Category: music

This is one of the opportunities that “bad” music can permit us: a mini-liberation from the usual bounds of taste. There is only listening, perhaps in an unusually pure form.

“Jane Bevan, 35, based in Switzerland, was attempting to board a flight from Zurich to Baltimore, where she was attending a course with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, when she was stopped at check-in and told she needed a USA ESTA travel visa for her cello.”

“This language barrier in the orchestra – which was about 50-50 – meant we had to bring in a highly-skilled translation team so that communication was fluent and fluid and people felt confident that people weren’t saying bad things about them.”

“You can thank the impossibility of creating one-size-fits-all sets for the world’s leading opera houses, muddled administrative leadership and a strained friendship. While the opera world is now flatter than ever, because of the growing number of global coproductions, taking shows on the road is rarely simple.”

“With stops in Finland, Edinburgh, Amsterdam and Copenhagen, the tour could be called ‘the last first’ in the orchestra’s reboot. There was the first concert back, the first full season, the first recording session, the just-released first album from those sessions. Then there was the historic trip to Cuba — the first by a major U.S. orchestra since relations thawed.”

“The so-called great orchestras – the old, great orchestras – like to preserve certain musical values such as their sound. They think: ‘This is us, this is our trademark.’ Now a conductor comes and he has limited influence on the so-called great orchestra. So they attract conductors who love to wave their hands while not changing anything. Sometimes when you go to famous orchestras, you feel as if you are working with a prima donna singer who has her sound, and your only role is to be impressed by it. I would much rather go to an orchestra that is receptive to my ideas because I can then create something.”

“The ASO announced yesterday that it closed the 2015-16 fiscal year with a budget surplus for the second straight year. ASO spokeswoman Tammy Hawk said the final budget numbers won’t be released until a final audit is complete. In addition, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Musicians’ Endowment Fund has raised over $20 million and is expected to reach its $25 million goal this year.”

“Satie knew that the prospect of performing this composition was so daunting, he wrote a note above the score that said one should “prepare oneself beforehand, in the deepest silence, by serious immobilities. It’s as if he knew he had devised an art piece that is a cudgel to lay up against the side of the listeners’ heads with a force and fervor they can’t deserve.”

“Those who have recently purchased a vinyl album are most likely to be aged between 45 and 54, apparently. In fact, those in the 18-24 age group are the least likely. It is not just an act of hoarding by hobbyists, either – it has emotional significance: older vinyl buyers are slightly more likely to keep their feelings to themselves (56% of vinyl buyers versus 53% of all UK adults) and enjoy being alone (69% of vinyl buyers versus 66% all UK adults).”