Copyright 2008 The New York Sun Wed, 23 Jul 2008 01:32:01 -0400 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Music :: Stories from The New York Sun http://www.nysun.com/music istoll@nysun.com (Ira Stoll) webmaster@nysun.com en-us Bloomberg News http://www.nysun.com/arts/adele-radiohead-lead-mercury-prize-short-list/82404/ Wed, 23 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST Albums by Adele and Radiohead are among the 12-strong short list for the U.K.'s 2008 Nationwide Mercury Prize, announced Tuesday. Soul singer Adele, now 20, was nominated for her debut "19," and the short list also includes 18-year-old Laura Marling, whose first CD is called "Alas I Cannot Swim." Led Zeppelin veteran Robert Plant, 59, is also nominated, for his album with Alison Krauss, "Raising Sand." "This turns out to be a remarkably rich year for British music," Simon Frith, chairman of the... Associated Press http://www.nysun.com/arts/folk-singer-artie-traum-dies-at-65/82314/ Tue, 22 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST Artie Traum, a veteran folk songwriter and guitarist who came out of the famous Greenwich Village music scene of the '60s, is dead. He was 65. Jeff Heiman, Traum's manager, said he died Sunday at his home in Woodstock from cancer that spread to his liver. Traum produced and recorded with some of the biggest names in folk and rock, from Bela Fleck to the Band, according to his Web site. He is widely known for playing and recording with his brother, Happy Traum... Associated Press http://www.nysun.com/arts/courtney-love-sued-over-nirvana-catalog-sale/82442/ Tue, 22 Jul 2008 22:34:41 EST LOS ANGELES — A business management and accounting firm sued Courtney Love for nearly $1 million today, claiming she failed to pay them a share of profits from the sale of Nirvana's publishing catalog. Ms. Love is the widow of Nirvana singer Kurt Cobain. The five-page lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court this afternoon claims she sold a portion of his share of Nirvana's publishing catalog for $19.5 million. Los Angeles-based London & Co. alleges Ms. Love broke an oral contract to share... STEVE DOLLAR http://www.nysun.com/arts/pitchfork-hosts-a-perma-rock-festival/82331/ Tue, 22 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST CHICAGO — As concepts go, the notion of pop acts going onstage to reprise their best-loved albums front to back isn't particularly new. To conclude its 1989 "Green" tour, R.E.M. threw in a surprise set at its Atlanta homecoming show, playing its debut album "Murmur" in original track order as a no-fuss bonus for its fans. These days, however, all quarters of the music industry are looking for ways to generate a marketable buzz as record sales plummet and recorded music becomes an ephemeral... JAY NORDLINGER http://www.nysun.com/arts/the-undiscovered-henry-purcell/82337/ Tue, 22 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST Henry Purcell is known for his songs, hymns, anthems, odes, operas — in short, for his vocal music. Which is all the more reason to welcome an excellent forthcoming CD of his keyboard music. Just to refresh your memory, Purcell was a composer of the English Baroque, living from 1659 to 1695. And he was a towering genius. We think of Mozart, Schubert, and Mendelssohn as composers who died young (35, 31, and 38). Purcell's short span — 36 years — was another blow in musical history. We appreciate... JAY NORDLINGER http://www.nysun.com/arts/pedals-pumps-and-pipes-too-jane-watts-at-trinity/82243/ Mon, 21 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST It is maybe the most charming name on the current New York scene: "Pedals and Pumps: A Festival of Organ Divas." This is a series of organ recitals held at Trinity Church, at Broadway and Wall Street. They take place on Thursday at 1 o'clock. All the organists are women. And last Thursday's recitalist was Jane Watts, of Britain. Since 1991, she has been affiliated with the Bach Choir (London). Trinity literature says that the series "highlights contemporary female musicianship" — a gag-making... WILL FRIEDWALD http://www.nysun.com/arts/on-trumpet-and-vocals-unclassifiable-talent/82257/ Mon, 21 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST The music industry may be preoccupied with charts and categories, but some musicians defy classification. Trumpeter Kenny Wheeler and singer Norma Winstone, both of whom have new releases out, are two examples of talents that resist all manner of charts, graphs, lists — and even maps. In the case of Kenny Wheeler, it is difficult to say what kind of jazzman he is — bopper, avant-gardesman, big band player. And it is