Classical Notes: February 2007 Archive

Beethoven, Klemperer and Mendelssohn

Posted at 10:22 AM on February 1, 2007 by John Zech
Filed under: The blog

So, the Minnesota Orchestra kicked off their "Beethoven's Back" promotion today with The Big Guy himself handing out coffee, newspapers and downloads in front of Orchestra Hall this morning, and it reminded me of a story about Beethoven's Fifth Symphony and the great conductor of long ago, Otto Klemperer.

It seems Klemperer was visiting a music shop with a recording company executive named George de Mendelssohn-Bartholdy. He approached a clerk and asked, "Do you have Klemperer conducting Beethoven's Fifth?"

"No," the man replied. "We have it conducted by Ormandy and Toscanini. Why do you want it by Klemperer?"

"Because I am Klemperer," the conductor replied indignantly.

"Sure," said the clerk, and nodding at his companion he said "And that, I suppose, is Beethoven?"

"No," Klemperer grinned, "That's Mendelssohn."

Message in a Bottle

Posted at 8:29 AM on February 2, 2007 by John Birge
Filed under: The blog

Pursuant to the Sidney Sheldon obit, James Lileks' blog weighs in on the "I Dream of Jeanie" theme song, and Stephen Foster:

"Every note is simple and obvious but it still seems remarkable that no one had thought to arrange them in that particular order. It’s the countertheme that gives it spice, and the middle section has a lovely expansive quality that makes you think of Frank Sinatra peeing off a balcony in Vegas . And of course the beat: bum / bum / bum / bumbum bum / bum / bum / bum / bumbum bum. "

"The name of the show was a callback to an old song from the early part of the 20th century – “I Dream of Jeannie with the Light Brown Hair.” I’ve only heard the first few bars, sung by Bugs Bunny with appropriate alterations: “I dream of Jeannie, she’s a light brown hare.” Old as the song was, audiences in the forties got the joke, just as people today recognize a reference to a song from the 60s. "

"The difference, of course, is that the 60s aren’t seen as The Past; the 60s are a Timeless Vault of Cultural Touchstones, the apotheosis of Western Civ. Sigh. Well. One of the future Diners will take place in the 60s – don’t ask why, it’ll be explained – and I will use many of the gutbustingly dreadful “psychedelic” records I have collected. It’s obvious from Note One that everyone involved in the effort had so much THC in their system you could dry-cure their phlegm and get a buzz off the resin, but instead of having the loose happy ho-di-hi-dee-ho cheer of a Cab Calloway reefer number, the songs are soaked with Art and Importance and Meaning. You can imagine the band members sitting down to hash out (sorry) the overarching themes of the album, how it should like start with Total Chaos man because those are the times in which we live with like war from the sky, okay, and then we’ll have flutes because flutes are peaceful like doves and my old lady can play that part because she like studied flute, man, in high school. The lyrics are all the same: AND THE KING OF QUEENS SAID TO THE EARTH THE HEIROPHANT SHALL NOW GIVE BIRTH / THE HOODED PRIESTS IN CHAMBERED LAIRS LEERED DOWN UPON THE LADIES FAIR / NEWWWW DAAAAY DAWNNNING! "

"Five years later it was obsolete. The Jeannie theme, however, will make toes tap in 2476 AD."

Bart Kuijken goes for Baroque

Posted at 3:56 PM on February 3, 2007 by Alison Young

I went to the most fascinating masterclass the other day. Barthold Kuijken, maybe THE foremost Baroque flute specialist in the world has been in the Twin Cities this weekend for a residency of classes, a lecture and a recital. His work with the young students at the University of Minnesota centered around correct performance practice of the Baroque. We don't have recordings to know exactly what was done, but what we do have are books and treatises, especially those like Johann Joachim Quantz's On Playing the Flute written during the early enlightenment, a time that was all about figuring out how things worked.

Kuijken emphasized that the sound ideal included uneven and colorful playing. The contemporary ideal is to create a beautifully in-tune, evenly vibrated and, for the most part, equally colored sound. In the Baroque, the instruments did not play with the same standards as those today and that was part of the charm of the period. As Kuijken descibed it, "less democratic."

Ironically, this also held over for vibrato. In the Baroque, vibrato was more rarely used and if so, as an ornament only, something added to the sound to emphasize or color the note. Seldom was the air pressure altered, the flutists actually lightly caressed the finger hole, almost trilling the note.

