The row over Pierpaolo Polzonett’s account of teaching musical analysis in prison has spilled over into a nuclear war over the alleged lily-white state of American musicology.
Sample contribution:
I recall going every year to the AMS for the last 15 years and generally seeing a sea of white faces with very few people of color present and very few papers addressing race or music by people of color.
I recall the AMS List posts when Michael Jackson died. A musicologist posted a post along the lines of: “I don’t know anything about Michael Jackson since I focus on art music…but no one seems to be saying anything about his death…why is that?” and then seeing responses that included, “Why should we say anything about him, he was an entertainer not an artist.”
But I most remember the AMS List posts of January 2011, when people on that list were defending Eggebrecht from the evidence that he was part of a Nazi unit that participated in the mass execution of 14,000 Jews in the Crimea during World War 2. And people on the list, and not just one person, defended Eggebrecht. People on the AMS List were defending a Nazi war criminal. Phrases like, “well can we really prove he pulled the trigger?” and most upsetting, “Well, even if he were a Nazi war criminal, that wouldn’t have an effect on his scholarship…I mean, if he had discovered the identity of the Immortal Beloved would we ignore that because of things he did in his private life?” or “Your private activity has nothing to do with your scholarship.”
People were defending a man they thought was an amazing musicologist who probably murdered 14,000 Jews.
The Mexico City Philharmonic has named Scott Yoo as its next music director.
Scott, who filled in as Dallas Symphony assistant concertmaster and associate conductor in 1999-2000, is also music director of Festival Mozaic in San Luis Obispo, California.
Wolfgang’s favourite daughter Katharina now has sole control of the festival, abetted by her imperious ally Christian Thielemann, who is music director.
But there’s still a missing link. Ever since Hans-Dieter Sense handed in his papers last year, there has been no-one to look after the business side of the festival – and that’s becoming a critical issue as Bayreuth needs to raise a fortune for new productions and building renovations.
Step forward Holger von Berg, 49, Geschäftsführer of Munich’s Residenztheater.
We wish him every success.
Katie in a huddle
These are the latest accomplishments of Denis Matsuev, music advisor to the Russian President.
Денис Мацуев – олимпийский тапер (Из передачи “Вечерний Ургант”)
The formidable Italian semiotician, philosopher and novelist who died on Friday night, aged 84, had a passion for playing the baroque flute, recorder and kindred instruments.
He appeared on the cover of the first issue of Suonare, in November 1995, telling the editor of his great love for playing Bach, Telemann, Loeillet and Sammartini:
‘Suono solo il dolce. Ho iniziato con quello in Do, poi sono passato al Fa, che dà più gusto e ha una letteratura più vasta. Ho vari flauti: alcuni in plastica, altri in ebano, di buona qualità. Ne ho uno di fattura artigianale, e talora penso che per un’esecutore come me sia sprecato.’
The author of The Name of the Rose was the ultimate European cultural connoisseur.
Italy’s prime minister Matteo Renzi said today: Umberto Eco was ‘an extraordinary example of a European intellectual, combining unique intelligence of the past with a limitless capacity to anticipate the future. ‘It’s an enormous loss for culture, which will miss his writing and voice, his sharp and lively thought, and his humanity.’
May he rest in peace.
h/t: Cecilia Michelangeli Rivers
The incoming New York Philharmonic music director pulled out of a Dallas concert more than two weeks ago due to ‘a family medical emergency’. He remains unavailable.
Santa Cecilia in Rome have replaced him for Monday’s concert. ‘For important family obligations, Maestro Jaap van Zweden will be unable to conduct the scheduled concerts. Maestro Robert Trevino will be taking the podium for Orchestra di Santa Cecilia.’
A must-watch home video of the great pianist at lunch with Slava Rostropovich and Galina Vishnevskaya, burbling away over dessert in French, Russian and English before Rubi gets going with his Chaliapin imitations.
And all with such joie-de-vivre.
Here’s the extraordinary 1937 home movie that George Gershwin shot at the Schoenbergs, in Beverley Hills. It shows Arnold with his wife Gertrud, Gertrud’s brother Rudi Kolisch (of the Kolisch string quartet) and Doris Vidor. Gershwin is seen behind the camera.
