How Strange is the Change From Major to Minor
Big news on the time-marches-on front. Deutsche Grammophon (DG) yesterday became the first major classical record label to make the majority of its huge catalogue available online for download with…
Not So Great Performances
From the BBC: Croatia rose to the occasion in their crucial Euro 2008 defeat of England – after an apparent X-rated gaffe by an English opera singer at Wembley. Tony…
Play That Funky Music, Monk Boy
The new Pope with the Prada slippers whose name nobody can remember, and who is, by the way, German, is apparently banning modern music in the Vatican. Seems he thinks…
The Less I Say the More My Work Gets Done
Here’s some great news for the Sequenza21 community. The super-hot Philadelphia-based chamber ensemble Relâche is presenting a concert of new works, including the premiere of our own Galen H. Brown’s…
Chilly Scenes of Winter
The Boston Symphony premiered Elliot Carter’s Horn Concerto over the weekend and will debut a piano concerto (already completed) next year. And, there’s a five-day festival planned for Tanglewood this…
BMOP a Lula
The Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP) has just become the latest classical music organization to launch its own CD label. BMOP Sound will debut in January 2008 and will be…
The Sun’s Not Yellow, It’s Chicken
If you’ve been wondering who is responsible for dumbing down American musical culture, it’s people like Ronen Givony and me. Givony, as many of you know, is the mini-Sol Hurok…
You Can Leave Your Hat On
If you haven’t read Galen’s rather lengthy piece called Imprecations and Exhortations: A Rather Lengthy Defense of Richard Taruskin over in the Composers Forum, you should do so immediately. I’ve…
Did You Ever Go Clear?
Translating pop music into more ambitious musical forms is a risky business that sometimes produces surprising results. Who would have guessed, for example, that Twyla Tharp’s recycling of Billy Joel’s…