The Classical Gabfest

This week, we start out with a rousing round of the Game of Pairs and then we move on to our three topics:

YOUNG AUDIENCE RECRUITMENT AND AGEISM IN THE CLASSICAL INDUSTRY

Classical Music Attracts Older Audiences. Good. (NYT)
Aging of the Orchestra Audience Is a Function of Demographic Evolution

THE AURORA ORCHESTRA PLAYS SYMPHONIE FANTASTIQUE

Watch the concert on YouTube
Berlioz’s Memoirs

INTERVIEW WITH NAHRE SOL

Listen to Alice in Wonderland on Spotify
Watch Nahre on YouTube
Nahre’s Web Site (sheet music available!) 

CLASSICAL MIXTAPE
The full playlist

NAHRE
Julia Wolfe, “Reeling”

WILL
Mozart, Requiem: “Lacrimosa” (on theremin)

TIFFANY
Viet Cuong, Re(new)al: Percussion Quartet Concerto

KENSHO
Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 5 “Reformation”

THINK YOU CAN STUMP US? GO AHEAD AND TRY!
Google Form for “Name that Tune: Stump the Hosts Edition” 

GET A COPY OF ALEX ROSS’S WAGNERISM FOR OUR BOOK CLUB
https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374285937

You can reach us at [email protected] and on social media:

Facebook
Twitter
Instagram 

This week, we start out with a rousing round of Stolen Strains and then we move on to our three topics:

JAMES LEVINE’S $3.5M SETTLEMENT AND ZUBIN MEHTA’S COMMENTS
The Terms of Levine’s Met Settlement Revealed (NYT)
Cancellation of the Met’s season (NYT)
The original interview with Mehta in the Corriere della Sera
Will’s translation of the Corriere della Sera article 

THE RISE OF INSTAGRAM PRACTICE ACCOUNTS
Jacob Sweet’s post on the New Yorker Culture Desk blog
Morgan Davison’s bassoon practice insta

IS A SOCIALLY DISTANCED MUSIC DEGREE WORTH THE PRICE TAG?

“An Impossible Choice: Music Majors, COVID-19, and an Uncertain Future”
by Zack Finkelstein and Dana Lynne Vargas

CLASSICAL MIXTAPE
The full playlist

ZACH
Dowland, “Come Again, Sweet Love”
Get the album

WILL
Vivaldi, Juditha triumphans, “Armatae face et anguibus”

TIFFANY
Mason Bates, Ford’s Farm

KENSHO
Charles Wuorinen, Josquiniana

THINK YOU CAN STUMP US? GO AHEAD AND TRY!
Google Form for “Name that Tune: Stump the Hosts Edition” 

GET A COPY OF ALEX ROSS’S WAGNERISM FOR OUR BOOK CLUB
Book page at Macmillan

You can reach us at [email protected] and on social media:

Facebook
Twitter
Instagram

This week, we start off with a rousing game of Listening Limbo, then we dive into our three topics:

THE DISSOLUTION OF THE COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY MARCHING BAND

Part 1 in the Columbia Spectator Article
Part 2
The band’s statement on Medium

NORMAN LEBRECHT’S ZERO-STAR REVIEW OF “JOHN WILLIAMS IN VIENNA”

The album on Spotify
The review

THE DISMISSAL OF GARRETT MCQUEEN FROM AMERICAN PUBLIC MEDIA

Garrett’s statement on Opus 66 of TRILLOQUY (begins at 16:16)
MPR News story 

CLASSICAL MIXTAPE
The full playlist

GARRETT
Celso Garrido-Lecca, Andean Folk Dances: 3. Ritmico

WILL
Mozart, Le nozze di Figaro “Porgi amor”

TIFFANY
Britten, Billy Budd “Blow Her Away” Chorus

KENSHO
Beethoven, Fidelio: “Komm, Hoffnung” 

THINK YOU CAN STUMP US? GO AHEAD AND TRY!
Google Form for “Name that Tune: Stump the Hosts Edition” 

You can reach us at [email protected] and on social media:

Facebook
Twitter
Instagram

This week we start out with a riotous round of “Who Dis?” and then we discuss our three topics:

The centuries-long performance of “Organ^2/ASLSP” in Halberstadt Germany
New York Times article
The moment of the chord change on the archived YouTube livestream

“The Bowmakers” documentary by Ward Serrill
Get your tickets through September 20, 2020

“Music Theory and White Supremacy” by Adam Neely
The original video
David Bruce’s “The Map of Music”

CLASSICAL MIXTAPE
The full playlist

Will
Charles-Marie Widor, Organ Symphony No. 5: Toccata

Tiffany
Orlando di Lassus, “In monte Oliveti”

Kensho
Anton Bruckner, Mass No. 3 in F Minor VI. Benedictus

Think you can stump us? Go ahead and try!
Google Form for “Name that Tune: Stump the Hosts Edition” 

You can reach us at [email protected] and on social media
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram

This week, we start off with a round of “Two Truths and a Lie” featuring the piano music of Claude Debussy, after which we launch into our three topics:

The Closure of Columbia Artist Management
As reported by The Violin Channel

Novelist Dan Brown’s new musical children’s book and album Wild Symphony
Preview in the New York Times
Dan Brown’s trailer video
Will’s “The Itsy Bitsy Spider and His Great Singalong Adventure”

“The Curious Case of Keiko Yamada"
Jennifer Jolley's Article on NewMusicBox

CLASSICAL MIXTAPE
Full Playlist

Will
Alice B. Dearden, “How Do I Love Thee?”

Kensho
Rene Orth, “Forgiveness is Hard for the Living” from Empty the House

Tiffany
Karen Tanaka, “Enchanted forest”

—bonus:
Karen Tanaka, “Invisible Curve” feat. Tiffany Lu!

You can reach us at [email protected]. Don’t forget to follow the Classical Gabfest on Facebook and Instagram, and post about us in order to enter the drawing for a copy of Dan Brown’s Wild Symphony!

In this début episode of the Classical Gabfest, hosts Kensho Watanabe, Tiffany Lu, and William White play a round of "Game of Pairs" featuring Haydn and Mozart, and then tackle three topics:

Gabby Gifford's Appearance Playing Horn at the DNC Convention
Gifford's DNC video

The Internet Controversy Over the "Double Beat" Metronome Theory
Wim Winters' "It is not 'Half Tempo'"
A response from "Piano Pat"

Does a Beethoven Celebration Have a Place in the Year 2020?
Andrea Moore's commentary in the Chicago Tribune
Will's planned 2020-21 Beethoven season, cancelled due to Covid

and we finish up with our Classical Mixtape:
Tiffany: Vaughan Williams, Five Variants of Dives and Lazarus
—bonus: the "Dives and Lazarus" folk song
Will: Beethoven, Contredanses WoO 14
Kensho: Hindemith, The Flying Dutchman Overture as Sightread by a Bad Spa Orchestra at 7 am by the Well

Email the gabfest at [email protected]