Category: music

What killed the venerable BMG’s classical music recording operations? “A run of pin-striped MBAs and former wine salesmen was put in charge of classics, only to depart before their signings cut a debut disc. On the rock side BMG flourished, winning a record 24 trophies at this year’s Grammy awards. BMG has annual revenues of $16.4 billion and owns 200 labels, including Ariola, Arista and Windham Hill. Classics amount to less than four per cent of turnover. When the bottom line reddened amid a general classical downturn, the division was swatted by an executive fist, like a flea on a giant’s hide. That is the way of the corporate world, and that is what is killing classical recording.” – The Telegraph (London)

Limited rehearsal time has limited more than one classical music performance: soloist jets into town in time for one run-through before the concert, and everyone waits to see what comes off. Now a few performers have taken the unusual (and expensive) step of hiring their own orchestras and exploring a work in marathon rehearsals before stepping onstage. – Philadelphia Inquirer

Yikes – for the fifth year in a row Max Bruch has won top spot on the UK’s Classic FM poll of favorite composers. But then, what do you expect? “If you spoonfeed your audience a pappy diet of light classics and bite-sized chunks of larger works, all seasoned with the odd bit of cross-over, and then get them to vote for their favourites, the result is more or less a foregone conclusion. Pavlov couldn’t have conditioned his salivating dogs any more effectively.” – The Guardian

What does it say about the fortunes of jazz as an artform that Juilliard has decided for the first time to offer instruction in jazz? – New York Times

Italian composer Bruno Moretti has written an opera that is a barely disguised version of Diana, Princess of Wales’ life. “The opera ends with the fading image of Emma [Diana] waltzing with her Arab lover to the screech of tyres and the paparazzi’s flashbulbs.” – The Times (London)

There’s nothing particularly “classical” about Canada’s Top Ten classical recordings bestseller list – Bocelli and Church and some crossover stuff. “So how many copies does a real classical album sell? On average, 300 in Canada. (And for reasons that remain obscure, 40-50% of those sales will be in the province of Quebec.) A few albums, of course, do much better than that – Heppner’s Great Tenor Arias has almost gone gold. But BMG’s 94-CD set of Rubinstein’s complete recordings sold only 30 copies in Canada – which is not entirely surprising given the price tag of $1,500. – National Post (Canada)

London’s Covent Garden opened with a string of disastrous technical disasters that marred opening performances of the hall. “According to those on the front line, machinery is not to blame. The more uncomfortable explanation is this: to maintain public confidence in the controversial redevelopment, the ROH’s executive director Michael Kaiser was obliged to claim last year that the £214 million project was absolutely on schedule and tickety-boo. the building was therefore obliged to start producing performances before it was truly ready to do so.” – Daily Telegraph (UK)

The Detroit Symphony is planning a $60 million makeover of its 2000-seat 1919 concert hall. – Toronto Globe and Mail

“Who’d want to be a fussy follower of fashion? While the trend for all encompassing music festivals has now more or less gone the way of zoot suits, ponytails, gurning and hula hoops, it seems that something somewhat more defined has taken their place. These days, musical tastes have not only diversified but become more focused. A music-loving audience has turned into discerning customers who will shell out for selective, channeled events.” – Irish Times

What is it about pop music entertainers that makes them think they can do anything they fricken well please? “They produce movies. Star in movies. Write movies. Write novels. Diddle about with stocks and shares and web-related ventures. Import absinthe. Model for Calvin Klein. Become priests. Today’s pop star has the attention span of a cocaine-addled gnat. No wonder it takes them an average of six years to make an album. No sooner have they completed a bass-line, or a bleeping noise, or whatever it is that they specialise in, than they are seized by ennui and disillusionment and have to rush off and chase dreams that we, the public, have not endorsed and should not be expected to indulge.” – The Scotsman