All Entries in the "Weighing In" Category

Just In Case You Were Wondering

A *hmmm I wonder* that turned into a 3-hour Excel love-in:
The stats are too incomplete at present to give absolutes for the top twenty but the top five pieces played by League of American Orchestra members from 2000/01 to 2005/06 [the last season for which stats are available] are:

Beethoven—-Symphony 7 — 288 times
Beethoven— [...]

Alexander Neef New COC Director

The Canadian Opera Company have been looking for a new general director since the much-loved Richard Bradshaw died unexpectedly in August 2007. This morning, the COC announced that German-born Alexander Neef, currently the casting director at the Opera Nationale de Paris, has accepted the post.
Neef is just 34 years old but according to [...]

Discuss:

Music doesn’t fix poor kids, the people that teach them do.
Spark

‘He Could Play A Ukelele And Make It Sound Like A Stradivarius’

It’s backwards day at The Guardian. Arts critics report on various sporting events while their counterparts head off to see the opera, symphony, a modern dance show, a pop concert and a contemporary sculpture exhibition.
Quite an interesting idea although their editor’s instructions to draw parallels is embraced with a little too much enthusiasm at [...]

‘Bile Flows More Easily Than The Milk Of Kindness’

Molly Flatt writes about books but her questions apply to reviewers of all stripes.
…why is it so difficult to “praise interestingly”? Despite our native savagery, surely there is nothing quite so pleasing as a balanced, sensitive and generous review that manages to capture the spirit of a beloved book? Maybe the problem is that the [...]

‘The Mind Of A Critic’

Miss Mussel has given much thought of late as to what exactly a critic’s role in the 21st century. Is it best to get out now and take up plumbing or is a brave new world awaiting just over the horizon? Does criticism even matter any more and if it doesn’t what’s [...]

Why Arirang Made Me Cry

[also appears in Friday's Arts Blog @ The Guardian]
Watching the NY Phil play the Korean folksong Arirang at the end of their concert in Pyongyang, North Korea was profoundly moving. I first heard the encore on the CNN website before seeing the concert in full last night via PBS feed but the effect was the [...]