Archive: random musings
The great orchestra debate
A summary of the Great Orchestra Debate from an earlier post about Michael Kaiser, in which I compared the current struggles of orchestras and of newspapers to come up with a viable new business model.
By Anne Midgette | November 18, 2009; 12:00 PM ET | Comments (6)
NPR: trends of the decade
Trends of the decade: a look back at the last ten years of classical music, in a discussion I had with Tom Huizenga of NPR.
By Anne Midgette | November 17, 2009; 04:00 PM ET | Comments (0)
Schonberg and Beethoven
Harold Schonberg and the Beethoven Sonatas: historical fact and hyperbole, and hyperbole may win.
By Anne Midgette | November 17, 2009; 06:30 AM ET | Comments (2)
Intro to Beethoven
A link to an introductory article that scratches the surface of the untold riches of the Beethoven piano sonatas.
By Anne Midgette | November 15, 2009; 12:00 PM ET | Comments (2)
Kaiser: orchestras FAIL
Michael Kaiser predicts some orchestras are going to fail: like newspapers, they're resistant to actual new business models.
By Anne Midgette | November 11, 2009; 10:20 AM ET | Comments (58)
November 9, 1989
A post that has nothing to do with music: my eyewitness account, written 20 years ago, of the fall of the Berlin Wall.
By Anne Midgette | November 9, 2009; 07:00 AM ET | Comments (1)
Voices in the crowd
NPR's project about 50 great voices spurs thoughts of a top-ten list of greatest voices in opera.
By Anne Midgette | November 4, 2009; 12:22 PM ET | Comments (5)
Orchestras' class(room) act
On-line educational initiatives by orchestras: do we want to convey the idea that you have to be lectured at in order to enjoy classical music?
By Anne Midgette | October 28, 2009; 10:30 AM ET | Comments (13)
Conducting one's business
A number of orchestra conductors have been holding up their work as a paradigm for business management. But are orchestras really a model for how to run a business?
By Anne Midgette | October 27, 2009; 10:00 AM ET | Comments (11)
Steinway rolls in
Steinway opens its first exclusive branches in the Washington area.
By Anne Midgette | October 22, 2009; 06:30 AM ET | Comments (10)
Halls, re-sounding
Of concert halls and acoustics: raising an age-old question once again, with particular reference to the National Symphony Orchestra.
By Anne Midgette | October 20, 2009; 06:34 AM ET | Comments (9)
In Performance: Christopher Taylor's Goldbergs
My review of Christopher Taylor's performance of the Goldberg Variations, as well as some thoughts about his spoken remarks before the performance.
By Anne Midgette | October 16, 2009; 06:00 AM ET | Comments (2)
Alt-Classical Addenda
Further thoughts on alt-classical music and the standard repertory.
By Anne Midgette | October 15, 2009; 07:00 AM ET | Comments (3)
Post-Review: The Morning After
Some follow-up thoughts after hearing the NSO play the Brahms d minor last night.
By Anne Midgette | October 9, 2009; 11:00 AM ET | Comments (8)
National Anthems and Home Openers
The National Anthem: a natural opener to a baseball game, but perhaps a less natural opener to a concert season? What exactly is the anthem's role on a concert program? Plus: a few notable performances.
By Anne Midgette | October 6, 2009; 06:30 AM ET | Comments (11)
The Future of Arts Journalism (II)
Live feed of the National Summit on Arts Journalism, presenting five projects for new journalism-related models for the arts, including two with specifically musical content.
By Anne Midgette | October 2, 2009; 11:58 AM ET | Comments (0)
The Myth of Park and Bark
My pet peeve: can we retire the new canard that old-style singers couldn't act?
By Anne Midgette | September 29, 2009; 10:00 AM ET | Comments (9)
Thoughts on Music Directors
A question for readers: how much do you actually care who is music director of your local orchestra?
By Anne Midgette | September 28, 2009; 09:00 AM ET | Comments (15)
Tosca and Regie
More thoughts on Luc Bondy's "Tosca," and so-called fidelity to the score.
By Anne Midgette | September 22, 2009; 04:48 PM ET | Comments (2)
What's In a Name
Can changing the name of something familiar actually alter people's perceptions of it? Or: should we substitute something a little compelling for titles like "Op. 2, No. 2"?
By Anne Midgette | September 9, 2009; 06:30 AM ET | Comments (1)
An Opera Primer
What would your advice be to someone who wants to start out learning about opera?
