Copyright 2008 The New York Sun Thu, 03 Jul 2008 04:32:46 -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 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, Surińach, 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... BRUCE BENNETT http://www.nysun.com/arts/times-new-viking-offers-a-living-breathing-museum/80797/ Fri, 27 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EST Perhaps the greatest effect of the Internet on the music industry has been the role of Web communities such as MySpace and Facebook, as well as individual Web logs, in helping to spread the word about regional independent music scenes, emerging groups, and their gigs and recordings. It's a far more immediate tool, blanketing a thicker cross section of curious listeners, than the photocopied fanzines, college radio airplay, local record stores, real-time word of mouth, and record-label publicity... WILL FRIEDWALD http://www.nysun.com/arts/at-jvc-hancock-straddles-two-musical-worlds/80799/ Fri, 27 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EST Some musical auteurs keep each of their feet in different aesthetic worlds; Herbie Hancock does this with his hands. At this week's JVC Jazz Festival concert at Carnegie Hall, he had a smaller electronic keyboard mounted on top of his Fazioli F278 concert grand (as well as a fuller-sized electric piano), and he often played the electric in the treble clef with his right hand while keeping his left on the acoustic instrument in the bass clef. Mr. Hancock is a man in two worlds at once, and, at... Associated Press http://www.nysun.com/arts/coldplay-sales-boost-industry-confidence/80673/ Thu, 26 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EST Coldplay's "Viva La Vida" will debut at no. 1 on the Billboard 200 album chart with more than 720,000 copies sold in its first week, the second-best opening week of 2008, according to the trade magazine's Web site. Lil Wayne's "Tha Carter III" was the top album debut of the year after it sold a spectacular 1 million copies earlier this month. Two back-to-back blockbuster sales are a boost to the sluggish music industry, which has had little to celebrate with declining sales. "Viva La Vida"... FRED KIRSHNIT http://www.nysun.com/arts/phil-caters-to-a-festive-crowd/80681/ Thu, 26 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EST After ending its subscription season on Saturday, the New York Philharmonic kicked off its hot-weather repertoire on Tuesday with a stirring concert on the Great Lawn of Central Park. Dressed not in white jackets but rather open collars and shirtsleeves, the group projected more of a workaday look, as if this was an open rehearsal. The audience seemed to treat the performance as casual as well, remaining virtually silent as concertmaster Glenn Dicterow entered to tune the orchestra — although... JAY NORDLINGER http://www.nysun.com/arts/the-frustrating-finn/80684/ Thu, 26 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EST About 10 years ago, I did something exceptional: I walked out of a concert. It was a piano recital, and the performer was Olli Mustonen, a 30-year-old Finn. He was playing Beethoven's Sonata in D, Op. 28, known as the "Pastoral." At least that's what the program said — that he was playing the "Pastoral." He seemed to be playing something else. He took liberty after liberty, basically remaking Beethoven's sonata. Tempos, dynamics, phrasing, rhythm — all were distorted, all were personalized... Associated Press http://www.nysun.com/arts/mtv-moves-awards-to-la/80507/ Tue, 24 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EST The MTV Video Music Awards are going Hollywood. After broadcasting from Las Vegas last year, the awards will air live from Paramount Studios in Los Angeles on September 7, MTV announced Monday. MTV said it plans for the first time to enlist its Web-savvy, youthful audience to help decide the nominees. The network intends to take over the movie studio's lot and present the awards show from soundstages, rooftops, and city streets. MTV and Paramount are corporate cousins within Viacom Inc. "With... JOEL LOBENTHAL http://www.nysun.com/arts/the-rewards-of-goldberg-variations/80513/ Tue, 24 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EST Jerome Robbins's "The Goldberg Variations" is well over an hour long, and time doesn't fly while you watch it. But while it is repetitive and overworked, it is also very rewarding. Sunday afternoon, it appeared on the final program of New York City Ballet's Robbins celebration. "Goldberg" dates from 1971, at the peak of the period in Robbins's choreographic career when he seemed to be in the throes of an edifice complex. At that time, it almost seemed