Tag: 04.28.20

This Company Is Making LPs Using Actual 1960s Technology

The albums released by London-based Electric Recording Co., “assembled by hand and released in editions of 300 or fewer — at a cost of $400 to $600 for each LP — are made with restored vintage equipment down to glowing vacuum-tube amplifiers, and mono tape systems that have not been used in more than half a century. … Even its record jackets, printed one by one on letterpress machines, show a fanatical devotion to age-old craft.” – The New York Times

One Berkshires Theater Is Going Ahead With Its Summer Season — In A Very Careful, Socially Distanced Way

“The Barrington Stage Company, … responding to the coronavirus pandemic, will give up the ambitious musical productions for which it is known (it’s the birthplace of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee). Instead, it will concentrate on one-person shows, and stage a play in which the central relationships are so strained that social distancing will not be a stretch.” 70% of the seats will be removed, as will intermissions (no mingling), and audience members must wear masks. – The New York Times

Performers And Presenters Game Out Various Reopening Scenarios (Some Of Them Quite Pricey)

With both the timing and the conditions of the return of live performances uncertain, organizations are considering numerous possibilities, from outdoor shows (free or ticketed) with spectators carefully spaced apart to playing in half-full halls (but what about box office and bathroom lines?) to booking in-high-demand artists in smaller (and half-empty) venues and charging hundreds of dollars for the few tickets. – The Washington Post

Just For This Year, Oscars Will Relax Rule That Contenders Must Be Shown In Theaters

“During a meeting on Tuesday, the [Academy’s] board of governors approved a temporary hold on the requirement that a film needs a seven-day theatrical run in a commercial theater in Los Angeles County to qualify for the Oscars. Instead, films will be allowed to be released digitally without playing in theaters. However, … to be considered, the streamed film must have already had a planned theatrical release.” – Variety

Simone De Beauvoir Has A New Novel Coming Out

Yes, she’s been dead for 34 years. She started writing the book, titled The Inseparables and based on her best friend (who died at 21), in 1954, the year she won the Prix Goncourt for The Mandarins and five years after she published The Second Sex. Jean-Paul Sartre, her partner, was unimpressed with the novel, and de Beauvoir put it aside. Scholars wondered what had happened to it; turns out she had kept the manuscript and typescript in her archives. – The New York Times

Cellist Lynn Harrell, 76

“Over the course of his wide-ranging career, Harrell performed as a soloist with just about every major orchestra in the U.S. and Europe. Within the classical music world, Harrell was also widely beloved as a generous chamber music colleague, a respected teacher and a musician’s musician.” – NPR

James Weaver, Period-Instrument Pioneer And Founder Of Smithsonian Chamber Players, Dead At 82

He was part of the first generation of American musicians to work seriously on the revival of historical keyboard instruments and their repertoire. He used the Institution’s instrument collection for both solo work and to start one of the first professional Baroque-instrument groups in the U.S., the Smithsonian Chamber Players (1976), and expanded into the Classical era with the launch of the Smithson String Quartet and the Smithsonian Chamber Orchestra. – Early Music America

Discovery At World’s Oldest Temple Suggests Prehistoric Humans Understood Geometry

“[Archaeologists’] study of the three oldest stone enclosures at Göbekli Tepe” — a site in present-day Turkey whose monoliths are thought to be 11,500 years old — “has revealed a hidden geometric pattern, specifically an equilateral triangle, underlying the entire architectural plan of these structures. … Thus, thousands of years before the invention of writing or the wheel, the builders of Göbekli Tepe evidently had some understanding of geometric principles and could apply them to their construction plans.” – Haaretz (Israel)

Jennifer Schantz Is New Director Of The NY Public Library’s Performing Arts Collection

Schantz, 51, currently the executive vice president and chief operating officer at the New-York Historical Society, will take up the position in May. She succeeds Jacqueline Davis, who has led the library for two decades. The performing arts library, located in Lincoln Center, is one of the New York Public Library’s four research divisions, with a collection of some 8 million items that extend far beyond books to include manuscripts, photographs, scores, ephemera, sheet music, stage designs, costume designs, video and film. – The New York Times