By Anne Midgette | September 1, 2009; 06:30 AM ET | Comments (24)
CD Industry [or] Bust?
Statements about the demise of the classical recording industry invariably give rise to the defense that since there are more CDs coming out than ever, the industry must be in fine shape. This is like saying that newspaper websites have more readers than ever, so journalism has nothing to worry about.
By Anne Midgette | August 17, 2009; 06:30 AM ET | Comments (17)
Opera as Drivel
"The Letter" raised the question from a friend about how important the content, or libretto, of an opera is to the finished product. (Hint: It's the music.)
By Anne Midgette | August 13, 2009; 06:36 AM ET | Comments (30)
Raise Me Up, Dumb Me Down
Rereading Harold Schonberg's "The Great Pianists" gives rise to questions about how far a classical-music writer has to go in targeting a so-called general audience.
By Anne Midgette | August 11, 2009; 08:30 AM ET | Comments (9)
Fima and Food
Yefim Bronfman appears as a judge on "Iron Chef America" on Sunday, August 9.
By Anne Midgette | August 7, 2009; 04:30 PM ET | Comments (0)
"New Technology" and How We Listen
More thoughts on Twitter and the dumbing down (or not) of technology. Who cares how you listen? Apparently, a lot of people.
By Anne Midgette | August 3, 2009; 10:20 AM ET | Comments (13)
Beethoven Tweets
The National Symphony Orchestra Twitters Beethoven (link to my article in today's Post); what are your views on so-called new technology in classical music?
By Anne Midgette | July 30, 2009; 06:35 AM ET | Comments (10)
The CD Side of Music
More on CDs: another blogger weighs in on the question of whether the actual physical product still matters. (It depends in part on how old you are.)
By Anne Midgette | July 21, 2009; 08:30 AM ET | Comments (5)
From Readers: Radio
More readers weigh in on the question of whether classical radio can (should?) survive.
By Anne Midgette | July 17, 2009; 06:30 AM ET | Comments (0)
Radio Waves: Interference Patterns
Further thoughts on WNYC and WQXR, new music,and the dumbing down of classical radio.
By Anne Midgette | July 15, 2009; 01:00 PM ET | Comments (16)
Critics and "Users"
A postscript to "Do Critics Matter?": a 2007 survey showed that users overwhelmingly turn to user reviews on websites rather than published newspaper reviews when making decisions about entertainment.
By Anne Midgette | July 7, 2009; 07:35 AM ET | Comments (7)
King of the Castleton
Returning to Maazel, since he's returning to us: the Castleton Festival opens tonight, a spate of Britten opera performances, recitals, and orchestral concerts on the conductor's estate in Rappahannock County, Virginia, 1.5 hours (or so) from DC.
By Anne Midgette | July 3, 2009; 06:30 AM ET | Comments (3)
Big Brother Is Listening
A new site called musoc.org promulgates the view, so damaging to our field, that classical music is simply better across the board than all other forms of music.
By Anne Midgette | July 2, 2009; 09:30 AM ET | Comments (12)
Do Critics Matter?
Do critics matter? Today's Post feature seems to miss the point of what it is that being a critic is all about.
By Anne Midgette | July 1, 2009; 12:36 PM ET | Comments (12)
On the Record - or CD
Questions on readers' CD consumption: who is listening, and to what?
By Anne Midgette | June 30, 2009; 06:45 AM ET | Comments (20)
Maazel Tov
Lorin Maazel leaves the New York Philharmonic unchanged after seven years; they play better, but they lack an identity.
By Anne Midgette | June 24, 2009; 06:30 AM ET | Comments (7)
Thoughts on China's Audience
After the Tour: Some thoughts on China's classical-music audience, which was not quite as eager as reports had led me to believe. Was it them, or was it the NSO?
By Anne Midgette | June 22, 2009; 07:00 AM ET | Comments (2)
Change We Can Believe In
Further thoughts on yesterday's discussion about change in orchestras.
By Anne Midgette | June 19, 2009; 06:30 AM ET | Comments (14)
Music, Institutionalized
How should orchestra's respond to Ivan Fischer's (and other people's) call for change?
By Anne Midgette | June 18, 2009; 06:30 AM ET | Comments (12)
Hitting the Links
Links from around the Web: Henry Fogel on orchestra boards; the Cliburn competition picks the wrong winners yet again; the NSO blogs about its Asia tour.
