Well that week just zipped by! I had a lot on this week in various areas. One important musical event was the completion, in draft form at least, of my piano piece "Remembering What Is To Come." I put it up in a post last night. For the video I am using some recent sketches.
But on to the miscellanea! First up is some excellent advice from Philip Roth on how to have a career as a creative artist:
...never marry; have no children; lawyer up early; keep tight control of your cover designs; listen to the critics while scorning them publicly; when it comes to publishers, follow the money; never give a minute to a hostile interviewer; avoid unflattering photographers; figure out what you’re good at and keep doing it, book after book, with just enough variation to keep them guessing; sell out your friends, sell out your family, sell out your lovers, and sell out yourself; keep going until every younger writer can be called your imitator; don’t stop until all your enemies are dead.
Now I see why my career is less than successful!
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Merck Mercuriadis is making a pile off song rights:
Put simply, Hipgnosis raises money from investors and spends it on acquiring the intellectual property rights to popular songs by people like Mark Ronson, Timbaland, Barry Manilow and Blondie. In a fast-growing market, what sets Hipgnosis apart from competitors is its founder’s bona fides as a veteran A&R man, manager and record label CEO. Like an old-school music mogul, Mercuriadis sells his brand by selling himself. Unlike those moguls, he’s a buff, teetotal vegan with spartan tastes. “The only material thing that I really care about is vinyl,” he says. “And Arsenal football club.” He looks rather like a rock-concert security guard: shaven head, burly torso, plain black T-shirt, hawkish gaze. Mark Ronson calls him “the smartest guy in the room”.
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From the Vienna Phil to the MET management: the world is watching:
The world is watching. 30% of the members of the MET Orchestra can no longer sustain a living in New York City due to being faced with no salary from the Metropolitan Opera since April 1, 2020. This number will likely climb higher as the crisis continues.
The Met’s global reputation and the cultural landscape of New York City would be devastated by the loss of artists of this calibre – this orchestra hosts some of the best players in the world. These musicians have a cultural and economic impact beyond that of bringing great opera to the world, they are teachers and mentors too. They contribute to the communities they live in by inspiring people in all areas and stages of life.
This is from an open letter from the Vienna Philharmonic. Now generalize this to nearly every musician in the entire world. Music has sustained and is sustaining a blow like none other in its entire history. Perhaps all will return to normal after we achieve herd immunity sometime in the summer, but I suspect that the world of music will have scars that will take a very long time to disappear.
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The Largest Bach Website in the World, Coming to You From Israel:
There are between 15,000 to 20,000 hits on the website every day. Musicians, researchers, students and music lovers who are trying to deepen their knowledge of the unparalleled composer. They look for performances to listen to, discuss the various recordings, and learn about the performers. There are also lots of posts to the site, some from performers announcing a new recording but also many others who are part of the group effort to constantly increase the knowledge of Johann Sebastian Bach.
And here is the URL: https://www.bach-cantatas.com/
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I think I can see some light at the end of the tunnel: ENO announces bold plan to stage Ring Cycle from the autumn.
“In all forms of art, great leaps forward have happened at times when it didn’t seem to be possible. The greatest artists have always made art in difficult circumstances and we are part of that tradition.”
It is the first time in more than 15 years that ENO has staged the Ring. The previous production was directed by Phyllida Lloyd and before that, ENO’s only fully completed cycle was one by the celebrated Wagnerian conductor Reginald Goodall in the early 1970s.
In a co-production with the Metropolitan Opera in New York, the plan is to stage all four parts over five years at ENO’s vast home, the Coliseum, London’s largest theatre. It will begin with the Valkyrie this autumn. Rhinegold will premiere in 2022-23 followed by a reprise of the Valkyrie and new productions of Siegfried and Twilight of the Gods.
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London will not have a new concert hall after all: City of London scraps plan for 'Tate Modern of classical music'
An ambitious £288m concert hall that was supposed to be “the Tate Modern of classical music” has been scrapped by the City of London Corporation, which said the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic made the plan impossible to complete.
The Centre for Music was billed as being an acoustically perfect 2,000-seat concert hall for the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) and would have had restaurants, commercial space and a smaller venue for jazz performances.
The City of London confirmed on Thursday, however, that the project had been axed.
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We almost never have any music by Wagner as an envoi, so let's change that. Here is the Prologue and Act I (of Twilight of the Gods) in a concert staging by Opera North:
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