It’s not the music you necessarily associate with the Appalachians, but today the annual Moogfest kicks off in Asheville, North Carolina. Massive Attack will be there; so will Big Boi, and even a couple of members of Devo.
What’s a Moog? Why a Moogfest? Here’s a video:
Sophia Ahmad posted her wrap-up on the NEA’s Arts Journalism in Classical Music and Opera on the Des Moines Register website yesterday, a ten-day workshop with a couple of buddies of mine: Joe Horowitz and my colleague at Carnegie, Gino Francesconi.
If the takeaway was “Speak your mind, support it well,” I suggest that Ahmad–and all journalists–amend the mantra to include another line: “Expand your mind, and don’t stop learning.”
The Detroit News reported today that Detroit Symphony Orchestra management hired a lawyer to disuade local station WADL-TV from broadcasting a concert by striking musicians last weekend.
And the Wall Street Journal published a piece on the sad state of the Detroit orchestra. A few points stuck out for me that underscore just how out of touch everyone in that orchestra has been for years:
I was thinking of going to Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake’ at City Center, but then I read on NYTimes.com that the production was using recorded music. I can’t go for that. I really miss having a live band with dance.
As reported on dfw.com today, the Fort Worth Symphony contract negotiations are growing contentious. The musicians, who have been without a contract since August 1, silently protested management’s proposed cuts on stage last weekend, although most audience members probably missed its significance.
Stereogum pointed out just how often that Train song “Hey Soul Sister” has been used in commercials.
The sad orchestral situation in Detroit just got worse this past weekend, when Sarah Chang announced that, because of an outcry from striking Detroit Symphony musicians, she would not perform her recital scheduled for tonight. According to Mark Stryker in the Detroit Free Press, she also received offensive and threatening e-mails from the musicians’ supporters.
The musicians are publicly claiming that the cancelation shows that Chang is demonstrating her solidarity with them, but it sure looks like intimidation. And a missed chance to creatively make their case to the public (who, after all, are the donors and concertgoers that help pay their salaries).
Chang scheduled the recital when her appearances with the orchestra were canceled as a result of the strike. She wanted the money made off the concert to go to the musicians’ pensions fund, showing that she was at least a little sympathetic. Trying to enlist her as an ally–to pressure orchestra management, to make public comments; anything–would have been the way to go. Especially when, as Terry Teachout pointed out a while back, the DSO players need to convince people that it’s even worth having them around.
I went to a reception here in New York last night to publicize the release of the new documentary on the Louisville Symphony, Music Makes a City. I didn’t get much out of the event–it was a cheap night out for me and the mizz–except a couple of free beer. And some excellent hors d’oeuvres. They had these little hamburgers, which were really a little big to eat as finger food but were delicious, and some cheesy crackers that Vanessa really liked.
The documentary, which is showing here in New York City until the end of the week, looks promising, and should be a good way to get to know how this regional orchestra came to be a commissioning powerhouse in the second half of the 20th century, totally committed to performing and recording brand-new music.
Next week, the movie will play in Los Angeles. The LA Times has something on their Culture Monster blog.
The dynamic-pricing music website Amie Street is down for maintenance right now, and soon it will be down for good. Amazon has bought them out. They’ll be gone on September 22.
Amazon will keep the Amie Street team together to further develop the Songza streaming service, which Amie Street bought a couple of years ago.
Detroit Symphony players rejected management’s final offers over the weekend, but because of labor regulations requiring the filing of paperwork, can’t strike until September 24. But it looks like they will.
The musicians are arguing that the dramatic pay cuts–over 20% in base pay–will render the orchestra second class. “That top sliver of talent, the ones who can truly thrill the audience, will not come here,” says cellist Haden McKay.
It’s a pretty crazy pay cut, and I wouldn’t want to take it, but the argument that great musicians won’t come doesn’t really hold water. There’s more than a “sliver” of great musicians out there right now. The problem for musicians is there a glut–too much supply, and not enough demand.
The Detroit Symphony musicians’ contract is up on Sunday. Mark Stryker lays out both sides’ positions, and the broader implications of a strike, on the Free Press website.
Tim Smith of the Baltimore Sun found a fun piece of musical memorabilia while he was cleaning out his closet recently: a replica of a late 19th-century (I say probably more like early 20th-century) card game designed to get to know famous composers and their most popular works.
Clearly, as these cards show, tastes have changed over time. There’s no Brahms card, but Anton Rubinstein is represented. Haydn is there, but his card doesn’t list any of his symphonies as exemplary pieces.
Check out the post, and follow Tim’s blog. He was tenacious in following the Cleveland’s Rosenberg trial, offering his own commentary. But there’s other stuff too.
Mark Likes Music 
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