equally difficult to classify him in terms of nationality. Mr. Wheeler was born... FRED KIRSHNIT http://www.nysun.com/arts/reviews-sara-daneshpour-at-mannes-college/82244/ Mon, 21 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST If a performer begins and ends well, few will remember what he or she did in the middle. Unfortunately, the opposite also holds true. At the International Keyboard Institute and Festival on Thursday at Mannes College, the fine pianism of Sara Daneshpour more than compensated for a hesitant start and a timid conclusion. Ms. Daneshpour is a graduate of the Curtis Institute, where she studied with Leon Fleisher. She continues her studies at present with Oleg Volkov. She chose an aggressive program... ALAN LOCKWOOD http://www.nysun.com/arts/a-modernist-double-bill-at-bard/82258/ Mon, 21 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST Opera lovers and fans of musical theater who want to expand their range can make the short hop to Bard College's Frank Gehry-designed Sosnoff Theater, where Leon Botstein and the American Symphony Orchestra present a bill of masterworks by modernist composer Karol Szymanowski beginning Friday. The opera "King Roger (The Shepherd)" and the ballet "Harnasie" highlight the Summerscape Festival's "Prokofiev and His World," and because the two composers knew one another (and were born in regions now... Associated Press http://www.nysun.com/arts/dmx-arrested-again/82224/ Mon, 21 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST Rapper DMX was arrested at a Phoenix mall Saturday on suspicion that he gave a gave a false name and Social Security number to a hospital to get out of paying for medical expenses. Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio said that when DMX, whose real name is Earl Simmons, went to Scottsdale's Mayo Clinic in April, he used the name "Troy Jones" and failed to pay a $7,500 bill. DMX's Scottsdale attorney, Cameron Morgan, declined to comment. Mr. Arpaio said his office began investigating the charge... JAY NORDLINGER http://www.nysun.com/arts/pressler-plays/82141/ Fri, 18 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST The Beaux Arts Trio was formed in 1955, and is calling it quits this summer. Throughout these decades, the ensemble has had one pianist, Menahem Pressler, born in 1923. He played a concert at Mannes College on Wednesday night. This was part of the International Keyboard Institute & Festival. Introducing the concert, Joseph Patrych remarked that, with the Beaux Arts Trio no more, we could look forward to a long solo career from Mr. Pressler. He was not quite solo on this occasion — for his first... Staff Reporter of the Sun http://www.nysun.com/arts/china-bans-bjork-other-entertainers/82120/ Fri, 18 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST China will not allow into the country any foreign entertainers whom it deems a threat to its own national sovereignty, defined as a likelihood to "whip up ethnic hatred," "violate religious policy or cultural norms," or "advocate obscenity or feudalism and superstition," Reuters reported Thursday. The decision was announced in response to a politically provocative act by the Icelandic singer Björk, who shouted, "Tibet, Tibet," to crowds at a concert in Shanghai. China has a history of... FRED KIRSHNIT http://www.nysun.com/arts/new-york-grand-operas-traviata-in-the-park/82142/ Fri, 18 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST Summer in the city can be a difficult time for music lovers: The surging river of New York culture dries up to a mere trickle in a dry bed due to the mass exodus of the finest musicians to the comfort of the country and its wealth of interesting festivals. One of the few bright spots of the season is New York Grand Opera, which mounts fully staged productions of the Italian repertoire under the stars at the Naumburg Bandshell in our own verdant escape from urbanity, Frederick Law Olmsted's... Associated Press http://www.nysun.com/arts/boy-band-svengali-ordered-to-pay-300m/82017/ Thu, 17 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST Former boy-band promoter Lou Pearlman will have to repay victims of his decades-long investment fraud at least $300 million in restitution. A federal judge on Wednesday asked lawyers to draw up the order for his approval. It's unclear whether the creator of the Backstreet Boys and 'N Sync will be able to raise those funds while behind bars. He's serving a 25-year sentence on federal fraud charges. Prosecutors also wanted U.S. District Judge G. Kendall Sharp to tack on interest, making the... JAY NORDLINGER http://www.nysun.com/arts/the-philharmonics-all-star-game/82036/ Thu, 17 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST The New York Philharmonic played a big venue on Tuesday night, and played to a big crowd: This was a concert in Central Park. Apparently, there were 60,000 people there — more, as was pointed out from the stage, than those at Yankee Stadium for the All-Star Game. The two events took place at the same time. (The game lasted a lot longer.) Before the concert, there were many preliminaries — including speeches of the "New York's the greatest city in the world" type. Several people took credit for... KATE TAYLOR http://www.nysun.com/arts/lang-lang-to-auction-red-piano/82038/ Thu, 17 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST Starting today, you can bid on the red Steinway piano that Lang Lang played in his concert with the New York Philharmonic on Tuesday evening. The net proceeds of the auction will benefit the American Red Cross China Earthquake Relief fund. The opening bid is $165,000. The auction will end July 31. Lang Lang, who was in China at the time of the May 12 earthquake, has already participated in several benefit concerts, which have raised the equivalent of $3.3 million, he said in an interview. He... Staff Reporter of the Sun http://www.nysun.com/arts/guns-n-roses-releases-song-through-video-game/81927/ Wed, 16 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST The first track to be made public from "Chinese Democracy," the much-delayed, much-maligned Guns N' Roses album, will be released through a video game, the BBC reported Tuesday. The song, "Shackler's Revenge," will appear as a selection in Rock Band 2, a game in which users play along to songs with hand-held controllers. The game is slated to be released in September by Harmonix, Electronic Arts, and MTV Games. The release date for the album itself, the follow-up to Guns N' Roses' "The... FRED KIRSHNIT http://www.nysun.com/arts/rare-jewels-from-the-jupiter-symphony-chamber/81961/ Wed, 16 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST If you Google the composer Vincenzo Gambaro, the search engine attempts to redirect you to Vincenzo Gambino, a Milanese doctor who has apparently discovered a miraculous cure for baldness. This gambit is understandable, as there is considerable doubt about the existence of Gambaro. His chimerical qualities, however, have not deterred the intrepid explorers of the Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players, who presented his Quatuor Concertant for Four Winds as part of an excellent concert at the Church... Associated Press http://www.nysun.com/arts/mellencamp-brings-farm-aid-to-northeast/81928/ Wed, 16 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST Farm Aid, the long-running benefit concert, will be held this year in New England for the first time. John Mellencamp is scheduled to hold a news conference in Boston on Tuesday to announce that the show will be held September 20 at the Comcast Center in Mansfield, Mass. The Boston Globe reports that Mr. Mellencamp, Willie Nelson, Neil Young, and Dave Matthews will headline the concert, and more performers will be announced. Farm Aid executive director Carolyn Mugar says organizers have long... BRET MCCABE http://www.nysun.com/arts/not-your-average-adult-content/81867/ Tue, 15 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST 'Adult" is sometimes used to signify questionable content: adult films, adult books, adult situations. It's the same for rock 'n' roll, only not because of prurience. Somehow, rock has retained its youthful exuberance well into its fifth decade, making the idea of "adult rock" a study in conflicting ideas. The friction between freewheeling rock and quasi-sensible adulthood is exactly what Brooklyn quintet the Hold Steady has explored over its four-year career, and never more so than on its new... Associated Press http://www.nysun.com/arts/beatles-producer-george-martin-honored/81762/ Mon, 14 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST George Martin, the classically trained producer who helmed the Beatles' recordings from their mop-top phase through their later musical masterworks, was honored Saturday night in Los Angeles. Mr. Martin, 82, received a career award from the Recording Academy's Grammy Foundation, which provides education programs for future music professionals and works to preserve musical history. Mr. Martin is the most successful record producer of all time, according to the academy, with more than 50... JAY NORDLINGER http://www.nysun.com/arts/new-discs-from-old-warriors-domingo-and-abbado/81756/ Mon, 14 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST Plácido Domingo is an