as though if a work of his wasn't going to... BRET MCCABE http://www.nysun.com/arts/from-the-garage-to-the-dance-floor/80519/ Tue, 24 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EST The new albums from New York bands Love as Laughter and Hercules and Love Affair rekindle memories of beloved genres before niche-marketing and trend-setting Web logs got ahold of them. Brooklyn's Love as Laughter, the long-running pop-rock band led by Sam Jayne, continues its winning streak of catchy, guiltless indie-rock with "Holy" (Glacial Pace), though in this case the "indie" isn't merely a descriptive word for feckless guitar strums and fey vocals. Hercules and Love Affair, meanwhile... STEVE DOLLAR http://www.nysun.com/arts/shes-a-little-bit-country-and-so-is-she/80518/ Tue, 24 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EST Now more than ever, America needs the Watson Twins. The sisters from Louisville, Ky., were the secret, double-barreled weapon on singer Jenny Lewis's 2006 album "Rabbit Fur Coat," on which they helped the former child star break out as a countrified solo artist after years of indie-rock success with the Los Angeles quartet Rilo Kiley. And they did so often subliminally, like the fine details in the fancy embroidery on a Western-style shirt. The more deeply one listens to that record, the more... WILL FRIEDWALD http://www.nysun.com/arts/nights-at-the-red-steinway/80444/ Mon, 23 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EST Now, about that red piano: Charles Bourgeois, the longtime integral member of George Wein's Festival Productions, which produces the ongoing JVC Jazz Festival, told The New York Sun that the company simply requested a standard 9-foot concert grand, but was surprised as anyone when the instrument that was delivered turned out to be encased in bright red enamel, with a bright red bench to match. Little did anyone suspect that this was actually a magical piano, with the power to transform itself... PIA CATTON http://www.nysun.com/arts/correcting-a-mozart-deficit/80453/ Mon, 23 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EST When you really don't know something, it's best just to admit it. And earlier this year, an embarrassing fact emerged: I didn't know Mozart's music as well as I thought I did. The catalyst for this admission came while at the barre during a ballet class. My teacher bellowed, in that way that only ballet teachers can, "Feel the music. This is Mozart." RELATED: Mozart in a Month. I thought I'd listen to the piece of music (which was the "Rondo alla turca" from the Piano Sonata, K. 331) at home... PIA CATTON http://www.nysun.com/arts/mozart-in-a-month/80452/ Mon, 23 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EST Rather than plow through a list of must-hear works, a pleasant way to learn is by reading "Mozart: A Life" by Peter Gay (Penguin). The later half of this short book can serve as a listening guide to the composer's career. If you like symphonies, you can listen to the ones Mr. Gay mentions. You can do the same with his references to music for piano, opera, and religious ceremonies. This will place the works within the context of Mozart's life and times — and it will allow you to listen with some... FRED KIRSHNIT http://www.nysun.com/arts/maazels-chicken-and-egg-situation/80454/ Mon, 23 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EST Despite the happy talk of some critics, improvisation in classical music is a lost art. In the 18th and 19th centuries, however, composers were frequently asked to play extemporaneously, often to great effect. One heralded evening, Anton Bruckner sat at the organ and interwove themes from his new Symphony No. 8 with those of Siegfried's Funeral Music from Richard Wagner's "Götterdämmerung," in what, by all accounts, must have been a glorious and inspiring manner. The Nowak version of the Eighth... JAY NORDLINGER http://www.nysun.com/arts/borodin-bartok-and-more/80455/ Mon, 23 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EST In late December, the Berlin Philharmonic performed an all-Russian concert: Mussorgsky and Borodin. Now that concert is an EMI Classics CD. It begins with Mussorgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition" (in the Ravel orchestration) and ends with Borodin's "Polovtsian Dances." In between comes a less familiar work: Borodin's Symphony No. 2. Alexander Borodin was one of the most astonishing figures in music history. Born the bastard son of a Georgian nobleman, he went on to be a distinguished chemist: a... Associated Press http://www.nysun.com/arts/drugs-have-damaged-winehouses-lungs/80433/ Mon, 23 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EST Singer Amy