The futurologists don't want to hear it, but live performance is booming
Features
My father took me as a boy to a concert at the Royal Albert Hall. His intention, he said, was "so you can tell your grandchildren you once heard a live symphony orchestra". It was widely held that concerts would be made obsolete by hi-fi recordings. If people could hear Karajan in the comfort of their sitting rooms, why on earth should they go out on a rainy night to hear lesser performers in draughty halls?
Source: Guardian Unlimited
Date Published: April 17, 2009
A handy guide to heavy metal
Features
For those fond of middle-aged men in short trousers belting out double entendres, there is joyful news. AC/DC flew in this week for five dates taking in London, Dublin, Manchester and the home of heavy metal itself, Birmingham.
Source: Guardian Unlimited
Date Published: April 15, 2009
David Byrne's leap-frogging dancer
Features
Several things impressed the Diary about the former Talking Heads frontman David Byrne's two-night Easter residency at London's Festival Hall, part of Byrne's widely acclaimed UK tour showcasing his work with fellow musician and producer Brian Eno. One was, of course, the music; another, Byrne's impeccably pressed white trousers; the third, the agility of the three dancers who joined Byrne on stage and one of whom - in a heart-in-mouth moment - actually leapfrogged over the 6ft tall musician as he strummed his guitar. So has Byrne, the Diary wondered, ever been accidentally whacked over the head by a flying foot? "No," a spokesman for Byrne answered disappointingly, "but there have been a few near misses in rehearsals - a couple of clips round the ear, that kind of thing."
Source: Guardian Unlimited
Date Published: April 15, 2009
Gustavo Dudamel: a maestro and his magic Simón Bólivar orchestra
Features
He was sitting, half-sitting, standing, bouncing on both feet, goading, correcting and running up the aisle of the Royal Festival Hall to conduct behind the front stalls. If it was no ordinary orchestra rehearsal, then that was because he is no ordinary conductor. Gustavo Dudamel arrived in the UK yesterday with one of the most remarkable stories in classical music - the Simón Bólivar youth orchestra.
Source: Guardian Unlimited
Date Published: April 15, 2009
I Fagiolini
Features
There is nothing ordinary about a performance by I Fagiolini. These singers have made their reputation by turning their backs on convention - at Aldeburgh's Easter festival, literally so. For Gombert's Media Vita, they donned Elizabethan-style neck-ruffs and turned away from the audience to sing into microphones. But faces mattered less since, moments before, their brief rehearsal of harsh semitone clashes had helped attune the ears to crucial dissonance, further heightening awareness when it came to the glorious chromaticism of Carlo Gesualdo.
Source: Guardian Unlimited
Date Published: April 15, 2009
Vic Lewis
Features
When Bill Haley and the Comets erupted on to the British music scene in 1956 with Rock Around the Clock, most jazz bandleaders and musicians knew the writing was on the wall. Vic Lewis, who has died aged 89, moved from fronting his big band into artist representation, later working with Brian Epstein, manager of the Beatles. But he never lost his interest in jazz, retaining contact with top American musicians, especially those associated with the bandleader Stan Kenton, and bankrolling high-quality recording sessions. He also wrote songs with the lyricist Don Black and conducted the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.
Source: Guardian Unlimited
Date Published: April 15, 2009
Die Feen
Features
For most of us, any staged performance of Wagner's first completed opera is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Rejected by the mature composer as unworthy of the artist he had become, Die Feen (The Fairies) remained unperformed in Wagner's lifetime, is excluded from the canon at the Bayreuth festival, was not produced until 1969 in Britain - and has only now received its debut staging in France.
Source: Guardian Unlimited
Date Published: April 14, 2009
