If You’re Going to Be Awesome, Be Awesome All the Time

You can’t even begin to imagine my surprise when I found out that this was the website of the guy who wrote The Most Amazing Press Release Ever:

Today’s Seth Godin’s blog post (one of them, anyway; it gets to be a little much sometimes) warned of raising expectations only to dash them on the rocks of mediocrity. Going from that irreverent press release from PitchPoint to its website homepage is a case study in this particular way to fail.

It’s confusing too. What am I going to get if I hire this publicist, I wonder. Am I getting the sarcastic, brazen PitchPoint–the 483 Words of Pure Awesomeness–or am I getting the run-of-the-mill “one stop shop for all your marketing and creative needs.” It’s hard to tell.

Vanessa and Friends Played at Trinity Church Today

Here’s the video from Vanessa’s concert with Aron Zelkowicz and Sally Koo at the Trinity Church on Wall Street:
http://www.trinitywallstreet.org/flash/video.swf?id=669
The show was great, the church was beautiful, and the staff was really welcoming and helpful. If you have some time, you should go to one of their Concerts at One.

And come by the Third Street Music School Settlement in Manhattan on January 28; Vanessa and Aron are playing a concert at 7:30 PM. Since they don’t get paid for this, bring a hat and pass it for them.

For those of you who don’t know, “Vanessa” is Vanessa Fadial. She’s my wife. And an amazing pianist as well. Just ask our neighbors. All six floors of them.

"483 Words of Pure Awesomeness"

Yes, yes they are.

If only I had seen this at Naxos.

Better Know a Composer: Erich Korngold

Most people who know anything about Erich Korngold know that he was a film composer. Some might also place him as the fin-de-siecle Viennese wunderkind that put the fear of God into Strauss.

My first contact with Korngold came as a graduate student, when I heard Gil Shaham’s recording of his violin concerto. What struck me about the music–particularly the first movement–was that it had nothing superfluous. It was perfect, polished, and immediately satisfying.

Before Shaham, Heifetz owned Korngold’s concerto. Since Shaham, a lot of violinists have taken up the piece in concert and on record, including Hilary Hahn, James Ehnes, and Philippe Quint.

Philippe recorded it for Naxos. My friend Raymond Bisha produced a podcast on Korngold for Naxos, which you can listen to on the Arkivmusic website.

If we waste our time on that musical painter of light Rachmaninov, we can do worse than to pay some attention to Korngold as well. Renee Fleming is singing his songs tomorrow night at Carnegie Hall, and I also suggest you listen to any one of the violin concerto recordings out there.

Is It Just Me, or Is This Really Lame?

There are so many reasons to cancel your subscription to The New York Times. Alastair Macaulay is one. This might be another.

Maybe it’s Tommasini’s condescending tone (“I don’t do rankings”), or his ignorance of the music media that exists all around him (which contributes to the condescension), or his cloying set-up (that whole thing about the high-school student), but today’s how-to-make-a-top-ten-composers-list-if-you-really-want-to article annoyed me.

One of the goals of this article (I guess; it’s hard to say what’s going on) is to question assumptions about the canon. As an alternative, I suggest Benjamin Carlson’s series on the Atlantic’s web site, published last spring.

Carlson can come off as a little didactic, but his list of instructions on how to listen to classical music can be helpful. For people new to Bach, Beethoven, and the boys, it provides a firm launch pad; for more experienced listeners, the list helps focus in on aspects of the music we take for granted. I found myself disagreeing with Carlson at times (he wrote three articles in all), but at least he gave me points to think about.

I may just be grumpy this morning. What do you think? You can
e-mail me if I’m full of beans.

In the 1950s, Animation Could Get Pretty Dark Too

Toot, Whistle, Plunk, Boom—the hippest music appreciation class ever–won the Academy Award for best short animated film in 1954; it was up against this:

There was some crazy stuff going on in the 1950s. Don’t let anyone tell you different.