Winehouse has lung damage and an irregular heartbeat, her father said in an interview published Sunday. Ms. Winehouse has damaged her lungs by smoking crack cocaine and cigarettes. The Sunday Mirror quoted Mitch Winehouse as saying that his daughter has early-stage emphysema and an irregular heartbeat, and has been warned that she will have to wear an oxygen mask unless she stops smoking drugs. "The doctors have told her if she goes back to smoking drugs, it won't just ruin her... WILL FRIEDWALD http://www.nysun.com/arts/ravi-coltrane-honors-his-musical-and-personal/80356/ Fri, 20 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EST The saxophonist Ravi Coltrane began the tribute concert he had organized to his late mother, the pianist Alice Coltrane, on Tuesday night, with a touching testimonial describing her lifelong quest for an all-encompassing belief system that included everything important to her, be it on a musical, personal, or spiritual level. He touched on her upbringing in Detroit, her study of both classical piano and bebop (with Bud Powell in Paris), her work with the vibraphone giant Terry Gibbs, her... Associated Press http://www.nysun.com/arts/j-lo-sings-at-elementary-graduation/80243/ Thu, 19 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EST They may not know how famous she is, but the students at a Staten Island elementary school for autistic children sure like the way Jennifer Lopez moves. The Bronx-born singer and actress visited P.S. 37 Tuesday to perform her song "Let's Get Loud" for a group of eight 10- and 11-year-olds at their graduation ceremony. Teacher Kathy Amati says the children "really like her singing and dancing." Ms. Amati and a paraprofessional had shown the video for "Let's Get Loud" to the students. They loved... Staff Reporter of the Sun http://www.nysun.com/arts/dudamel-to-lead-israel-philharmonic-to-america/80165/ Wed, 18 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EST Gustavo Dudamel will lead the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra on its first tour of America in four years in a trip marking Israel's 60th anniversary, the organization announced Tuesday. The tour will begin at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark on November 15, then continue at Carnegie Hall. The orchestra is scheduled to play in six other cities before concluding the tour with a November 24 performance at Los Angeles's Walt Disney Concert Hall, Mr. Dudamel's future home. The... Associated Press http://www.nysun.com/arts/vienna-opera-closes-for-soccer-championship/80163/ Wed, 18 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EST The renowned Vienna State Opera canceled one performance and complained about dismal attendance at another, blaming the European soccer championship being played in the Austrian capital. Performances are usually nearly sold out, but the opera house said 29% of its seats went unsold for its most recent event, Verdi's "La Forza del Destino." The opera house also said it had decided to cancel a ballet on the evening of June 29, the day when the soccer final is played in Vienna. Officials said in a... BRET McCABE http://www.nysun.com/arts/coldplay-whistling-toward-the-middle-of-the-road/80094/ Tue, 17 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EST Coldplay's new single, "Viva la Vida," is already ubiquitous — at least, 30 seconds of it. That the song is patently inoffensive in its wallpaper-like omnipresence on radio and television is a new wrinkle for the band. With a gentle, string-propelled melody and Chris Martin's plangent voice — for once not creaking through a falsetto while singing an instantly catchy line, "I used to rule the world" — it feels completely innocuous whenever iTunes or iPod TV advertisements come on, or when the... Associated Press http://www.nysun.com/arts/pianist-esbjorn-svensson-dies/80083/ Tue, 17 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EST Swedish jazz pianist Esbjorn Svensson, whose fusion of lyrical melodies and rock-inspired electronics broke fresh ground in modern jazz, has died in a diving accident, his manager said Monday. He was 44. Svensson died Saturday in a diving accident off a small island near Stockholm, said Burkhard Hopper, manager of the musician's band, the Esbjorn Svensson Trio. Police will conduct a routine investigation of the accident, he said. Svensson and his band won worldwide critical acclaim and several... STEVE DOLLAR http://www.nysun.com/arts/david-berman-finds-comfort-in-his-own-head/80110/ Tue, 17 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EST There are no simple conversations with David Berman. The singer-songwriter, whom indie-rock historians always will remember