As several high-profile newspapers and magazines have forced out or reassigned their classical music critics, a predictable discussion has ensued about the future of criticism. “Classical music is already riled by fears of aging, declining audiences and an increasingly marginal role in American society: curiously enough, the same worries afflicting newspapers, which are cutting costs and trying to grope their way in the multimedia world.”
Tag: 06.09.07
Hey, It Beats All-Day Muzak
When Center City Philadelphia’s department store, Wanamaker’s, was bought out, first by Hecht’s and then Macy’s, music aficionados worried that the store’s famous (and famously incongruous) pipe organ would be seen as an unnecessary frill. But Macy’s has embraced the unusual tradition of the in-store organ, and this year, the company allowed “devotees of the instrument [to] put in 61 more pipes and [gave] them thousands more square feet to set up an organ repair shop.”
Italian Prosecutors Looking Beyond True, Hecht
Prosecutors in the art trafficking trial of Getty Museum trustee Marion True and antiquities dealer Robert Hecht have been following a strategy of “calling attention to collectors, especially well-heeled Americans, with the implicit message that every player in the global antiquities trade is within their sights… The tactic has infuriated defense lawyers, whose objections became so heated on Friday that Judge Gustavo Barbalinardo decided to suspend the proceedings until tempers cooled.”
Venice Welcomes The King of… Elgaland?
“There are officially 77 countries taking part in this year’s Venice Biennale, shipping in crates of their most eye-catching art. But unbeknownst to most of the thronging crowds, there is a 78th nation involved (a kingdom, to be precise), one that does not show up on any of the lists… It bears the unwieldy name of the Kingdoms of Elgaland-Vargaland, and they exist primarily in the minds of two dour, funny middle-aged artists from Stockholm.”
Ordering Up A Rockwell & Coke
Back in the 1920s, the Coca Cola Company commissioned six paintings from Norman Rockwell that became part of the soft drink maker’s legendary positioning of itself at the heart of traditional Americana. But after the ads ran, Coke lost track of three of the original paintings. Now, it’s hoping to find them and buy them back.
Nothing Wrong With A Bit Of Wishful Thinking
Reviews of the new comedy, Knocked Up, have been largely positive, and yet, a significant number of reviewers and commentators have taken issue with yet one more movie in which a drop-dead gorgeous woman falls for a guy best described as homely. Peter Howell fails to understand why this plot device irritates so many: “If you’ve spent any time at all on this Earth, you know that all kinds of couplings are possible. You also know that women are generally far more forgiving of a man’s failings than men are of women’s foibles, especially in the looks department.”
Extreme Gore No Longer Scoring With Moviegoers
“Call it a market correction. Call it a slump. Call it audience fatigue with a subpar rash of crazed killers, wanton vampires and jiggling coeds, but horror, one of Hollywood’s enduring staples, is tanking.”
Opera For All (And They Mean It)
Boston has a new opera company, with a different sort of mission. “The impulses that underlie the organization are squarely democratic: They are committed to making opera accessible to all, and not just artistically… Productions will be either free or inexpensive,” and shows will be scaled down to a chamber-style performance that fits in a more casual space, featuring an accompanying orchestra that may be no larger than a string quartet.