Category: music

This weekend Kurt Masur takes up his new post as principal conductor of the London Philharmonic. The relationship between the traditionalist maestro and the experimenting and pragmatic LPO could generate sparks. Good thing. Perhaps “the bizarre, almost century-long seclusion of orchestras from the real energies of cultural life is coming to an end. The orchestra is about to become interesting, a place of argument and contestation, just as it was in the Romantic era.” – The Times (UK)

Domingo announced plans to transform the Los Angeles Opera with a series of initiatives, including an ongoing relationship with the Kirov. “In addition, Domingo promises to make good on his previously expressed intentions to tap the Hollywood talent pool and reach out to the Latino community, as well as to expand the company’s training program for young artists.” – Los Angeles Times

Michael Kaiser was touted as the man to turn around the tumultuous problems of London’s Royal Opera House. And he got the house reopened last winter after its renovation. But instead of sticking around, he was soon out the door and on his way to Washington’s Kennedy Center. – The Telegraph (UK)

Over the next three months the English National Opera has set itself a challenge –  “celebrating 400 years of Italian opera in no fewer than ten new productions. They will hire seven directors, six costume designers and five lighting designers. There will be just one master-designer presiding over the entire project – Stefanos Lazaridis. – The Times (UK)

Samuel Wong served as assistant conductor at the New York Philharmonic and is also music director of the Honolulu Symphony. – The Age (Melbourne)

The venerable Schwann Catalog, the bible of recordings releases, ceases quarterly publication to go annual with ongoing web updates.  “One of the reasons we’re doing this is that new releases come out so frequently that a quarterly catalog wasn’t timely enough. Also, the Schwann Opus quarterly was exceeding 1,200 pages. Over the years we’ve tried all sorts of tricks, abbreviating record label names, changing fonts, abbreviating instruments. But the size of the catalog made it very costly to print.” – New York Times

The Berlin Festival is attempting the the most comprehensive survey of 20th Century music ever mounted – 83 programs in five weeks featuring 83 composers. “The festival is an awesome undertaking, and it provides a fascinating glimpse into how one of the world’s most musically important cities views recent history. It also shows the ferocious determination in Berlin to keep classical music a powerful and dominant art form. The lineup of concerts is no less than staggering.” – Los Angeles Times

The National Symphony performed Mahler’s redrawing of Beethoven symphonies last week. “What we heard was an interpretation that was obsessed with microscopic details of color, timbre and phrasing, one that added exclamation points to all the notes that Beethoven had already outlined in bold. Tempos fluctuated wildly to accentuate the arrival of dramatic or lyrical themes. Pregnant pauses heralded melodramatic climaxes. Altered bowings dissected phrases for closer scrutiny.” In short – it was magnificent. – Washington Post

An archeologist posits that the first musical instrument wasn’t a flute, but a blade being hit by another piece of flint. The rocks date from about 40,000 years ago. “What you get is actually three or four tones from each of the blades, once you’ve practised a little bit.” – CBC

London’s Royal Opera House re-opened last winter with a string of technical disasters. But the whole project was ill-fated before the ROH even closed for renovation. “Eighteen months before closure, the ROH had nowhere to go. The right decision would have been to delay closure, and therefore the redevelopment, until clear plans had been crystallised.” First of a Three-Part Series – The Telegraph (UK)