“The subtitles also use words and phrases like ‘yikes,’ ‘get a load of the new dupe,’ ‘jackpot,’ ‘pack of lousy, rotten rats,’ ‘home run’ and ‘dreamboat,’ none of which, it is safe to say, would have been uttered by Verdi or Piave.”
Category: music
Can Spotify Predict Grammy Winners From Its User Data?
“The company looked at song and album streams to determine which artists would win based on streaming data, adding a new spin on the popular-vs.-critically-acclaimed debate.”
iTunes Sells Its 25 Billionth Song
“It took the Cupertino, Calif., company almost 10 years to reach the milestone. Customers download an average of 15,000 songs a minute from the iTunes music store, which was launched in April 2003. The digital retailer’s catalog is 26 million songs deep.”
HMV To Close 66 Shops
“HMV currently has 220 stores in the UK and employs 4,000 staff.”
In Minneapolis: Battle For The Soul Of An Orchestra
“Will the orchestra be around to open the renovated hall in the fall? Will it travel to Carnegie Hall next season for its recently announced four concerts of Sibelius, including all the symphonies? In short, will it survive?”
Report: Share Of Downloaded Music Increases, Putting Pressure On Physical Stores
“The UK music industry trade body, the BPI, said 19.6% of music buyers now only purchase digital music, as more than a quarter of the population downloaded or streamed songs legally in 2012.”
Chamber Opera For Black-Box Theaters
Over the past few years, and generally under the radar of the wider classical music world, there’s been a wave of new small-scale, inexpensive-to-produce operas composed for the same small and flexible theater spaces in which new plays are often developed.
Playing Classical Music For The Deaf
A set of concerts in later February by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales “will feature sign language and live subtitles, and will allow audience members to sit within the orchestra, in order to feel the vibrations from instruments as the musicians play.”
Liszt-ifying Pink Floyd
“Turkish pianist Aysedeniz Gokcin’s love of classical music – and classic rock – has inspired her to release an album which features Pink Floyd songs reworked into the style of 19th Century Hungarian composer Franz Liszt.”
Can We Just Get Over The Idea Of “High” Art? (Bring On The Entertainment)
“High art as an idea has gone through several definitions in the centuries of writings on aesthetics, but the most current usage refers to art that is the most autonomous (individual, thought-provoking). It still heavily depends on the idea of a genius author.”