At the centenary of his birth, NPR has an appreciation of those he mentored and his influence on the music world of today. “Isaac Stern’s tombstone simply reads, Isaac Stern, fiddler. These three words leave out an awful lot.” – NPR
Category: music
Usually, We’d Have Settled On Our Summer Music, But Not In This Year Of Chaos
It’s hard to settle on a bop when there’s no one to bop with and no place to dance to that bop. “This level of turnover has not been seen since 1990, the year before Nielsen SoundScan revolutionized sales tracking, and may reflect a few structural factors.” – The Atlantic
How’s The Met’s Quest For Paying Subscribers Going?
Sure, people might pay $20 for a concert – but will they do what’s even better, what the Met would like them to do? “The recitals are intended to stimulate donations. ‘Fund-raising ebbs and flows according to activities and events,’ Peter Gelb, the company’s general manager, said.” – The New York Times
If You’re In A Low-Virus Area, Is It Safe To Sing Yet?
Uhm. British government regulations are that singers and musicians stand three meters apart, or (for singers) back-to-back, or side-by-side (in other words, not in rows on risers). “If the chorus at the Last Night of the Proms had to stand side-by-side then Rule Britannia would begin in the Royal Albert Hall and stretch all the way down to the Natural History Museum, almost half a kilometre away.” Also, again, it may not be safe at all. – BBC
The Covid-19 Proms Start With A Remote Beethoven Mashup
For the new Beethoven piece, 323 musicians and choir members will perform remotely – and during Proms, most performances will be from years past (though there’s a faint hope some final performances might be live). Proms organizer David Pickard: “This year it is not going to be the Proms as we know them, but the Proms as we need them.” – BBC
Fire Breaks Out In France’s Nantes Cathedral, Destroying Famed 17th Century Organ
Inspectors suspect arson for the fire that “broke the main stained glass windows between the two towers of the 15th-century cathedral, and destroyed the organ.” – Yahoo News (AP)
Reckoning On Race In Classical Music
“The systemic racism that runs like rot through the structures of the classical music world exists somewhere between broad statistical data and intimate personal disclosure. And right now, in what seems like a promising turn, a range of responses to it — individual, artistic and institutional — feels, at long last, audible.” – Washington Post
Leonard Slatkin: Here’s How I Would Change Orchestra Auditions
“In a way, the screen now represents a bit of an insult to those who are making the decision as to who will join the orchestra. Do we really believe that today’s musicians cannot come to a fair conclusion because they have seen who is playing?” – Leonard Slatkin
Where Classical Crossover Is Headed Now
James Bennett, II: “First, we looked at the technology and market realizations that set crossover up for a late 1980s-90s boom. Then we explored how that bubble burst. But crossover today isn’t dead — it’s just assumed a new form, as it’s done throughout its long history. Now, it’s less opera-pop and more chamber covers of popular music. And if recent pre-COVID concerts are any indicator, concerts centered around popular film and television scores might be selling out for years to come. At least if you’re Hans Zimmer.” – WQXR (New York City)
Even Country Music Is Facing A Reckoning These Days
“How does a genre in love with routine respond to a moment in which everyone’s lives have been disrupted?… Country fetishizes the day-after-day realities of homes, highways, and beer halls. There are exceptions, but typically it’s a genre in which work and family and place all are held up as things that must be defended. … As a slew of recent scandals and scuffles have demonstrated, however, not even Nashville can maintain the status quo anymore.” – The Atlantic