Fewer than two centuries ago, the titles of composer and performer were nearly always attached to a single artist, and Stephen Hough says that it ought to become so again. “Anyone who can read music can write it too – and should. It doesn’t have to be performed, and it may not be very inspired, but to be totally divorced from the act of creation risks making us neighbours rather than relatives to the works we play.”
Tag: 03.02.07
Giving Kids A Reason To Embrace Music
In America, music education in school is becoming so scarce as to be considered an unimaginable luxury. In Scotland, they throw a two-week festival to celebrate it. “Over the years the emphasis has moved from competition to participation – every entrant is judged by a professional and receives a certificate evaluating their performance.” Not only that, but a new national curriculum proposes to increase the amount of art and music education in the daily routine of Scottish classrooms.
Davidson: Time Is Up For Vienna Phil’s “Tradition”
Justin Davidson is fed up with the Vienna Philharmonic and its persistent refusal to treat women as legitimate candidates for employment in a symphony orchestra. “A decade after it supposedly committed itself to entering the 21st century, I believe that the Vienna Philharmonic has relinquished its claim to serious consideration as a dynamic cultural organization… The geological pace of change is not merely a regrettable obstacle in the relentless pursuit of quality. It is product of a narrowly preservationist, antiquarian philosophy, which fetishizes sound at the expense of spirit.”