Part of the reason that people are interested in playing early, authentic, period instruments is to discover their inherent properties and determine what constituted good taste in that period. Barthold Kuijken was fortunate enough to receive a beautiful 18th century flute when he was a teenager, one that he said became his "best teacher" because the instrument taught him what it would do rather than allowing him to tell the flute what to do! But it was in this way that Kuijken says he came to understand the playing style of the period.

You can hear Barthold Kuijken in concert, Sunday, February 4th at 3:00 at the Landmark Center in St. Paul and discover for yourself some of the color and creativity he puts into his playing.

Minnesota's loss is New England's gain

Posted at 8:14 AM on February 4, 2007 by Valerie Kahler

Come June, Minnesota Orchestra CEO Anthony Woodcock will be mothballing his Vikings jersey in order to sport some new colors...Patriots’ red, white & blue. Woodcock, originally from Old England, is headed to New England to take over at the NE Conservatory.

He’s been with the Minnesota Orchestra since 2003, helping Osmo Vanska bring 14% more concertgoers into Orchestra Hall...and overseeing the transformation of Sommerfest from 2003’s red-inker (about -250K) into a profitable venture.

He said he views his work with orchestras as being at the cutting edge of the music industry (emphasis mine) but that his new job is about “going back to the excitement and the ideals of what music is all about. And dealing with all that wonderful potential of young people, it is something that's inspiring."

Even when he was an “Industry” man, he still had a heart for education & outreach. From an article in Playbill:

Woodcock's educational initiatives at the Minnesota Orchestra helped the orchestra win back-to-back ASCAP Leonard Bernstein Awards for Excellence in Educational Programming (2005 and 2006). With the Oregon Symphony, where he was president from 1998-2003, he oversaw the creation of a new education department and fostered educational programs and partnerships across the state.

Signed, sealed, delivered, I'm yours!

Posted at 2:27 PM on February 4, 2007 by Alison Young

Imagine a romantic, candle-lit dinner with the one you love. The food is scrumptious, the wine is just perfect, and the vibes are clicking. But something's missing. Ah, yes, the music! Call me biased since I'm an addict and can’t imagine my life without a sound track, but I know you'll agree that Valentine’s Day just isn't right without a little love song or mood music to spice up the moment.

You can let the experts step up to the plate and help you out with that part. My colleagues and I at Classical Minnesota Public Radio have picked out fourteen of our favorite classical pieces that we feel plumb the depths of love and romance. The coolest part is that we have made these pieces available to you to send in a Classical Love Notes e-card to anyone on your Valentine's card list. Trust me, nothing is more sophisticated and classy than a little Mahler, Canteloube or Puccini. And I speak from experience: the right music at the right time won over my heart!

That's no Bull, Ole...

Posted at 9:31 AM on February 5, 2007 by John Zech
Filed under: The blog

In Loring Park, at the edge of downtown Minneapolis there is a statue…not of some politician, or war hero, but of a man playing the violin. He is Ole Bull, considered by many to be Norway's first international star, and he was born 197 years ago today. (Heads up, Sons of Knute, time to start planning for the bicentennial!)

Robert Schumann once wrote that Ole Bull was among "the greatest of all," and that he was on a level with Niccolò Paganini for the speed and clarity of his playing. Without Ole Bull we may never have heard of Edvard Grieg. Bull played duets with young Edvard in the summer of 1864 and it was Bull's encouragement that got Grieg's parents to send him to conservatory. (Another heads up, 2007 is the 100th anniversary of the death of Edvard Grieg.)

Bull was a fervent Norwegian nationalist, and a leader of the "Young Norway" movement at a time when Norway was still under Swedish rule. He founded a Norwegian National Theater in 1849 to promote native drama and music. The theater was short-lived, but a writer he hired named Henrik Ibsen went on to achieve a few successes. Some have said that Ole Bull was the model for Ibsen's Peer Gynt.

Ole Bull's passion for freedom even led him to buy land in Pennsylvannia in 1852 and found a colony for fellow ex-pats called "New Norway." Unfortunately, this somewhat Utopian vision died young on the vine, but there still is a state park commemorating the place.

If you want some more regional perspective on this interesting character, a nice account of Ole Bull's 1868 Wisconsin visit can be found at this blogspot. Meanwhile, this site has some good stories involving Bull and a Leif Erikson monument, where the author says Ole was "an easy mark."