Learn the Entire History of Music in Disney ’50s-Cool Style

The people over at Open Culture are at it again. Today, they posted this Disney film from 1953, Toot, Whistle, Plunk, Boom. It’s Disney, it’s from the ’50s, but it’s definitely not square.

This is about 100 times more awesome than anything Leonard Bernstein did. Seeing this, having They Might Be Giants is doing on Disney’s music label with songs about science makes so much more sense. I still can’t explain Billy Ray Cyrus, though.

Louisville Musicians Get Paid, Will Play Saturday

Last Friday, the musicians of the Louisville Orchestra got smaller paycheques than usual, but considering their employer is in Chapter 11 and was threatening to liquidate, it was probably good they got something. According to one report, they only got 20% of their weekly salary; they were to have gotten the remainder yesterday. In addition, the orchestra found the funds to put on their pops concert on Saturday.

Meanwhile in the blogosphere, some less-than-sympathetic online commenters to news reports about the Louisville Orchestra has prompted responses from both Tim Smith and Drew McManus.

Five Things: Songs About the Periodic Table

I’ll admit it: I never learned the periodic table. I probably never will. But if you’re up for it, here are some songs to help you out.

1. They Might Be Giants, “Meet the Elements”
My children listen to this pretty much non-stop.

2. Tom Lehrer, “The Elements”
It’s the song that defines the genre.

3. “Periodic Table of Rock”
Isn’t this the guy from the first Freecreditreport.com band?

4. The “Learn the Periodic Table Song”
If you like Billy Joel, this one’s for you.

5. Peter Weartherall, “The Periodic Table Song”
Who knew that chemistry would be such fodder for children’s singers?

Cheesy Classical Music You Should Know: The "Blue Danube" Waltz

On every January 1 since 1939, the Vienna Philharmonic has been waltzing in the new year at the Musikverein. In all of these concerts, Johann Strauss Jr.’s music is the most prominent musical fixture.

Although it was his father, along with Josef Lanner, who popularized Austria’s indigenous 3/4 dance music, Johann Strauss Jr. was the true “Waltz King”; by the time he passed in 1899, his music was beloved worldwide, from Bosnia to Boston.

Most people are familiar with his “Blue Danube” Waltz; the Vienna Phil plays it on every New Year’s Day concert–and of course, it’s part of the 2001: A Space Odyssey soundtrack:

As respected for his dance music as he was in his time–Brahms was but one noted admirer and friend–and as historically important as he is for it today, Strauss was also a successful stage composer. He wrote a ballet based on Cinderella, and provided competition to Offenbach with operettas such as his Die Fledermaus (1874):

This year, the Vienna Philharmonic New Year’s Day concert is broadcast in over 70 countries, and you can watch it on PBS. Just try not to think too hard about who was in Vienna in 1939 when this tradition all started, and what it might have meant back then.

"More a Charles Ives in There–Without Being Awful Like Ives Is"

On his Age of Ravens blog, Hoosier Lowell Francis wrote about classical music he likes–and wrote exclusively about Michael Daugherty. He sums it all up like this:

Daugherty’s a good ways away from some of the more narrow and completely dissonant forms in 20th Century music. He doesn’t echo any of the minimalism of Philip Glass or even John Adams. There’s more a Charles Ives in there– but without being awful like Ives is. There– I said it. He’s more listenable that some other 20th century stuff (to me at least) like Boulez, Messiaen, or Carter. I will note that he’s routinely criticized for being kitschy– and that may be why I like him.

It’s as good a description as I’ve heard.

Louisville Orchestra Restructuring Slog

The dreary business of the Louisville Orchestra’s restructuring is going forward, with the CEO threatening to close up shop if he has to pay the band.

Today, a US Bankruptcy Court judge ruled that the organization can’t cut its budget by voiding its contract with its musicians,who will now get cheques until April as a result, according to the Louisville Courier-Journal.

In testimony prior to the ruling, the board president, Chuck Maisch, said that the orchestra could only honor the contract by dipping into its endowment; the orchestra’s CEO, Robert Birman, said that the orchestra would simply have to liquidate assets.

It looks as if that the proceedings start up again in Louisville on January 6.