Category: Music

Gramophone magazine polled music critics and here is the top ten list they came up with:

1 Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra

2 Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra

3 Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra

4 London Symphony Orchestra

5 Chicago Symphony Orchestra

6 Bavarian Radio Symphony

7 Cleveland Orchestra

8 Los Angeles Philharmonic

9 Budapest Festival Orchestra

10 Dresden Staatskapelle

You’ll find 10-20 here, along with some discussion.  The news, if that is what you would call it, is that Philadelphia does not make the list at all.  Here is another discussion of the results.

The end of the year is coming and so I will digest the numerous "best of" lists for you once again.  These picks are for classical music CDs and they are from Fanfare, the number one source of criticism for new classical releases.  Here are the CDs that appeared more than once on their reviewers’ "best of the year" lists:

Vincent Persichetti: Piano Sonatas; knotty American piano music.

Morton Feldman: The Viola in My Life, I-IV.

Alkan Organ Works, vol.II, by Kevin Bowyer

Bach, Brandenburg Concerti, rerecorded by Trevor Pinnock.

Brahms, Sonatas for Clarinet and Piano, by Manasse and Nakamatsu.

Thomas Simaku, String Quartets; intense, from Albania.

As usual, classical "best of" lists give disproportionate weight to material which had not previously been recorded, in this case the Persichetti which of all the entries is named the most often.  The Brahms is the one most likely to please you, or the Pinnock.  I can vouch for the quality of the others but when it comes to genre they won’t convert the unpersuaded.

Recommended.  I didn’t know he was such a collector of jazz LPs.

I entered the mourning profession at the age of twelve.  My teacher forced me to practice the basic suona tunes, as well as to learn how to wail and chant.  Having a solid foundation in the basics enables a performer to improvise with ease, and to produce an earth-shattering effect.  Our wailing sounds more authentic than that of the children or relatives of the deceased.

Most people who have lost their family members burst into tears and begin wailing upon seeing the body of the deceased.  But their wailing doesn’t last.  Soon they are overcome with grief.  When grief reaches into their hearts, they either suffer from shock or pass out.  But for us, once we get into the mood, we control our emotions and improvise with great ease.  We can wail as long as is requested.  If it’s a grand funeral and the money is good, we do lots of improvisation to please the host.

"How long can you wail?  What was your record?"

Two days and two nights…Voices are our capital and we know how to protect them…

…Frankly speaking, the hired mourners are the ones who can stick to the very end.

That is from Liao Yiwu’s excellent The Corpse Walker: Real-Life Stories, China from the Bottom Up.  Here is a previous installment in the series.  Here is an out of date book, by comedian Eddie Cantor.  Here is a photo:

Or will there be?

Robert Burns’s poetry might have been dismissed as "sentimental
doggerel" by Jeremy Paxman but that hasn’t stopped diminutive I’m A
Celebrity contestant David Gest and pop legend Michael Jackson from
recording an album of the much-loved Scottish poet’s work. Gest’s
spokesman said the album is a modern musical take on some of Burns’
classic poems, and had been a long cherished project.

Here is the full story.  Here is the evolution of earnings on some of MJ’s other albums.  Here is a man who just died.

The eyes.  Other results vary across genre, for instance gospel and blues sing more about hands than eyes.  And get this:

As for the genre that talks about body parts the most, hip hop takes the honors with more references than any other genre. Meanwhile, gospel refers to the body the least. There are plenty of other data points to peruse. It’s nice to know that 23.64 percent of hip hop songs refer to the behind, while 11.83 percent of rock songs talk about eyes.

Here is a summary of the results:

Economists who secretly want to be rock stars and rock stars who secretly want to be economists.

Remember the guy who wrote the song about trying to survive in 1000 A.D.?  He has a new and excellent tune, based on your comments about books having so much chaff and extra material in them.  Here is the link to the MP3 (and other songs by him).  Here are the lyrics.

Going back to some old requests, Eric H., a loyal and perceptive MR reader and commentator, asks:

Why do the US (a wealthy country) and Africa (a poor continent) put out
more influential modern music than Asia (a populated continent of both
wealthy and poor extremes)?

Where do I start?

1. Most African music has scales very similar to those of European music and thus we are arguably considering a unified and indeed accessible style.

2. Many African musics emphasize rhythms and rhythm is arguably the most universal element of music and thus it is relatively easy to export.  American music has in this regard a strong African component, for obvious historical reasons.

3. The micro-tonal musics, as we find in India and the Middle East, don’t spread to many countries which do not already have a micro-tonal tradition.  Cats wailing, etc., though it is a shame if you haven’t trained your ear by now to like the stuff.  It’s some of the world’s finest music.

4. Many Asian musics, such as some of the major styles of China and Japan, emphasize timbre.  That makes them a) often too subtle, and b) very hard to translate to disc or to radio.  African-derived musics are perfect for radio or for the car.

5. African music is really, really good.  And America is really, really good at entertaining people.  It’s an unstoppable alliance.

This Georgetown talk is now on-line; the entire talk is structured around commentary on the economics behind particular musical tracks, including Desmond Dekker, Tarika, some doo-wop, and other favorites of mine.

I have been tagged.  They’re probably all songs by Gilbert O’Sullivan but if you wish to diversify, well…should I feel guilty about Split Enz "I Hope I Never," Harry Nilsson’s "Cuddly Toy," early Beach Boys songs, or Liz Phair’s "Whip-Smart"?  How about "Wooly Bully", by Sam the Sham and the Pharoahs?  Is Paul Simon’s "American Tune" noble or too sappy?  Upon reflection I don’t feel guilty about any of it.  I haven’t felt guilty about Abba for a long time though Meryl Streep and Pierce Brosnan may soon change that.

Average word count of top-ten songs during the 1960s: 176

Average last year: 436

That is from Harper’s Index, August issue.  I don’t think it can be a pure length of song effect.

In Paraguay the latest hit record — and yes it is a hit — is by the U.S. Ambassador singing Paraguayan folk songs in the language of Guarani.  Crowds love it, though one Paraguayan critic compared it to "the monotone of a tired bird."  The ambassador had no previous professional singing experience.  One Paraguayan Senator is asking his Congress to denounce the diplomat.  "Paraguayans cry when they hear it" is another, more laudatory assessment.  Here is the interesting story.

Here is a speech by the ambassador, excerpt:

We are not building a military base………  We are not stealing the Guarani aquifer………….  We are not buying up the Chaco…………….

The truth is that our agenda is very positive, both for the region and for Paraguay.