as the guy who started the 1990s hipster favorite Pavement as a side project, has an acutely analytical mind that can find multiple layers of meaning in everything. Chatting over bistro fare in the Carroll Gardens neighborhood of Brooklyn during a recent visit to New York, the 41-year-old performer, who records under the moniker Silver Jews, discussed, among other things... JAY NORDLINGER http://www.nysun.com/arts/tosca-time-at-the-new-york-philharmonic/80023/ Mon, 16 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EST In these last weeks of the 2008-09 season, the New York Philharmonic is providing a night at the opera. They do this every once in a while — put on an opera-in-concert. The current offering is Puccini's "Tosca." And the Philharmonic will perform it twice more, tomorrow and Thursday nights. Last Thursday night, the conductor, Lorin Maazel, was fabulously good. And the conductor is the most important factor in most any opera. But, honoring tradition, we will first consider the singers. They were... JAY NORDLINGER http://www.nysun.com/arts/a-new-boheme-from-operas-it-couple/80026/ Mon, 16 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EST Opera's "it" couple has made a new recording — and it is a recording of a complete opera: "La Bohčme." Do we need another recording of this Puccini hit? "Need" is not quite the question. A good new recording is always welcome. You know who the "it" couple is: Anna Netrebko and Rolando Villazón. She's a Russian soprano, and he's a Mexican tenor. They're not a real-life couple — they have other partners. But they are paired onstage, and in recordings. The record label, Deutsche Grammophon, has an... Staff Reporter of the Sun http://www.nysun.com/arts/samba-great-clementino-dies/80002/ Mon, 16 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EST The Brazilian samba singer Jose Bispo Clementino dos Santos, better known in his native country as Jamelao, died Saturday at the age of 95, according to a report by the BBC. Clementino's career lasted more than five decades, during which he sang in dozens of carnivals and recorded more than 20 records. With his smooth, melodic voice, Clementino was a pillar of Mangueira, one of the most traditional and acclaimed samba schools to perform in Rio de Janeiro during the citywide February festival... Associated Press http://www.nysun.com/arts/commodores-mean-to-reunite/79999/ Mon, 16 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EST Grammy Award-winning pop singer Lionel Richie said Saturday that he and the Commodores will reunite soon for a tour. "We better do it now, or in the next 10 years nobody would care," he told reporters before singing at Antigua's Romantic Rhythms Festival. Mr. Richie, 58, said it was important for the group to get together before it loses more band members. Lead guitarist Milan Williams died two years ago. Mr. Richie said he was confident that synergy still existed between band members. He said... Associated Press http://www.nysun.com/arts/mccartney-plays-kiev-benefit/79998/ Mon, 16 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EST Tens of thousands of people braved heavy rain and thunder Saturday night to see Paul McCartney perform a charity concert on Kiev's central Independence Square. The outdoor show, the first in Ukraine for the former Beatle, was billed as the biggest concert ever in the former Soviet republic. It was broadcast live on national television and on giant screens in five cities. Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili was in attendance. The square where Mr. McCartney played was the site of the Orange... WILL FRIEDWALD http://www.nysun.com/arts/the-jvc-jazz-festival-is-wired-for-sound/80020/ Mon, 16 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EST In a funny way, I didn't fully appreciate the JVC Jazz Festival until I began sampling similar events in different cities around the world. Much as I love Montreal (and have heard great things about Umbria and NorthSea), there's nothing quite like the JVC. Other festivals offer big names in big concerts, but the major legacy of Festival Productions founder George Wein, who pioneered the concept of corporate-sponsored jazz festivals and presents the JVC fest in such cities as New York, Los... Staff Reporter of the Sun http://www.nysun.com/arts/concert-fund-dries-up/80001/ Mon, 16 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EST The Music Performance Fund, a record industry-backed charity dedicated to staging free concerts, is running out of money, the Los Angeles Times reported this weekend. For six decades, the fund received 0.2% of all revenue from records, tapes, and compact discs, following an agreement negotiated