Category: music

“Yes, he could be puerile. He portrayed Liszt as a sex-crazed rock star pursued by a giant penis. … The neurotic, erotic carryings on of his Mahler and Tchaikovsky don’t qualify as proper musicology. But Russell always started with the music — how it made him feel, how it took over his life. Music was, for him, the key to our inner lives.”

The challenge, Will White said, was to find something inter­esting to say about the music in 140 characters or less — such as, “This is where the chosen maiden is forced to dance to her death” and “Point of this piece: don’t mess with the Russians or they’ll write music about beating you.”

“The judge in the Philadelphia Orchestra’s bankruptcy case has approved the orchestra’s request to turn over two of its pension plans to an agency of the federal government. Assets and liabilities of the orchestra’s internal pension plans for musicians and staff will be assumed by the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp.”

“To say that this orchestra is resurgent is to understate things. With fine reviews and prizes falling into their laps at almost every turn” under popular music director Antonio Pappano (who holds the same position at London’s Royal Opera), “Italy’s premiere orchestra is more highly regarded that at any time in its history.”

“A Stradivarius violin has been ‘recreated’ using an X-ray scanner normally used to detect cancers and injuries, according to researchers. The US-based group used a computerised axial tomography (CAT) scanner on the 307-year-old instrument to reveal its secrets. They then used the data recovered to build ‘nearly exact copies’.”

Dr. Kurt Nassau, a gemologist and tech executive, bequeathed his estate to “the Israel Symphony Orchestra.” Strictly speaking, there is no such group. So the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and the Israel Symphony Orchestra Rishon Lezion are in a New Jersey court, each claiming to be the intended beneficiary.

“A farewell to Los Angeles, the concerto was completed and premiered in 2009 during Salonen’s emotional final weeks as music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. It has since been played around the world.”

“The magnitude-nine quake caused tens of millions of dollars in damage to the orchestra’s state-of-the-art venue, leading to cancelled performances and forcing the TSO to practise at makeshift venues. But the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra is vowing to rise again.”

“Mezzo-soprano Lilli Paasikivi, 46, is likely to become the new Artistic Director of the Finnish National Opera.” Her three-year term would begin in August 2013, following the tenure of former prodigy conductor Mikko Franck, now 32.

“The bizarre story of a grotesque, morally degenerate half-human, half-ape, Orango was commissioned by the Bolshoi Theater in 1932.” The work was likely never finished, but the 40-minute prologue was discovered in a Moscow museum in 2003 and will have its premiere next weekend in Los Angeles.