Category: music

In an article headlined, “The Death of Classical Music in America,” a financial journalist crunches a few numbers and names eleven candidates, three of which have recently shut down (and only one of which is not a symphony orchestra).

“If your orientation [as an audience member] is to watch the conductor, you get your aural sense interfered with in a way that is not completely controllable and conscious – because you see the conductor gesturing in a way that shows something about his feeling about the passage. And this, unconsciously, you measure against what you hear.”

“After boasting nine operating surpluses in 11 years, the company is back in the red, and has eliminated four positions – including that of managing director – in a belt-tightening measure.”

He “cited the increased demands on his schedule, particularly in the major opera houses of Europe, as his reason for choosing not to seek an extension of his current Dallas Opera contract.”

“His requests to visit Gaza repeatedly spurned by Israel, Mr Barenboim circumvented the normal channels to bring an international ensemble, comprising 25 musicians from leading European orchestras, into the coastal enclave through Egypt to perform in a ‘peace concert’.”

“Unlike surround sound and other elaborate hardwiring, [Princeton physicist Edgar Choueiri’s] breakthrough consists of a software algorithm applied to sound files that allows stereo playback to sound much more real and lifelike. Imagine swatting at a fly buzzing 360 degrees around your head…”

“Across rock and pop, the use of elaborate packaging and content is growing. A plastic case costs only a few pence but with increasing numbers of fans eschewing physical albums for their digital equivalents, bands and record labels have figured out that people will spend money on music if they see it as a product of worth or a collector’s item.”

“Leaders of the Austin Lyric Opera announced Monday that they were accepting the resignation of general director Kevin Patterson and that fundraising plans were being made to eradicate the organization’s more than $1 million of debt.”

“The Sydney Symphony Orchestra yesterday posted its third successive deficit and reappointed chairman John Conde for another three years, despite concerns about possible conflict of interest.”

“Amazon, which in March launched a cloud music locker service, has tried over the years to chip away at Apple’s dominance in the digital music download business by pricing most of its songs below what they go for at iTunes. So far, however, Amazon’s market share remains where it has been the last two years, around 10%, while Apple continues to have about 70% of the digital download music market.”