Category: music

Countertenor Iestyn Davies writes of his trip to the Russian capital to give special Britten centenary performances of the Canticles and Death in Venice with Ian Bostridge and Gennady Rozhdestvensky (who knew and worked with Britten) to people who had never heard this music before.

“It’s becoming much more difficult to be a reclusive artist and make a living. The system has become weirdly Darwinian. But you need to look at the larger picture: the record industry did create a safe space for shy artists like PJ Harvey or Cat Power, but artists always had to market themselves.”

“Imagine the Art Gallery of Ontario going 19 years without a single showing of any new Canadian art. It would be hard to think of a rationale for that scenario, although the COC, which receives about $4.5-million annually in public funding, is always quick to say that new work is too expensive and risky for regular consumption. But does that really need to be true, for the biggest opera company in the country?”

“The researchers demonstrate this contention by looking specifically at Siegfried, the third opera in his massive Ring Cycle. They even describe what they call a “migraine leitmotif” that recurs in the opera.”

“His job over the years has evolved into that of detective, applying his considerable forensic skills and his vast knowledge of the composer and his times to track down, verify and if possible acquire Beethoven documents and personal effects.”

“By the time everyone else is cramming for final exams and performance juries, composers should have already completed an appropriate amount of music and either have it performed and recorded or at least have created a decent aural mock-up to present to others.”

“One always has to take that into account, that distance from the actual production of the sound. That gives it a slightly dehumanised quality.”

“In just six years, around 30 homegrown contemporary music festivals have sprung up across India, covering folk to electronica, jazz to indie.”

Taylor Swift (she’s a country/pop crossover star, in case you haven’t heard of her) gives the financially struggling orchestra a gift – for her birthday.

Limelight, affiliated with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and published by Haymarket Media, was going to close by the end of this week, following Haymarket’s decision to end its Australian operations. But a new publisher has been found.