in 1944 to end a long labor dispute between musicians and record companies. During the early 1980s, a heyday for album sales, the fund received more than $20 million annually, money that helped stage... WILL FRIEDWALD http://www.nysun.com/arts/kidd-jordan-makes-the-vision-festival-his-own/79918/ Fri, 13 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EST In New Orleans, there's a venerated tradition of nicknaming younger, hot-shot musicians "kid" — sort of like Western gunslingers. The name often sticks, which is why it's no big deal to address an elder statesman as "Kid" in the Crescent City. Two of the best known of these were actually named Edward: the pioneering trombonist Kid Ory (1886-1973) and Kidd Jordan, who is being celebrated this week at the 13th annual Vision Festival at Clemente Soto Velez Cultural Center on the Lower East Side... JAY NORDLINGER http://www.nysun.com/arts/a-slice-of-the-ring/79943/ Fri, 13 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EST Lorin Maazel has a long history with Wagner. He was the first American to conduct at the Bayreuth Festival (the Wagner shrine). And he was the first foreigner to conduct the "Ring" cycle there. In January, he returned to the Metropolitan Opera for the first time in 45 years. He conducted a slice of "The Ring" — "Die Walküre." He conducted all of "The Ring" on Wednesday night, in a way. He conducted a "symphonic synthesis" of "The Ring," which boils down the cycle (15 hours) to 70 minutes. Mr... Staff Reporter of the Sun http://www.nysun.com/arts/governors-island-to-be-a-punk-paradise/79793/ Thu, 12 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EST Governors Island will become a rock venue on Saturday, June 21, as Make Music New York, described by city officials as "one of the largest musical events in the city's history," transforms the quiet island into a punk paradise. Some 75 bands will appear on 12 stages scattered around the island, and six bands will perform on a free ferry that will transport revelers from the Battery Maritime Building at the tip of Lower Manhattan to Governors Island. The 1980s punk band Reagan Youth will... Staff Reporter of the Sun http://www.nysun.com/arts/boy-george-to-serenade-sanitation-workers/79794/ Thu, 12 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EST Boy George will help celebrate New York City's Department of Sanitation Family Day this summer. The singer, who was sentenced to community service in 2006 after pleading guilty to falsely reporting a burglary, will play a free concert on August 17 as a thank-you for the kindness shown to him by the DSNY during his time doing garbage duty. "He will play all his Culture Club hits and more for a crowd of over 5,000 NYC Sanitation workers and their families at DSNY Family Day," a statement released... JAY NORDLINGER http://www.nysun.com/arts/a-genuine-show-in-show-boat/79819/ Thu, 12 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EST When you go to a concert of classical music in New York, the usher is likely to tell you, "Enjoy the show." Well, two nights ago, Carnegie Hall had a genuine show — "Show Boat," no less. The performance was a gala benefit for the hall itself. Kern and Hammerstein wrote this musical in 1927, which was a good year for the Yankees, too. Both the show and the team have endured. Carnegie Hall looked spiffy for "Show Boat," with mood lighting and a little patriotic bunting. It was jarring to see the... STEVE DOLLAR http://www.nysun.com/arts/kidd-stays-in-the-picture/79617/ Tue, 10 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EST Even people who aren't sure they've heard of Kidd Jordan have probably heard him. Now 73, the tenor saxophonist has been playing since the early 1950s. And since Mr. Jordan's spirited adolescence coincided with the dawn of rock 'n' roll and the explosion of new sounds coming out of New Orleans's fertile rhythm-and-blues scene, the Crescent City native was at the right place at the right time. Mr. Jordan was barely out of his teens when he began gigging with the Hawkettes, a band featuring... FRED KIRSHNIT http://www.nysun.com/arts/puccini-overload/79622/ Tue, 10 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EST Bringing opera to the masses by way of the silver screen may be a boon to audiences, especially in the hinterlands, but it has its deleterious side for opera companies already concerned about their bottom lines. Further exacerbating the situation, the Graham Vick production of the Puccini's "La Rondine," or "The Swallow," from Teatro La Fenice in Venice was shown at Symphony Space on Sunday afternoon. The great Viennese composers of his day loved Puccini. Gustav Mahler championed Puccini's "La...