Bliss, Brett Dean's opera on Peter Carey's novel, opened in Sydney amid a tide of patriotism for Australia's most important operatic venture in decades. The opera, put online by the ABC, could not be accessed outside Australia so I am forced to reply on the views of those who were there. Amid a flush of generally heated reviews, the careful Peter McCallum, in the Sydney Morning Herald, put the question that was on everyone's lips: was this really, at last, possibly, the Great … [Read more...]
Believe what you like
March 26, 2010 By
Courtney Love, widow of the late Kurt Cobain and supposedly 'the most controversial woman in the history of rock', has a powerful interest in Sir Edward Elgar's voyage to South America, in the New Economic Foundation, in Japanese pop music and in a movie about Lourdes. That, at any rate, is what we are meant to believe from the statement that Courtney Love is the guest editor of the Film and Music section of today's Guardian newspaper. These are the items that she chose for inclusion from … [Read more...]
No more Holy Molys
March 25, 2010 By
When the meditative music of Arvo Pärt and Henryk Mikolai Gorecki reached western ears in the early 1980s, it was tagged by the modernist establishment with the derogatory name of Holy Minimalism. The amount of derision piled into that conjunction is almost incalculable. 'Holy' meant that the two composers were the agents of organised religion, making a populist comeback under communist oppression. 'Minimalism' suggested that any originality in their works was derived by … [Read more...]
Lament for Lady Walton
March 23, 2010 By
Susana, widow of the composer William Walton, has died in the garden shrine she created in his memory at La Mortella, on the island of Ischia. She was 83. Walton was twice her age when they met a press conference in Buenos Aires in 1948 and their marriage was neither equal nor easy. In her memoir, Behind the Facade, Susana relates that he introduced her to all his past mistresses when they reached London and forced her to have an abortion when she fell pregnant. The act, illegal at the … [Read more...]
Lang Lang gets a partner
March 22, 2010 By
The Sony label, which paid $3 million to snatch Lang Lang from Deutsche Grammophon a few weeks ago, has swooped again to sign the violinist Ray Chen, winner of the latest Queen Elisabeth competition in Belgium. Chen, 21, was born in Taiwan, raised in Australia and schooled at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia. He is represented by the same CAMI management as Lang Lang and will play a limelight concert at the opening of the World expo in Shanghai, mainland China, this summer - … [Read more...]
The war has ended at Bayreuth
March 22, 2010 By
The death of Wolfgang Wagner, announced Sunday night, ends a post-war era at Bayreuth that was almost as unpleasant as the Nazism that preceded it. Wolfgang, with his brother Wieland, conspired in covering up the family's collaboration with Hitler, which included the operation of a small concentration camp in the grounds of the Bayreuth Festival. Any independent attempt to investigate Bayreuth's history was stamped on by the sitting heir, who ruled the estate single-handed for … [Read more...]
Waltzing off with an everlasting smile
March 21, 2010 By
The Vienna Philharmonic has posted a tribute to one of its oldest friends, Franz Mailer, the supreme authority on three-four steps and the works of the Strauss family. Mailer, who has died at the age of 90, attended the first New Year's Eve Concert in December 1939 under the directorship of Clemens Krauss and a large swastika banner and hardly ever missed a show after it moved to New Year's Day in 1941. For the last three decades of his life Mailer was responsible for helping the orchestra … [Read more...]
So who’s slashing artist fees?
March 19, 2010 By
In the second episode of my conversation with the strings world in The Strad magazine, I discuss what has been happening to musicians' fees in this third season of recession. The trend, as you'd expect, is sharply down, but how, where and by how much is more than a little interesting. The conversation is a private one and I am keeping it off-line. You can enter it by picking up a copy of The Strad in any music shop or subscribing for the longterm at www.thestrad.com. Word seems to be getting … [Read more...]
A Very Serious Jew
March 7, 2010 By
Before you sit down tonight to watch the Oscars, you may wish to sample the latest in-depth analysis of one of the outside contenders. A Serious Man, the Coen Brothers' account of second-generation immigrant alienation in the 1960s Midwest has already been subjected to more second-hand cogitation than its essentially light narrative can bear - a topic I discussed here when it came out on first release. But the film has now reached Israel and the critical responses there are not just … [Read more...]
News just in: Philip Langridge has died
March 6, 2010 By
The great English tenor, the outstanding Peter Grimes and Aschenbach of recent years, has succumbed to a rapid, aggressive cancer. He was 71. The last time I saw him was in Harrison Birtwistle's latest opera, The Minotaur, directed by Philip's son, Stephen Langridge. The show was totally dominated by John Tomlinson as the raging man-bull, but Philip's role as Hereus lives on in the memory as a perfect foil. He was seen most recently at the Met as the Witch in Handel and Gretel. Philip was … [Read more...]
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