old warrior of a tenor, and Claudio Abbado is an old warrior of a conductor. They both have new discs out — and we'll begin with the tenor. He was born in a trunk, so to speak. His parents were zarzuela singers, and ran a zarzuela company. Mr. Domingo has long paid homage to this tradition. And his latest disc is called "Pasión Española." (The label is Deutsche Grammophon.) The CD consists of coplas, which are different from zarzuelas. The distinction will be unimportant... JAY NORDLINGER http://www.nysun.com/arts/dinnersteins-act-2/81765/ Mon, 14 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST One of the most satisfying and impressive discs of 2007 came from Simone Dinnerstein. (She pronounces her first name "Simona," by the way.) Ms. Dinnerstein is a 30-something pianist who lives in Brooklyn. And, for the Telarc label, she recorded Bach's "Goldberg Variations." This disc created excitement throughout the music world, excitement that was justified. Now she has a recital disc, also on Telarc. The disc has a rather pompous title: "Simone Dinnerstein: The Berlin Concert." You know... WILL FRIEDWALD http://www.nysun.com/arts/touring-america-via-jazz-tunes/81776/ Mon, 14 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST If Nelson Riddle (1921-85) were alive, it would surely make his day to hear his name mentioned in the same breath as George Gershwin and Duke Ellington, who were his idols. It would also please him to believe that his most ambitious extended composition, "Cross Country Suite," merits comparison with Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" and Ellington's "Black, Brown, and Beige." Recorded in 1958 and recently reissued, Riddle's "Cross Country Suite" employs pop, jazz, and a wide variety of classical... WILL FRIEDWALD http://www.nysun.com/arts/person-malone-make-summer-cooler/81660/ Fri, 11 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST Ever since March, when the veteran tenor saxophonist Houston Person and the dynamic guitarist Russell Malone threw sparks during a few tunes together at a Highlights in Jazz concert, I've been anxious to hear the two in a full-length collaboration. So far it hasn't happened, but on Wednesday evening, I created my own de facto Person-Malone matchup by catching Mr. Person at Jazzmobile and then hustling down to Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola, where Mr. Malone is playing all week. There was some doubt as... WILL FRIEDWALD http://www.nysun.com/obituaries/bobby-durham-71-jazz-drummer-toured-with-greats/81609/ Thu, 10 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST Bobby Durham, a jazz drummer known for his energetic, propulsive style, as well as for the high-flying musical company that he kept, died in Italy on Monday. He was 71, and had been ill with lung cancer and emphysema, a singer who had toured with him in Europe in recent years, Shawnn Monteiro, said. Durham was practically the only contemporary drummer who worked with Ella Fitzgerald, Duke Ellington, Coleman Hawkins, and, most famously, Oscar Peterson, four legendary bandleaders who were famous... HELEN BROWN http://www.nysun.com/arts/brunis-new-album-is-simply-sultry/81554/ Thu, 10 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST Carla Bruni's new album, "Comme si de rien n'etait" ( "As if nothing happened"), will be sold internationally as "Simply." On it, she sings of her love for her husband, President Nicolas Sarkozy of France, and much more. A song-by-song review is below. "Ma Jeunesse" The Premiere Dame may have a colorful past, but her music has always been as classically chic and subtly sexy as her Christian Dior wardrobe. The supermodel-turned-chanteuse has been worried that her left-leaning fan base might... Associated Press http://www.nysun.com/arts/madonna-brings-virtual-britney-on-tour/81442/ Wed, 9 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST Madonna has recruited Britney Spears for a virtual appearance on her upcoming tour. "There is footage being shot of Britney sometime this week in conjunction with Madonna's upcoming (Sticky & Sweet) tour," Madonna's publicist, Liz Rosenberg, said in an e-mail Tuesday to the Associated Press. "That is all the information I have available. The rest is 'a secret.'" Ms. Rosenberg denied reports that Ms. Spears, 26, is shooting a music video. Madonna guest starred in a music video for Ms. Spears's... Associated Press http://www.nysun.com/arts/boston-symphony-orchestra-conductor-to-have/81443/ Wed, 9 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST James Levine will have a kidney removed in surgery this week, causing the conductor to miss the remainder of the Boston