Category: music

In a broadside at fellow musicians, he said that some were sidelining Bach into “a rarefied and effete ghetto” while others were turning “philosophical masterpieces” into “shallow showpieces”. He despaired at musicians who have “learned the same technical way [and who] all play the same technical way”.

“The overall level of technical proficiency in instrumental playing, especially on the piano, has increased steadily over time. Many piano teachers, critics and commentators have noted the phenomenon, which is not unlike what happens in sports.”

“I manage for the future. If I have to take tomatoes from here to there, I can live with that.”

“When the Philadelphia Orchestra returns for opening night in October, it will be something other than what it was in its final concert last season. It will have gone from being one of the world’s most sonically homogeneous and sure-footed orchestras to that most precarious of musical beings: ensemble in transition.”

A Swiss-Japanese project said Tuesday that it is building a mobile concert hall which would bring music and performance arts back to earthquake-devastated northern Japan.

The “union and the company differ on the number of work weeks, wage cuts, benefits, and health and safety provisions.”

“Police said the violins were owned by big institutions that loaned them to the world’s top musicians and it is believed they were being stored and cared for by Machold. Now the collection easily worth over 50 million GBP has vanished.”

“A musicians’ pension fund claims the Louisville Orchestra owes it more than $3 million and wants a judge to shut down the orchestra and sell its assets to pay debts.”

David Patrick Stearns: “[Lang Lang’s] hair and clothes have made him look like a rock star for years … [His] Curtis classmate, Yuja Wang, made jaws drop with a microdress she wore onstage at the Hollywood Bowl last week with the Los Angeles Philharmonic.” And then there’s the frequently bare-chested barihunk Nathan Gunn …

Anne Midgette: “Let’s have a reality check for a minute. Yes, the dress is short, tight, and revealing. But in the real world – the world outside classical music’s still-prurient bubble – this is not unusual attire for a young rising starlet in the public eye.”