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Breaking at The Guardian: Sean Hoare, the reporter who blew the whistle on phone hacking at News of the World, has been found dead.
This is the big tipping point: “Rupertgate” has now gone thermonuclear. Cue the fat lady for Rupert Murdoch — and News Corporation itself.
If the New York Post weren’t owned by Murdoch, tomorrow’s headline would be “NEWS CORPSE”.
Word of operatic baritone Cornell MacNeil’s passing had spread over the weekend, and this morning’s NY Times obit by Jonathan Kandell provides the details — including comments from James Levine and a few details I hadn’t known. MacNeil had a terrific international career — including over 600 appearances at the Metropolitan Opera.
Opera Chic has a link-rich update on the rebellion going on among opera’s artistic elite over the New York City Opera’s decision to leav Lincoln center. Yes, it’s ugly.
An example of crass commercialism for which I blame myself — and it makes a great gift.
Does listening to Mozart make you a genius? Lest anyone forget, here is an example of a decade-plus-old product for which I take near-full responsibility.
Courtesy of the gang over at bigthink.com, Oliver Sacks has a detailed answer:
Continue reading Is There a “Mozart Effect”? Oliver Sacks Says No… and Yes
I’m listening to a recording of Das Lied von der Erde that has been much awaited among Mahlerphiles: the concert recording of June 14, 1968 with Fritz Wunderlich, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, and the Vienna Symphony conducted by Josef Krips. Back when I was with Andante there had been talk about attempting to release the recording; alas, those plans did not come to pass. The good news is that it’s finally been given an “official” release by Deutsche Grammophon. To say the extrovert, characterful performance transcends the boxy sonority (that sounds to these ears to have come from a true “taped off the Telefunken receiver” aircheck and not from a broadcast or archival master) is an understatement – the singing is stunning, and what a treat to hear Krips get such evocative playing from the Vienna Symphony. It’s the most edifying and satisfying vocal release I’ve heard so far this year. Highly recommended.
“Countdown with Keith Olbermann” is back on the air after its host walked out on MSNBC a little more than five months ago. The most notable difference is that Olbermann is letting his political hair down in the program’s Current TV incarnation, revealing himself as far more liberal than he was on MSNBC. In a Special Comment following a segment with contributor Michael Moore, Olbermann laid out the underlying principle of “Countdown”:
Continue reading Restarting the “Countdown”: Keith Olbermann Tacks Left
Tozzi was a much-beloved Metropolitan Opera basso and, from 1991 to 2006, a professor at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music. And you might not have known he was born George John Tozzi in Chicago. Margalit Fox fills in more at the NY Times, and Anastasia Tsioulcas reports for NPR.
Daniel Wakin has the juicy details at the NY Times. The truth is that the “Great International Orchestra Swindle” is not a terribly well-kept secret – and arguably one of the biggest scandals – in the American classical music business.
It’s also worth noting that on more than one occasion I’ve seen fine local free-lancers padding out the ranks of a couple of legitimate “name” Russian orchestras performing in New York City. It might be a worthwhile topic for a follow-up article by Wakin, who has become a “must-read” music journalist.
Greenhouse was a giant of chamber music and a prominent cello pedagogue. Margalit Fox’s obituary has just gone live at the NY Times.
“[W]hat we have here is a labor negotiation masquerading as a bankruptcy case” – especially given that the Philadelphia Orchestra’s assets are larger than their liabilities. The Philadelphia Inquirer‘s Peter Dobrin has written a fact-filled backgrounder on the circumstances surrounding the orchestra management’s bankruptcy filing.
