[contextly_auto_sidebar id="CRRqStIBmpYdmSguLgIo8y1dooOQBZsV"] ONE of the several nice things about conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen being back more solidly in Los Angeles, where he has a post with the LA Phil, is the steady infusion of strong new or modern music from Scandinavia, a region which has been on a roll for the last few decades. Last night I saw a Salonen-conducted concert at Walt … [Read more...]
Was Beethoven a Bad Influence?
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="BuXkCBK03a5HewprMNjDnGKXPBsl6eH9"] A FASCINATING Alex Ross story in the New Yorker looks at the incredible impact of Beethoven -- has any artist reshaped his art form more? -- and then acts if he has kept music from evolving. Here's Ross on Ludwig van: He not only left his mark on all subsequent composers but also molded entire institutions. The professional … [Read more...]
Was Adorno Right?
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="6oJMFpFGim9R2BdzLisDHKzhOIShkqfL"] I WANT to go back for a minute to Alex Ross's wonderful piece, "The Naysayers," on the Frankfurt School. Ross drifts between interpretations here, but he comes up with a very resonant description of what's gone wrong with our culture over the last few decades: If Adorno were to look upon the cultural landscape of the twenty-first … [Read more...]
Do Adorno and Benjamin Still Speak to Us?
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="BzVPwGiB459dyUluIjJVpzR7FI0D0eim"] THERE's an excellent Alex Ross essay in the latest New Yorker on the Frankfurt School and the rise and fall and perhaps rise again of its reputation. Ross leads this way: In Jonathan Franzen’s 2001 novel, “The Corrections,” a disgraced academic named Chip Lambert, who has abandoned Marxist theory in favor of screenwriting, goes to … [Read more...]
The Sad State of New Music
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="U0Diha6KNzqSf3E00pDolCNSLLKJwBcT"] THESE days I'm working on a series about commissioning new music -- and some of the news is good, offering more and different kinds of options to composers and audiences alike. But this Guardian piece recounting a survey of British composers reminds me how complex, wide-ranging and sometimes depressing the field of composing … [Read more...]
Alex Ross on the Physicality of Music
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="exXEgyg9vY0GhSt0xuo4Eqn9fO25Opza"] THE New Yorker's classical music critic is one of the least stodgy and most forward-looking of writers; he got in on blogging early and thinks classical music and digital technology are natural allies. But even he has reservations about the disappearance of records and CDs into the cloud. His new piece, about "The pleasures and … [Read more...]
Blue Music Group Pulls its Catalog from Spotify
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="Uqn0HoBDq7i0Zz0DVOVaIArJE9kt6RIf"] A FEW weeks ago I wrote about the difficulties the new regime of streaming were creating in jazz and classical music, and quoted one of the heads of the avant-garde Pi Recordings on how the label had chosen to take its music off Spotify, since the rates were so bad and cutting into their sales. He was glad he'd done it. The Blue … [Read more...]
Jazz and Classical Musicians vs. Streaming
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="Q0kRrypSZofvO7Cl0jQKoVvntfv83bix"] WE'RE starting to hear a lot from musicians about how music streaming destroys their ability to make a living. So far, it's been harder to find out how it's affecting jazz and classical music. I tried to get into the subject with a new story for Salon. I speak to a number of musicians (including pianist Jason Moran) and … [Read more...]
The Trouble With Opera
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="wZSGDJOmSbhvFKacaUaPFIlOS5DNnjBE"] IS it more prominent than ever, or disappearing from American eyes and ears? It may be some of both, in a time in which opera is played in movie theaters and opera companies struggle to survive. An aptly ambivalent story by Mark Swed in the Los Angeles Times looks at the strange predicament of American opera in 2014. Things were … [Read more...]
A Dissent on “The Classical Style”
AS I posted the other day, this year’s Ojai Music Festival was full of good stuff. But there was one piece that frustrated me: The new opera, The Classical Style, which was for many the highlight of the weekend. Why did it drive me crazy? The Classical Style: An Opera (of Sorts) is the first opera commissioned in the seven-decade history of the festival; it’s based on a well-regarded book by … [Read more...]