Joseph Haydn: 'Die sieben letzten Worte unseres Erlösers am Kreuze', Hob.XX:02; Cuarteto Casals; 1 CD Harmonia Mundi HMC 902162; 2014 (60'14) – Rezension von Guy Wagner

Laut den Evangelien, sprach Jesus noch sieben Worte, als er am Kreuze hing. Sie reichen von der Bitte an den ‘Vater’, den Peinigern zu vergeben, über die Frage, warum Er ihn verlassen habe bis zum: ‘Vater, in deine Hände empfehle ich meinen Geist.’ Read More →

The San Francisco Symphony (SFS) will release a new live recording of the first-ever concert performances of Leonard Bernstein’s complete score for the musical West Side Story featuring a cast including Cheyenne Jackson and Alexandra Silber, and the SFS Chorus, on June 10, 2014. The two-disc set available from the SFS Media label includes a 100-page booklet featuring a new interview with conductor Michael Tilson Thomas, notes from Rita Moreno and Jamie Bernstein, as well as a West Side Story historical timeline, archival photographs, complete lyrics, and rehearsal and performance photos. Read More →

Immer wieder gibt es Testverfahren, um die Qualität alter Geigen und sogar so berühmter wie jene von Stradivari gegenüber neuen Instrumenten zu untersuchen. Der Geigenbauer Andreas Hudelmayer hat jetzt neue Ergebnisse veröffentlicht.

Following the lead of other orchestras, the Seattle Symphony Orchestra launches this year its own record label. The first releases on ‘Seattle Symphony Media’ will be available for download on 1 April, and as CDs on 29 April. They comprise recent performances of works by Maurice Ravel, Camille Saint-Saëns, George Gershwin, Charles Ives and Henri Dutilleux. Seattle Symphony recorded a lot under Gerard Schwarz, and most of it is available in the Naxos catalogue. Obviously the new music director Ludovic Morlot would like to be heard in a repertoire that Naxos has already published and will not record again.

Audiences for orchestras in the UK have grown by 16% since 2010 with over 4.5m people now attending an orchestral concert every year, according to a report by the Association of British Orchestras. Nonetheless, in spite of the positive growth in attendance, the income for British orchestras has fallen by 11% over the same time period. The ABO has put this decrease down to audiences plumping for cheaper ticket options in times of financial austerity. Public funding for orchestras has fallen by 14%, while donations and sponsorship have gone up by 30%. Read More →

Three suspects have been arrested in connection with the theft of the ‘Lipinski’ Stradivarius violin in Milwaukee. But the search for the priceless instrument continues, MPD Chief Edward Flynn announced Wednesday. The missing Strad, stolen from Milwaukee Symphony’s concertmaster Frank Almond has been given an insurance value of $5 million.

Opera is no longer reserved to the privileged audiences having the possibility to attend performances in an opera house. By broadcasting productions live either to cinemas, TV programs or to the Internet, companies widen their audience in an unprecedented manner. The latest opera house to announce the broadcasting to cinemas is the English National Opera. After the Met, the Bolshoi, the Royal Opera House and some more, ENO is bringing productions to screens, starting with Peter Grimes on 23 February next year. The second opera in the current season to be broadcast is Terry Gilliam’s new production of Berlioz’s Benvenuto Cellini in June 2014. From autumn 2014, the plan is for five or six productions a year to be screened.

The Sydney Opera House just launched ‘Own Our House’, a unique fundraising campaign that gives people in Australia and around the world the opportunity to show their support for the Opera House by buying a virtual tile on the tallest roof sail of the Opera House, known as A2. It covers the Concert Hall and has more than 125,000 tiles. Read More →

Good news from Michigan: Detroit Symphony Orchestra has increased found raising by 43%. $18.9 million in contributions guarantee a balanced budget for the first time since 2007. Over $6 million of the total came from the exceedingly generous giving of DSO directors and trustees. Read More →

Die Bilanz der Ruhrtriennale 2013, die an diesem Wochenende endet, ist erfreulich. Die Zuschauerzahlen sind deutlich gestiegen. Mit 90% wurde die höchste Auslastung seit Bestehen des Festivals erreicht. Rund 49.400 Tickets wurden für die Produktionen 2013 vergeben. Darüber hinaus sahen rund 23.000 Besucher die Installation ‘test pattern’ von Ryoji Ikeda, rund 12.000 die Videoinstallation von Douglas Gordon in der Mischanlage der Kokerei Zollverein und hochgerechnet (Laufzeit bis 6. Oktober) rund 8.300 Zuschauer die ‘Unguided Tour’ von Stifters Dinge in der Duisburger Kraftzentrale. In den Zuschauerzahlen unberücksichtigt bleiben die zahlreichen Besucher anderer Installation des Festivals.