Blog: Page 84

Leonard Slatkin responded via email (see yesterday’s blogpost) to my request for information about the article on his website. I have excerpted his comments: “The article was written the day after the Met[‘s recent production of] Tosca was trashed.   How come opera directors can get away with mangling the instructions from a composer, but the […]

The new Music Director of the Detroit Symphony, Leonard Slatkin, has been having a bit of fun lately. Maybe other orchestras will take up these measures as well, to give audiences an unusual concert-going experience. Tomorrow I’ll post Maestro Slatkin’s comments about his ideas.

The question keeps getting asked: should you play music to your unborn child to increase their intelligence? How about tapes of a 2nd language? There’s a whole industry out there that preys upon new parents–if you aren’t doing something for your child, you’re not doing enough. I find it ironic that classical music is often […]

This study proves far less than it claims to: In a report to be released on Monday the nonprofit Center for Arts Education found that New York City high schools with the highest graduation rates also offered students the most access to arts education. The report, which analyzed data collected by the city’s Education Department […]

A few years ago conductor Leonard Slatkin stated that John Williams had saved the orchestra. Why? Because at a time when Broadway shows were moving more and more toward the use of synthesizers and recorded music, Williams was writing film scores for large orchestras. Slatkin maintained that producers (and audiences) having Williams’ sounds in their […]

…although not for insider note trading, which is not yet illegal. Addressing the annual meeting of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association on Wednesday, [Riccardo Muti] revealed several initiatives he has planned with the orchestra once he settles into his new post in September 2010. And one of them involves at-risk youth. The most innovative is […]

Nazism was such an evil phenomenon that attributing any positive effects at all to its influence feels morally reckless. But a story like this is a reminder of how much vitality was brought to the classical music scene in North America by Jewish musicians who left Europe to escape war and genocide: A conversation with […]

I generally enjoy playing (and even listening to) Rachmaninoff – but I usually don’t respect myself the next morning for having done so. This week, though, might be different. We’re doing the Rachmaninoff third concerto (“Rock 3”, in tribal parlance) and the second symphony. I’m finding it makes a huge difference in how interesting Rachmaninoff […]

My favorite headline of all time was “Something went wrong in jet crash, experts say.” The headline and article below, while not reaching quite that level of sublime obviousness, is still strikingly… obvious: Economy took toll on symphony’s artistically bright year The economy has been playing the role of Scrooge, causing the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra’s […]

When we started the Polyphonic blog we said we’d have guest bloggers from time to time.  Well, the time is now.  For one week, beginning next Monday, October 19, Yvonne Caruthers will share some musical observations on our blog. Yvonne has been a cellist with the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington DC since 1978, and […]