Delighted to learn that the notorious prisoner-of-war camp is now being put to musical uses.

The state of Saxony runs music weekends in Schloss Colditz through the summer. These children are being coached in Vivaldi’s Four Seasons by their teacher, Thu Trang Sauer.

Sweet.

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Here’s one to get you started, courtesy of the Austin Symphony Orchestra.

 

broke bach

Well, he hums a bit and almost sings before Michel takes over. And the playing is out of this world.
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Ivry GITLIS young

Aaron Dworkin, founder of Detroit’s Sphinx organisation which engages minorities in classical music, was once a struggling music student, unable to pay his college debts. He sent an appeal to the actor, who responded with a $10,000 cheque. Later, Williams gave money to Sphinx and sent a blanket for Aaron’s baby. Lovely story by Mark Stryker here.

aaron dworkin

 

The Lucern Festival is having a transitional year after the death of Claudio Abbado and the frailty of Pierre Boulez, its two stalwart conductors of recent years.

Now, the festival’s director, Michael Haefliger, has told an interviewer that he wants Simon Rattle to take over the helm.

rattle_02-02-2_719300y

Seven years after his death, there was an official celebration at his home (now a state museum) of the composer Stalin appointed to impose his terror on musicians. Khre nnikov was Secretary of the Union of Soviet Composers from 1948 to 1991.

He was the bane of the life of Dmitri Shostakovich.

khrennikovkhrennikov1

 

Donald Teeters, a teacher at New England Conservatory and conductor emeritus of the Boston Cecilia which he led for 44 years, has been found dead in his apartment. No cause of death has yet been established.

The Society announced:
With great sadness and considerable shock, we write to tell you that Donald Teeters, our Conductor Emeritus, has died. Several of his friends became concerned recently after not hearing from Donald for two weeks. He was found deceased in his apartment on August 14.

He had recently written a chapter for a bicentennial history of the Handel and Haydn Society and was last seen in good spirits.

A friend writes: ‘Don was one of the most sensitive and witty musicians I ever learned from.’

 

teeters

Cover-Villazon-Kunststuecke

It’s published in German at the end of the month. Plot summary here.

Rolando Villazón: Kunststücke. Aus dem Spanischen von Willi Zurbrüggen. Rowohlt, Reinbek. 256 Seiten, 19, 95 Euro.

Probably not a candidate for the Booker.

Licia Albanese, an outstanding soprano at the Metropolitan Opera from 1940 to 1966, died yesterday at the age of 101, or 105. Two dates of birth are cited in reference works.

Born in Bari, she made her debut in 1934, recorded with Toscanini and was still singing in  Sondheim’s Follies with the New York Philharmonic in the mid-1980s.

Madam Butterfly was her calling card.

licia albanesealbanesec

Another gem from MeloClassic. Where do they find ’em?

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Arthur Rubinstein playing Steinway piano keyboard in front of audience in 1947 film 'Carnegie Hall'

Alfredo Ovalles started out in Venezuela in a rock band. Now he tends to play contemporary classical.

This is Le Baiser from 20 regards sur l’enfant-Jésus, performed in the Schubert Saal of the Wiener Konzerthaus on June 4th, 2014.
 alfredo ovalles

Alfredo’s home page is hosted on Slippedisc’s Community site. Just click Community at the top of the page.

Husband and wife pianists Ivo Varbanov and Fiammetta Tarli are starting a new record label next month.

We asked them to explain the USP of ICSM Records. Fiamma, being Italian, muttered something about fighting the mafia. Ivo objects to the over-production that takes place on major labels.

We asked them to talk it through. So they did. Right here:

ivo and fiamma

ICSM RECORDS

Ivo and Fiamma, why your own record label?

Fiamma: The cultural system these days is dysfunctional.

Ivo: Little public (and private) funding for classical music has not helped the present situation. But the main problem is ethics. It is morally unacceptable that a well-known octogenarian conductor would receive, say, an £80,000 fee for a single concert. A fee of this kind in a 2,500 seats concert hall would make necessary the use of public money to cover losses. The consequence of this and similar scenarios leaves the remaining 99,99% of musicians in an awkward situation.

Fiamma: Being Italian, obviously I am very sensitive to the word “mafia”, and probably it is a very strong expression, but it is clear that the main culprits of the present situation (a network of greedy agents, not-so-competent promoters and orchestra managers, power-driven conductors, self-centred artists, and “dependent” record labels) intend to keep the status quo, and do not consider the consequences of their actions on a long-term basis.

Ivo: It is also obvious that the decision-makers and “guardians” of the public funds are not viewing this situation as disastrous and corrupt.

Fiamma: We have worked with commercial labels in the past, and we have plans to continue working with some – within limits. To have our own record label means first of all that we have artistic and financial control over our recordings.

Ivo: The market for quality and uncompromising recordings of classical music is tiny. Modern recordings often stink of surgical spirit and are made of plastic because of excessive interventions by people who believe they are making them better by intervention, when they are achieving the opposite. Also, labels expect to have a ready-to-sell product and very often rely on their own archives.

Fiamma: ICSM Records is going in the opposite direction: working with like-minded artists, sound engineers and people from the music world, daring more adventurous programming, searching for a personal approach and dialogue with audiences. Audiences should “get closer” to Music, not vice versa. We aim to reproduce the realism of the concert experience as close as possible.

Ivo: ICSM Records will not be a display of a circus-type of dexterity, as we believe that on the foreground should be music’s spiritual content. We call it “SLOW MUSIC” – inspired by the “SLOW FOOD” movement – which does not mean at all a preference for slow-paced pieces, but the fact that music, as every art form, needs time to develop and show its inner qualities from all sides: performers, who need time to assimilate the musical content, and audience, who needs the time to sit and understand it.

Fiamma: First and foremost we are human beings, secondly musicians, and finally instrumentalists. There is consequentiality. Every human being has the spiritual need of art, beauty, music, etc. Being a pianist should be the very last part of the “chain”. The instrument is only a medium for art content. Our listeners should not only enjoy our recordings but also find in them a source of beauty and meditation.

 

Future Releases ICSM

19 September 2014

• ICSM 005 (Jazz series)

Theodossii Spassov Trio live at the South Bank, London

Theodossii Spassov, kaval

Christo Yotzov, drums and percussion

Roumen Toskov, piano and keyboards

17 October 2014

• ICSM 006

Igor Stravinsky, Rite of Spring and

Petrouchka

Original transcriptions for piano 4 hands

Fiammetta Tarli and Ivo Varbanov, piano four hands

28 November 2014

• ICSM 007

Johannes Brahms, Cello & Piano Sonatas Op. 38 and Op. 99

Jozef Luptak, cello

Ivo Varbanov, piano

(Brahms on the piano, Vol. 3)

• ICSM 008

Works for flute and piano by Hindemith, Poulenc, Messiaen, and Martinu

Daniela Troiani, flute

Fiammetta Tarli, piano