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MUSIC

The Two Pieces By George Crumb That Changed American Contemporary Classical Music

Both works were written in 1970, and both gained acclaim well beyond the tiny circles of new classical music at the time. One of them led to the birth of the Kronos Quartet, perhaps the first group to start making contemporary art music cool again. - Yahoo! (Los Angeles Times)

The Real Problem With Spotify (And It’s Not Rogan)

At its best, Spotify is an elegant tool—a conduit between artist and art and listener. But at its worst, it’s a bad actor in a worse industry that historically treats artists miserably. - The Atlantic

Why It’s Important To Listen To Old Recordings

Today, of course, technical perfection is an overriding concern.  But there are other aspects of performance practice today, some of which are wonderful but others I find distracting after comparing them to recordings of certain of my favorite musicians of the past. - Nightingale Sonata

Did COVID-19 Change American Opera? It Was Changing Already.

"For years now, opera has been in a sort of cocoon-like transition period as it explores new works and ways to move beyond its exclusionary history. Companies large and small around the country are emphasizing newer works and new ways of performing old works." - San Francisco Classical Voice

Thomas Dausgaard Is Out Of Another Job, And BBC Scottish Symphony Has A New Chief Conductor

The recently-departed music director of the Seattle Symphony hasn't been to Glasgow to conduct his other orchestra for nearly two years, and his contract there ends this August. So the BBC Scottish Symphony has gone ahead and announced Dausgaard's successor as chief conductor: Ryan Wigglesworth. - The Scotsman

Superstar Concert Ticket Prices Soar, Pricing Out Many

“Even with the inflated prices, I’m still going to go to gigs because music is what I live for. But working-class people are getting priced out of seeing the musicians they love.” - The Guardian

Spotify’s Real Problem: Unrealistic Ambition

What’s become increasingly clear in recent weeks is that the source of Spotify’s headaches isn’t Rogan. It is Spotify’s own corporate ambition to dominate the audio business — and keep investors happy — by reaching 1 billion users and 50 million “creators.” - Los Angeles Times

How Physics Shape Opera, And The Rest Of Reality

It's all about resonance. "A system’s natural frequencies depend on its intrinsic properties: For a flute, for instance, they are the frequencies of sound waves that exactly fit inside its cylindrical geometry." - Wired

What Could Possibly Account For The Popularity Of The Mediocre Movie Encanto And Its Soundtrack?

The Disney movie and its soundtrack, by Lin-Manuel Miranda, sit at the center of several global changes in media and music power. - The Atlantic

The Week When Not Only Spotify But A New NFT ‘Scam’ Infuriated Musicians

"For a few days this week, a new firm called HitPiece sold nonfungible tokens, or NFTs — pieces of code asserting ownership over a digital object — associated with thousands of musicians’ catalogs" - and, it seems, without permission. - Los Angeles Times

Spotify’s Pickle: It Needs Rogan And Music Lovers

Spotify’s business needs all the podcasters it can get. Especially ones like Mr. Rogan, who draws listeners by the millions. But the threat of popular musicians drawing listeners off the platform in protest of Mr. Rogan or any other controversial podcast content can’t be dismissed, either. - The Wall Street Journal

A World Without Spotify? Really?

As welcome as the protests are, they do not address the fundamental injustice of the streaming economy. - The New Yorker

How Your Culture Determines How You Hear Music

While commonalities certainly exist the differences were astounding. How could it be that Rossini’s humorous comic operas, which have been bringing laughter and joy to western audiences for almost 200 years, were seen by our Kho and Kalash participants to convey less happiness than 1980s speed metal? - The Conversation

The Black Fiddlers Of Monticello, Led By The Sons Of Sally Hemings

Beverly, Madison, and Eston Hemings seem to have inherited musical talent from both their mother and their enslaver/father, Thomas Jefferson, a lifelong violinist. The brothers and their cousins (descended from Sally's sister) formed a very popular dance band that lasted for several generations. - Early Music America

First International Orchestras In Two Years Return To Tour US

With their own instruments and evening clothes in hand, the Royal Philharmonic completed a 14-concert, nine-city U.S. tour on Monday night, the first international orchestra to play Carnegie since Feb. 24, 2020, a gap caused by the pandemic.  - Toronto Star

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