This pretty quote come from ‘Best of Toronto‘ (sic) and is designed to explain why some metro companies are playing Mozart and Sibelius on unguarded stations. It’s intended to deter hoodlums.
‘A lot of dentists pay for it,’ say the marketing company. ‘If you’re in a dentist’s office you often hear recorded music that comes from the same sort of thing.’
Is this what we have come to…?
The former child star always had more cookies in her jar than most of the record people she worked with – let alone the hack mob that hovered at her doorstep. She has now written a song, ‘faster than light’, and is an avid reader of New Scientist.
She has also kept her head firmly on her shoulders. Asked if she shouldn’t be collaborating with Brian May, the other science-oriented pop star, Charlotte says: ‘Not really because that would be weird. I feel uncomfortable when I’m around other famous people because it just feels a bit forced.’
Good for her.
Anyone watch About A Boy on NBC?
Here’s how it begins, according to Slipped Disc reader, Peter Brown:
The first episode started with the main character seeing a cellist (very cute Leslie Bibb) getting her instrument out her car. He says “Chello” to her and says he’s a big lover of the instrument. To prove this as she doesn’t seem interested, he says his favorite cello works are the Kabalevsky no. 2 in “G major” (he says), the D’Albert in C major, and the Dvorak (to which she says pointlessly “in B minor”). This is all within the first minute of the show, and I had to check the D’Albert just to see if it was real!
College student Parker Perry was attracted by the Cleveland Orchestra’s $10 offer. But he couldn’t get any of the girls in his class to go along, so had to take his brother. Then there was the $11 parking charge. And the attitude…. Read on here.
The advertisement goes out tomorrow. Click here for details.
We have been informed by close friends of the death, early today, of a significant figure in British music and public life. Marion Thorpe was 87.
Vienna born, she was the daughter of Erwin Stein, the music publisher and musicologist who became an early mentor to Benjamin Britten. She was one of the few people Britten trusted throughout his life.
A noted beauty, Marion married the Earl of Harewood, a cousin of the Queen and a Britten friend who was director of the Royal Opera. Living on his estate, near Leeds, she co-founded with Fanny Waterman the Leeds International Piano Competition.
When her marriage to Harewood broke up, Marion married the politician Jeremy Thorpe, whose career ended in the high courts.
She is survived by Thorpe, and her three sons.
UPDATE: Obituaries (two days later) musical here and political here. A personal reminiscence here.
Renato Cioni, who died this week, gave an interview a few months ago to an Italian magazine, recalling his role as Cavaradossi in the most indelible of all opera productions. Here’s a sample:
On stage (Maria) was always caressing me, touching my hair, crossing her arms around my neck. Maria magnificently brought to life a character who was, in a way, herself. She was a woman who was generous and insecure. Her voice was strong and dramatic, yet also sweet.
To read more, click here on Gramilano.
Alex Shapiro takes the place of Stephen Paulus, who is making a slow recovery from a devastating stroke. Details here.
The inimitable Charlemagne Palestine is let loose for the first time in New York tonight on the beast of instruments.
Palestine originally developed his organ technique in 1964 at the Unitarian Church on Central Park West, gave his first public performance in Holland in 1979, and has since played internationally on the instrument. In this concert he performs on one of New York City’s most distinctive instruments: the Aeolian-Skinner organ at Plymouth Church in Brooklyn Heights, known for its “American Classic” sound.
Doors open at 7:00pm. Concert begins at 8:00pm sharp.
UPDATE: Frrst review, by Allan Evans:
Charlemagne Palestine’s organ work conceived 50 years ago was first played here tonight. Hipsters strolled in during the opening, disturbing his sounds by their naive vulgarity. An hour of modal unfolding clashing with outside pitches released changing densities of vibrations that he subtlety shaped like a breathing with surprises. Some were raga scales. The layered sustained sonic blocks, often beyond fifty simultaneous pitches, were the most active music I’ve ever experienced. The performance ended as he sat in rapt silence for nearly five minutes, the church in darkness. Only an infant’s occasional sounds penetrated the calm that aimed to resolve the saturation. While receiving applause he held his drinking glass to salute the organ which he praised in a speech as the most remarkable instrument extant. He has performances again in April, reviving works that originated in the 1960s. Backstage, with cognac in hand, he joked about people referring to him as a Minimalist.
A popular character in a Brazilian TV soap opera has boosted sales of the instrument this year by up to 1,000 percent, it is reported.
Rosa Solinas, a former Arts Council flak, was supposed to save the orchestra.
The following has just been posted by another ex-CEO of the troubled band:
I rang Rosa Solinas at the Ulster Orchestra this morning and was
shocked to be told that she’s gone. “She’s achieved everything she set
out to achieve and has moved on to new challenges.”
UPDATE: Rosa was in the job just 13 months. She cleared out a lot of staff and appointed a new chief conductor, Rafael Payare. He now faces a period of uncertainty until a replacement is found.
In other news, it was reported today that Northern Ireland’s arts minister Caral Ni Chuilin has not been to hear the orchestra once during her three years in office. The Ulster Orch consumes one-third of the province’s arts budget. Where the heck has she been?
Stephen Jay Carlton, 45, former executive director of the Peninsula Symphony, based in Los Altos, is accused of embezzling at least $240,000 from an orch of volunteer musicians. The total heist could be as much as half a million. Carlton has been jailed, pending bail. Details here. Full story from Janos Gereben.
