Price made some notable recordings; two of my favorites are a characterful Mozart opera and concert arias album for British RCA and her joyful controbution to the Horenstein/LSO Mahler Fourth originally issues on Classics for Pleasure. Click here for Zachary Woolfe’s NY Times obituary.
Category Archives: Blog
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Milton Babbitt, 1916-2011
On his Facebook page, composer Paul Lansky reports that prominent American composer Milton Babbitt, an early pioneer of electronic music, has died.
UPDATE, Jan. 30: Allan Kozinn’s NY Times obituary is live online.
Double Sidelining: Ozawa, Levine Cancel Gigs
Seizi continues to recover from surgery, while Jimmy is sidelined by a virus. Danirl Wakin is on both cases at NYTimes.com.
No Cannes Do
I had hoped to blog from MIDEM, the annual international independent music business market at Cannes, but I am so wrapped up with business meetings that I will refer you to Frank Oteri, whose coverage will give you a good idea of what is going on here.
When High Definition Sound Isn’t So High Definition After All
I’m a huge fan of wizardly recording engineer Tony Faulkner, a longtime practicioner of “less-is-more” audiophile recording techniques. He hasn’t hesitated to tip a few sacred cows over the years, and created a major fuss in the classical recording industry during the early 1990s when he had the audacity to criticize no less an institution than Deutsche Grammophon on the matter of their overhyped, artificial-sounding “4D” recording process. In an editorial posted to Classical Source, Tony puts the smackdown on the venerable BBC for labeling its Radio 3 transmissions as “H[igh] D[efinition]” when it simply isn’t true (we’ve been seeing similar misleading monkeyshines in the States). The editorial is a must-read for audiophiles and casual listeners alike.
Passings: Raphael Hillyer, 1914-2010
Hillyer was most well known as the Juilliard Quartet’s founding violist. He was a resident of Boston; Jeremy Eichler has written a detailed obituary for the Boston Globe. Allan Kozinn’s NYTimes.com obituary is also worth a read. UPDATE: Correction to the title to reflect correct year of death. Hat tip: Jeremy Bluhm.
Ten Best New Releases of 2010
Once again, it’s the end of the year and time to proclaim my not-so-humble opinions as to my favorite releases of 2010:
Not Quite Delivering What the Title Promises
“Philharmonic Renewed Under a Bold Conductor”, reads the headline of a New York Times article by Steve Smith. The article’s focus, however, is not so much on the orchestra but that section of the repertoire in which their music director, Alan Gilbert, has distinguished himself: music by postwar composers, particularly high-profile performances of music by György Ligeti, Magnus Lindberg, and others.
Continue reading Not Quite Delivering What the Title Promises
Saito Kinen @ Carnegie Hall
My review of last night’s Saito Kinen Orchestra concert at Carnegie Hall is live at Classical Source.
Richter Fixer
The confusing and convoluted tale of my journey from composer to record label jack-of-all-trades to registered lobbyist (for the good guys in health and the performing arts) to renegade reissue producer is best left to a post all its own, but after having read and heard a litany of positive feedback on one reissue project with which I was recently involved, I feel the urge to weigh in. Continue reading Richter Fixer