The music is the opening of Schoenberg’s 4th string quartet, written in 1936, in a 1937 recording that was paid for by George Gershwin, who died suddenly in July that year at the age of 38.
Franklin Cohen, a gentle genius, was the heart and soul of the Cleveland Orchestra for 39 years. When he stepped down last year, there were murmurings about the circumstances of his departure. Frank was – still is – playing at the top of his game.
So what happened? ‘I’m a good team player,’ he maintains.
‘And what happens when you don’t get along with a conductor?’ he’s asked.
Frank addresses his life in the orchestra and, more elliptically, his departure in an interview with our video partners at Zsolt Bognar’s Living the Classical Life.
Not to be missed.
The latest instalment of Anthea Kreston’s diary on joining the Artemis Quartet yields further surprises – a degree in women’s studies, a decision to step off the fast track, and a baby on the way. Life’s rich tapestry in a string quartet. Enjoy.
When Slipped Disc asked me to write a weekly diary, my invitation to join the Artemis Quartet was just days old. I believe that Norman, (who I have not had the opportunity to meet yet) somehow enjoyed my pluck and thought I was a decent writer. Looking back to that day 6 weeks ago, I wonder what I was thinking to accept putting another thing on my already overflowing plate. But – it has been fun to write – and to ruminate during the week about what the next topic could possibly be. And the comments – these alone have been enough to entertain me for years!
I am the youngest of three girls, all musicians, and the daughter of an engineer and split piano/English major. Both of my sisters are musicians, as is my husband. I started playing violin at the age of 2.5, and although I have always been reasonably obsessed with music, I have also had, and continue to have, many different interests and passions.
After my years at Curtis, I earned a Women’s Studies degree – and it seems as if (I easily could be wrong here) this is not a well-known college degree option in Europe. What it taught me, more than anything, is that every story has an equally compelling and complex story on its flip side. In Women’s Studies, it is as if you look at every subject you have studied before, but you investigate what the women were doing during that point in history – or what were they painting, or inventing – or if they were not doing these things – why not? What were they doing – how and why and what obstacles did they encounter? Who were the first in their fields to break through?
In many ways, this has been the influence of this diary. To look not at the finished performance – the review or the concert or the recording – but the journey, and most importantly – all of the other elements which make this kind of career possible. When I applied for this position, people advised me to not mention or talk about my children or my conscious choice to step off the music fast-track 6 years ago and have a family and raise them in a small liberal town in rural Oregon. However, I don’t see these things as a sign of weakness or inability for a person to have an intense job. I was open about my personal choices, and in fact, it was the quartet’s questions about Jason and my children which made me even more eager to be a part of this new extended family. They had long conversations with me about my family – and said – “without a happy home life, the quartet cannot be happy”. They reached out to Jason – and called him the keystone of the whole operation. What is the saying – “behind every great man is a great woman”? It so happens that in my case, the opposite is true.
So. Perhaps some weeks I will speak about everything except what I am doing with the quartet. In the true vein of a behind-the-scene diary. Is this so wrong? Also – a request came in for a very “musician-specific” post. I would also like to have a technical rehearsal-preparation entry – fingerings included!
On the plate this weekend – two days off, and my major concern is split between extreme personal practice (of which I need a lot – this Thursday’s rehearsal revealed one piece in which my preparation was woefully inadequate – I don’t want to be in that position ever again), and extreme family time, which has also been terribly neglected. I have rented a car and we will begin our search for the right neighborhood in Berlin to base ourselves permanently. The statement by the Artemis is absolutely true – the happiness of all members of my family is key to the happiness of all of our newly extended family.
To end – we are all holding our breaths for the imminent arrival of Ecki’s second child – it was due Friday! What a time of change and rebirth for all of us.
(c) Anthea Kreston/Slipped Disc
She is not being named but, after a six-year court battle, a pianist who lost her money with the Ponzi pirate has won judgement against a bank that advised her to invest with him.
Very few people have seen a penny back from Madoff.
The pariah of world orchestras, under an international boycott over its mass sacking of foreign musicians, is now coming under extreme financial pressure.
We understand that players are being offered one-year contracts, instead of the usual two, and are having to take a ten percent pay cut.
The admin is blaming the oil price collapse but they have only themselves to blame for the disaster.
Auditions for several vacancies have been called next month in New York and Chicago. Do. Not. Go. There.