Symphony Orchestra's Tanglewood season. The 65-year-old music director of both the BSO and the Metropolitan Opera will need six weeks of recovery time, the BSO said in a statement Tuesday. He is expected to be back on the podium for the start of the Met and BSO seasons in September. Mr. Levine's kidney is being removed because of a cyst that is causing pressure and discomfort... BRET McCABE http://www.nysun.com/arts/beck-stumbles-into-an-uncertain-future/81388/ Tue, 8 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST Beck Hansen and Danger Mouse should be a match made in pop heaven. Beck is a genre-busting singer-songwriter who creates his strongest work when bouncing ideas off of equally innovative producers. Danger Mouse (aka Brian Burton), the mind behind Gnarls Barkley's darkly themed soul pop, is one such sound alchemist. Somehow, though, the pair's most recent collaboration, "Modern Guilt" (Interscope), Beck's 10th album and the final in his major-label contract with DGC Records, coaxes out everything... NICHOLAS WAPSHOTT http://www.nysun.com/arts/billy-joel-pulls-the-curtain-at-shea/81389/ Tue, 8 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST There is some suitable symmetry in Billy Joel giving the final musical performance at Shea Stadium. As a budding singer-songwriter in 1964, Mr. Joel looked out at the American music scene and despaired. The charts were full of soul hits, which left him cold. "I was a kid from Levittown, so how much soul did I have at that point?" he once said of his childhood. Then one evening in February 1964, like much of the rest of America, he watched on television as Ed Sullivan ushered the Beatles into... STEVE DOLLAR http://www.nysun.com/arts/closing-time-for-waitss-american-tour/81381/ Tue, 8 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST ATLANTA — A man who dredges his art up through a reservoir of phlegm, subterranean myth, vaudevillian shtick, fractured blues, and the fantastic testimony of a carnival barker, Tom Waits has long served as a kind of all-purpose synonym: He's a one-man signifier of vintage American weirdness, whose gruff veneer gives way to soulful depths of tear-wringing melancholy. Mr. Waits is also, at 58, far enough beyond the demands of a routine musical career that he doesn't have to do much besides hang... BRET McCABE http://www.nysun.com/arts/british-rocker-world-ambassador/81383/ Tue, 8 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST When Damon Albarn and the Honest Jon's Revue perform at the Lincoln Center Festival on Saturday, the stage will be filled with a veritable supergroup consisting of talent from all around the world. In addition to Mr. Albarn — best known for his 1990s Brit-pop band Blur, as well as the conceptual comic-book collaborative Gorillaz and, most recently, the ambitious rock outfit the Good, the Bad & the Queen — the Revue includes an impressive array of African and North American musicians, among them... GEORGE LOOMIS http://www.nysun.com/arts/on-the-right-track-with-die-soldaten/81279/ Mon, 7 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST Any festival in a big city needs to offer something radically different from normal fare, or it doesn't deserve to be called a festival. This hurdle is surmounted triumphantly by the Lincoln Center Festival with its production of Bernd Alois Zimmermann's "Die Soldaten," or "The Soldiers," which opened on Saturday, not simply because it has chosen a complex, modernistic opera as its musical centerpiece but because it has staged it in the vast Drill Hall of the Park Avenue Armory.   The Armory... WILL FRIEDWALD http://www.nysun.com/arts/marsalis-nelson-meet-in-a-bluesy-middle/81277/ Mon, 7 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST To jazz fans of my father's generation, the 1930 recording of "Blue Yodel No. 9" by Jimmie Rodgers was a remarkable mystery: Here was the legendary singing brakeman, accompanied by a trumpet player who sounded remarkably like Louis Armstrong. At that time, a contingent of jazz purists refused to believe that Armstrong, who was even then the most famous figure in jazz, would sully himself by playing on a hillbilly yodeling record. But other jazz fans who also loved country and folk music were... JAY NORDLINGER http://www.nysun.com/arts/a-souvenir-from-vladimir-horowitz/81280/ Mon, 7 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST Vladimir Horowitz, the great and wizardly pianist, lived from 1903 to 1989. He played his last recital on June 21, 1987, at age 83. And now we have that recital on disc. The event took place in Hamburg, allowing the record label, Deutsche Grammophon, to call the album "Horowitz in Hamburg." A little alliteration is always appreciated. Horowitz was one of the great uneven performers in all history. Sometimes he could be unsurpassably good; sometimes he could be shockingly bad. You never knew... WILL FRIEDWALD http://www.nysun.com/arts/tis-the-season-for-big-bands/81186/ Thu, 3 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST Many people think of "big-band jazz" as if it were a style unto itself, like Dixieland or bebop. The truth is that the term "big band" connotes an instrumental format, employed in a wide variety of styles. Even though big bands are associated most with the swing era, they can be as different from one another as Earl Hines is from Cecil Taylor, to name two piano-centric institutions. Summer is traditionally a good time for big bands in New York; they tend to be presented outdoors in the... JAY NORDLINGER http://www.nysun.com/arts/the-formal-and-the-popular/81194/ Thu, 3 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST The concert by the New York Philharmonic on Tuesday night had a dorky title: "Romancing the Riviera." But you have to sell the product. And, when it comes to summertime concerts, a little dorkiness is certainly allowed. The evening began with a Rossini overture — that to "L'Italiana in Algeri." We have always translated this opera "The Italian Girl in Algiers." The Philharmonic's program had a translation of goofy political correctness: "The Italian Woman in Algiers." Give us a break. What do... Staff Reporter of the Sun http://www.nysun.com/arts/montebello-joins-met-concert-series/81160/ Thu, 3 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST The Metropolitan Museum of Art's outgoing director, Philippe de Montebello, will narrate Saint-Saën's "Carnival of the Animals" for a performance by the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, which will open the museum's 2008-09 season of concerts. Mr. de Montebello's reading will be the first event in a series called Triptych, opening September 26, which honors the director's last year with the Met. For the series, Mr. de Montebello will participate as well in a conversation with critic Robert Hughes and... Bloomberg News http://www.nysun.com/arts/bayreuth-to-stream-meistersinger-live-online/81065/ Wed, 2 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST Wagner fans who fail to get tickets to the Richard Wagner Festival at Bayreuth, Germany, this year can watch "Die Meistersinger" live on the Internet on July 27, according to the festival's Web site. "Richard Wagner dreamed of making the festival accessible and affordable for everyone," the Web site says. "We take his ideas seriously and realize them using modern technology." Katharina Wagner, the great-granddaughter of Richard Wagner and a candidate to lead the Bayreuth opera festival after... Associated Press http://www.nysun.com/arts/ernestine-anderson-avoids-foreclose/81066/ Wed, 2 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST Jazz vocalist Ernestine Anderson's home has been saved from foreclosure — for now, thanks, in part, to music legend Quincy Jones and contemporary jazz artist Diane Schuur. More than $43,000 poured in — including donations from Mr. Jones and Ms. Schuur — after recent news stories about the Seattle jazz legend's financial woes, Carmen Gayton, a friend of Ms. Anderson's family, said. The money to stop the foreclosure was delivered Monday, Ms. Gayton added. She declined to say how much Mr. Jones... BRET MCCABE http://www.nysun.com/arts/sowing-the-seeds-of-discontent/80991/ Tue, 1 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST Dissatisfaction is strewn throughout the new albums by England's Dirty Pretty Things and California's Earlimart, both out today. How the two rock bands choose to express that restlessness — and why they're so riled — is radically different, and boils down to what makes one a promising failure and the other a disarmingly curious gem. "Romance at Short Notice," the sophomore release from Dirty Pretty Things, suffers when compared with the output of singer-songwriter Carl Barât's previous outfit... Associated Press http://www.nysun.com/arts/jones-beach-theater-commits-to-storm-tracking/80969/ Tue, 1 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST Officials say a new computer system at Long Island's Jones Beach theater will help them do a better job of tracking approaching storms. The development follows a close call with a lightning strike during an R.E.M. concert at the outdoor theater three weeks ago. State parks regional director Ronald Foley says procedures there also are being evaluated. Mr. Foley says that when the lightning