Its composer, Lee Pockriss, has died. 

He also wrote ‘Catch a Falling Star’.

More here.

 

Amid the excitement surrounding the discovery of fragments of Sibelius’s missing eighth symphony, a mystery figure emerges from the woods.

Paul Voigt, a German violinist and sometime player in the Helsinki Philharmonic was Sibelius’s trusted copyist – that is to say he received scores in composer scrawl and transcribed them in a neat hand that could be read by an editor and printer. Little is known of him except that he was a loner who never married, living in the  Töölö district of Helsinki. When he fell sick, he mo ved in with his house cleaner and he husband. On his death in 1943, they inherited what little he left.

This included some Sibelius letters and other material.

We know he copied at least 23 pages of the eighth symphony. What became of them? Here’s Vesa Siren’s report. Anyone who knows more about Paul Voigt, please get in touch. Let’s hear it for the humble copyist.

 

An eyewitness, Maria Etzel, has sent me this account of the disturbance, by a single audience member, during a Bruckner concert at the South Bank:

Last night at the RFH, 
halfway through Bruckner 4 when the music was really quiet I heard 
sounds of male voices coming from the choir section. Was very 
intrigued and then I saw this tall man leaving the choir secion and 
walking towards the exit. It is a long walk from the choir to the exit 
on level 4 and all the time shouting Terrible. I think he must have 
said more when still in the choir section but was unable to 
understand. It was quite a disturbance and he managed to completely 
break the spell of the performance. Questions: A lunatic? a grudge 
against LPO? or Osmo Vänska? or disliked the Bruckner? who knows. 

Others have told me that there was no ushers present to remove the man from the hall. He was able to make his way at a leisurely pace, not to the nearest exit but to one that he preferred. I do hope the South Bank administration take measures to ensure the peace of their concerts in future. LATE EXTRA: You will find a full and frank confession from the disrupter here.

 

UPDATE: Here’s Erica Jeal’s measured account of the incident in the Guardian.

I have a feeling that Google Music, launching soon, will change the landscape more than iTunes or amazon has done.

And that means classical, too.

Google has announced partnerships with Universal/EMI and Sony, leaving Warner temporarily out in the cold.

But it is also offering artists a page of their own for $25 and 70 percent of the sale proceeds.

If I were an orchestra, I would ask myself: why give free tapes for release on commercial labels when I can sell them on Google for more?

And if I were an independent artist, the answer would be even more obvious.

Read on here.

And start talking to this smart lady:

It was business as usual in the chorus room.

The first of three concerts by the new music director Daniel Barenboim was cancelled due to a wildcat strike. Er, why?

Apparently something to do with overtime payments during the company’s weekend visit to the Bolshoi in Moscow. ‘It’s part of routine negotiations,’ said a union representative. Strikes are so routine at la Scala they hardly make the press.

Is there an opera house on earth with worse labour relations? Does Daniel know what kind of lions’ den he’s entering?

Oh, and does anyone in the chorus watch the Reuters wire? Latest: Italy PM Monti says Europe living hardest days since WW2, country facing serious emergency.

Here’s the Scala website statement:

Strike on 16 November 2011

Strike of the Teatro alla Scala Chorus

Due to a strike organized by the CGIL, CISL, UIL and FIALS trade unions of the Chorus of the Teatro alla Scala, the first of the three concerts conducted by Daniel Barenboim for the Symphonic Season, due to take place on Wednesday 16 November, is cancelled.

The Management of the Theatre apologize for the inconvenience.


Refund methods:

Tickets bought online, at the box-office, via telephone booking:

– The tickets must be mailed or handed back by 24 November 2011 to the Central Box Office, Galleria del Sagrato, Piazza del Duomo, 20121 Milan, open every day from 12 am to 6 pm. Patrons bringing back the tickets will be refunded directly; those sending them by post will be mailed a bank draft to the address they indicate.

2011/2012 Symphonic Season Subscribers – Series A:

– Subscribers will be refunded the amount corresponding to the performance through bank a draft, which will be sent to the address they indicated when taking out the subscription.

For more information please call the Infotel Service on +39.02.7200.3744

 

A Fort Worth donor gave the city’s concertmaster his 1710 Strad to play. Thirty years on, another Fort Worth resident has loaned the orchestra another – this time a 1685 model, less prestigious but still pretty rich.

Here’s concertmaster Michael Shih and associate concertmaster Swang Lin with their tropies. Must listen out for that orch.

Violins 1