Category: music

The 50th anniversary edition of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band didn’t make the cut, though the endlessly re-released Gould Goldberg Variations did. (This version includes every single take the pianist did.) The Goldbergs are up against a 25-disc set of Leonard Bernstein conducting Leonard Bernstein, excerpts from an archive of old Somali music that was buried in the desert during the long civil war, 1970’s Afro-pop and jazz from what’s now Burkina Faso, and songs by a zither-playing gospel-blues preacher. (For a complete list of nominees, click here.)

“The prize was given for his triple concerto L’isola della Città (The Island in the City), for violin, cello and piano. The five-movement work (played through continuously) was written for the Danish ensemble Trio Con Brio and The Danish National Symphony Orchestra, and was premiered in Copenhagen in January 2016.” (includes video)

Today, the tools have ripened to the point where, if musicians build enough momentum, a record label becomes an indulgence, rather than a necessity. “Technology has democratised creativity,” says Brian Message, a partner at artist management company ATC. “The tools are in everybody’s hands to be able to create and to promote at any level.”

Lemonade was a hit with both critics and fans, giving Beyoncé her sixth solo No. 1. The ensuing Formation World Tour, much of it falling into our list’s scoring period, grossed a quarter of a billion dollars. Then she took time off as she and husband Jay-Z welcomed twins Rumi and Sir this summer. Adele finished second, earning $69 million, boosted by seven-figure nightly grosses on her first proper tour since 2011.

It’s sad how easily a great arts organization can fall apart. The Oregon Bach Festival, which had already shrunk in size in 2017 compared to previous years, appears to be getting even smaller in the wake of the firing of its artistic director Matthew Halls.

Seriously, where did this formula come from? (And in an era that prioritizes singles far, far above album construction – remember “albums”? – how is this meaningful in the slightest?)

Maybe he was a bit of a jokester: “This was Prokofiev doing his best impression of those guys, but not in the way he had youthfully aped Stravinksy’s style. This time it was, bear with me, a bit. A joke. You’re supposed to be in on the ‘Classical’ Symphony. Recognize its themes and rhythms and what he’s doing.”

“Are Britain’s leading choirs actually the best? We wouldn’t know, because as a concert-going public we take almost no interest in foreign ensembles. Attracting an audience in the UK is one of the most difficult challenges an overseas choral group can face.”

“You would be forgiven for thinking instrument-making reached its endpoint long ago. The orchestra has largely been fixed since the Belgian Adolphe Sax patented his eponymous instrument in the 1840s. And these days, a standard laptop can make so many sounds, why would we need anything new? But there are hundreds, even thousands, of instrument inventors beavering away.”

Nope. She won’t sing the role because she doesn’t want to get typecast in it – “It would drive me nuts.” But it is true, as she tells David Patrick Stearns, that she hums Pierre Boulez to herself.