The Brazilian classical guitar site, Guitar Co-op, has a remarkably frank and comprehensive interview with the last of the guitar lions, the accomplished John Williams.
Much of the conversation, with Stephen Goss and Marcelo Kayath will be of invaluable technical interest to guitar players.. But John is an astute observer of musical habits and there is much to enjoy in the four lengthy segments of their chat.
You should bookmark the site if you love the guitar. There is nothing like it online.
The orchestra has posted news of the death of Meinhart Niedermayr, who inherited his father’s seat as principal flute. Meinhart played in the orchestra from 1962 until his retirement in 2003. His father had held the seat since 1921.
Meinhart was 75 at the time of his death.
Michael Vincent pops the question other Canadian critics have fluffed.
Roy Thomson Hall has just about the worst sound of any modern concert venue.
Now, at last, a Toronto writer tells it as it is: Famed soprano displayed vocal magic and extraordinary humanity at TSO opener, but hall’s acoustics swallowed her voice.
This is apparently the first time a Stockhausen opera has been streamed.
It is also the first staging of Donnerstag in 30 years.
Press release:
On Saturday 1st October from 16:00 to 21:30 CET Sonostream.tv again affirms its imaginative and enterprising approach to arts broadcasting by carrying the first-ever livestream of a performance from Theater Basel, one of Switzerland’s leading opera theatres. The sense of occasion is heightened by the work chosen for the webcast: Karlheinz Stockhausen’s Donnerstag aus Licht. An ambitious, visionary piece which utilizes various elements of opera, ballet, oratorio and absolute music, Donnerstag is one of the seven music dramas that form Stockhausen’s cycle Licht, composed between 1977 and 2003. Donnerstag was premiered at La Scala, Milan in 1981, but this staging at Theater Basel – first seen in June this year – is not only the Swiss premiere of the work, but its first production anywhere in more than 30 years.
The livestream is available free of charge to viewers around the world and will be available on demand, also free of charge for two weeks after the live broadcast.
The stage director is the young American Lydia Steier, who takes a fresh, highly theatrical approach to the piece. Titus Engel, especially renowned in modern music, is the conductor, while Kathinka Pasveer, a long-time collaborator of Stockhausen (who died in 2007) takes charge of the sound-mixing, having been closely involved with the musical preparation. The central role of Michael, a modern Orpheus, is taken by no fewer than four performers: the tenors Peter Tantsits and Rolf Romei, the trumpeter Paul Hübner and the dancer Emmanuelle Grach. The video production and direction is by Bernhard Fleischer.
From the Lebrecht Album of the Week:
I am not the right person to be reviewing this album, but then I’m not sure the right person actually exists. This is a Sony crossover project that falls smack between the tracks. How does one rate it on a scale of one to five?
We have just been informed that the German tenor has pulled out of the Meistersinger revival in Munich (September 30, Oct. 3 and 8) and from a Budapest concert Sept. 25, dedicated to an idol of his, the Hungarian tenor József Simándy.
Last week he cancelled the opening concerts of the Staatsoper in Berlin.
Something must be seriously wrong.
UPDATE: He will be repalced in Munich by Burkhard Fritz.
‘We have a moral imperative to provide an opportunity for reflection and community. Music cares beyond pain,’ says music director Christopher Warren-Green.
The outdoor concert will open with Aaron Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man.
The musicians in Philadelphia are out of contract. If they can’t get a new deal soon, the orchestra will be back where it was five years ago – shut down and bankrupt. The atmosphere is souring.
Read what the musicians have to say:
It has been more than five years since the Board of the Philadelphia Orchestra voted to file for bankruptcy, becoming the first major American orchestra to do so. At the time, the Orchestra had a $140 million endowment, owned the Academy of Music, and had no debts, according to an NPR article from April 18, 2011.
Although the filing in April, 2011 was opposed by the musicians, the public was told that it was a necessary step, and that when the Orchestra emerged from bankruptcy, things would be much better.
When the court approved the bankruptcy, the Association made wholesale changes to our pension plan. The Plan was frozen and its administration was transferred to the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation, a U. S. government entity. Some musicians may receive lower pensions than they would have earned under the frozen Plan. The retirement benefits which were substituted for the Plan do not guarantee the benefit level specified in the Plan. In addition, the orchestra musicians, who had voluntarily taken a wage freeze the year before, and who had donated a significant amount of money to the Association, saw their salaries reduced by more than 14 percent. The size of the orchestra was also reduced, from 106 full-time positions to 95.
The Association, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Peter Dobrin, spent “almost $10 million in professional fees and expenses” on the bankruptcy, and paid settlements of $1.75 million to the American Federation of Musicians Pension Plan, and $1.25 million to the Philly Pops in the process.
More than five years later, Musicians hoped that the Association would view the bankruptcy as a temporary means to regroup and ultimately restore the kind of budget that is necessary to fund a major symphony orchestra, rather than as a way to downgrade the musicians’ contract permanently. More than five years later, we are still waiting….
The regressive contracts under which we have worked since the bankruptcy have saved the Association millions of dollars. We have patiently endured cuts to our salary, pension, and health care. It is time to move forward and restore us to our proper place in the pantheon of orchestras.
The BBC has reported that Terry Jones, the phenomenal Monty Python comedian, has been diagnosed with primary progressive aphasia.
His communication has been affected and he is no longer able to give interviews.
Jones, 74, has always been involved with other art forms. In 2012 he wrote a libretto for Edward Lear’s The Owl and the Pussycat for Covent Garden, set to music by Anne Dudley.
A review in the Abendzeitung attacks the music director for his cursory rehearsal practices. The performance of Beethoven’s Eroica was, writes Robert Braunmüller, ‘casually improvised’. Textures were cloudy, ensemble flawed. The Munich Philharmonic sounded shoddy.
Gergiev’s pianist, his pal Denis Matsuev, received a similar drubbing.
Gergiev’s rehearsal absences are well attested, but in all his years with the LSO I don’t remember London critics calling him out so frankly.
Numerous international artists have not been paid five months after appearing at Brisbane Baroque – according to Limelight magazine and confirmed to us by several artists.
The bilked artists include: Mahan Esfahani, Vivica Genaux, Brett Weymark, Erin Helyard, Ulrike Schneider, Carlo Vistoli, Russell Harcourt, Joao Fernandes, Owen Willetts, Keri Fuge, Kiandra Howarth, Morgan Balfour, Nicholas Tolputt, Brenton Spiteri, David Greco, Kristian Winther and Ioana Tache. No money has been seen either by any of the ensembles including Latitude 37, Orava Quartet, Camerata of St. John’s, and Queensland Symphony Orchestra.
Brisbane Baroque is still trading, apparently. The artists are the one who are going broke.
Beware.
Gustavo Dudamel was due to to say a few words at the National Medal of Arts and National Humanities Medal ceremony at the White House yesterday.
Instead, he jumped up and conducted the Marine Chamber Orchestra in what appears to be the only little symphony in their repertory – the Mozart G minor (known as the one from Amadeus).
