Guido's Hand

Huang Ruo (OC '00) Sings His Top Five Favorite Chinese Folk Songs

noreply@blogger.com (conlib) — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 20:47:00 +0000

Huang Ruo (OC class of 2000), has written works for every conceivable format including orchestra, chamber ensemble, piano and the opera stage. While he employs Western instruments and techniques he also edited the anthology Selection of Classic Chinese Folk Songs. Read more

Garbage Pickup Announced with Classical Music!

noreply@blogger.com (conlib) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 15:33:00 +0000

Garbage trucks in Taiwan have a curious way of announcing their presence: by loudly playing classical music standards like Beethoven’s Für Elise. It’s not unlike the bleating of ice cream trucks in the US every summer, universally recognized and calling people out of their homes and to the curb.

Although this has been going on for some time, it recently came to wider attention as several videos began appearing online.

The musical garbage truck scheme began in the 1980s when Taiwan's Environmental Protection Administration was seeking a novel way to eliminate the vermin and odors that plagued the country's designated outdoor public trash disposal areas. This way, residents are notified to bring their rubbish directly to the trucks and the trash never touches the ground (unlike Mister Softee trucks, which seem to appear out of nowhere on hot summer days, the musical garbage trucks run on a set schedule). More

Classical Music Played on Stricken Italian Cruise Ship

noreply@blogger.com (conlib) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 15:29:00 +0000

According to its Web site, Costa Concordia offered nightly Broadway-style shows, singers, acrobats and musicians playing everything from the latest popular dance hits to -- believe it or not -- classical music. It’s unclear if any classical performances were taking place at the time of the accident but several online videos show what appears to be a violin recital in the ship’s Atene Theater, its three-story, 800-seat venue. Read more

Violinist Joshua Bell: 'French Impressions,' Yesterday And Today

noreply@blogger.com (conlib) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 15:11:00 +0000

When Joshua Bell was 21, he recorded an iconic piece of chamber music for piano and violin — the Sonata in A major by Cesar Franck. Today, Bell is 44 and he's recorded it again. It's on his new album, French Impressions, with pianist Jeremy Denk. Read more and listen to the NPR story.

Digital downloads overtake physical music sales in the US for first time

noreply@blogger.com (conlib) — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 16:45:00 +0000

Ten years after Steve Jobs promised to reinvent the music industry with the iPod, digital downloads have overtaken physical sales of singles and albums for the first time in the US.

Digital downloads accounted for a record 50.3% of all music sales in the US last year, according to an annual report by Nielsen and Billboard, contributing to a rise in total album sales for the first time since 2004.

The report shows digital album sales passed the 100m mark for the first time in 2011, as London-born Adele dominated the US charts. Individual digital track downloads also set a new record, reaching 1.27bn sales last year – an increase of 100m sales compared to 2010.

However, while music fans flocked to the internet in record numbers, the report shows that vinyl also had something of a resurgence. Vinyl album sales topped 3.9m last year, accounting for a tiny 1.2% of all album sales but shattering the previous record of 2.8m LP sales.

Total US digital sales were up 8.4% year on year in 2011, while physical sales fell 5% to 228m. Read more

Double-Blind Violin Test: Can You Pick The Strad?

noreply@blogger.com (conlib) — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 16:24:00 +0000

In the world of violins, the names Stradivari and Guarneri are sacred. For three centuries, violin-makers and scientists have studied the instruments made by these Italian craftsmen. So far no one has figured out what makes their sound different. But a new study now suggests maybe they aren't so different after all.

OK, here's a test. Clip one is a musical phrase from Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto in D Major. Clip two is the same phrase. The same musician plays both. But one is on a Stradivarius violin, the other on a violin made in 1980. See if you can tell the difference. Listen and Read Here!

Operatic Drinking Songs

noreply@blogger.com (conlib) — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 16:54:00 +0000

With one of the year's biggest drinking holidays just behind us, it seems appropriate to take a look at operatic drinking songs. WQXR in New York has done just that. Enjoy! Read the list and watch the video clips here.

