January 13, 2008

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

Classical violinist Tasmin Little joins rock band Radiohead in pioneering music distribution on the web.  But where Radiohead said “Pay what you want” for their Honesty Box Album, Little goes one step further and offers her new recording as a digital download for free.  Little said she wanted to bash down her art form's reputation as elitist. "Classical music, for some reason or another, has this reputation that you need a certain kind of education to listen to it, you need to be a certain colour or live in a certain place and I'm a bit fed up with that. I wanted to take away any possible barrier and see if it makes a difference."  Little’s recording, “The Naked Violin”, will also contain spoken introductions to the pieces to give technical and musical insights.  The album, containing unaccompanied works by Bach, British Composer Paul Patterson, and Eugene Ysaye, will be available Monday.

One night a week, Berlin club hoppers get to enjoy Tchaikovsky instead of the usual trance and techno.  The phenomenon is called “Yellow Lounge”, and it’s a night of live and DJ-spun classical music that rotates among the city’s trendiest clubs.  The event is never publicized or advertised, yet nearly always sells out.  It’s been a Berlin club fixture since 2001.  the aim of the night, according to organizer and DJ David Canisius, “is to bring classical music to a different audience”.  Canisius, a 38-year old violinist with the German Chamber orchestra, runs the yellow lounge with the idea to take his passion for classical music to unexpected places.  Part of the success of the club night is that it is inexpensive compared to other classical concerts; backed by the record company Universal, Yellow Lounge can charge 5 euros (about 7 US dollars) to get in. for that price, though, clubbers get to see musicians like Anne-Sophie Mutter, Helene Grimaud, and the Emerson Quartet.  Says Canisius: “People like coming to Yellow Lounge because it isn't scary. It is cheap, there is no dress code, and nobody expects you to know anything about classical music."

A new BBC reality TV show will follow 7 celebrity conductor wannabees as they compete against each other on the podium in front of orchestras and choirs.  The show, to be called “Maestro”, comes on the heels of another BBC classical music reality series, “Classical Star”, which began last October.   On the show, Would-be conductors will be advised by a panel of top international conductors and mentored throughout by a number of younger conductors. A BBC spokesperson said, “we hope that by following different people's journeys in learning how to conduct, it will succeed in opening up classical music to a completely different audience."

For more information on these and other items and events, go to our website at kbaq.org, be listening each week at this time for another update, and join me every weekday at noon for the “Mozart Buffet”, an hour of music by Mozart and his contemporaries. For KBAQ’s “This week in classical Music”, I’m Randy Kinkel.