This Week in Classical Music-Sept. 13, 2009

September 13, 2009

Music for Monkeys?

( Phoenix, AZ )
•Honeck extends Pittsburgh stay
•Telegraph's Top 100 Recordings
•Music for Monkeys

This week in Classical music 9/13/09

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

The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and conductor/music director Manfred Honeck have been making beautiful music together; so much so that the 50-year old Austrian musician has extended his contract with the orchestra until 2016. Honeck also plans to increase the number of concerts he conducts in Heinz Hall and the dates he will tour with the orchestra. Honeck said, “I love this orchestra very much…they do everything I am asking for, and I want to take the chemistry to more music”.

The British paper the Telegraph has come out with it’s “100 essential classical Recordings” list; among their “Must-haves: Carlos Kleiber and the Vienna Philharmonic’s legendary recording of Beethoven’s symphony #5 and #7; Bach’s Mass in B minor with Andrew Parrot and the Taverner Consort and Players; and Fabio Biondi and Europa Galante’s lively recording of Vivaldi’s 4 Seasons; and pianist Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli’s recording of Rachmaninoff’s fourth piano Concerto. A link to the complete list is on our website on the “This week in classical Music” page. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/classicalmusic/6137471/100-Best-Classical-Recordings.html

A recent study suggests that animals may not care that much about human music. Experiments showed that Tamarin Monkeys Don’t respond to human music emotionally as people do—but when a psychologist and musician teamed up to compose music based on the pitch, tone and tempo of Tamarin calls, they found significant changes in behavior an emotional response. researchers played each “Monkey” piece, as well as pieces of Human music for Tamarin monkeys who had not heard music before—Samuel Barber and Nine Inch nails didn’t move them, but the music based on fear calls from an upset monkey made the monkeys more afraid, while one based on soothing cries of a happy animal produced similar reactions in the monkeys. Next, researchers plan to test out other species-specific music.

For more on these and other items and events, go to the website, KBAQ.org, be listening every week at this time for another update, and join me each week at noon for the Mozart Buffet, an hour of music by Mozart and his contemporaries; I’m Randy Kinkel for “This Week in Classical Music” on 89.5 KBAQ Phoenix, a service of Rio Salado College and Arizona State University.