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Has the Arts Council gone to war with the arts?

October 31, 2010 By

Early last week, hours after Arts Council England detailed its first wave of funding cuts, an anonymous polemic appeared on a generally respectable arts website. Under the headline 'who earns £630,000 at the Royal Opera House?' it unfurled a red carpet of top salaries in major arts institutions, contrasting them unfavourably with the relatively frugal wages earned by senior Arts Council staff. The figures were all available in public reports and none was … [Read more...]

10/31/10 6:57 PM | filed under: main |

Feeling blue? See a doctor in Turku

October 31, 2010 By

The Finnish town of Turku, Europe's Capital of Culture 2011, is moblising the medical profession to assist in arts promotion. Health centres in the city have been issued with 5,500 free tickets for events and doctors are being asked to give them out to patients who might be helped  by a good night out. The benefits have yet to be tested and there will be no scientific monitoring of results - does blood pressure drop during Sibelius 5? Is depression cured … [Read more...]

10/31/10 3:07 PM | filed under: main |

Mahler Chambler Orchestra goes on tour – without a note of Mahler’s

October 31, 2010 By

The much-praised Mahler Chamber Orchestra is heading off to South America for what is billed as 'a concert and educational tour'. A worthy enterprise, right? But look at the programmes and you won't find a single work by Gustav Mahler. It's all Haydn, Mozart, Schubert and Schnittke's little jokes - so why give it Mahler branding? And while we're talking brand confusion, what right does the MCO have to use Mahler's name? The only pieces Mahler wrote for chamber orchestra were … [Read more...]

10/31/10 10:02 AM | filed under: main |

Does the orchestra have a 21st century future?

October 27, 2010 By

This post comes to you live from Madrid, where the association of Sapinish orchestras is holding its first concerence. There are 27 professional orchestras in Spain and, despite economic vicissitudes, there is no immediate threat to their existence from what we have heard here. Yet, brightly as the sun might shine in autumnal Spain (and it does, it does), the clouds of cutbacks in Holland and Britain keep intruding on everyone's thoughts and presentations. An awareness is dawning … [Read more...]

10/27/10 12:17 PM | filed under: main |

You’ll never walkman alone, again

October 25, 2010 By

Sony have announced the end for one of its trademark inventions, the oh-so portable personal Walkman which ensured that we shall have music wherever we go. Two hundred million sales later, the machine has been rendered obsolescent and consigned to the Sony museum. Some may feel regreat at its passing. I, who tried out protoype models some 30 years ago, am happy to see it go without a sniff of regret - as I shall explain on the BBC World Service tonight. The Walkman, I once wrote, turned … [Read more...]

10/25/10 6:11 PM | filed under: main |

How much do we pay string quartets?

October 25, 2010 By

In the current issue of The Strad, I lift the lid on the finances of chamber music and expose a gruesome statistic: never have we had so many great string quartets surviving on less. To find out how poor the fees have become, you'll have to buy a copy of the magazine. But what amazes me is that this particular form of making music is flying in the face of economic truth. Money, or the lack of it, is not an incentive when it comes to playing string quartets. … [Read more...]

10/25/10 11:48 AM | filed under: main |

Public Lending Right is saved

October 22, 2010 By

UK Writers' organisations have just informed us that the levy paid to authors on the loan of their books from public libraries has been largely preserved from government spending cuts. The amount available for distribution will drop by 6.5 percent over four years - which is a good deal less than all other arts cuts. The shrinkage is from £7.5m now to £6.96m in 2014/5.  What will change is the administration of the fees. The PLR office is to be shut down and the moneys will be … [Read more...]

10/22/10 12:39 PM | filed under: main |

Mr Stephen Sondheim submits two anagrams

October 22, 2010 By

I've had an email from Mr Sondheim, submitting two self-anagrams. The first, which he credits to Jonathan Tunick, is Sondheim = He opens the mind. The other, anonymous, is: Sondheim = He pens demon hits.   Hmmmm. Other notable contributions to best composer anagrams, ever. From Jeremy Sams: Elgar is of course regal and often large. Haydn , being efficient is handy... But Mozart being all embracing is Mr a to z.   And from Lowell Liebermann: Camille Saint Saens = A Satanic Illness … [Read more...]

10/22/10 11:29 AM | filed under: main |

Two heads must roll to save the arts

October 22, 2010 By

I have written an analysis on Bloomberg this morning of the fallout from the British Government's epochal assault on arts provision, the biggest reversal in the history of arts funding. As the dust clears and the tears are dried, attention will focus on the institution that John Maynard Keynes founded for encouraging and sustaining the arts - the Arts Council of England. That body changed beyond recognition in the past 13 years from an independent mentoring organisation to an … [Read more...]

10/22/10 7:51 AM | filed under: main |

Best composer anagram, ever

October 21, 2010 By

I was chatting to the composer Helmut Lachenmann, prior to our gig on Sunday night, and in the course of discussing his impressions of Pierre Boulez he came up with the best anagram I have heard for any leading composer: Pierre Boulez = Berlioz Puree One reason this is so telling is that Boulez is very fond of using food metaphors. Maybe because he is one. Whatever, feel free to contribute your own composer anagram in the space below. Here's a few more to get you thinking: Seduce Busy … [Read more...]

10/21/10 4:36 PM | filed under: main |
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