Opera Hero

Posted at 9:44 PM on February 6, 2007 by Valerie Kahler
Filed under: The blog

At MPR's recent employee party, we had the opportunity to explore our "youthiness" (to adapt a Stephen Colbert-ism) via interactive video games like Dance Dance Revolution and Guitar Hero. For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, DDR is basically an electronic Twister mat linked to an onscreen video with an alarming array of arrows, flashing lights and loud music. Your feet are meant to follow the arrows, stomping on the particular squares indicated. Think of it as dance-karaoke. Guitar Hero is a similar deal, but you have a cute little plastic guitar instead of a Twister mat.

Anyway. With this recent experience in mind, imagine my intense curiosity when I read that Sony Playstation was collaborating with a London opera company on La Boheme. I tried to imagine what an interactive opera video game would require. Singing might be tricky, because though there are devices that register pitch, how would they account for vibrato, slides, scoops, scripted asides? So what could the element of participation be? Air conducting with a Wii baton? Dramatic gestures on cue?

Alas (hurray?), none of the above. Sony is going to set up a bunch of Playstations around the venue in addition to directing audience members to an interactive site. It's admittedly a strategy on the part of Sony to introduce their product to someone other than teenage boys, but will the opera benefit as well? At the very least, the audience can enjoy an enriched opera experience via the website, where they can watch time-lapse videos of stage & set prep, read opera blogs, check out the costumes and makeup, take online singing lessons, enter an "Opera Idol" contest, and lots more. It's actually pretty groovy. Kind of like the "extras" that come with a DVD. I wonder if there's a blooper reel?

Rostropovich is on the mend--we hope.

Posted at 5:52 AM on February 7, 2007 by John Zech
Filed under: The blog

Maybe you didn't even know he was sick.

Yesterday afternoon the word came out that cellist-conductor Mstislav Rostropovich had been hospitalized in Moscow for unknown reasons, and his manager said 'it does not look good.'

Well, Russian president Vladimir Putin must have been radiating lots of good will, because a few hours after he visited Slava at the undisclosed medical clinic in the capital it appears that Rostropovich is getting better. The story from the A-P today is that he is in satisfactory condition and getting better.

My (our) dirty little secret

Posted at 8:16 AM on February 8, 2007 by John Zech
Filed under: The blog

OK, I admit it. I like fundraising. Actually a lot of us announcers here at MPR like doing it. Used to be it was a drag for most of us. The fundraisers went on too long, the pitch breaks were too long and it was hard to sound fresh and interesting without getting into "begging mode" or "finger wagging."

We don't do that anymore.

Now we just come on and say "Look, we're making good radio for you here everyday, we know you like it ('cause you listen) and it's time for you to become a member and support us so we can keep on doing all this neat stuff and playing all the great music that you like."

For us announcers it's a chance to do some friendly banter with our colleagues on the air and show some other sides of our personalities for a few minutes and it's a REAL kick when you contribute and then tell us how much you like what we do.

It's great. This is the first day of our February membership drive. I'm going on at 9 am and I'm psyched.

Contribute online today! Thanks.

Loving the Adrenalin....

Posted at 6:18 PM on February 9, 2007 by Rex Levang

So as John Zech just noted, it's fundraising time at the station. Always busy, as he suggests*. Meanwhile, at the same time that we're on the air sending out the membership message, an email arrives from Brian Newhouse: do we have Antal Dorati's 1951 recording of Copland's Third Symphony? It's going to be inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame this weekend. (Apparently there's such a Hall for recordings, just not people. Who knew?) Do we have it? Well, not on CD, but we manage to scare up an LP. So we'll hear that during the intermission of tonight's Minnesota Orchestra broadcast. If Brian can scare up a turntable...

* And particularly today, with such a generous response from contributors. Thanks, everyone!

MTT wins at Grammys

Posted at 6:14 AM on February 12, 2007 by John Zech
Filed under: The blog

Michael Tilson Thomas (known to his friends simply as "MTT") and the San Francisco Symphony won Best Classical Album and Best Orchestral Performance grammys last night for their recording of Mahler's 7th Symphony.

Argentinian composer Osvaldo Golijov won Best Opera and Best Contemporary Composition grammys for "Ainadamar: Fountain of Tears."

Other winners included pianist Maurizio Pollini, the late soprano Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, the Emerson String Quartet and baritone Bryn Terfel.

You'll find a complete list at here.

