Category: music

“Where else does your hotel serve cupcakes and ice cream for breakfast? And offer wake-up calls from Shrek? In Cantonese? [Macau, the] pleasure capital of Asia – one that is said to outstrip Las Vegas for superficial splendor – is only the latest unlikely host of the Philadelphia Orchestra.”

“Not many people are willing to indulge me in a debate on chamber orchestras versus modern full-sized. But really, how is it so different from discussing what Beatles album is best or what group represents the pinnacle of 80s New Wave?”

“The quick and easy explanation is that music brings a unique pleasure to humans. Of course, that still leaves the question of why. But for that, neuroscience is starting to provide some answers.”

“Music City should not want to see one of its greatest treasures sold to the highest bidder.”

“About a dozen pressing plants have sprouted up in the United States, along with the few that survived from the first vinyl era, and they say business is so brisk that they are working to capacity.”

“The differences between a performance of the same work by the New York Philharmonic as compared to the London Symphony Orchestra can be tantamount to Nirvana’s cover of ‘The Man Who Sold the World’ versus David Bowie’s original.”

“Passengers on a flight from Beijing to Macau … had been sitting on the tarmac for three hours when a quartet of musicians from the Philadelphia Orchestra pulled out their instruments and provided what they called on YouTube a ‘pop up’ performance.”

“People usually are not aware that they practice ageism–just as with other forms of discrimination–because their assumptions all point to a certain expectation they believe is true. With respect to composers, said expectation goes something like this: child prodigy enters school already a mature genius; impresses all of his/her professors; then sets the world on fire with his/her youthful vigor, technical wizardry, and creative talent while winning all sorts of competitions; and proceeds to redefine an art form for the betterment of humankind.”

“Thinking about the cost of music might simply get in the way of enjoying its intrinsic qualities, and free-ness frees us from this dilemma, allowing us to enjoy music on its merits alone.”

“In a statement issued by OA, Mills says artistic success depends on chemistry of a “certain vibrancy and character” between cast and conductor, and that “unity of vision” was not achieved in this case.”