Everything is wrong with this. Every replaced word, every musical perversion of an immortal song.
UPDATE: Very glad to report that Leonard Cohen’s lawyers have taken the video down. Things happen, thanks to Slipped Disc.
However, another version survives on Youtube.
The Italian press is full of speculation, based on remarks attributed to one of the maestro’s sons that the proposal ‘has been discussed within family, after a phone conversation between dad and prime minister Renzi’.
Rumours abound that President Giorgio Napolitano (pictured), who is almost 90, will resign before the month is out.
But the idea that a conductor at the height of his powers will give it all up for ceremonial pomp and circumstance is patently absurd.
Muti, we fell sure, will give the same response as Kurt Masur did around 1990 when he was mooted for the German presidency: ‘I’m too busy.’
Of course, if they offered to make him Pope….
The fullest and most closely observed account of the soloist’s outburst at a coughing child has been published by the critic Evan Dickerson on the MusicOMH site. Evan writes:
The interval between the two movements was marked by extended and full-throated audience coughing, which noticeably irritated Chung. Just as Chung was about to resume playing a child coughed repeatedly in the slip stalls, prompting Chung to suggest that the parent bring the child back to a concert when older. Even if Chung was somewhat on edge at that moment, her interjection did nothing to calm the situation as shortly after this I witnessed a parent and two young children voluntarily exit the hall. Throughout the remainder of the concert Chung was to repeatedly fling glances towards where they had been sitting.
But the concert’s over. Is there a lasting aftermath, other than poor reviews?
Well, Kyung Wha’s well-planned, strongly supported and long-desired comeback has been painfully stopped in its tracks. It is impossible not to feel sympathy for her. She should not be demonised for unguarded remarks made at a moment of high tension. Let’s hope she bounces back.
However, there will be consequences:
– some young persons may never be seen again at a classical concert.
– some artists won’t change their attitude towards the paying public.
– the public image of classical music as forbidding, restrictive, elitist, user-unfriendly, uncomfortable, potentially embarrassing and generally up itself has been massively reinforced.
David Pountney outlines his storytelling vision for Chicago’s upcoming Ring here.
Seventeen out of 30 admin staff at the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra have signed a letter charging chief executive Park Hyun-jung with abusing their human rights. Ms Park, 52, is accused of abusive language and sexual harassment.
‘This statement is our cri de coeur from the employees who feel like they are standing on the edge of a cliff,’ they write. ‘The Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra is a valuable cultural asset for Seoul’s citizenry. Because of one person, this cultural organization is shattering to pieces.’
She is alleged to have told one staff member: ‘if any damages occur in regard to the orchestra, you will have to sell your organs, because you won’t be able to pay [that debt] on your salary.’
Young female employees were ordered to ‘go out and sell records wearing miniskirts.’ Thirteen admin staff have left in the past two years.
There has been no response yet from Ms Park, whose contract runs to 2016.
The top selling classical albums in the US last week were (according to Nielsen Soundscan):
1 Christmas at Downton (Warner) 6610 units
2 Ultimate Bocelli (Decca) 3740
3 Andre Rieu (Decca) 1736
4 Glass piano etudes (OMM) 937
5 C’mas in Harvard Square (Decca) 832
6 Trio Medieval (ECM) 820
7 Joshua Bell (Sony) 284
Irina Tarasova, Russian arts minister, has announced a five-point tick-box that will be distributed to audiences at state-sponsored theatres from next year. She said that those theatres which get low audience ratings will be penalised with loss of subsidy.
She added: ‘If the state spends 30 million rubles on a production, it has the right to take into account audience reaction when most of the reviews are negative.’
Reaction from cultural leaders has been predictably hostile. One artistic director said: ‘In theatre there is no ‘like’ and ‘don’t like’. We are dealing with more sensitive distinctions. The state should fund innovation.’
… Marina Abramovic.
Five directors – Roman Polanski, Alejandro González Iñárritu, Marco Brambilla, Giada Colagrande and Yorgos Lanthimos – have agreed to film the performance artist as she plays Callas in seven death scenes from major operas.
Let’s not get too excited.
Mark Sokol, 68, co-founder and first violin of the Concord String Quartet, a pioneer in American chamber music, has died in San Francisco of pancreatic cancer.
Tribute here.
Anna Picard has just posted her Times (paywall) review of the Kyung Wha Chung comeback concert.
She gives it two stars and reports (as we did earlier) the moment when, between the Allegro and Andantino cantabile of Mozart’s wistful Sonata in G, Chung turned to the parents of a child, whom I could not hear myself but was later told had been coughing, and said: “Maybe bring her back when she’s older.” With one shrivelling put-down, a tetchy atmosphere turned toxic.
We hear that other reviewers intend to mention the incident. Ms Chng would do well to apologise.
Paul Pelkonen stopped by the Met yesterday to score a late ticket for the Meistersinger revival. Whaddaya know? They’ve changed the rules.
With one box office window open, a helpful clerk gave me a single-sheet document, outlining the company’s altered policy. There was no press release e-mailed toSuperconductor and no announcement on the Met website.
Rush tickets are now available day-of-show, on the Metropolitan Opera website starting at 12pm Monday through Friday. The tickets are available only through the website, and must be purchased online, picked up at the box office or simply printed out and brought to the theater.
Read Paul here.
Apparently, the idea is to stop punters scoring too many cheap tickets, but the level of customer communications is reminiscent of the Bolshoi in Soviet times. Whatever the policy, it;s not working. Paul saw yards of empty seats last night.
Thrilled to find our pal Martin Anderson among 30 ‘risk-takers and innovators’ profiled by Musical America in a special edition (click here).
Martin, 59, a hitherto unsung hero, is a former economist who founded Toccata Classics, a label of esoteric music which is about to hit its 200th release. It features music by the Norwegian composer Leif Solberg, not yet a household name.
Better still, they are giving away free samples in a prize raffle every day in December. Click here for your chance to win music you’ve never heard – or probably heard of – before.
