Pedro Kuczynski, who was sworn in last week as president in Lima, spent a year studying piano and flute at the Royal College of Music before he went up to Oxford.
Kuczynski, who is now 77, would have been in the class of ’56.
Anyone remember him?
He still plays.
An economist at the University of Southern Denmark, Karol Jan Borowieck, has conducted that composer write better when they are miserable.
He achieved this blinding insight by reading 1,400 letters written by Mozart, Beethoven and Liszt. The glum ones seemed to coincide with the greater works.
Using econometrics, he calculates that a 9.3 percent increase in negative emotions leads to a 6.3 percent increase in works created in the following year.
Oh, fff’s sake.
More here.
And further academic bunkum here.
They don’t waste time in Southern California.
The LA Phil have been in touch to confirm our report that David Rejano Cantero will be its new principal trombone.
Starting first thing next Monday.
David is presently principal at the Munich Philharmonic. He’ll barely have time to pack a bag.
The Russian pianist Nikita Mndoyants came first in the Cleveland International Piano Competition.
His prize is $75,000, a New York recital and US management.
The Italian Leonardo Colafelice came second; third was Dinara Klinton, of Ukraine.
photo: Roger Mastroianni
Mndoyants was a Van Cliburn finalist in 2013.
Marek Janowski, who is conucting Frank Castorf’s Ring at Bayreuth, has spoken out against the Regietheater trend which, he says, has no rightful place in modern opera.
Specifically:
Diese Art Regietheater ist ja aus der DDR gekommen. Das sind Nach-68er-Entwicklungen. Und dann ist ein nicht genau genug nachdenkendes deutsches Feuilleton auf den Zug aufgesprungen. Und die Dramaturgen der Opernhäuser haben das noch ein bisschen pseudo-intellektuell unterfüttert. Dabei wurde immer stärker negiert, dass Singen etwas anderes ist als Sprechen, dass es eine andere körperliche Disposition braucht – von seelischer Disposition gar nicht zu reden. Das ist mein Problem damit. Und davon wird mich nach diesem Bayreuther Ausflug auch in der Zukunft nichts abbringen.
Read the full interview here.
The Budapest conductor Ivan Fischer deconstructs the horrible melody and offers an upgrade.
Some kind soul has put on Youtube the complete film of South Pole, the Srnka opera that sold out its entire first run at Bavarian State Opera in February.
We thought, on first sight, that it was pretty good. Now we think it is built to last.
So much to admire in the plot and the score. And a terrific opportunity to watch Kirill Petrenko master a new work.
Top-class weekend watching. Sung in Euro-English.
Two scholars at Deakin University in Australia have published a survey that purports to show people are happier when they are listening to music.
There are two flaws to this proposition. First, the method: A stratified random sample of 1,000 participants was interviewed via telephone. Useless, as recent results have testified for predicting any political outcome.
Second, nobody asked the musicians.
Summary follows.
If you’re happy and you know it: Music engagement and subjective wellbeing
Abstract
Experiencing and engaging with music have been fundamental to all societies across the ages. This study explores the connection between habitual music engagement and subjective wellbeing. Subjective wellbeing (SWB) comprises individual evaluations of life satisfaction, and is internationally regarded at policy and government levels. The present study uses data gathered in 2014 as part of the 31st survey of the Australian Unity Wellbeing Index to provide insight into the relationship between music engagement and SWB. A stratified random sample of 1,000 participants was interviewed via telephone. The findings revealed that engaging with music by dancing or attending musical events was associated with higher SWB than for those who did not engage with music in these forms. The findings also emphasised the important role of engaging with music in the company of others with regard to SWB, highlighting an interpersonal feature of music. The study provides an overview of the general relationship between music and SWB at a population level, by contrast to most research in the area that has focused on evaluating clinical interventions involving music. The insight gained from these findings can be used to inform future interventions and to better understand how music is involved in emotional regulation.
George Butterworth was the composer of English country life.
A lieutenant with Durham Light Infantry, he was shot by sniper at the Battle of Pozières on August 5, 1916.
This recording, by John Shirley-Quirk, Martin Isepp and the LPO, conducted by Sir Adrian Boult, was issued by Decca on the 50th anniversary of his death.
From the Lebrecht Album of the Week:
The most successful and elusive of Gustav Mahler’s inner circle, Bruno Walter was ranked among the best conductors of his time, respected by the jealous and mutually hostile Toscanini and Furtwängler and showered with offers when he arrived in the US as a Hitler refugee in 1939….
Like many others in the podium, he tried his hand at composing.
Was he any good? Read the full review here.
The Bergische Symphony, serving the towns of Remscheid and Solingen, has been in trouble for as long as Slippedisc can remember. But now the town mayors are drawing a red line on the forecourt.
The orchestra is losing a steady 300,000 Euros a year. That has to stop, says the mayors. Or the music stops.
Read here.
This is Alex Klein’s first day back at work as principal oboe of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
Alex resigned from the orchestra in 2004 after two fingers in his left hand were afflicted with focal dystonia. Over time, back home in Brazil, he learned to manage the condition by adjusting the keys on his oboe.
He won his seat back at audition last month.
Tonight, he can be heard at the Ravinia Festival.