Top Five Special Anniversaries of 2012

noreply@blogger.com (conlib) — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 16:48:00 +0000

Adios, Liszt and Mahler. With the New Year comes a new group of top composers (and one piece) that will be marking major milestones this year:

1. Claude Debussy
2. John Cage
3. Conlon Nancarrow
4. Philip Glass
5. Schoenberg's Pierrot Lunaire

Read more here.

Visual Violinist Hahn-Bin is clearly out to define himself on his own terms

noreply@blogger.com (conlib) — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 15:15:00 +0000

Hahn-Bin, the eyeliner-wearing Juilliard-trained violinist, debuted his original production Till Dawn Sunday last Tuesday night at Joe’s Pub. Accompanied on stage by his longtime pianist, John Blacklow, with occasional (non-musical) cameos by the actor Peter Samelson, Hahn-Bin performed 16 works by nearly 20 composers including Piazzolla, Liszt, Gershwin and Ravel.

A conventional violin recital, this was not.

The program note for Till Dawn Sunday includes a mock obituary from The New York Times. According to the obituary, Hahn-Bin committed suicide after the murder of his ex-lover; the title reads “Hahn-Bin, The World’s Saddest Clown, Dies at 24.” The production (which repeats on Dec. 13), is loosely based on one Saturday night in Bin’s life, while he was preparing for his debut at Carnegie’s Zankel Hall, and living on the Lower East Side. While sometimes difficult to follow, it is told through sequenced musical performances and a few lines of monologue. Read More

Copland and gay and the Republicans and ...

noreply@blogger.com (conlib) — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 15:37:00 +0000

From Copland's FBI file. Click to enlarge.

A few days ago, I mentioned a musical irony undercutting an odious new TV ad by Rick Perry, the Texas governor and presidential aspirant. While Perry bemoans the fact that openly gay men and women are now allowed to serve in the American armed forces, the soundtrack gestures toward the "Americana" style of Aaron Copland, and in particular his immortal Appalachian Spring. You can see what I mean by comparing the ad itself — if anyone has moral qualms about accumulating hits for Gov. Perry, there is the option to vote "dislike," as more than half a million people have already done — to the opening and closing sections of Appalachian Spring. This observation is now making the rounds, although it's been somewhat distorted in the process: the music is not by Copland, although it certainly attempts to get close. More

Time ... to return your library materials!

noreply@blogger.com (conlib) — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 15:34:00 +0000

Library materials that students have been using for the semester are officially due on December 15, 2011. These do not include shorter-term loan materials such as OhioLINK, ILL, reserve, periodicals, and recordings which have their own specific due dates. You can see everything you have checked out to you, and when it is due, by viewing your library record.

We recognize that some of you need to keep using your material through exams -- if this is the case, you may keep your semester-loan materials (books and scores due on December 15) until you have finished with them.

Many materials are renewable starting on December 12; please read our advice about renewing materials.

Finally, remember to be sure you return all the parts for chamber music!!

All the best at this busy time!

Composer Scammed for $20M

noreply@blogger.com (conlib) — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 19:15:00 +0000

WHITE PLAINS, NY –

A wealthy musician lost $20 million over six years to scammers who persuaded him - after finding a virus on his computer - of threats against him coming out of Central America, Opus Dei and the CIA, a prosecutor said Tuesday.

Westchester District Attorney Janet DiFiore said a Chappaqua man was indicted last week in a scam targeting Roger Davidson, a pianist and composer from Katonah, a small town north of New York City. Davidson is founder and president of the Society for Universal Sacred Music. His great-grandfather and great-uncle founded the oil services company Schlumberger Ltd.

The district attorney said Vickram Bedi, 37, was arraigned Tuesday on a charge of grand larceny. His computer services business in Mount Kisco was also indicted. Bedi pleaded not guilty and was held on $5 million bail. Read more

City Opera Seeks Federal Mediator

noreply@blogger.com (conlib) — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 14:58:00 +0000

Nearly a week after declaring an impasse in negotiations with its orchestra and chorus, New York City Opera is looking into getting a federal mediator involved. Dan Batchelder, the company's principal trumpeter, is encouraged by that move.

