Cost to British economy of free downloads is revealed (Guardian Friday 29 May 2009)
In my blog on music, I frequently mention budget CDs with the most amazing music, much of which has never appealed to wide audiences and will never appeal to wide audiences. How come such commercially unattractive releases exist? Who is making money selling 17-CD sets with new recordings of organ works by Olivier Messiaen, going for less than 2 pounds per CD? It is a mystery to me.
Two things are clear. First, file sharing has never been so widespread. Second, never before have so many interesting recordings been available for so little money, including historical recordings, recordings of contemporary music, and new recordings of older music. If there is the slightest causal relation between the two, then please let everyone keep doing whatever they are doing, because the impact on art seems to be positive.
As to less money flowing into the pockets of imbeciles shouting their unschooled lungs out and recording mind-numbing noise in dad's garage, screw them!
Showing posts with label music. Show all posts
Showing posts with label music. Show all posts
Friday, 29 May 2009
Sunday, 21 December 2008
opera is harmful
BBC's Christmas Day Hansel and Gretel will show 'dead children' (Telegraph 12 Dec 2008)
(Found via Melonfarmers.)
This is the most violent stuff young children will ever see on TV! And the blasted thing is sung in some weird language that normal people don't understand!
The Torygraph and self-proclaimed 'children's campaigners' would do anything to protect children from foreign culture. Right, let's stick our heads in the sand and pretend that if British children grow up to be violent or otherwise dysfunctional, it is because they once saw a non-Anglo-Saxon opera with puppets of dead people in it. It can't have anything to do with our educational system, the many violent cartoons on TV, our crypto-fascist government, or anything like that, can it? So, blame it on zee Germans!
In this age of cultural barbarism and instant gratification, the 0.001% of British children who can be bothered to watch any opera for more than 5 minutes may be expected to have the intelligence to cope with the discussed scenes.
On a happier note, I can highly recommend Humperdinck's delightful opera, for children and adults of all ages. If you miss the broadcast, or if it is cancelled thanks to xenophobic, self-important bigots, there is a wonderful recording on CD with Anna Moffo, Helen Donath, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and Kurt Eichhorn conducting.
(Found via Melonfarmers.)
Children's campaigners have criticised the BBC's decision to broadcast it at a time when young children will be watching. [...]
This is the most violent stuff young children will ever see on TV! And the blasted thing is sung in some weird language that normal people don't understand!
The Torygraph and self-proclaimed 'children's campaigners' would do anything to protect children from foreign culture. Right, let's stick our heads in the sand and pretend that if British children grow up to be violent or otherwise dysfunctional, it is because they once saw a non-Anglo-Saxon opera with puppets of dead people in it. It can't have anything to do with our educational system, the many violent cartoons on TV, our crypto-fascist government, or anything like that, can it? So, blame it on zee Germans!
In this age of cultural barbarism and instant gratification, the 0.001% of British children who can be bothered to watch any opera for more than 5 minutes may be expected to have the intelligence to cope with the discussed scenes.
On a happier note, I can highly recommend Humperdinck's delightful opera, for children and adults of all ages. If you miss the broadcast, or if it is cancelled thanks to xenophobic, self-important bigots, there is a wonderful recording on CD with Anna Moffo, Helen Donath, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and Kurt Eichhorn conducting.
Saturday, 13 September 2008
Why are there so few female conductors?
Why are there so few female conductors? (BBC News, Friday, 12 September 2008)
Another article that is more politically correct than informative, by avoiding all thorny issues.
With all due respect to Marin Alsop, to whom we owe a number of truly outstanding performances, female conductors are nothing new. The great Nadia Boulanger appeared as conductor of several major American orchestras in the 1930s. (How could they write a piece about female conductors without mentioning her?) In Britain around the same time there was Ethel Leginska.
There is a long tradition of female concert pianists, starting with Clara Schumann. Is there gender equality among the top 50 most celebrated pianists of the world today? I don't think so. Off the cuff, I suspect the situation is more balanced for top violinists, whereas there were few noted female violinists before 1900.
That's it? This three point answer explains why there are so few female conductors? Would the same answer be given if asked why there are so few women CEOs? Just a matter of tradition, and in time it will even out?
Of course there are more important factors behind gender inequality in many professions, especially those that carry prestige. Some of these factors are 'nurture', and others, whether we like it or not, are 'nature'. Conjecturing about the relative importance of these factors without having done adequate research would reveal more about one's prejudices than about reality. But one thing is clear: the usual escapism of BBC News won't get us any nearer to real answers.
Another article that is more politically correct than informative, by avoiding all thorny issues.
THE ANSWER
* Long tradition of male conductors proving hard to shake off
With all due respect to Marin Alsop, to whom we owe a number of truly outstanding performances, female conductors are nothing new. The great Nadia Boulanger appeared as conductor of several major American orchestras in the 1930s. (How could they write a piece about female conductors without mentioning her?) In Britain around the same time there was Ethel Leginska.
There is a long tradition of female concert pianists, starting with Clara Schumann. Is there gender equality among the top 50 most celebrated pianists of the world today? I don't think so. Off the cuff, I suspect the situation is more balanced for top violinists, whereas there were few noted female violinists before 1900.
