Top Posts From AJBlogs 04.09.18

Rehabilitating Stockhausen with a KLANG: Does less mystique enhance his stature?
Karlheinz Stockhausen has only been gone a little over ten years, but the infamous, trailblazing composer (1928-2007) seems like a name from the past, provoking as much suspicion as awe … read more
AJBlog: Condemned to Music Published 2018-04-09>

Celebrating a 40-Year Career
In 1978, Jane Comfort and I were both forty years younger. Not a surprise? I guess not. But that sentence may prove a snappier lead than my starting off by recounting what Comfort has accomplished over those forty years and how many dances of hers I’ve seen. … read more
AJBlog: Dancebeat Published 2018-04-09

Picking on the Frick: Is It Shortchanged by Its Significantly Downsized Expansion Plan?
“We’re able to achieve everything we need,” Ian Wardropper, the Frick Collection’s browbeaten director, told Robin Pogrebin of the NY Times about his institution’s revised renovation and expansion plans. Not exactly. … read more
AJBlog: CultureGrrl Published 2018-04-08

“The Art and Alchemy of Conducting” — and Mahler’s Fourth
As all Mahlerites know, the opening of the Fourth Symphony is both magical and mutable. A preamble of chiming sleigh bells and flutes dissipates to a cheerful violin ditty that coyly … read more
AJBlog: Unanswered Question Published 2018-04-08

Monday Recommendation: Oscar Peterson Plays 10 Composers
Oscar Peterson Plays (Verve)
In this five-CD reissue, the formidable pianist plays pieces by ten composers who dominated American popular music for decades. … read more
AJBlog: RiffTides Published 2018-04-09

 

What Data Teaches About The Differences Between Disruptive And Radical Innovation

While disruptive innovation is inextricably linked to variations of business models and low-end market encroachment, radical innovation is reliant on organizational capabilities and individual and organizational human capital. Whereas incremental innovation — e.g. a razor company’s fifth razor blade — helps firms to stay competitive in the short-term, radical innovation focuses on long-term impact and may involve displacing current products, altering the relationship between customers and suppliers, and creating completely new product categories.

Saudi Arabia To Create New $20 Billion Cultural Heritage Site

“Under the contract, France will help create a blueprint for museums, archaeological digs and conservation in the region, as well as develop transport, hotels, crafts, education and training, urban planning and other infrastructure projects. The tourism plan is described as ‘the most important ever seen in the Arab world’. The cost has not yet been determined, but a source close to the project says the whole budget could amount to more than $20bn. Saudi Arabia has pledged to finance everything, according to a diplomatic source.”

British Bookstore Chain Waterstones Is About To Be Sold To A Hedge Fund

Who knows what the hedge fund might do to the chain? (Take a quick look at the stripped and bankrupted Toys R Us, or newspapers like the Denver Post, or … ) Meanwhile: “The proximity of the sale has caused a delay to increasing the pay of senior booksellers at the chain. The situation has led to some disquiet among senior staff, who were not given a pay rise at the same time as their junior colleagues when the National Minimum Wage rose to £7.83 an hour.”