Richard Elliott, Lecturer in Popular Music at the University of Sussex, has this take on the purple icon:

… A truly eclectic and classical artist.

For this is what Prince was: not in the narrow sense of his interest in Western classical music, but in a far more liberated and liberating understanding and extension of the varied streams of a black classical music tradition that incorporated gospel, jazz, R&B, rock and roll, soul, funk, hip hop and more.

Read full argument here.

Your views on classical definitions?

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Only Allan Evans can do this. The encyclopaedic record producer Allan Evans.

Check this out.

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The latest episode of Zsolt Bognar’s Living the Classical Life features the effervescent, candid and irrepressible Chicago violinist, Rachel Barton Pine.

She was playing in the Civic Orchestra at 11 and concertmaster at 14. ‘I was told to leave that off when I went to competitions in Europe,’ she laughs, ‘but conductors say to me, “hey I can follow you so easily”.

She had no thought in life other than being a musician, and marrying one. But she ended up marrying a non-musician, a computer specialist who travels everywhere with her and their child, moving home from one hotel room to the next.

It wasn’t always like that. ‘Because my father was unemployed for much of my childhood… Our phone and electricity were being turned off all the time, we’d be one missed payment from losing the roof over our heads…’

Experience Rachel’s joie-de-vivre:

Simon Zagorski-Thomas, professor at the University of West London, has used his 15 minutes of fame on BBC Radio 4 to argue that popular music should be given more academic attention and funding.

‘It seems to be up to the younger universities to take the lead in analysing musical forms that live outside of the world of the classical score and to create a musicology that is more relevant to our experience of music now.’

His rant has annoyed a lot of classical academics and his institution is hardly a rain-maker of serious opinion. Still, you may use it to define your definitions of classical music.

Listen to the 15-minute talk here.

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The wealthy one-armed pianist Paul Wittgenstein commissioned left-hand concertos from numerous composers, among them Prokofiev, Strauss, Schmidt and Britten. The most successful was by Maurice Ravel but the composer (below) was reported to be dissatisfied with the performance.

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Listen to this 1937 recording and you can see why.

Especially at 1:40 –>; 2:55 – 3:10; 11:10 –> 11:30

Fascinating stuff.

This adaptation of Zigeunerweise is all the rage among Russia’s violin cognoscenti, some of whom consider this an improvement on Sarasate’s hackneyed original.

The perpetrators are Michael Feynman, Sergei Mazur and Jaroslav Ulyanov.
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That’s what is being claimed for the Estonian Kristiina Poska, 37, first kapellmeister at the Komische Oper, Berlin.

At 37, she guest-conducts all over Europe and has appeared on Eurovision.

‘It is definitely not an advantage to be a female conductor in the cultural landscape of Germany,’ says Kristiina, ‘but it is important to know how to turn disadvantages into advantages.’

Full interview and profile here (in English).

 

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From the CBC’s guide on how to be a classical musician.

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The country hasn’t paid its bills, apparently, since 2007.

It is the first to be banned by Eurovision since its foundation in 1955. A rare distinction.

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Tomorrow, Vasily Petrenko makes his conducting debut at the Bayerische Staatsoper, at the invitation of its music director, Kirill Petrenko.

The two Petrenkos, unrelated, are both products of late-Soviet educational values. One is music director in Liverpool and Oslo, the other is incoming chief of the Berlin Philharmonic.

Andrew Powell has compiled an entertaining chart of comparative qualities in his blog here.

Sample:

Placing the two Petrenkos side by side here, like baseball cards, meant compiling at least some personal facts along with the musical. So, three questions went to the conductors’ handlers. How tall is he? Where does he live (part of town)? What’s his favorite sports team?

This proved awkward, however, especially on one side, and hitherto-cordial staffers turned as cool as, well, trademark attorneys. Vasily’s people cooperated with partial answers. Kirill’s, deep inside Bavarian State Opera, stonewalled: “Mr. Petrenko generally does not wish to answer any personal questions.”

Read on here.

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The violinst Nikolaj Znaider, president of this year’s Carl Nielsen violin competition, has openly dissented from the choice of finalists.

Znaider said: ‘There was a clear majority for the three participants who ended up in the final. However, it is just not a decision I can support…. I support the result, because I’m jury president and has overall responsibility. In such situations you just have to agree to disagree.’

The three finalists are:

Luke Hsu (25) USA

Ji Yoon Lee (23) South Korea

Liya Petrova (25) Bulgaria.

But the result has been maimed in advance by the presdient’s announcement that he does not think any of them is worthy of the prize. This contest has been turned into a shambles.

The other juru members are:

Nikolaj Znaider, Denmark, President of the Jury (Violinist and conductor)

Noah Bendix-Balgley, USA (1st Concertmaster, Berlin Philharmonic)

Mats Engström, Sweden (Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra)

Kathryn Enticott, UK (Znaider’s agent)

Charles Hamlen, USA (Artistic Advisor, Orchestra of St. Luke’s | DiMenna Center)

Werner Hink, Austria (Violinist, Vienna Philharmonic)

Kathryn Stott, England (Pianist)

Eugen Tichindeleanu, Denmark (Concert Master, Odense Symphony Orchestra)

Jian Wang, China (Cellist)

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A man will appear in court today in Zionsville, Indiana, charged with four counts of child seduction.

Michael Plewa, 33, is accused of sending sexual innuendos, photos and suggestive comments to a student while he was the orchestra teacher at Zionsville West Middle School. The student is now 16. The contacts began when she was in 8th grade.

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Report here.