* Many conductors don't reach their peak until later life
* Top females still working up through system
That's it? This three point answer explains why there are so few female conductors? Would the same answer be given if asked why there are so few women CEOs? Just a matter of tradition, and in time it will even out?
Of course there are more important factors behind gender inequality in many professions, especially those that carry prestige. Some of these factors are 'nurture', and others, whether we like it or not, are 'nature'. Conjecturing about the relative importance of these factors without having done adequate research would reveal more about one's prejudices than about reality. But one thing is clear: the usual escapism of BBC News won't get us any nearer to real answers.
Monday, 25 August 2008
next generations
I've been to Vienna. Just what the doctor ordered. Among many other things, I enjoyed hearing three young women playing in the street as string trio. I suspect they were music students earning a little money on the side. They played e.g. Piazzolla with a skill and enthusiasm one may expect from members of the London Symphony Orchestra. If they have an exceptionally good day. Maybe.
Trying to maintain my sanity within an Anglo-Saxon monoculture, I'm now at the Edinburgh International Festival. Last night I attended the most amazing concert by the Budapest Festival Orchestra. The performance of Dvořák's 7th symphony after the interval was phenomenal, but truly unforgettable was the first half, with the Dutch National Youth Choir, consisting of girls many as young as 16. Apart from their ability to sing (by heart) in Czech and Hungarian without floundering once, they had also fully mastered the intricate musical language of songs by Dvořák and Bartók, which were inspired by folk music so far from the triviality of most of Western-European traditional music.
All in all, I witnessed a small miracle yesterday. Culture in the Netherlands has supposedly gone to the dogs as badly as in Britain, and yet a choir of two dozen Dutch girls is able to pull off such a stunt!
A last thought for today: If we are to survive cultural relativism and Islamofascism, we should look to the continent, rather than sucking up to the United Theocracy. (And don't expect President Obama will bring Enlightenment.)
Trying to maintain my sanity within an Anglo-Saxon monoculture, I'm now at the Edinburgh International Festival. Last night I attended the most amazing concert by the Budapest Festival Orchestra. The performance of Dvořák's 7th symphony after the interval was phenomenal, but truly unforgettable was the first half, with the Dutch National Youth Choir, consisting of girls many as young as 16. Apart from their ability to sing (by heart) in Czech and Hungarian without floundering once, they had also fully mastered the intricate musical language of songs by Dvořák and Bartók, which were inspired by folk music so far from the triviality of most of Western-European traditional music.
All in all, I witnessed a small miracle yesterday. Culture in the Netherlands has supposedly gone to the dogs as badly as in Britain, and yet a choir of two dozen Dutch girls is able to pull off such a stunt!
A last thought for today: If we are to survive cultural relativism and Islamofascism, we should look to the continent, rather than sucking up to the United Theocracy. (And don't expect President Obama will bring Enlightenment.)
Tuesday, 4 March 2008
Proms not inclusive, says Hodge
Proms not inclusive, says Hodge (BBC News, Tuesday, 4 March 2008)
Tory leader David Cameron said she did not "get it" and said the Proms were a "great symbol of our Britishness".Margaret Hodge and David Cameron both don't get it. The Proms is a unique event that celebrates the infinite joys of music. Why drag some form of nationalism into it? If one should be compelled to feel any extra-musical sentiment while listening to, say, Beethoven's Symphony No. 9, then an obvious candidate would be pride to be human. But freedom to experience music in an individual way is indispensable. Any government that employs art for political ends ought to be distrusted.
Saturday, 16 February 2008
American 'culture'
On its front page today, BBC News asks:
Why is Los Angeles so obsessed with troubled singer Britney Spears? (BBC News, Saturday, 16 February 2008)
Why is the BBC so obsessed with (Los Angeles' obsession with) troubled singer Britney Spears?
Restricting myself to the current month, I find BBC News articles about aforementioned individual on 16 Feb, 15 Feb, 13 Feb, 12 Feb, 09 Feb, 07 Feb, 06 Feb, 05 Feb, 02 Feb, 01 Feb. That is 10 articles in 16 days. Is it fair to say the BBC is being a tiny bit hypocritical?
Why is Los Angeles so obsessed with troubled singer Britney Spears? (BBC News, Saturday, 16 February 2008)
Why is the BBC so obsessed with (Los Angeles' obsession with) troubled singer Britney Spears?
Restricting myself to the current month, I find BBC News articles about aforementioned individual on 16 Feb, 15 Feb, 13 Feb, 12 Feb, 09 Feb, 07 Feb, 06 Feb, 05 Feb, 02 Feb, 01 Feb. That is 10 articles in 16 days. Is it fair to say the BBC is being a tiny bit hypocritical?
Tuesday, 12 February 2008
Call to scrap 'anti-teen' device
Call to scrap 'anti-teen' device (BBC News, Tuesday, 12 February 2008)
How about the 'anti-adult' devices in about every shopping mall and supermarket, vomiting into your ears the most puerile noise that anyone ever dared to call 'music'? If there were a country in the world where shoppers are safe from such audio terror, I would emigrate immediately.
How about the 'anti-adult' devices in about every shopping mall and supermarket, vomiting into your ears the most puerile noise that anyone ever dared to call 'music'? If there were a country in the world where shoppers are safe from such audio terror, I would emigrate immediately.
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