Give me one note at a time

Posted at 7:12 PM on February 12, 2007 by Alison Young

In the grand scheme of making music, it's truly astonishing to me that our appetite for new music is being quenched by a seemingly boundless supply of talent. A new generation of composers is providing fresh and exciting repertoire for the stages and concert halls of America; pieces that will hopefully become the war horses of tomorrow.

This weekend, the Minnesota Opera presented a world premiere of a truly American opera, a musical adaptation of the John Steinbeck classic The Grapes of Wrath. The riveting score sprung from the mind of the talented composer Ricky Ian Gordon. But one thing I've often wondered is how does a composer's masterful writing get from its life as a full score to the various individual parts on the orchestra desks, the conductor's score and the singers' parts?

That's a job for a music preparer; someone behind the scenes who takes one voice at a time from a complicated score and makes it legible for one musician at a time and Bill Holab is one of the best in the field. He stopped by the MPR studios on his way to the opening and we had a little chat about what he does.

Curiously, Bill told me that he has scored 14 new operas in the last four years, a genre he believes has the most fertile ground for new music. If so, I can't wait for more operas!

The big cheese at the Hamilton Philharmonic

Posted at 5:14 PM on February 13, 2007 by Don Lee

Mozart's friend Joseph Leutgeb may have been history's only horn player to moonlight as a cheesemonger. It seems that practitioners of the French horn are only slightly more likely to try their hand at conducting. Barry Tuckwell did it by founding the Maryland Symphony in 1982. Anyone else?

Besides James Sommerville, that is. Sommerville is principal horn in the Boston Symphony and has just been named music director of the Hamilton (Ontario) Philharmonic. They'll need him in Canada for only nine weeks a year, so he won't be letting go of his horn anytime soon.

Not clear on the concept?

Posted at 12:57 PM on February 14, 2007 by John Birge
Filed under: The blog

Recently read this on NewMusicBox.com, in which Frank Oteri observes people walking out of concerts:

"I wonder what prompts people with such tender constitutions to attend concerts in the first place. Admittedly, I've witnessed these impromptu leave-takings more frequently during a piece of new music injected into an otherwise standard repertoire program. But last week I saw someone rush to the doors during a New York Philharmonic performance of Debussy's 'Images.' Debussy can drive 'em away -- who knew! And a few summers ago I also witnessed a mass exodus during Brian Ferneyhough's opera 'Shadowtime.' Didn't the folks who bought tickets for this show know what they were getting into? ... If you live in a city, you're bombarded with all sorts of sonic disturbances ... And even if you live in the 'burbs, you still occasionally have to deal with crying babies, barking dogs, etc. So what kind of hermetically-sealed environment do folks who march out of concerts mid-piece live in that they deem the music to be unduly gnarly?"

Okay, point taken. At my first NYPhil concert 25 years ago, a couple in front of me spent the entire first half synchronizing their Day Planners, oblivious to 45 minutes of Vivaldi and Hindemith unfolding on stage. So much for those erudite New York audiences. I assume there will always be those who are clueless and unmoved by the music no matter where they are.

But beyond that, perhaps people walk out of concerts not because the contemporary piece they are hearing disturbs their quietude, but because it's bad art, and has nothing to say to them. I'm a patient listener with a degree in music. I have an open mind, open ears, and lots of exposure to and context with contemporary music (for three years I was the United States representative to the International Rostrum of Composers at UNESCO in Paris). But I still hear lots of music on a regular basis that makes me want to leave the hall. If anything, I wish audiences felt less stigma about doing just that, and more freedom to vote with their feet.

If it was simply a matter of being averse to "sonic disturbances," people would be leaving movie theaters in droves every night of the week at Dolby THX suburban multiplexes across the land. But be it cinema or concert hall (or radio station for that matter), they'll stay -- if the art that's presented to them has a compelling story to tell, one that makes them so engaged that they can't wait for the next scene, the next movement, the next chapter. Art that makes them excitedly anticipate: "What happens next?"

So: what keeps you in your seat?

Johann Sebastian von Dangerfield

Posted at 8:31 AM on February 15, 2007 by John Zech
Filed under: The blog

Be careful not to put classical music and its composers too high on a pedestal--you'll miss out on a lotta fun.

Johann Sebastian Bach was a complicated, and very real man. He was not a god (even though his manuscript scores were inscribed "Soli Deo Gloria"). As a young man he got into a duel with a bassoonist over a remark about his playing. He was put in jail after he left the Duke of Weimar's employment without permission. He liked his beer and wine, and he must've liked sex considering that he fathered 20 kids by his 2 wives.

