the original music for 25 films – she calls them ‘early’ films, pointing out that they ‘were never silent’ but were regularly played with live piano, organ or orchestral accompaniments. She has conducted this music during showings in Europe and North and South America – notably at the Louvre in Paris and the National Gallery of Art in Washington.” – Washington Post

Nicholas Snowman resigned this week as general director of the Glyndebourne opera festival. “The abrupt departure of Mr. Snowman, 57, took Glyndebourne’s board by surprise and left it with no one in the top job. “Yes, we were surprised. He said he’d been here for two years and achieved what he wanted to do.” – New York Times