This was supposed to be the summer that year-round TV programming took hold. No repeats, new series… “We’ve heard all these big grandiose announcements about the year-round programming and what a great strategy it is. We’ve seen no evidence to back up the rhetoric. In fact, we’ve seen quite the opposite.” CBS, the only network running reruns, is the only network doing well. “Midway through the summer season, CBS is the only major network to increase its number of total viewers, adding 3 percent to an average of 8.5 million.”
Tag: 07.21.04
Labor Truce For French Festivals
Last summer maajor French festivals were disrupted or canceled due to protests by labor unions. After worries about a repeat this summer, the festivals are underway in peace. “With the festival season now well under way, is it safe to assume the issue has gone away? Not entirely. This is a truce, rather than peace.”
Who’s In Line To Take Over Proms?
At the end of this summer’s Proms, Leonard Slatkin steps down as chief conductor. “It has been known for almost two years that Slatkin was going to leave, but no announcement has been made about his successor. The BBC is being cautious, aware of the fact that, with the appointment of Slatkin in 2000, it has been a case of married in haste, repent at leisure.”
Diving On A French Author/War Hero
“Antoine de Saint Exupéry was the author of ‘Le Petit Prince’ and, in France, a war hero. But 60 years after his mysterious death, the wreckage retrieved from his watery grave is threatening to destroy his reputation.”
Operatic Sex And Violence? Just A Passing Fad
Two opera productions in Berlin trade heavily in gratuitous sex and violence. Okay, so the theatres were full, even if the critical reception was outrage. But this is a fad that will pass. “Indeed, the quest for this kind of spectacle cannot last, if only because scandal is not a renewable resource. Whatever remaining taboos exist in the opera house can be broken only so many times before this approach becomes a parody of itself. That process may already have begun.”
The Miraculous Cleveland Orchestra
Why did such an amazing orchestra emerge in Cleveland? “From this once notoriously no-hope city has emerged one of the wonders of the world: an orchestra that displays none of the overt – or extrovert – characteristics of its US siblings, an orchestra whose sound – under current music director Franz Welser-Most, pictured – is so balanced, so luminous, so brilliantly pure, unanimous and gleaming that, at its best, it’s almost miraculous.”
Reconciling England’s Two Greatest Living Composers
“Sir Harrison Birtwistle and Sir Peter Maxwell Davies have known each other for almost half a century since they were friends at the Royal College of Music in Manchester – members of an illustrious group of students that included the composer Alexander Goehr and the pianist John Ogdon.” But 35 years ago they had a falling out, and haven’t spoken since. Now they meet again.
The Perfection Of Carlos Kleiber
“An undoubted perfectionist, Kleiber agreed to appear only when and where he felt like it. He was prone to cancel his appearances in a quite cavalier fashion, and refused to be tied to any one orchestra or opera house. No wonder, when he did appear, the man whom the New York Times once described as “the most venerated conductor since Arturo Toscanini” commanded attention and sold-out houses.”
Chicago’s Giant Bean
“Chicago has something new and unexpected in the heart of downtown: the Bean. Only a few days into the opening of Millennium Park, a mere four and a half years late, locals have taken their newest piece of public sculpture into their affections. The legume-shaped sculpture, a 110-ton hunk of highly polished steel, has been designed by Anish Kapoor, the Anglo-Indian sculptor. It is his first piece of public art in America, but remains unfinished.”