He tells Richard Morrison in The Times:
‘Symphony orchestras in their present form have only a few more decades left, at most. Their financing is already a vulnerability. Will American-style civic pride or the goodwill of European politicians really be enough to feed these large beasts that are basically the same now as they were a century ago? And is that rigid formation really appropriate for today or are we simply stuck with it? I think we are stuck with it. I would welcome a more flexible musical family that could adapt its size and resources to what different composers and audiences required. In Budapest we have a pool of musicians doing a variety of activities. Those orchestras that are flexible will survive; the rigid ones won’t. The same thing happened to dinosaurs, I think.’
Full article here (behind paywall).
While the Viennese slave away at Salzburg, Berlin Philharmonic players spend August on their yachts – breaking off only to play the occasional world premiere.
Principal horn Stefan Dohr is giving a new concerto by Wolfgang Rihm next week in Lucerne, repeated next month in Berlin. In his time off, he’s a passionate sailor.
Details on his Slipped Disc Community home page.
Very sad news.
Melissa Schlachtmeyer, who designed costumes for opera, dance and theatre across the US and Europe, has died in Florence of complications from breast cancer.
Based in Portland, Oregon, she worked with directors Sam Helfrich and Moritz-von-Stuelpnagel, choreographers Jonathan Frederickson and Neta Pulvermacher and actors Bebe Neuwirth, Kate Buron and Alan Cumming.
Melissa, who was 41, is survived by a seven year-old daughter and her husband, the composer Jonathan Newman.
Our condolences to the family.
The incoming Boston Symphony conductor has made a categorical statement about his medium-term plans.
‘I will be too young in 2018 to take over from Simon Rattle,’ he tells Die Welt. ‘That was a strategic decision. I signalled it when I decided to be, from this autumn, chief conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra.’
Nelsons is 35. He knows exactly where he’s going.
Elisabeth Kulman, founder of ‘Art But Fair’ and a doughty warrrior for improved conditions for opera singers, has cancelled the next few weeks, on doctors orders, due to exhaustion.
She will mis the Schubertiade and several more recitals.
We wish her a speedy recovery. Opera needs lots more like Elisabeth.
In memoriam. Twice in films:
And, less famously, in The Big Sleep
Aged 70, looking good, a serenade to Leonard Bernstein:
She could hold a tune. And she was one helluva actress.
The Scottish National Party say yes (but they say that to everything).
Ken Walton, music critic of The Scotsman, fears for the survival of one orch in particular.
Read his argument here.
A Norwegian duo, Nico and Vinz, are top of the UK pop charts.
They are a fairly new act, formed in 2009, debut album 2012 (reached #37 in Norway), first hit 2014. It is 25 years since Norwegians last topped the UK charts.
The classical industry needs to take note. New acts sell. And they take time to develop.
New, right? And slow.
Milos Karadaglic has the best-selling classical album in the US this week (Nielsen sales). His Aranjuez sold 575 copies, which is about average for a number 1.
The next best-selling record is Dvorak 8th symphony. It sold…. (we can hardly bear to share this)…. just 175 copies in the entire USA.
This just in from the rising crossover violinist, Charles Yang:
‘I am so so so thankful to be alive at this moment. My rental car was hit by a truck today while I was on my way to LA from San Francisco. I am so thankful for the people who stopped and helped, the paramedics the doctors etc. About to be discharged with no broken bones and I’m gonna play the best show of my life this Saturday. Thank you to whoever or whatever is keeping me alive and of course to you all, my family. I won’t letcha down .’
In the thick of writing a 2,000-word analysis of the great man’s words and music, ahead of his 80th birthday next month, I am poleaxed by the news that he’s about to release a new album. Surely he can’t go further than he has already been?
Or can he?
The beauty of Cohen is you never know until the work is there, and then it takes another 20 years to bed in.
Still, I think I have said something original about his hat (which has a Facebook page to itself).
Laurie Niles has conducted one of her extraordinarily revealing interviews. This one is with the great violinist Aaron Rosand and it explores, among other things, the differing physiques and techniques of outstanding performers.
Rosand himself had an early start. He played the Mendelssoohn concerto at 10 with the Chicago Symphony, found a rich patron (whom he shared with Isaac Stern) and set off on what promised to be a glittering career …
Oh, read for yourselves. Click here.
