As medici.tv’s Chief Content Officer I spend a lot of time thinking about classical music—and a lot of time on the internet. Here’s my selection of the top five news items you need to see this week if you want to stay in the know.
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Four arrested after protest at an Israel Philharmonic Orchestra concert in Paris (Le Monde, Bachtrack)
Four people have been arrested following a protest at an Israel Philharmonic Orchestra performance in Paris on Thursday which saw protestors use flares inside the Philharmonie de Paris concert hall, an act French officials have condemned as an unjustifiable threat to the safety of audience members. The orchestra has been met with numerous protests in recent weeks including cancellations, demonstrations outside venues, public letters, and petitions. The ensemble and its conductor Lahav Shani have insisted that the ensemble is independent, yet critics note that they receive funding from the Israeli government and closed Thursday’s concert with a rendition of the national anthem. Paris newspaper Le Monde has full coverage, including shocking images and Bachtrack has an English-language summary.
New analysis of a ninth-century manuscript reveals some of the earliest written musical notes (The Guardian)
Researchers in Pennsylvania have stumbled upon an exciting historical discovery “hidden in plain sight” in a private collection: a set of musical notations in a manuscript for Easter services dating from the second half of the ninth century, likely from Germany. The document is contemporaneous with a just handful of others frequently held up as the earliest forms of musical notation in the late ninth and early tenth centuries. According to research lead Nathan Raab, the notations above the word “alleluia”—which resemble shorthand markings—are a kind of “visual aid to the singer” and represent rising and falling pitch.
Rosalia on mysticism, imperfection, and making her grandma proud (NPR)
NPR has a fantastic interview with the artist the entire world is talking about right now: Rosalía. The Spanish superstar talks about the inspirations behind her new album, Lux, whose first single “Berghain” features lush symphonic scoring (a collaboration with the London Symphony Orchestra), multiple languages, and opera-inspired vocals. Rosalía revealed that her grandmother is a big opera fan and would often listen to Pavarotti records: “The real deal, for her, was classical music and classical trained voices. I was like, one day I’m going to make a song that my grandma is going to be like, okay, now you got it.” Grandma texted her approval the day the single came out.
Itzhak Perlman’s Top Ten (NYT)
World-renowned violinist and iconic New Yorker Itzhak Perlman sat down with his local paper the New York Times to share his “ten” things, which include of course his beloved Stradivarius violin, loved ones like his wife and dog, and a surprising amount of cooking essentials. There’s just one piece of music on the list: the theme from Schindler’s List, which has become something of a calling card for Perlman since recording the soundtrack at the request of composer John Williams. Here he is performing it alongside Gustavo Dudamel and the LA Phil in 2014:
The rarely-performed Elgar work at the heart of new film The Choral (The Guardian)
On Friday, The Choral, about a local chorus in a small Yorkshire village during World War I, was released in the UK. Starring Ralph Fiennes as the chorusmaster, the film culminates in a rendition of “quintessentially British” composer Edward Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius, a rarely-performed and somewhat controversial choral work from 1900 that would have been a markedly ambitious undertaking for a local ensemble. Before you hit the cinema, read The Guardian’s deep dive into the piece to learn more about its trailblazing form (““there’s no word invented yet to describe [it],” according to Elgar himself), Wagnerian influence, and direct link with Catholic theology.
