Category: music

More than 50 years since the end of the Nazi regime that glorified Wagner’s anti-semitic philosophies, the Israel Symphony Orchestra plans to play the German composer’s music in a concert this fall. Last time the ISO attempted to present Wagner’s music in concert, “the audience cried ‘shame’ and an usher leapt to the stage to exhibit his Nazi-inflicted scars.” – Jerusalem Post

A manuscript of Bach’s last work – an arrangement for double choir, wind, and strings, presumably written for his own funeral and burial – has been discovered by an American academic in the Ukraine. The discovery comes just in time for the 250th anniversary of Bach’s death in July. – The Guardian

Diana Ross and the Supremes (actually two singers who joined the band after Ross’s 1970 departure) are planning a “reunion” tour this summer, and some fans and former partners are begging her to reconsider. – Times of India (Reuters)

Jukka-Pekka Saraste has announced he will leave as music director of the Toronto Symphony. The orchestra recently resolved a long strike with its musicians. “While I have made many friendships and musical partnerships in Canada, I look forward to returning to Europe and working there on a more regular basis. My preference is to spend more time conducting, as opposed to being responsible for the more diverse duties of a music director, as I am in Toronto.” – Toronto Star

The New Zealand Symphony Orchestra’s general manager has threatened to shut the orchestra down if the government doesn’t give more money to support it. The orchestra’s music director is non-plussed: It’s simple, he says. “Any mature country needs a national orchestra in order to have its cultural maturity recognized. Therefore the NZSO must stay.” – New Zealand Herald

The new choices in what kinds of equipment you can buy to listen to music on are confusing. But waiting until the industry winnows out some of the choices probably isn’t a good solution. “That’s what convergence is. It’s a buzzword, but all this stuff is coming together – and getting further apart at the same time.” – Wired

Philip Glass doesn’t get much attention these days. Time was when his music was anticipated with excitement or hostility. Now it is largely ignored. “Except by the general public, which still sort of likes his music, and by professional beat critics, who routinely dismiss the new works as inherently simplistic or, less often, as tedious recyclings of earlier tricks.  His music, outwardly similar to what came before, has declined in quality, and that decline can be described. – New Republic

Everyone in the opera business knows that hidden microphones are sometimes used to help project voices from the stage. “It has gone on for years.” Doesn’t it detract from the performance? And if it’s happening shouldn’t the audience know? – The Independent (UK)

New technologies are changing the music business. Musicians can play along, or they can fight it. But just because the economics are changing doesn’t mean it’s a catastrophe. “Rather than insist that the way the music world does business today is the only way imaginable, it behooves artists to take a longer and more imaginative view. It’s not as if the status quo has served them so well.” – Salon

A composer/scientist has undertaken a series of performance in Zurich with his computer-generated music. The computer “reads” the audience – fidgets, coughs, shifting in the chairs – and translates the variables into music. – New Scientist