For the frst time since 1990, Germany orchestras have reversed their carefully managed decline.

The German Orchestra Association (DOV) reckons that there were 9,766 positions in orchestras, some 20 more than the year before

At the reunfication, Germany had 168 orchestras with 12,159 jobs. It now has 129 orchestras.

Gerald Mertens, Managing Director of DOV, expects a further job increase in the year ahead.

 

 

Margie Kim has been named Chief Advancement Officer of the LA Phil.

That used to be called Development Officer. It’s about hitting the patrons in their pockets.

Her responsibilities include the leadership and management of all Los Angeles Philharmonic Association fundraising efforts, including the formulation, planning and execution of a fundraising strategy that incorporates and supports the LA Phil’s mission, donor stewardship and development operations, alongside the many facets of the Development department. The department encompasses annual fund, major gifts, grants, corporate sponsorships, planned giving, volunteer services, Board development, endowment and capital campaigns, and special gala and recognition events for the Walt Disney Concert Hall, the Hollywood Bowl, The Ford and YOLA. Margie will also finish out the Centennial Campaign that commenced in 2012 and concludes in 2021 with a current goal of over $500 million.

From the website:

As a result of a national strike notice, the performances of Wednesday 29 January might be affected.
Do not hesitate to check our website regularly: operadeparis.fr.

Ridiculous situation.

 

The UK anti-Brexit movement is urging Remainers to download the European Union anthem Ode to Joy in Andre Rieu’s version as a gesture of defiance at our imminent departure.

The track has leaped from #48 in the downloads chart on Sunday, to #24 yesterday, to #2 this morning.

The Dutch bandmaster, as ever, manages to turn a dross arrangement into gold.

I hadn’t heard this adaptation before. I hope it makes the EU very happy for a very long time to come.

 

The national opera in Oslo has named Randi Stene to succeed ENO-bound Annilese Miskimmon.

Stene, 56, is a former contralto from Trondheim.

Her signature role, Silla in Pfitzner’s Palestrina, took her to both Covent Garden and the Met.

The Semper Oper, which premiered 9 of the 15 Richard Strauss operas, has put all of its Strauss assets online now that the composer’s copyrights have expired.

See here.

The creative team, morning after Rosenkavalier

 

Do they mean Rheingold length or Götterdämmerung? We have a right to know.

From the new Tatler, this morning:

The opera length glove is back

As the models at the Valentino Haute Couture show did their final lap of the runway last week – one thing was clear. The longer-length, opera glove is back…. When it comes to playing dress up this season, the gloves are officially on.

 

Manokhi

 

£497, farfetch.com

 

Amanda Spielman, HM Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills, gave this assessment yesterday at the Royal Opera House:

 

What’s been happening with arts subjects: music

Given where we are, I have to start with music.

Let me take you back to around 2004. I’m sure some of you will remember this. BTECs and other vocational qualifications were given equivalence to GCSEs in performance tables. This led to dramatic shifts in the mix of subjects taken at KS4 and, to some extent, sucked time and effort away from the arts. The main winners in this realignment were vocational qualifications like ICT, and, oddly, Religious Studies short course GCSE – though there have been continuing swings depending on what value has been attributed in performance tables.

If we look at music, the numbers taking music GCSE have decreased steadily: by around a quarter since 2003. But there has been a big increase in music BTECs and similar qualifications so it’s not all doom and gloom. Schools are pointing children towards different types of music.

Back in 2013, we published a report: Music in schools: what hubs must do. This mentioned that the low take-up of GCSE music had prompted some schools in our sample to offer other level 2 qualifications in performing arts, or BTECs in music or music technology. In 2014 over 8,000 pupils took these, and they seem to be maintaining their popularity.

In the secondary schools we surveyed for our 2013 report, heads gave us different perspectives. Some said the introduction of the EBacc had made it harder for them to recommend that students take GCSE arts subjects, and certainly more than one arts subject. Music GCSE has always been seen as something to opt in to if you have a particular interest. But we did find low expectations at the end of key stage 3 meant few children were well prepared to take it.

