Interview with New Yorker music critic Alex Ross about, among other things, his upcoming book on 20th century music. "Why, when paintings of Picasso and Jackson Pollock go for a hundred million dollars or more on the art market and lines from T. S. Eliot are quoted on the yearbook pages of alienated teenagers across the land, is twentieth-century classical music still considered obscure and difficult? In fact, it's better known than most people realize. Post-1900 music is all over Hollywood soundtracks, modern jazz, alternative rock."
The Wordless Music Series is an attempt to bring together classical music and more contemporary music, the differences between which "are an artificial construction in need of dismantling". The next concert is on 11/15/2006 in NYC and tickets are priced for young concertgoers in mind.
Top 100 most popular classical music pieces, featuring stuff like Beethoven's 5th, Pomp and Circumstance, and Mozart's Eine Kleine Nachtmusik.
Among classical music composers, the "curse of the ninth" is a fear of ninth symphonies because many prominant composers have died after completing them. (via 92y)
Video Games Live is presenting a series of concerts featuring music from video games. Last week, the Los Angeles Philharmonic played in front of around 10,000 people.
Stats on the BBC's Beethoven downloads. "Live performances of Beethoven's first five symphonies, broadcast as part of The Beethoven Experience on BBC Radio 3, have amassed an incredible 657,399 download requests during a week long trial."
The first five mp3s of Beethoven's symphonies are available for download on the BBC site. The site is really slow though...does anyone have a mirror or a BitTorrent available?
BBC Radio will be offering mp3s of all nine of Beethoven's symphonies. "All the symphonies are performed by BBC Philharmonic, conducted by Gianandrea Noseda."
