November 4, 2007

It’s this week in classical music, an update on what’s happening in the classical music world, I’m Randy Kinkel.

15-year-old composer Jay Greenberg had the premiere of his violin concerto last week in Carnegie hall. The piece was written for, and performed by Joshua Bell, who advised Greenberg on the writing for violin. The Orchestra of St. Luke’s commissioned the piece from the young composer, Who already has hundreds of compositions under his belt and a recording contract from Sony.  His first recording was released in 2006.  "I'm very happy," Bell said in a brief interview later. "We got through it. I really like the piece. It's growing on me more and more. Now I can't wait to actually work on the music; I was just trying to get the notes in the right place."  The audience liked the piece and responded with a standing ovation. Greenberg left his seat next to his parents and little brother and walked on stage, bowing self-consciously.  Asked later what he was trying to say in the work that took him about six months to write, the young composer said "I don't know. I never figured that out."

Conductor Kent Nagano issued an ultimatum recently to the St. Lawrence Choir, the amateur heart of the Montreal Symphony Chorus,that they must improve their standards or he would re-form the chorus by resorting to an unspecified “Plan B”.  The news was delivered to the choir on behalf of Nagano by Choir President Andrea Cooper during a rehearsal break.  The ultimatum went on to specify the January performances of Wagner’s “Tannhauser” would be a test to see if the chorus had made the needed improvements.  20-year choir member Rchard Chapman said, "What the choir had to achieve to satisfy him, and what the consequences were, were not clear.  Another anonymous chorister said, “"We have this awful feeling that however good it is, it won't be good enough."

People in Scotland are paying good money to hear really bad musicians.  Every year, the concert of the “Really Terrible Orchestra” in Edinburgh sells out.  People come in droves to hear pieces mangled by amateur musicians who really aren’t that good.  the Orchestra was founded by Mystery writer Alexander McCall Smith, who plays bassoon, barely, in the band.  On the orchestra’s website is this statement:  “The Really Terrible Orchestra exists to encourage those who have been prevented from playing music, either through lack of talent or some other factor, to play music in the company of similarly afflicted players.