By Anne Midgette | June 12, 2009; 12:25 PM ET | Comments (2)
Taking Debate
Making what is probably the fatal mistake of mixing it up with an ongoing flame war in the blog comments, I say why I like debate - mostly because it means someone is listening.
By Anne Midgette | June 11, 2009; 06:30 AM ET | Comments (4)
The NSO in Macau
Notes from Macau: the National Symphony Orchestra's second day out.
By Anne Midgette | June 10, 2009; 11:15 AM ET | Comments (0)
A Child's View of Sonata Form
Link to my review of Marin Alsop and the BSO: a random memory of my childhood view of sonata form.
By Anne Midgette | June 9, 2009; 10:30 AM ET | Comments (3)
To Comment, or Not to Comment
Housekeeping notes: commenting on the blog (and an overactive spam filter).
By Anne Midgette | June 5, 2009; 01:19 PM ET | Comments (0)
Young Audiences: Obscure Object of Desire
I don't think classical music needs to reach out to a new young audience. I think classical music needs to reach out to a new audience, period.
By Anne Midgette | June 4, 2009; 06:30 AM ET | Comments (32)
Opera and the Young, Redux
Yet another contest designed to reach young audiences (good luck with that) manages to capture at least one fresh young outlook - in my opinion.
By Anne Midgette | June 3, 2009; 07:41 AM ET | Comments (1)
Housekeeping Notes
How to navigate the Web-only reviews that appear on this blog (yes, they are archived); and the people who write them.
By Anne Midgette | June 3, 2009; 06:29 AM ET | Comments (0)
In Praise of the Amateur (Part Two)
The critic as amateur: what it means to love music while telling the field what it's doing wrong.
By Anne Midgette | May 27, 2009; 11:37 AM ET | Comments (12)
In Praise of the Amateur (Part One)
The idea of the amateur doesn't get enough respect - and represents a love that's too often missing these days from the 'serious' field of classical music. Part One of a two-part post, abridged from a talk I gave at the Friday Morning Music Club.
By Anne Midgette | May 26, 2009; 11:10 AM ET | Comments (9)
Valuing the Contemporary
Presenters are already scared of contemporary music - but should they actually be more discriminating in offering it to the public?
By Anne Midgette | May 19, 2009; 08:00 AM ET | Comments (3)
Programming the Contemporary
How should classical music institutions go about presenting contemporary works?
By Anne Midgette | May 13, 2009; 06:30 AM ET | Comments (15)
In With the Old: New Works by Old Masters
Tonight sees the second North American premiere of the same Mendelssohn piano concerto - the Third, which has been reconstructed in two different versions by two different people. And this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to world premieres by the great composers these days.
By Anne Midgette | May 11, 2009; 10:05 AM ET | Comments (4)
A Pittsburgh Postscript
Some final thoughts on the Pittsburgh Symphony and "Tod und Verklärung."
By Anne Midgette | May 7, 2009; 03:03 PM ET | Comments (0)
Haydn Go Seek
Commemorations of Haydn's anniversary year - or lack thereof - give rise to questions about how these anniversaries should be observed, if at all.
By Anne Midgette | April 24, 2009; 04:30 PM ET | Comments (12)
Opera Direction, Revisited
On Sunday, I wrote a piece about four different directors’ views of the Ring. That piece represents the merest tip of the iceberg of four notably stimulating conversations, and I plan to continue to reveal a bit more of the iceberg on this blog in the days ahead.
By Anne Midgette | April 22, 2009; 06:30 AM ET | Comments (3)
Opera: Lack of Direction?
One of the great barriers between opera stage directors and audience is simple fear: audiences don't know why the director is doing such strange things to the piece, The simplest way to approach this topic is to look at what opera directors actually do and ask them why they do it.
By Anne Midgette | April 17, 2009; 06:30 AM ET | Comments (17)
Listen: Words on Music
The other day, I found in my mailbox a glossy new magazine about classical music. Listen's problem is that it doesn't seem to know whether it wants to be liner notes or music journalism.
By Anne Midgette | April 9, 2009; 06:45 AM ET | Comments (5)
Covering Classical
In the wake of our weekend reviews, some answers to earlier questions from commenters about classical music coverage in the Post.
By Anne Midgette | April 7, 2009; 06:09 AM ET | Comments (2)
Link Denk
The amusement I got at seeing myself mentioned in one of my favorite blogs is only compounded by the fact that I now have a blog myself to mention it in...
By Anne Midgette | March 31, 2009; 05:15 AM ET | Comments (0)
