Matthias Röder
Interview with Alessandro Simonetto, Founder of OnClassical – The e-label for Audiophiles
OnClassical is a new e-label that sells music solely via the web. Unlike itunes, emusic, rhapsody, and amazon, OnClassical offers only high-quality downloads that sound exactly like a traditional CD. Zeitschichten.com spoke to the label’s busy founder, Alessandro Simonetto, about music in the age of the internet, OnClassical’s business philosophy, as well as their upcoming projects (they will soon license music for commercial uses)
Those Six Seconds of Music that Can Make a Difference
I cannot deprive you, dear readers, of the transformative experience that I had earlier on today while listening to Wilhelm Kempff’s interpretation of Beethoven’s piano sonata op. 27, no. 2. I do not know when this video was filmed, but I suspect that Kempff, who was born in 1895, must have been well into his eighties at the time of this recording.
Why improvise? A Review of Gabriela Montero’s New Album “Baroque”
In one of his countless interviews Friedrich Gulda remarked that those who cross boundaries are considered by society either as “revolutionaries or fools.” That, like so many of Gulda’s views, is somewhat exaggerated and simplistic, but there lies a kernel of truth in this assessment: going beyond the boundaries of our ordered world, one can either discover a land of wonderful possibilities or shipwreck in a stormy sea losing orientation and direction.
Pierre-Laurent Aimard On Capitalism and Helmut Lachenmann
“Introducing ‘Guero’ (1970) by Helmut Lachenmann, Mr. Aimard explained that the pianist is supposed to perform the piece mostly by scraping his fingernails along the edges of the keys to evoke the sounds of an African instrument that is played by scratching a stick along the ribbed side of a woodblock. Instead, to protect his […]
Steakhausen.com
Yes, it really is a pun on Stockhausen… see for yourself at http://www.steakhausen.com/.
“Crosscurrents” Conference Coming Closer
Mark your calendars for “Crosscurrents,” a conference on “American and European Music in Interaction, 1900 – 2000.” Speakers include Michael Denning, Celia Applegate, Tobias Bleek, Giselher Schubert, Brigid Cohen, David Schiff and many more. Sessions will be chaired by Andrew Shenton (Boston University), Felix Meyer (Paul Sacher Foundation), Wolfgang Rathert (Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität), Joseph Auner (Tufts University), […]
On Webern’s Five Movements for String Quartet, op. 5
“Its darting fragments and solitary staccatos offer vegan austerity next to the red-meat indulgence of Mahler’s romantic ‘Symphony of a Thousand’.” — Vivien Schweitzer New York Times, October 13, 2008
NetNewMusic: a portal for contemporary music
Check out NetNewMusic, a portal for contemporary music where you can listen to new compositions, read news about all the fresh music that is out there, and discuss with fellow new music enthusiasts.
New Stockhausen Piece “Balance” Premiered in Cologne
Since his untimely death last year, several new pieces by Karlheinz Stockhausen have been premiered posthumously. Yesterday night, the newest of these premieres was given in the Klaus-von-Bismarck-Saal at the WDR in Cologne. The composition is part of the larger cycle KLANG which was to contain 24 pieces for each hour of the day. “Balance” is the piece for the seventh hour of the day.
New kid on the blog(roll)
Say “hello” to Kulturblogger, an interesting new blog that I just discovered.
Gott auf Kanal 1: Zum 80. Geburtstag Karlheinz Stockhausens auf WDR 3
Man kann dem Westdeutschen Rundfunk vorwerfen, dass sich der hauseigene Klassiksender WDR 3 in letzter Zeit immer weiter zu einer Art klassischer Kaffeeklatschrunde entwickelt hat. (Wie die FAZ gestern berichtete wird sich daran wohl auch in Zukunft nichts ändern). Heute jedoch versucht das Sendehaus an alte, glorreichere Zeiten anzuknüpfen und bringt zum 80. Geburtstag Karlheinz […]
The Ideal eReader
Following up on a comment by Myke Cuthbert and a previous post at TechCrunch, here is my wishlist for an ideal eReader / Internet tablet. This list is compiled from a research / academic perspective, so I guess that basically everyone who is in academia or research will be a potential customer. Hopefully academic publishers […]
Heartily Approved
I can only support Michael Arrington’s ideas over at TechCrunch. Yes, an easy-to-use-larger-than-stamp-size-internet-tablet is what we all want. And while we’re at it: what about a same-size, touch screen eReader that let’s you annotate texts and comes with a zotero-like software to organize your bibliography?
Konzerthaus is the best
Going through my old post for tagging purposes I once again realized that the Berlin Konzerthaus is the most fabulous music institution in the German Capital. Best programming. Period. Someone should really give them a medal. Here are my Konzerthaus-related articles.
Raum und Zeit: Orgelfeierstunden im Kölner Dom
Cologne Cathedral Betrachtet man die Situation nüchtern und als Aussenstehender, so sollte man als Musikbegeisterter die sommerlichen Orgelfeierstunden im Kölner Dom aus rein musikalischen Gründen meiden. Die Akustik in der riesigen Kathedrale des 13. Jahrhunderts ist einem differenzierten Musikgenuss ebenso abträglich, wie ein komplett verdunkeltes Museum dem Betrachten von Gemälden. Der exzessive Nachhall verwischt jeden […]
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