“Until very recently, artificial-intelligence researchers believed that modeling the mind was simply a matter of simulating rational cognition, an activity that was seen to be epitomized by strategical games such as chess and go — but over the past decade, computer scientists have come to understand that a virtual mind needs a virtual psychology. To “think” requires not just an ability to carry through a chain of logical inferences; it also requires a mental environment, or psychic context, in which such rationalizations can be given meaning.”
Tag: 07.21.05
Barenboim The Politician
Musicians don’t come much more Israeli than Daniel Barenboim. The pianist and conductor grew up in Tel Aviv, and has retained his citizenship even as his career took him around the world. “With such bona-fide Israeli credentials, you would hardly have expected Barenboim to become one of its government’s most conspicuous critics. Yet, like Menuhin before him, Barenboim’s questing mind ensures that his own considered opinions transcend mere political correctness… In 1999 he formed, against all odds, an orchestra made up by an equal number of young Arab and Israeli musicians… to demonstrate that, through music, it is possible for people from warring factions to co-exist peacefully. After six years of hard work, it is proving an overwhelming success, and that fact alone should convince politicians of the importance of music in education.”
La Scala To Replace Muti With A Platoon
“Italy’s venerable opera house, La Scala, will rotate through a roster of young conductors instead of replacing its former maestro, Riccardo Muti, who lead the company for 19 years. Stephane Lissner, La Scala’s new artistic director, says he’s in no hurry to replace Muti, who was ousted earlier this year along with top managers after an acrimonious strike by the theatre’s workers… Lissner said he would like to have a lineup of five or six conductors taking over the reigns for the next three years and mentioned the likes of Riccardo Chailly, Daniel Barenboim and Lorin Maazel.”
Seattle Opera Founder Dies
Glynn Ross, the founding general director of Seattle Opera, has died, aged 90, after suffering a stroke. “Ross, a former Golden Gloves fighter who grew up on a Nebraska farm, founded and ran Seattle Opera for two decades, and also developed its international calling card: regular productions of Wagner’s four-opera masterpiece, the ‘Ring’.”
But Would They Pay For It?
Classical music advocates are ecstatic over the news that the BBC’s free offer of downloadable Beethoven resulted in more downloads than any of the big pop stars currently topping the charts. But Andrew Dickson points out the flaw in that comparison: the Beethoven was free. Bono and The Beatles aren’t. The BBC is comparing a giveaway with purchased pop tracks. So the real lesson may be that people like free stuff.
McManus on Baltimore: It’s The Process, Stupid.
Drew McManus says that some critics, notably the Boston Globe‘s Richard Dyer, are not doing their research before sounding off on the Baltimore/Alsop controversy. “[Dyer] makes it seem as though the players are merely crying sour grapes at being outvoted in the search committee process… As the musician’s statement following the board’s vote on Tuesday said, they will work with any conductor who comes to Baltimore with equal skill and effort. They’re professionals, and that’s what pros do. Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean they aren’t allowed to have their own opinions and thoughts about the process their organization should use to determine their artistic leaders. To say otherwise is to reduce their contribution to the organization as a mere cog in a wheel, easily replaced and expendable.”
Critical Conversation: Critics Can’t Fix Everything
Does the classical music industry expect too much from the critics who cover it? “It asks for ‘constructive criticism’ which, in my experience, is merely a euphemism for good reviews. Then there are complaints that music critics here don’t engage with the music as much as they used to in the glory days… but the space for the single-event review has diminished drastically since their days. One can only look with envy at the column inches the New York Times and most of the big-hitting German daily papers still accord to important opera openings or headline concert events. But the fact is, surely, today, that fewer and fewer musical offerings are headline events.”
Chicago’s Architectural Mainstay
“In the vast pageant of Chicago architecture, Holabird & Root is in every scene. From the Beaux Arts to Art Deco, from the era of Louis Sullivan to that of Mies van der Rohe and beyond, Chicago’s most venerable architecture firm has been continually onstage, often in a leading role — rarely flashy but always rock-solid, durable and reliable… Although Holabird & Root was rarely an innovator (except in its pioneering use of materials such as steel skeletons and pre-cast concrete), it had a way of adapting to the prevailing styles of the day successfully enough to produce memorable, even iconic structures — such as the original Soldier Field — that defined Chicagoans’ ideas of what civic architecture ought to look like.”
Griswold To Minneapolis
The acting director and chief curator at L.A.’s J. Paul Getty Museum, who took his name out of the running for that museum’s permanent directorship three months ago, has been snapped up by the Minneapolis Institute of the Arts. William Griswold will take over as president and director of the MIA this fall. “The Minneapolis job is considered to be a plum because the museum, although smaller and less well-endowed than its counterparts in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles, has an enviable collection of paintings, drawings and decorative arts that are often sought for loan exhibitions around the world.”
Lapham Vs. Polanski, With Memory In The Balance
Harper’s magazine editor Lewis Lapham has taken the stand in fugitive filmmaker Roman Polanski’s libel case against Vanity Fair, retelling the story that led to the lawsuit in the first place. In the article in question, Polanski was said to have tried to seduce a young actress on the way to his wife’s funeral, offering to make her a star in exchange for sex. In court, Lapham remained firm in his memory of the incident, saying he wa “impressed by the remark [Polanski made to the actress], not only because it was tasteless and vulgar, but because it was a cliché.”