Category Archives: Classic

“Alternative” Classical Performance

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From Eric Edberg’s blog:

Ever think classical concerts are too formal and have too many intimidating rules? Could one of the reasons classical audiences are growing older and smaller be that the whole stuffy ambience, in which newcomers are shamed if they do something natural like clap between movements or during a movement, be part of the problem? (Did you know that before the 20th century, audiences clapped between movements and even during them, and composers like Mozart encouraged it?)

To verify this theory Edberg itself and other performers are putting on stage musical events like this:

Wednesday Aug. 30
7:30 PM Thompson Recital Hall in the PAC
The Romantic Cello: An Informal and Interactive Musical Event
Eric Edberg, cello and Stephanie Gurga, piano
featuring short, entertaining pieces
one hour max
performers in jeans
clap whenever you want
and dance in the aisles if you feel like it

So, what do you think?

A cellphone at Bayreuth

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Beautiful Bayreuth image

Here is a beautiful image from the Bayreuth Music Festival. It seems to me appropriate to temperature here in Italy: 29 Celsius degree on the night and 37 on the day (Fahrenheit 84 on the night, 98.6 on the day)
It comes from a long report by Anthony Tommasini, chief classical music critic for The New York Times, on which he finally tackle the burning question: what to wear? 🙂
A tasty part of the article is about gossip and curiosity:

  • there is no air-conditioning in the house, for fear that the whir of motors would affect the glorious acoustics
  • the approaching end of each 60-minute intermission is signaled by an octet of brass players from the orchestra, who appear on the balcony of the King Ludwig annex and play a fanfare or leitmotiv from the coming act. The chosen excerpt is played once at 15 minutes before the start of the new act, twice at 10 minutes and three times at 5
  • Everything is superpunctual at Bayreuth. Critics must pick up tickets 60 minutes before a performance.

But, german spirit notwithstanding, even Bayreuth is not free from the huns: in the last moments of “Die Walküre,” Act II, just as Wotan was about to kill the brutish and avenging husband Hunding, uttering “Geh hin, Knecht!” (“Be off, slave!”), a cellphone rang!!

I dadi di Mozart

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A quanto pare quest’anno è difficile non parlare di Mozart. Qui però ci occupiamo di un aspetto dell’attività di Wolfang forse un po’ più ludico, ma sempre molto interessante.
Nel 1793, due anni dopo la sua morte, venne pubblicato, con grande successo, un Musikalisches Würfelspiel (gioco musicale con i dadi) che permetteva di comporre un minuetto senza alcuna conoscenza musicale, utilizzando due dadi e una serie di battute predefinite. Si tratta di un esempio di composizione algoritmica ante litteram anche se val la pena di ricordare che la seconda metà del XVIII° secolo vide una certa fioritura di giochi musicali di questo tipo.
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