"We think it's a very positive, hopeful sign," he said. "We had offered mediation last month, and management wasn't interested in that. So now it sounds as though management may have re-examined their options and they're interested in coming to a deal, and that's all pretty good." More

The Worst Classical Album Covers Of All Time. Ever. Really.

noreply@blogger.com (conlib) — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 12:34:00 +0000

From KUSC Blog:

Recently I received a copy of the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s latest CD, The Greatest Video Game Music, in the mail. The cover art features a soldier in full military garb playing a flaming cello against the backdrop of a vast war-torn wasteland. There's a lot more here!

Philip Glass spoke to an Occupy Wall Street demonstration at Lincoln Center

noreply@blogger.com (conlib) — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 15:03:00 +0000

From Alex Ross: The Rest Is Noise

As promised, Philip Glass spoke to an Occupy Wall Street demonstration at Lincoln Center tonight, after a performance of Satyagraha at the Met. The protest, which was directed not at the opera itself but at a certain disparity between its lofty moral message and the machinery of corporate arts funding, got under way during the third act; police cleared everyone from the plaza, loitering music critics included (I had gone to the Mahler Tenth at the New York Philharmonic), and so the crowd assembled on the sidewalk at the foot of the steps. When the Satyagraha listeners emerged from the Met, police directed them to leave via side exits, but protesters began encouraging them to disregard the police, walk down the steps, and listen to Glass speak. Hesitantly at first, then in a wave, they did so. The composer proceeded to recite the closing lines of Satyagraha, which come from the Bhagavad-Gita (after 3:00 in the video above): "When righteousness withers away and evil rules the land, we come into being, age after age, and take visible shape, and move, a man among men, for the protection of good, thrusting back evil and setting virtue on her seat again." More

Symphony Goers, Start Your Smart Phones

noreply@blogger.com (conlib) — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 14:29:00 +0000

To Tweet or Not to Tweet.

It’s a question that has confronted a number of American orchestras as they try to connect with a population more accustomed to getting information from the touch of a button on smart phones than through things like program books and pre-concert lectures.

Now the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra has established "TweetSeats," a section of Music Hall in Cincinnati where audience members can bring out their iPhones, Androids and tablets and Tweet along with the music.

Patrons who sit in this special section can use a hashtag -- #CinSym – to engage with others during the concert and better share the experience. During its latest installment, on Thursday night, some 10 to 15 Twitter users sat in their own Tweet section while the orchestra’s assistant conductor Will White and associate conductor Robert Trevino also sent out messages about the music they were hearing from backstage. Read More

Job Opening - Reference Assistant - Conservatory Library

noreply@blogger.com (conlib) — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 20:36:00 +0000

Job Opening - Student Assistant for Jazz Collections - Conservatory Library

noreply@blogger.com (conlib) — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 15:27:00 +0000

CON LIBRARY JOB
Student Assistant for Jazz Collections

APPLICATION DEADLINE: Monday Dec 12, 2011
START DATE: winter term or spring semester
HOURS: minimum of 6 hours/week. More can be assigned.
PAY RATE: $7.70/hour

RESPONSIBILITIES:

Assist with inventorying and digitizing the recently-arrived Neumann jazz collection (ca. 40,000 LPs, ca. 5,000 78s, and hundreds of jazz and blues periodicals).
Special projects as needed.

QUALIFICATIONS:

Willingness to ask questions, to continue learning and growing with the job, and to accept increasing responsibility.
Reliability and punctuality.
Favorable references.
Ability to handle meticulous and detailed work independently and with accuracy. A short proofreading test will be given at time of interview.
Knowledge of jazz and/or recording technologies desirable.
Familiarity with word processing, data entry, and spreadsheet development desirable.

Applications are available at the Conservatory Library Circulation Desk.
Leave completed applications (attn. Jeremy Smith) in the box marked “Completed Applications.”