Bach could, with Rodney Dangerfield, complain of never getting any respect. He was not the first choice by the city of Leipzig to be their new main man of music. He wasn't even the 2nd choice.

The competition for that post is the subject of a new play called "Bach at Leipzig" getting its regional premiere this weekend at the Loading Dock Theater in downtown St. Paul. They describe it like this:

It's Leipzig, Germany, 1722, and the sudden death of organ master and cantor Johann Kuhnau has brought to the city an eclectic mix of misfits and also-rans intent on winning his vacant post. The competition's stiff, and their skill at bribery, blackmail, and betrayal is even stiffer. And who's this latecomer Johann Sebastian Bach?

The Loading Dock is an intimate (106 seat) theater at 509 Sibley Street, between 9th and 10th on Sibley in Downtown St. Paul. The show runs weekends through March 11th. The box office number is 651-228-7008.

I'm gonna check it out.

More on Applause

Posted at 7:28 PM on February 15, 2007 by Rex Levang

Andrew Druckenbrod weighs in on the Great Applause Debate, in a piece that's received some attention in the classical blogosphere.

You can find some kind of precedent for just about any kind of applause behavior -- reverent, silent, frantic, negative, you name it.

One that would have been interesting to hear is a story that I read somewhere about Wagner. As he himself told it, his "Entrance of the Guests" was being played in Paris, and as the music unfolded, at the end of a certain surprising phrase, the audience applauded: apparently they liked the contour of the music and clapped, just as we might at a particularly witty line in a play. You don't get that too much anymore.

Of course with Wagner, you never know. It may never have happened. But at least he expected his readers to think that it could have happened.

Not Clear on the Concept, Part II

Posted at 5:18 PM on February 18, 2007 by John Birge
Filed under: The blog

Some interesting feedback around an earlier post I made last week, especially from my public radio colleague John Clare. I've posted further comments here.

Feel free to chime in with your thoughts!

Mozart meets Basketball

Posted at 2:53 PM on February 19, 2007 by John Birge
Filed under: The blog

This dramatic commercial takes you on a tension-filled final seconds journey of a high school basketball game, with Mozart's Requiem as the unlikely but perfect soundtrack!

Better still, I learned from an advertising website that the recording is by our very own St. Paul Chamber Orchestra and St. Olaf Choir, conducted by Anton Armstrong. Hope they get lots of residuals!

Not clear on the concept, Part IIB

Posted at 2:34 PM on February 20, 2007 by Don Lee

After awhile away from the blog, I just got caught up on the interesting exchange under the heading "Not clear on the concept."

By coincidence, Messiaen's Oiseaux Exotiques (mentioned in the comment string) was on Saturday night's St. Paul Chamber Orchestra program, which I happened to take in. So was the (at least) equally challenging Dialogues for Piano and Large Ensemble by Elliott Carter.

Both came after intermission, so I was curious to see how many concertgoers would use the break to vote--in advance--with their feet. Most of the row in front of me bailed, but that was about all I noticed.

Afterward, a friend volunteered a thought that bears on the question of new music's place on the radio, which John Clare raises in the comment string. My friend found that the Carter concert performance engaged him in a way that a radio broadcast of the piece would not have done.

I was glad to hear this observation come, unbidden, from a non-radio guy. We need new music infused into the classical bloodstream, so I've sometimes felt like an apologist when I've said the same thing to defend decisions not to broadcast certain pieces of new music. But I know the observation is valid. A piece like Carter's Dialogues demands total attention. For the 14 minutes it takes to play it, who among us will put down the op-ed pages, turn up the radio and just listen?

More on new music and radio

Posted at 4:02 PM on February 22, 2007 by Don Lee

In a comment on my Tuesday post, John Clare asks, "How often do you 'put down the op-ed pages, turn up the radio and just listen' with any radio broadcast: music or news?"

In the answer to his--and my--rhetorical question is the point: We don't 'just listen' to the radio very often at all. We listen while we're doing something else. Some kinds of listening are compatible with other activity. Carter's Dialogues is not. Not to me, at least, and not in 2007. John makes a valid observation about the potential rewards of repeated listening, but I suspect even the year 2017 will be too soon to find Carter on my dinner music playlist.

(I am not, BTW, arguing for plain vanilla music programming. But if that's how this comes across, sound off and we'll continue the discussion on another day.)

