THE GREATEST SYMPHONY OF ALL TIME! (and more)

Since cat photos and videos have taken over the Internet,
I had to include a shot of Allegro.

Could it be Mozart, Tchaikovsky, Mahler? Of course not, it's Beethoven! But which one? It's not the symphony you're probably thinking about....

Read more here.

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The Pittsburgh (PA) Schools change course and DOUBLE the number of music teachers serving grades 4-8. Now EIGHT teachers will be travelling among 23 schools, once every seven days. A vast improvement, but still not good enough.

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Anthony Tomassini puts into print something I've been saying for years.

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A friend of mine is visiting the UK and I urged him to go to the Proms. As the only concert that fit into his schedule included a Brahms piano concerto, he hemmed and hawed. But then this report, "The Brahms was heavenly. Peter Serkin was the soloist. Rich, resonant orchestra along with one of the most beautiful sounding Steinways I've ever heard." Interesting that Peter was the soloist. My favorite recording of both concertos is an LP with his Papa, Rudolf, backed up by George Szell and the Cleveland Orchestra.

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COMING SOON: The 2016-17 season repertoire of the Quad City Wind Ensemble.

Which is which?

One is a yet-completed concert hall; the other the home of a fictional alien race that appear as recurring antagonists in the Star Trek franchise.

Beware of Locutus. Resistance is futile.

Today's quick looks

Last year (January 20 to be exact) I began a visual exploration of many of the world's "great" concert halls. This was set in motion by the opening of the Philharmonie de Paris, that Starship Enterprise wannabe that seemed to have crash-landed on the edge of the city in the 19th arrondissement. Initial cost was slated at 170 million Euros; of course, the end cost was significantly higher at 386 million Euros. As a reminder, here's what it looks like:

For a comparison:

Not to be outdone, officials in Hamburg decided on a new concert hall, of which construction began in in 2007. Original cost? €241 million. Original completion date? 2010. Well, the hall isn't finished (that won't happen for another year), and the cost? €789 million--yep, you read that right. It's become one of the biggest laughingstocks of the architectural world.

But one thing can be said for it. The building is, in the vernacular, butt ugly. Is that why it cost so much?

Maybe a rising tide will put it out of its misery

And, by the way, it's replacing this (the Laeiszhalle):

Exterior

Interior--isn't that a shoebox....