Our report found much to celebrate about music education, but its quality varied considerably. In some schools, music education was weak and poorly led. Heads told us they wanted pupils to enjoy music with the opportunity to perform. But few spoke of music as a rigorous, academic subject for all. I’d like to think we’re moving on from there.

Let’s look at primary schools. Some have excellent music. Learning to sing is key for young children – singing is the most natural thing in the world. The voice is the first musical instrument we all learn and mastering singing sets children up well for a musical future. But it’s not just the musical and emotional benefits that singing together bring. Songs include vocabulary that stretches children. And singing also helps with articulation in terms of speech and language difficulties.

At an Essex primary we visited recently, singing was a strength and gave pupils not just a good musical repertoire but built a sense of community and well-being among pupils and staff.

We mustn’t lower our expectations. We need to give all children the experience of singing and when they’re ready, learning an instrument. For most children, taking part in music and performing is very satisfying. But there is also a need to teach the basics of music theory and build up children’s musical repertoires. Schools need to think about what’s in a core music curriculum. Not every child will go on to become a composer, but there really are some important things that every child should experience, know and be able to do.

Comments?

 

 

This one, found in Japan, is Beethoven’s 7th symphony, one of his signature pieces.

 

The prolific German composer, who is 67, is unhappy about a new SWR documentary that makes him out to be a bit of a misery.

‘The director cut out everything that is somehow cheerful,’ says Rihm in a rare interview. 

He goes on to say that he has been living with cancer for 22 years, undergoing surgery and other treatments for the past three.

He adds: ‘Like everyone else, I’m physically approaching the end, but I’m not finished with my creative energy…. “I have created a huge oeuvre that is currently multiplying again..

We wish him well.

 

 

Welcome to the 25th work in the Slipped Disc/Idagio Beethoven Edition

String trios opus 3, opus 9 (1796-99)
It’s fascinating to watch Beethoven find his feet in Vienna, the toughest music scene in the world and the one with most opportunities. First he publishes three piano trios, next three piano sonatas and then he sets out his stall with a string trio, a form that is not yet marketable. Haydn tried one work for violin, viola and cello without much successs, Mozart also once. The king of the string trio was Johann Georg Abrechtsberger (1736-1809), who happened to be Beethoven’s counterpoint teacher. The young man reckoned, quite rightly, that he could do it better.

Beethoven’s first string trio has six movements, so there. He’s not just toppling the market leader but completely rewriting the form. It is 40 minutes long, about twice the estimated tolerance for a Viennese chamber audience, and it is deliciously playful, tripping from one tune to another and changing speeds like a Formula-1 driver.

My personal standby version is played by the Italian String Trio (1970) – Franco Gulli, Bruno Giuranna and Giacinto Caramia – in the sunniest, least provocative fashion. If you want something a lot stronger, go to Leonid Kogan, Rudolf Barshai and Mstislav Rostropovich in a 1956 Moscow studio where one senses that music affords the players great relief from the grim environment. Three large egos become one in this performance, each enhanced by the others.

Bigger egos still in the 1957 Hollywood studio recording by Jascha Heifetz, William Primrose and Gregor Piatigorsky. Too big, like Cadillacs, to give way at major junctions but never less than enjoyable. I was hoping for the best of all possible worlds in Anne-Sophie Mutter, Bruno Giuranna and Rostropovich in Paris, 1988, but the three don’t quite hit it off.

The same musicians fill out their release with the Serenade opus 8 and the second set of three string trios, opus 9. In the three years from the first string trio to the next, Beethoven leaps from young bounder to major player. The last of the second set of trios, in C minor, is the gateway to maturity, anticipating his great body of string quartets. This third trio is Beethoven fully formed. After the opus 9, he never bothers again with string trios. He has said all he wants to.

In addition to the above ensembles, I would urge you to sample in the opus 9, the wiry and athletic Franz Peter Zimmermann trio. And the ultra-civilised Grumiaux Trio with playing that never turns a hair.