Category: music

We compiled this list by ranking the most successful acts in music history according to their total certified album units sold in the US, as provided by the RIAA.

Bernstein spotlights some of the fault lines running through the American musical establishment, and the centennial makes it clear that, in spite of his example, they haven’t changed all that much. Ironically, the classical music world will be feting Bernstein in part for his role in merging the American vernacular with high-art music, in works such as “Candide” and “West Side Story.” But throughout his life, critics castigated him for not being serious enough.

“The inaugural festival, held last spring, fell short of box-office expectations – so from lessons learned, changes are happening. As it works to balance the books, VO is targeting expenses, affecting staff and performers. In another significant change, it will lose its long-time music director at the end of the season.”

“Post-genre thinking seeks to move away from objective judgment of music towards a subjective reality, where the emphasis is no longer on whether a certain piece fits/does not fit a pre-conceptualized genre “bin.” Instead, the emphasis is on the individual intent of the composer. The individual is quite important to post-genre thinking.”

“Already there are rumblings of an exodus. Has the festival assured through its actions that it will become, if it survives, simply a regional educational event, without the ambitious reach it once enjoyed? As crucially, considering the public relations damage that has already been done, can the festival regain the public’s trust? This is a mess. And it needs actual solving, not just a lawyerly brushing-up of the crumbs.”

“These results generally support the idea that the experience of music may play a role in women’s social behavior in a mating context,” the researchers conclude. “High-arousing (i.e., more complex) music affects the perception of male facial attractiveness and dating desirability.”

“For a first-time festival, the Newport Contemporary Music Series boasted a program that might make even Tanglewood blush: a star-studded lineup featuring appearances by Philip Glass, four-time Academy Award winner André Previn, and Lord of the Rings composer Howard Shore.” It ended up, alas, as what an official with the Boston musicians’ union described as “probably the greatest amateur act the union has ever seen.” A bass player contracted for that festival orchestra says it was a disaster “epic proportions that will go down in the Boston freelancing lore of nonpaying gigs.” Malcolm Gay explains how it all came crashing down.

“The University of Oregon agreed to pay a $90,000 settlement to fired Oregon Bach Festival Artistic Director Matthew Halls this week, in the midst of a public relations disaster over his abrupt termination in August. Under the terms of the settlement, which the UO released in response to a media request, Halls agreed not to sue the UO, and both parties agreed to make no ‘negative or disparaging’ written or oral statements about each other, publicly or privately, in ‘any medium.'”

DiDonato’s disc “In War and Peace” won the Gramophone Awards’ Recital category and was a favorite for the overall prize, but the winner was a period-instrument recording of Mozart’s violin concertos by Isabelle Faust and the orchestra Il Giardino Armonico. (Giardino also won the Orchestral category with a recording of Haydn symphonies; both discs competed in mainstream categories rather than those limited to period instruments.) Artist of the Year went to conductor Vasily Petrenko.

Tovey, the longest-serving music director in the VSO’s history, steps down at the end of this season and will become director of orchestral activities for Boston University’s School of Music.