More on Elliot Carter and coloring outside the lines

Posted at 1:24 PM on February 24, 2007 by Alison Young

I'm loving the conversation going on here about new music, where and how to best listen to it, and what belongs on the radio. I had an interesting conversation with the Miro Quartet a couple of years back when they were playing a recital of Beethoven, Charles Ives and George Crumb in Houston. In addition to their formal recital, they were involved in outreach concerts with young kids. What surprised them the most, they told me, was the children’s response to the more "difficult" music. It was more immediate and authentic; I think the word they used was "visceral." Surprisingly, with the Beethoven, the children were less interested or focused.

Granted, the performances for the kids were live and it's kind of hard to let your mind wander when the musicians are making some rather unusual and irregular movements; but the children's willingness to just let the sonic experience transport them was what most interested me. So with this in mind, and making a small explanation along the lines of "just let yourself go a little limp," I played one of Elliot Carter’s Diversions for piano solo, performed by the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra’s newest Artistic Partner Pierre-Laurent Aimard. Admittedly, the piece was short and fairly direct, but pretty irregular and without any familiar harmonic or formal structure to hang onto. All the comments I received were positive, some even curious about maybe hearing more "coloring outside the line."

Incidentally, I didn't play the Carter for the shock value, just for my listening pleasure. It's totally cool music if not always "radio friendly!"

Encore! Encore!

Posted at 12:42 PM on February 25, 2007 by Alison Young

A short piece in the New York Times this weekend really caught my attention: First Scala Aria Encore in 74 Years. It seems Juan Diego Florez, singing in a revival of "The Daughter of the Regiment" was chomping at the bit to sing an encore, but as he told an interviewer, only if it was called for.

And it was called for when the loggionisti (the same group whose boo's sent Roberto Alagna walking out in the middle of a performance) yelled "Bis! Bis! Bis!" Florez was the first solo singer to break the tradition which has fobidden encores at La Scala. It was Toscanini who felt repeating a piece broke the dramatic pace and focused too much on individual singers rather than the opera as a whole.

The use of the word "encore" can be traced to the 18th century when it received this satirical couplet:

"To the same notes thy sons shall hum or snore
And all thy growing daughters cry encore."

Although encore in French means again, you’ll only hear the word screamed in English-speaking houses. The French, like the Italians, yell "bis" (twice) when they are particularly moved by a performance. But nowadays, an encore usually means an extra piece played at the end of a recital or by a soloist after a concerto. In fact, we have a disc we’re practically playing grooves into here at MPR by Leif Ove Andsnes called A Personal Collection of Piano Encores that is one lovely little 2 – 3 minute tune after another, and surprisingly many quite slow or reflective. Interestingly, Andsnes' concept is somewhat along the lines of Sir Thomas Beecham’s view. He called encores, lollipops and felt while the concert brings you up, the encore sets you back down.

I have to say I'm on the fence about the whole encore thing. On one hand the spell can be completely broken if an encore is added to a performance. I went to the SPCO last night and heard an incredible performance of Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde. The mezzo had us spellbound as she faded away on the word ewig, "forever." I couldn’t bear to make a sound when she finished. But I also couldn’t bear to give her lackluster applause, so we whooped and hollered with the rest of the audience. I would not have had a problem if she had sung an encore, even if it was completely in the wrong style. She was just that good. But, I play music all day that is a bit incongruous. Like right now, I have my earphones playing a new 20th century clarinet music CD I'm reviewing while Harry Christophers and The Sixteen sing Palestrina in the background, so breaking the continuity of a performance is not a problem for me. Bis! Bis! Bis!

Part wins Danish prize

Posted at 5:17 PM on February 27, 2007 by Don Lee (2 Comments)

From the Associated Press: COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) - Estonian composer Arvo Part won the 2008 Sonning Music Prize, Denmark's top music award, the prize committee said Tuesday. Part, 71, will receive the $105,938 award, which is announced a year in advance, during a concert in Copenhagen on May 22, 2008.

"With music rich in spiritual overtones, Arvo Part is one of the most original voices of our time in the international world of music," the awards committee said in its citation.

The prize has been awarded annually since 1959 to an internationally renowned composer, musician, conductor or singer. Previous winners include Igor Stravinsky, Leonard Bernstein, Mstislav Rostropovich, Anne-Sophie Mutter and John Eliot Gardiner.

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