After the wild success of his Pasión según San Marco, Golijov was one of the first composers Peter Gelb commissioned when he became the company’s general manager. Alas, Golijov seems to have a years-long case of composer’s block; this is by no means the first time he hasn’t been able to complete a major commission.
Category: music
Was James Booker The Best New Orleans Pianist Ever?
“Booker on a good night was a wonder of the world… Allen Toussaint, Dr. John, and other peers had huge admiration for Booker’s talent; but his long battle with drugs, the mystery of the missing eye beneath the star-emblazoned black patch and the stark swings of mood suggesting bipolar disorder gave him the reputation of a crazy. A loveable crazy, sometimes, but he was also prone to darkness and unpredictability.”
Manuscript Of Mahler’s 2nd Symphony Smashes Record For Music Score Sold At Auction
The composer’s handwritten score for the “Resurrection” Symphony comes from the estate of Gilbert Kaplan, the financial publisher who was obsessed with the work and taught himself to conduct it.
Beethoven Manuscript Fails To Sell At Sotheby’s After On-Air Argument Over Its Authenticity
The handwritten score, of an Allegretto in B minor for String Quartet that has no opus number, was expected to fetch £200,000 at auction on Tuesday morning. But an argument the previous evening on BBC Radio 4 between Sotheby’s director of books and manuscripts and a Beethoven scholar at Manchester University threw a big old monkey wrench into the works.
And What’s At The Heart Of The Argument Over Whether Beethoven Penned This Manuscript? Natural Signs
Did Beethoven write his natural signs in this rather odd way? Yes, says Sotheby’s, which wants to sell the score; not in any of his other scores, so this one’s a copy, says a Beethoven scholar, who got into it with a Sotheby’s specialist on the radio and scared off all the buyers. Classic FM called in an expert of its own for a verdict.
Composer Andrew Norman Wins $100K Grawemeyer Award – And Has Some, Well, Mixed Feelings About It
Sure, he’s deeply honored, no question. But, he says, “sometimes the recognition is actually bad for me. In my head it’s tricky because now there’s yet another layer of expectation.” And there’s this: “Maybe I can use this moment to … call attention to the fact that there are problems. For instance, this award has been given to three women out of its 30-year history. And to me that’s kind of an issue.” (includes audio)
Metropolitan Opera Guild Wants To Have The Mother Of All Rummage Sales
The Guild “is seeking permission in court to sell off a memorabilia collection – with an estimated value of more than $1 million – that includes a gold cigarette holder that belonged to the bass Ezio Pinza; a jeweled baton owned by the composer Richard Wagner; and a silver, ivory and diamond pen that was used by the composer Giacomo Meyerbeer.” But they’ll need a court’s permission to do it.
The Most-Downloaded Christmas Songs Of All Time
A caveat: downloading is a fairly recent phenomenon, so the results might surprise you. “As researched by Billboard, the answer lies within Nielsen Music, which began tracking all digital-music sales in 2003.”
The Life Of A Tour And Production Manager With 250 Crew Members To Wrangle
The Trans-Siberian Orchestra only tours at Christmas, and the band likes its spectacle to be truly spectacular – which means a lot of trucks and a lot of crew. Production manager Elliott Saltzman: “Our schedule is pretty amazing. … We’re going to do almost 22,000 miles, 34 states, 61 cities, 105 shows, and 44 double-show days.”
The Punk Ethos Doesn’t Die: A Public Fire Consumes Punk Memorabilia
The son of Malcolm McLaren, the manager of the Sex Pistols, burned what he said was 5 million pounds worth of punk memorabilia on the middle of a boat in the Thames. He said: “Punk has become another marketing tool to sell you something you don’t need. …If you want to understand the potent values of punk, confront taboos. Do not tolerate hypocrisy. Investigate the truth for yourself.”