Unlike most maestros and music journalists, Gidon Kremer has never been afraid of speaking truth to power.
Leader of his own ensemble, the Kremerata Baltica, the Latvian violinist has maintained an outspoken opposition to the classical star system, the Putin regime and its musical puppets, and every other corruption in the music world.
Happy birthday, Gidon, and many more.
Irina Pashinskaya, whose Swan Lake solos were admired the world over, has died in Moscow.
A professor at the Moscow Conservatoire, she was predeceased by her husband, a soloist with the Bolshoi Opera.
…. it plays in the bus.
It’s the Venice Baroque Orchestra.
Video by Nicola Benedetti.
A metaphor from the abortion debate:
You wake up in the morning and find yourself back to back in bed with an unconscious violinist. A famous unconscious violinist. He has been found to have a fatal kidney ailment, and the Society of Music Lovers has canvassed all the available medical records and found that you alone have the right blood type to help. They have therefore kidnapped you, and last night the violinist’s circulatory system was plugged into yours, so that your kidneys can be used to extract poisons from his blood as well as your own. The director of the hospital now tells you, “Look, we’re sorry the Society of Music Lovers did this to you—we would never have permitted it if we had known.” But still, they did it, and the violinist now is plugged into you. To unplug you would be to kill him. But never mind, it’s only for nine months. By then he will have recovered from his ailment, and can safely be unplugged from you.
Pro-abortion choice advocates have relied upon this thought experiment for decades. They argue, rather simplistically, that this specific woman’s right to unplug the violinist translates into a general right to elective abortion. Many of my pro-life students are stumped by the argument and seek my advice on how to navigate it succinctly. I am writing this column to provide a response to those inquiries.
Read on here.
From Boston Classical Review:
The Russian composer’s Triple Concerto was given its world premiere Thursday night at Symphony Hall by Andris Nelsons and the Boston Symphony Orchestra…
The Triple Concerto is cast in a single unbroken movement spanning a half hour. Instead of the glistening textures of Offertorium, Gubaidulina’s new work is cast in darkness. Basses and brasses growl. Colors between the three solo instruments—violin, cello, and bayan—and the orchestra transform slowly. Harmonies shift like images in a kaleidoscope….
Read on here.
Andris Nelsons congratulates Sofia Gubaidulina following the Boston Symphony Orchestra world premiere of her Triple Concerto Thursday night. Photo: Winslow Townson
Klaus Lang, a composer of international repute, has been refused a US visa to attend a Los Angeles performance of his work, missa beati pauperes spiritu.
No reason was given for the refusal.
Lang, who is professor of composition at the University of Arts in Graz, believes it is connected to a non-government award he received four years ago in Iran.
Statement by the Vienna State Opera:
Dmitri Hvorostovsky is postponing scheduled recitals in Kaliningrad and Minsk over the coming week and canceling his Wiener Staatsoper recital on March 7 after being advised by his doctors to continue treatment for his brain tumour during this period.
The Wiener Staatsoper is currently looking for a replacement, which will be announced as soon as possible. In a statement, Dmitri Hvorostovsky said, “I had been greatly looking forward to these recitals, and it truly pains me to have to withdraw from them. However, right now I must follow doctor’s orders and focus on my recovery. I sincerely appreciate all of the love and support that has been shown to me by my family, friends, and fans.”
Hvorostovsky plans to return to performing in April with a concert in Toronto with Anna Netrebko and Yusif Eyvazov and a recital in Dublin.
So many Russian composers of the Shostakovich and post-DSCH era have suffered from the timidity of music directors – their reluctance to propose or perform great music by unfamiliar names.
Weinberg is the premier casualty.
Boris Tischchenko is another.
From the Lebrecht Album of the Week:
Try as I might, I can’t stop listening to these late works of a Russian composer who was close to Shostakovich but never tried, as others did, to imitate him. The eighth symphony, written in 2008 when Tishchenko was mortally ill, draws the ear into an eerie landscape of ghosts, trolls and spooks, weird and possibly political. The composer thought it might make a good companion piece to Schubert’s Unfinished Symphony. He was right: it would. But where is the conductor or orchestra manager that dares to do such a thing in timid 2017?
Read on here.
The Halle Orchestra of Manchester intends to open to open a state music school in Stoke-on-Trent, it was announced today.
Pupils from seven to 19 years old will spend at least two-fifths of their time in music classes, taught by members of the Halle Orchestra and Chorus.
The pilot scheme appears to be unique a UK first.
One of the less discreditable secrets guarded at Bayreuth is that Richard Wagner’s son was, behind the facade of marriage, primarily homosexual.
Now, Berlin’s gay museum has begun research on an exhibition to celebrate his complicated life.
Don’t expect Katharina Wagner to attend.
Details here.
Luigi Pestalozza died yesterday, aged 88.
A fighting partisan in the Second World War, he wrote books and essays on Luigi Nono, Schoenberg, Mahler and Russian music. He founded the journal Musica/Realtà in 1980.
A new six-year contract was agreed today for l’Orchestra della Svizzera italiana, the Lugano ensemble which was facing abolition.
Details follow (en francais):
Bern (ots) – Berne, 23 février 2017. La délégation de la Fondazione per l’Orchestra della Svizzera italiana (FOSI) et celle de la SSR se sont aujourd’hui mises d’accord sur un nouveau contrat de collaboration. Cette nouvelle convention entrera en vigueur en 2018 pour une durée d’au moins six années.
La SSR/RSI s’engage à recourir au moins 90 fois aux services de l’orchestre en 2018 et 2019. A partir de 2020, la SSR/RSI commandera chaque année au minimum 80 prestations d’orchestre pour des productions de musique classique. De plus, la SSR acquiert les droits d’utilisation et de diffusion de l’Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana (OSI). La rémunération versée par la SSR à l’orchestre s’élèvera ainsi à quelque deux millions de francs par an. Si le canton du Tessin achète à la SSR l’immeuble de Besso, à Lugano (qui abrite le studio de radio RSI), alors le nouveau contrat sera valable pour une durée de huit ans, jusque fin 2025. Sinon, sa durée sera ramenée à six ans.
