Category: music

Hip-hop diva Lauryn Hill is embroiled in a lawsuit with four songwriters who charge they did not receive proper credit for their contributions to her album. “She will be asked, under oath, a simple question: Who wrote those songs? But just beneath that question is a far more elusive one: What is a pop song, anyway?” – Salon

Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy” was greeted with complete silence at Sunday’s concert in the former Mauthausen concentration camp. “No concert in the history of the Vienna Philharmonic has been discussed as intensively. The debate about whether this concert should go ahead in Austria’s new political situation, has absorbed Vienna for weeks, and was still at full tilt in Austria’s weekend newspapers. Televised live around the country, the Mauthausen memorial was not so much a concert, more a journey of the Austrian soul.” – The Guardian

The controversy over the legality and ethics of downloading music over the internet has helped spur a surge in traffic to the sites. Recent net ratings indicate traffic has jumped from 20-52 percent at popular MP3 download sites. – The Times of India (AP)

A new Grove’s Dictionary of Music – the definitive music resource – is due out later this year. And it’s big: 25 million words, 29,000 articles, 20,000 biographies in 29 volumes (nine more than the previous 1980 edition). Some 6000 scholars in 98 countries contributed, and a staff of 60 at Macmillans in London has been laboring away to meet the publishing deadline. – The Age (Melbourne)

In front of an all-star audience (including the Three Tenors) tenor Carlo Bergonzi pulled out of the middle of his farewell performance, a concert version of Verdi’s “Otello.” The 75-year-old tenor’s voice sounded weak, and he reportedly looked ashen during the performance. He pulled out after the second act. – CBC 

After 43 years as concertmaster of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, violinist Raymond Gniewek is retiring from the Met and will be giving his final concerts this weekend. – New York Times

The St. Louis Symphony – which has become one of America’s best regional orchestras over the past 20 years – is in trouble. “The orchestra came up almost $1 million short in the fiscal year that ended in August 1999. This year, it stands to run a deficit of between $3.5 and $4 million on a total budget of $28.9 million. Those recent losses will likely add to the $6 million in long-term debt the Symphony already carries. And even if it manages to achieve an anticipated $1.5 million in cutbacks for the 2000-2001 season, managers will still be looking at $2 million less than they need.” – St. Louis Post-Dispatch

When an overlooked group is in trouble, one way to pretend it isn’t sick is to stage an awards ceremony. So this week the first Classical Brit awards for classical music. The gelled, egregious Kennedy will fiddle, Charlotte Church will weakly warble, Lesley Garrett will effervesce as usual like a shaken bottle of Babycham. The nominees are at best middlebrow, exposing the industry’s abject dependence on movie tie-ins. James Horner’s More Music From Braveheart, competes for Best Orchestral Album against John Williams’s latest brash, blatant marches from Star Wars, while Stephen Warbeck’s pastiched score for Shakespeare in Love has earned him a nomination as Male Artist of the Year. – The Observer (UK)

London’s concert halls are brimming over with music. But where is it on TV? “It is not just the quantity of classical-music programming on television that has declined, though the fall is real enough. A decade ago, say insiders, the BBC was broadcasting 100 hours per year. Now we are down to just half that number. The more serious collapse is of true commitment to the very idea of sustained coverage of classical music. A decade ago, a proposed Omnibus on Simon Rattle    today it is rejected because he is regarded by TV planners as of insufficient popular interest.” – The Telegraph (UK)

Pop music used to move in discernible directions that had its mass-market appeal. Not the 1990s, which let a million flowers bloom. “The music world pays a price for diversity. Our new heroes are often only heroes to a few. The sheer volume of titles, more akin to books than to movies, means that many never claim public attention, so it’s difficult for average listeners to sift out the important ones.” – New York Times