struck, the theater manager was on the verge of having an evacuation announcement made, and removing the... Staff Reporter of the Sun http://www.nysun.com/arts/collegiate-chorale-sets-tour-of-israel/80987/ Tue, 1 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST New York's Collegiate Chorale, led by music director Robert Bass, will go on tour in Israel with the Israel Philharmonic between July 12 and July 21. The program, which will be performed in Tel Aviv, Haifa, and Jerusalem, features works by Bernstein, Brahms, Verdi, and Thomas, as well as some traditional American spirituals. Participants in the chorale's Side-by-Side education program, which gives musically advanced high school students the opportunity to practice with the chorale, will join... FRED KIRSHNIT http://www.nysun.com/arts/feeding-the-spirit-and-the-mind-at-the-summer/80992/ Tue, 1 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST England's Coventry Cathedral is best known in the history of 20th-century music as the bombed ruin whose restoration inspired the creation of the Benjamin Britten masterpiece "War Requiem." But other pieces were commissioned for this miraculous architectural project, including the "Missa Brevis" of Sir William Walton, which was featured Sunday at the Summer Festival of Sacred Music at St. Bartholomew's Church. The series presents a different view of the Mass each Sunday and allows a critic the... JAY NORDLINGER http://www.nysun.com/arts/karajan-live-and-alive/80899/ Mon, 30 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EST Last month, a Honda-made robot conducted the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. It was a stunt heard round the world. But a colleague of mine quipped, "What's the big deal? They had a robot conducting the Berlin Philharmonic for years." The reference was to Herbert von Karajan (1908-89), who could indeed be robotic. This was especially true in his later years, and it was never truer than when he entered the recording studio (which was often). Karajan strove for a kind of perfection — his version. And... JAY NORDLINGER http://www.nysun.com/arts/a-spaniard-at-the-keyboard/80897/ Mon, 30 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EST Spanish music rests on the twin pillars of Albéniz and Granados. Spanish piano music rests on the twin pillars of "Iberia," the suite by Albéniz, and "Goyescas," the suite by Granados. Excerpts from both suites were heard at Weill Recital Hall on Thursday night. Of course, there are other Spanish composers (starting with Falla and Turina, and continuing with Mompou, Montsalvatge, Halffter, Suriñach, etc.). And there is a ton of other piano music — Alicia de Larrocha introduced all of us to just... WILL FRIEDWALD http://www.nysun.com/arts/jvc-festival-finishes-up-on-an-eclectic-note/80901/ Mon, 30 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EST The 2008 JVC Jazz Festival finished up this weekend, and the homestretch featured a variety of engaging performers. Wednesday evening's program showcased two worldly-wise young female instrumentalists: the singer and bassist Esperanza Spalding and multi-reed player Anat Cohen. The rapidly rising Ms. Spalding is an exuberant player who was born in Colorado, but specializes in Latin-style jazz and sings mostly in Spanish. Though she has plenty of pop-electronic trappings on her new self-titled... GEORGE LOOMIS http://www.nysun.com/arts/vivica-genaux-returns-to-caramoor/80794/ Fri, 27 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EST For more than a decade, the mezzo soprano Vivica Genaux has been a greatly esteemed exponent of the Baroque and bel canto repertoires, as visitors to the Caramoor International Music Festival will know. There she has flourished, notably in operas by Rossini, but Sunday afternoon she turns to Spain with a performance of Manuel de Falla's brief dramatic work "El Amor Brujo," or "Love, the Magician." "I love the Spanish repertoire and am fascinated by this piece," Ms. Genaux said in an interview... JAY NORDLINGER http://www.nysun.com/arts/dont-hate-them-because-theyre-popular/80786/ Fri, 27 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EST On Wednesday night, the white jackets came out, as the New York Philharmonic began its "Summertime Classics" series at Avery Fisher Hall. I should say that the white jackets were onstage, not in the audience. The evening was dubbed "Moscow on the Hudson," and, as you can guess, the program was all-Russian. We had the "Festive Overture" of Shostakovich, excerpts from "Romeo and Juliet" by Prokofiev, and the Piano Concerto No. 2 of Rachmaninoff. These are fantastic, ever-lovable pieces. There was...