It’s being claimed that Ludovico Einaudi is the first classical composer to break the pop charts for 20 years.
That would be since since Henry Mikolai Gorecki, we reckon.
But Gorecki sold a million copies of his 3rd symphony.
Einaudi has some way to go.
Universal press release:
Ludovico Einaudi this week becomes the first classical composer in over 20 years to reach the Top 15 in the Official UK Album Charts.
His new album ‘Elements’ debuted at No.12 (Einaudi’s highest ever chart position) – overtaking pop stars James Bay and Taylor Swift and beating the likes of Scouting for Girls and Fightstar.
It is the highest-charting modern classical album since the Polish composer Henryk Gorecki’s ‘Symphony of Sorrowful Songs’ reached No.6 in 1992.
Einaudi, who studied with Luciano Berio and is the grandson of former President of Italy, Luigi Einaudi, also becomes the first classical pianist to reach the UK Top 15. He is No.1 in the UK Classical Charts too.
Ludovico Einaudi says:
“As a composer, it is a great thrill for me to have an album in the Top 15 of the pop charts. I’m delighted that listeners have embraced the sound of ‘Elements’ and hope they continue to enjoy my music.”
The sisters Natascia and Raffaella Gazzana are a fine young violin-piano duo on the European circuit.
Tonight, thieves broke in to Natascia’s house at Sora, near Rome, and stole her violin.
It’s an ORESTE MARTINI made in Mantova, 1919.
Please report any sightings to Dg@Duogazzana.Com.
Natascia and her violin with a sometime mentor.
You read that right.
In the authoritative Times Higher Educational Supplement rankings, Stanford, Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology took the top three spots, beating Oxford, London and Cambridge into 4th, 5th and 6th.
MIT is where this sort of thing counts for piano practise. No idea what they pitch at Stanford.
Yale fails to make the top ten and Leiden is the highest placed European continent university at 17, just ahead of the Free University of Berlin.
Heidelberg, six places behind, have called them out for a duel.
Previous winners (since 2007) are Paul Simon, Paul McCartney, Carole King, Stevie Wonder, Billy Joel, Burt Bacharach and Hal David. ‘The selection … is made by the Librarian of Congress in consultation with board members selected for their expertise in various fields related to music.’
Oh yeah?
Then why has there been no winner from Gershwin’s specialist fields of opera, piano and orchestral music?
There’s a restructuring going on at the Royal Opera House.
Alistair Roberts has left Enterprises division and his empire is being split in two.
The boring bits – secondary income streams such as retail, catering, events – join the Business and Development department.
The people who handle print, online, broadcasting, cinema and suchlike are being herded with communications and marketing into a new group, Audiences and Media. A director is being sought at a handsome salary.
Here’s at tip for the head-hunters:
Are you fre–ee?
The flute virtuoso Boujemaa Razgui became an international celebrity two years ago when Slipped Disc reported that New York custom officials at JFK had broken his handmade flutes without warning or right of appeal. The story is one of the biggest we have ever carried and readers still refer to it to this day.
Boujemaa is still making his own flutes.
Tonight he will play them at what appears (amazingly) to be the first benefit concert staged on US soil on behalf of Syrian and Iraqi refugees.
It’s in Boston at 8pm. Details here. Get there if you can. And say hi to Boujemaa from Slipped Disc.
Warsaw has just won the title for cleanest music competition on earth.
It has published the votes in every round of every single member of the jury.
You can see, at a glance, which judge gave just one mark out of 10 in the final round to the ultimate winner, Seong-Jin Cho, and which judge refused to vote at all for three of the contestants because they had been his students.
Martha Argerich by the way, gave 9 each to the 1st and 2nd placed winners.
Kate Liu, placed 3rd, was the only contestant to receive three maximum 10s.
The opera lion is looking good after having his gall bladder removed on Tuesday.
He has posted this family picture of his son’s 50th birthday party at the Manhattan hospital.
Celebrando los 50 años de Placi y lo bien que todo ha salido! Ya con ganas de irme a casa pronto!
Erica Worth, editor of Pianist magazine, has posted her impressions of the final round of the competition and her first encounter with the winner, Seong-Jin Cho.
At the press conference directly after, a smiling Cho said, ‘I decided to enter this competition when I was 11. I had listened to it in 2005, and it became my dream to enter. For me, the second and third rounds were really tough… I mean, really! The Finals weren’t so bad at all. I actually had to check on YouTube afterwards how I played, because I couldn’t remember!’
Musicians of the Vienna Philharmonic say they are in the process of buying a disused inn in the picturesque village of St. Aegyd am Neuwalde in Lilienfeld. The building will serve as a home for 16 refugees.
The idea came from clarinettist Norbert Täubl, who was born in the village. The orchestra reckons the project will cost them quarter of a million Euros.
Hats off to the Viennese.
This is seriously cool.
Alondra de la Parra, who has cancelled her season’s engagements to have a baby, has been named music director of the Queensland Symphony Orchestra.
Seriously cool – except for the Brisbane temperatures, which run into the 40s.
press release:
The Queensland Symphony Orchestra has announced the appointment of acclaimed conductor Alondra de la Parra as Music Director.
It is the first appointment of a Music Director by any Australian orchestra, and is the first Music Director position for Ms de la Parra.
QSO Chief Executive Officer Ms Sophie Galaise said Ms de la Parra was revered as one of the most compelling conductors of her generation. “The appointment of Alondra de la Parra is a major turning point for the Queensland Symphony Orchestra – not only are we the first in the country to appoint a Music Director, therefore aligning ourselves with the great orchestras of the world, but with our first Music Director we have secured a music leader who could choose to work with any orchestra across the globe,” she said.
In May this year Ms de la Parra performed to standing ovations with the QSO. As Music Director designate in 2016 she will open QSO’s concert season with Mahler 2 on February 27. Ms de la Parra will commence her three year role as Music Director in 2017, the orchestra’s 70th anniversary year, and she will be resident in Brisbane throughout the year.
We regret to report the death of David Drew, Principal Character Artist of the Royal Ballet, on October 16. David was 77.
