Category: music

Among them: a D-Day radio broadcast by journalist George Hicks, the original cast album of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “South Pacific,” Simon and Garfunkel’s 1966 breakthrough “The Sound of Silence,” Pink Floyd’s rock opus “Dark Side of the Moon” and the defining platter of the disco era, the “Saturday Night Fever” soundtrack.

“‘We’ve intentionally not cancelled the rest of the season because we want to send a very clear signal to the public and to our musicians and the union that we really want to negotiate and find a settlement,’ [orchestra CEO Michael] Henson said. Musicians have been locked out since Oct. 1.”

Frank Almond: “But what I find most amazing is that this is Minneapolis, a city with a supposedly literate, highly-educated, culturally aware populace, and an economy that (while not ideal) is certainly able to sustain (and has sustained) major cultural institutions for decades. … Could anyone have possibly imagined that the MOA Board and arts community would toss it away?”

A panel of 15 musicians and critics listened to collected recordings of concert broadcasts from 2012 by the country’s six state orchestras, labeled only A through F. And the winner is …

“One of my students said what he is interested in is whether we can find a way to create musical experiences that allow people to find each other, and find out about each other. It’s an idea about music as a way of connecting people – not as in: ‘Oh gee, I found out we like the same piece’, but as in: ‘In what way can I play this piece that will show you something interesting about me?'”

“Beethoven was a deeply political man in the broadest sense of the word. He was not interested in daily politics, but concerned with questions of moral behavior and the larger questions of right and wrong affecting the entire society.”

“Launched with great fanfare in 2011, Sarasota Opera is pulling the plug on its American Classics Series after just three years. Despite critical acclaim and much nationwide praise for the company’s adventurous initiative, Sarasota Opera’s new executive director Richard Russell says that local audiences have not embraced the American project.”

“I did pretty good,” he said after his performance, adding “I feel very excited and I want to come back again.”

“The point is simply to get people to hear the music. Technology is just a way to make that happen.”

Critic Peter Conrad and opera singer Christopher Gillett have it out.