Here's something I found in the July issue of Food and Wine magazine, a quote from chef Graham Elliot Bowles: I'm inspired by artists who use a limited palette, like painter Piet Mondrian and The White Stripes, two musicians who create an incredible sound. And the moral of this story? Maybe it's not so obvious. Or at least it's not obvious in the classical music world. We tend to think that classical music is serious musical art, and that because of that, it has a very special status. Meanwhile, out in real life, people find musical … [Read more...]

See Lisa's comment. Here's eighth blackbird on the cover of MUSO, looking pretty damn good:: … [Read more...]

In a comment on my last post, someone I respect says something that of course I should have expected--that MUSO, the magazine I praised, makes "classical music about the sex appeal of young performers." Now, that's not all the magazine does. As I pointed out, it supports new music, putting a composer and a new music ensemble on the covers of the two issues I've seen. But the comment isn't completely wrong. MUSO likes good-looking young classical musicians, which, when I think about it, is part of what I meant when I called it a "real" … [Read more...]

Everyone should know about  MUSO, "the music magazine that rewrites the score," to quote its own line about itself. Or, more simply, "the magazine for the younger, more open-minded generation of classical music fans." It's smart, lively, and most of all, it looks and reads like a real magazine, not like a dowdy classical music ingroup publication, tarted up to look contemporary. (Not convincingly, of course.) Here's one recent issue: The cover boy is Mason Bates, a composer and electronica DJ (and former student of mine at Juilliard). And … [Read more...]

For the most recent episode of my book, I'd promised something about how the finale of Mozart's Don Giovanni was partly improvised at the opera's premiere. And then I forgot to put that in the episode. I'm going to add it, but because it's such fabulous stuff, I thought I'd put it here in the blog, too. It comes from Thomas Forrest Kelly's book, First Nights at the Opera, and should be filed under the heading "How spontaneous classical music could be, before it became classical." Here's what Kelly writes: The famous finale of act 2, … [Read more...]

I'm happy to announce the ninth episode of the new version of my book on the future of classical music, online right now. In it you'll find some delightful details of performance practice in the past. Or maybe a better term would be performance non-practiced, since what I'm talking about is improvisation, which should sound spontaneous, rather than practiced (no matter how much work went into it). Here I'm continuing my portrait of classical music before the concept of classical music existed, and one key difference between then and now … [Read more...]

The following comes from Klaus Heymann, the founder and CEO of Naxos. Klaus posted it as a contribution to the ongoing debate about Allan Kozinn's New York Times piece, and I'm crossposting it here. It's important reading, since it's so full of details -- including financial particulars -- about how Naxos functions. I'm grateful that Klaus took so much time to write all this out. Dear Greg, I have been following your book episodes with great interest and I have also been reading your comments on Allan Kozinn's essay in the New York … [Read more...]

Here's a pithy and (I think) important comment from Joe Kluger, who ran the Philadelphia Orchestra for many years. He stepped down a year or so ago, and now works very happily as a consultant. He sent these thoughts to me as part of a private e-mail, and I'm posting them here with his permission. (I've also put it into the absorbing debate on Allan Kozinn's piece that's raging on one of my comments pages.) I agree with those on your blog who say that his premise and yours (or Noteboom's in Symphony?) are not mutually exclusive. I think … [Read more...]

We talk a lot about the age of the classical music audience. Generally people now assume it's always been (or at least for generations has been) more or less what it is now, 50 and up. That's what Allan Kozinn said it's been in the essay we're debating on one of my comments pages, and I can't blame him. After all, this is what everyone says. But is there any data to support this common view? I've never seen any. And in fact I've seen data that opposes it. Some years ago, I found a 1940 book that reports the results of a 1937 study of … [Read more...]

Here's something wonderful. There's now a spirited and very civilized debate about Allan Kozinn's New York Times piece, in the comments to my last post -- with Allan himself taking part. Allan's piece, if you haven't seen it, was the cover story in the "Arts & Leisure" section this past Sunday, and says that classical music has never been healthier. Obviously, that's not the view I take. I weigh in a few times (well, maybe more than a few times), in comments to the comments. But the best thing is Allan's own participation, which makes me … [Read more...]

A new episode of my book is online today. Again it's about classical music history, the part they might not teach in music school. I'm trying to establish that classical music wasn't always classical. And in this episode, when I get to Baroque opera, things get a little crazy. The next episode goes online on Monday, June 12. That one might be crazier still. Vivaldi went to extremes, improvising as he led performances of his operas! Mozart's singers improvised part of the Don Giovanni finale! Isn't scholarship wonderful? On June 26, I'll post … [Read more...]

I'm gratified by how many comments are coming in, and by how interesting they are. I have to say, with regret, that I'm not able to reply individually to each one, as I've tried to do with the comments on my book. I may not be able to respond to every book comment in the future, either. Precisely because I do much work on the future of classical music, my time is getting squeezed. I'm responding to many of the comments, though, if not most of them. And I'm grateful for all of them. I always learn a lot from everything that people say to me, … [Read more...]

It’s too late to stop pop and classical music from interbreeding. There’s just too much of it going on, and it goes way beyond the obvious, well-publicized crossovers (Ofra Harnoy putting out a CD of Beatles songs, Michael Bolton singing opera arias, etc., etc., etc., etc.). The good stuff has a real artistic edge. I’m thinking of Capital M, a New York rock band, which commissioned seven pieces from seven classical composers, and premiered them in March. I’m thinking of the Steve Reich remixes, by dance music DJs, that came out on Nonesuch … [Read more...]

A lot of people want classical concerts — both on stage and in the audience — to be livelier. Here’s some recent e-mail I’ve gotten on this subject, all of it wonderfully written, passionate, and of course quoted here with the writers’ permission. From Karen Pinzolo: I'd be very interested to understand, from a historical viewpoint, why I sit as an unembodied soul at a concert where the only hint of life is my chest rising and falling with each unconscious breath. When I listen to any other kind of music I can't help but sway, bob, and … [Read more...]

Mitsuko Uchida and Mark Steinberg play Mozart Violin and Piano Sonatas. The image says: Something’s going on here. These are people with something to say. Doesn’t matter whether the image evokes Mozart or not. The playing in fact is focused, inward, individual, sometimes sharp (with an edge), sometimes ferocious, not untroubled. So the image is accurate. It really does tell you — without words, without any thoughts it might be easy to name — why you want to hear this CD. … [Read more...]