Questions? Contact Jeremy Smith: jeremy.smith@oberlin.edu ~ 775-5181

Oberlin College Library actively seeks a diverse student staff.
Oberlin College is an affirmative action, equal opportunity employer

A Mysteriously Lost Sibelius Symphony Emerges

noreply@blogger.com (conlib) — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 14:12:00 +0000

In a new video featuring the Helsinki Philharmonic, sketches of what are believed to be Jean Sibelius's mysteriously unfinished Eighth Symphony are heard for the first time in history.

Sibelius scholars may never get their answer to the question: "What happened to the Eighth Symphony?" Left unfinished, the manuscripts were assumed to have burned in an infamous fire at the composer’s home. But hundreds of pages of sketches by Sibelius exist in the Finnish National Library, including a significant amount from the time period when Sibelius was known to be working on his illusive Eighth. Read More

Boston Symphony Announces 75th Anniversary Season at Tanglewood

noreply@blogger.com (conlib) — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 14:11:00 +0000

One of the most storied concerts in the history of the Tanglewood Festival took place on Aug. 12, 1937, when a violent thunderstorm broke out at the beginning of an all-Wagner program by the Boston Symphony. As rain poured on the enormous canvas tent under which the musicians played, even the Ride of the Valkyries couldn’t compete, and the concert was stopped several times. By the end, the tent was in tatters, audiences were soaked and the orchestra resolved to build a permanent shed, which stands to this day.

On July 21, 75 years later, the BSO will reproduce the program during the latest edition of the Tanglewood Music Festival -- though “hopefully without the storm,” said Mark Volpe, the orchestra’s managing director in an interview. The concert will be one of many special events planned for the 75th anniversary season, which runs from June 22 to Sept. 2 in the Berkshire Hills of western Massachusetts. Read More

Broadway's Porgy and Bess Drops New Happy Ending

noreply@blogger.com (conlib) — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 14:06:00 +0000

The forthcoming Broadway production of The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess has dropped plans for a new happy ending, following public criticism from composer Stephen Sondheim.

In August, the creative team behind the show described making significant changes to the 1935 opera in the hope of reframing it for a contemporary Broadway audience. That included punching up some dialogue, inventing new biographical details and adding a final scene that indicated that sought to lessen the ambiguity about whether Porgy and Bess would be reunited. Read more

Red flag: Louisville Orchestra looking for nonunion players

noreply@blogger.com (conlib) — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 16:48:00 +0000

The embattled Louisville Orchestra, which has filed for bankruptcy and canceled its entire season through December, is seeking replacements for its union musicians. Despite mediation, the management and musicians failed to come to an agreement by the Oct. 31 deadline. Management was asking to reduce the size of the orchestra from 71 to 50 players, and for other concessions. More

Beethoven Workout Mix

noreply@blogger.com (conlib) — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 11:59:00 +0000

In celebration of the New York City Marathon and WQXR's Beethoven Awareness Month, they created a mixtape to get you over the finish line - or just through your daily workout. Listen here.

German Minister Combats Road Rage with Mozart

noreply@blogger.com (conlib) — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 15:53:00 +0000

BERLIN –

Germany's transport minister is sharing one of his own stress-reducers - the slow movements of Mozart's piano concertos - with drivers in hopes the soothing music will help reduce road rage on the nation's autobahn freeways.

A new CD called "Adagio in the Automobile" features Transport Minister Peter Ramsauer playing part of Mozart's Piano Concerto Nr. 21 accompanied by the orchestra of Berlin's Deutsche Oper. More

For Top Salaries in Classical Music, Head to Los Angeles

noreply@blogger.com (conlib) — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 15:50:00 +0000

In the worst case scenario, a poorly-managed orchestra cuts musicians' pay to compensate for budgetary shortfalls. In the best case scenario, you are the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

Newly available tax returns reveal the generous compensation the Los Angeles Philharmonic awards its top artistic and chief executives: Gustavo Dudamel and Deborah Borda, respectively. The numbers were reported by the Los Angeles Times. More