Something to dispel the waft of sanctimony that will envelop the actual birthday, on Saint Cecilia’s Day, this Friday. It’s a remake of the Flanders & Swann radio upsend.

Not quite in the class of Dudley Moore, but who is?

The most famous winner of the Gustav Mahler conducting competition has pulled out of a return Mahler gig with the flu.

His replacement is the most recent winner, Lahav Shani.

photo (c) Yossi Zwecker

Wegen einer schweren Grippeerkrankung musste Gustavo Dudamel kurzfristig seine Konzerte mit den Bamberger Symphonikern absagen. Er bedauert dies umso mehr, als die Konzerte an seinen Gewinn des ersten Gustav-Mahler-Dirigentenwettbewerbs vor fast zehn Jahren erinnern sollten. Dankenswerterweise hat sich Lahav Shani, der Gewinner des diesjährigen Gustav-Mahler-Dirigentenwettbewerbs, bereit erklärt, die Leitung der Konzerte zu übernehmen.

The Funeral Service for Sir John Tavener, who passed away on 12 November, aged 69, will take place at Winchester Cathedral on Thursday 28 November at 11am.

Places are to be reserved and tickets issued. Please email emma.law@winchester-cathedral.org.uk with your details, including your postal address and a note of your connection with Sir John. You can also write to: Emma Law, The Cathedral Office, 9,The Close, Winchester, SO23 9LS.

The closing date for requests is 9am on Monday 25 November.

Tickets will be despatched on this date.

The design is by Zaha Hadid, Iraqi-born British architect. See more below:

Mounting losses have brought Goverment intervention as the house declares a deficit of nine million Euros. The Ministry of Culture will appoint an administrator.  The outgoing director, Catello De Martino, is being widely blamed. He was appointed by the mayor of Rome, Gianni Alemanno. Staff and musicians are braced for job losses.

Headlines we thought we’d never write….

But life never fails to surprise. Martin Garrix has the #1 UK single this week. He’s 17 and a Dutch DJ. His video has received almost 70 million hits. Yes, 70 million. Must try some of his magic on classical radio.

NEW YORK FESTIVAL OF SONG

“A GOYISHE CHRISTMAS

TO YOU!”

MONDAY, DECEMBER 16, 10:00PM

The grand arts prize of the Salzburg region, worth 15,000 Euros, is to be awarded on December 3 to Hossam Mahmoud. An Egyptian who has lived in Austria since 1990, Mahmoud, 48, scored a success early this year at the Salzburg Landestheater with his opera, 18 Days.

A small trove of John Cage love letters was found in the estate of an architect’s widow in Los Angeles. In 1934-35, Cage was in love with Pauline Schindler, who was separated from her husband at the time. He was also trying to marry the daughter of a Greek Orthodox priest. Cage was 22, Pauline (pictured) 41. Full text here. The letters were first printed in a specialist journal in 1996. Reading them this morning ((h/t: Michael Nyman) has made my day.

The period of the affair covers the start of Cage’s lessons with the newly-arrived Arnold Schoenberg:

I met Schoenberg and he is simplicity and genuineness itself. There was analysis of the Dance Suite hanging up on the wall like a mural.

(photo: Dorothea Lange)

Here are some further excerpts:

…. The sooner the world forgets Stravinsky the better….

STRAVINSKI! … The evening was pure joy–and I think that this music is natural. There are no mideas” in it. It is, you know it, pagan, physical. It is seeing life close and loving it so. There are no whirring magical mystifications. It is all clear and precisely a dance. It is not “frozen architecture.”

I heard one person say afterwards: Henceforth I shall not take music seriously but shall enjoy it twice as much.” I was furious and turned to him and said, Take it twice as seriously and enjoy it four times as much!…

I took my first lesson in Schoenberg’s class yesterday (Monday)

evening. He is marvelous, indescribable, as a musician. I am going to the last 3

rehearsals. In the class we are analyzing Brahms Symphony No. 4, Kunst der Fuge.

Well tempered Clavichord and Schoenberg. Quartet III (String).

(h/t: Michael Nyman)

Big claims are made on this site.  Feel free to dissent.

Here’s the latest statement from City of London Police:

For immediate release

Man arrested for historic sexual offences

Detectives investigating historic allegations of sexual assault yesterday (Thursday 14 November) arrested a 62 year old man on suspicion of attempted rape and three counts of indecent assault.

The arrest relates to alleged offences against four women when they were aged between 17 and 23, some of which are said to have taken place at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama between 1974 and 1988.

The man was first arrested on 23rd August this year on suspicion of separate offences of rape and indecent assault of a 16 year old girl in 1978. He was then later arrested on 3rd October on suspicion of further alleged offences of rape and indecent assault of a girl between 1988 and 2003 and the indecent assault of a girl between 1977 and 1982.

The man was interviewed by police and bailed to return in December.

Anyone with information that may assist with this investigation is encouraged to contact City of London Police on 0207 601 2222 or via the 101 non emergency number, you can also email: investigation@cityoflondon.police.uk. Alternatively you can contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

The winner of the state-sponsored, somewhat irregular Prokofiev piano competition is Sergei Redkin, a fourth-year student at the Rimsky Conservatoire in St Petersburg.

Second was the Indian-American Pallavi Mahidhara, a Curtis graduate now studying with Dmitry Bashkirov in Madrid.

Third was a Spaniard, Enrique Lapaz.