Miscellanea
Rhapsody.com still not useful for classical music listeners
As some of you may already know, rhapsody.com has added a mp3-store to its portfolio recently. While I welcome this move, especially since the mp3s are DRM-free, the main drawback with the service, namely its poor user interface, still remains an issue. The problem as I see it is a lack of a sufficient search-engine […]
The Future of Music Making
Surfing the web today, I came across a very interesting talk by our music colleagues from the MIT Media Lab. In this video talk Tod Machover, Adam Boulanger, and Dan Ellsey give a quick overview on their work on new musical instruments and the impact that their research has on society. What I find most […]
Skype, Facebook, YouTube = Fun Evening
Earlier on today I was chatting with a friend from Munich who seemed to have a lot of fun with the YouTube videos of the Mozart Karaoke that I put on this blog a while back. By accident I came across an interesting video on facebook today that I wanted to share with you. Remember […]
A propos
What I should have said to Peter Sloterdijk when sitting next to him on the plane: Do you talk like you write? [Thanks, Frederic!]
Walter Kempowski in the Academy of Arts
The Academy of Arts in Berlin will open its exhibition on the life and works of Walter Kempowski tonight. No other book in recent years has fascinated me as much as Kempowski’s Echolot. A collective diary, as Kempowski call his opus magnus in the subtitle, the book brings together thousands of autobiographical reports, letters, diaries, […]
Gerhard Oppitz in Munich
Spätwerk (= Late works). There are two basic implications when talking about late works. First, the conventional view that late works are rich compositions by a mature and wise composer. This approach stresses the dignity and complexity of the compositions and implies that they embody the summit of an artist’s compositional development. Seen in this […]
Ridiculous Dress Code at La Scala
This has probably been roaming around for quite a few days but nevertheless I don’t want to deprive you, dear readers, of this fabulously ridiculous story about a new dress code at the Scala in Milan. The dress code Our correspondent Opera Chic in Milan on the matter Tagesschau covering God, I’m glad I live […]
Word Creations #2
Tonloses Geraschel (Peter Uehling: “Tonloses Geraschel,” Berliner Zeitung, September 27, 2006, p. 30) Natureuphorien Verdämmernde Exposition Streicherwärme Julia Spinola: “Streiflicher aus dem Jenseits,” Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, September 30, 2006, p. 41.
DSO Berlin Podcast
I just came across this podcast from the Deutsche Welle that features the DSO Berlin under Kent Nagano playing six symphonies by what the Deutsche Welle website calls “six master composers.” The pieces are: Richard Strauss: An Alpine Symphony Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony No. 3 (Eroica) Robert Schumann: Symphony No. 3 (Rhenish) Johannes Brahms: Symphony […]
Die-hardism and music
Thank you to Jonathan Bellman for an inspiring post on Bach and the lunatic musician’s life style we all adhere to! Dial “M” to see the details!
warning! this music fit only for lunatics, university types
Arnold Schoenberg: Serenade, op.24; Suite, op. 29. Robert Craft (conductor). Koch Classics, 1997. “and talentless composers. the music contained on this cd is proof enough in and of itself that Arnold Schoenberg was a mediocre musical talent, and turned to composing in an alienist atonal style only after he could plainly see that he could […]
Word Creations #1
molldüster engelhaft süßes Tenortimbre flehentlich-expressive Nuancierung warme Baßfülle Julia Spinola on Mozart’s Betulia liberata at the Salzburg Festival. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, August 22, 2006, p. 31.
Shopping
After weeks of abstinence I finally bought new CDs, scores, and books yesterday. For those of you who live in Berlin, check out the Kulturkaufhaus Dussmann. It has a huge collection of classical music CDs in the basement. Here is what I bought: 1) The Camerata Salzburg conducted by Sandor Vegh with Bartok’s Divertimento for […]
Musical Moments
In a recent blog post at On a Pacific Aisle, Joshua Kosman, the music critic of the San Francisco Chronicle, introduces us to what he calls a “magic moment” in Gustav Mahler’s 9th Symphony. The passage in question lasts only one quarter note, and in his article, Joshua shares with us his thoughts and feelings […]
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