Slipped Disc

Family secrets: ‘My mother was the concertmaster’s lover’

Norman Lebrecht — Thu, 23 May 2013 10:52:38 +0000

Our friend Mary Finnigan sent us an email asking if anyone might want some pristine 78 discs of Vaughan Williams’s The Lark Ascending, played in the 1950s by Reginald Stead, leader of the BBC Northern Orchestra. We wondered how she came by them. This is Mary’s richly human reply: Reggie Stead was one [...]

A second musical giant is mourned in France

Norman Lebrecht — Thu, 23 May 2013 10:35:14 +0000

Georges Moustaki is gone. He was 79. I tried to record him two years ago for a BBC documentary about Barbara, whose lover he had been, but he sent messages back to say he was not well enough. He had turned a little shy with the passing of years. Egyptian born, to Greek-Jewish parents, Sarah and [...]

French prime minister pays tribute to late composer

Norman Lebrecht — Thu, 23 May 2013 07:37:44 +0000

A beautiful, personal statement has been posted on the French Goverment’s website: Jean-Marc Ayrault, Premier ministre, a appris avec une grande émotion le décès d’Henri Dutilleux. Né à Angers en 1916, Henri Dutilleux a traversé le XXème siècle et le début du XXIème siècle avec la profondeur et la légèreté d’une œuvre qui incarna [...]

A cello bow going…. for $175,000

Norman Lebrecht — Thu, 23 May 2013 07:10:35 +0000

It’s on ebay, and the pedigree is good: “a very rare, superb French certified cello bow by Francois Xavier Tourte, ca.1820“. But for how much? The price of a small house in the country.

At Bayreuth’s birthday bash, why so few women?

Norman Lebrecht — Thu, 23 May 2013 06:59:50 +0000

Our scout at the Wagner Bicentenary Concert in Bayreuth yesterday was so bored that he took to counting the number of women in the Festival Orchestra. Not many. Eleven were listed in the programme, but there were never more than seven on stage. The ensemble was drawn from all the best German orchestras. Quality? No [...]

Wagner’s score for Rule, Britannia is now online

Norman Lebrecht — Thu, 23 May 2013 06:34:24 +0000

The British Library has digitised its Wagner manuscripts and put them online. Among the little-seen treasures are an 1836 Polonia overture, written for defeated nationalists, and a Rule Britannia theme, submitted to the Royal Philharmonic Society in 1837 but turned down for performance. The reason? ‘It is written on a Theme which is here considered common [...]

Salzburg climbdown: Pereira gets budget boost, stays til 2016

Norman Lebrecht — Thu, 23 May 2013 06:18:55 +0000

Across the table, the Mayor blinked first. Alexander Pereira had planned on spending 61.5 million Euros in summer 2014. The city ordered him to stick at 60m. Pereira said he’d quit, possibly for the gaping vacancy at La Scala. Yesterday, the city backed down. Pereira will see out his contract up to 2016, but there’s [...]

New video: orchestra plays Carmen overture… on mobile phones

Norman Lebrecht — Wed, 22 May 2013 18:23:13 +0000

It’s a stunt organised by a couple of banks in Prague. No musical interest whatsoever. The conductor is our old Liverpool pal Libor Pesek.

Anyone know this ex-billionaire riding the New York subway?

Norman Lebrecht — Wed, 22 May 2013 18:04:24 +0000

Clue: he once gave $30 million to the Metropolitan Opera. picture (c) Lebrecht Music & Arts

Dutilleux: A Paris photographer’s memories

Norman Lebrecht — Wed, 22 May 2013 17:45:05 +0000

Marion Kalter, who works with Lebrecht Music & Arts, has blogged up some of her most intimate images of the late composer right here.