Scarbo

There are so many people believing that a pianist will make a good deal of money without knowing that there’s only a handful of star-lit pianists blessed by record companies are the only lucky ones, without realizing that an uncountable number of gifted musicians that are left unnoticed in the world.

A woman appeared in Central, Hong Kong yesterday with a yellow banner asking for an “investment” from high-paid white-collars to support her “prospectus daughter,” said Mingpao today. She is one of the gangs that believes in the legendary, and commercial success of Lang Lang and Yundi Li, both Chinese pianists of different routes, and hoping her daughter would later join the galaxy one day.

The newspaper said this woman came with an entry permit known as “Two-way Permit” from mainland China and her daughter, now 10, is being taught by a piano teacher in Shenzhen, and realizing her talent, her teacher is willing to teach her without remuneration for the family cannot pay the necessary tuition. But her family could not support further study.

Deeply confided with her possible “success,” the woman came up with an action that is a common scenary in China — a statement to ask for support from the wealthies. Her banner was titled “An opportunity to value increment,” implying a worthy investment on her daughter.

The woman told the reporters that her daughter can play Beethoven’s over-popular bagatelle Für Elise in three days. Her target was 2 million Hong Kong Dollars (US$260,000). She promised a 10-times return to those who financially supported the family.

It’s not directly inspired by Bartók, and it runs more than Bartók’s attempt on writing music with the Fibonacci series: Emerald Suspension produces experimental music Playing the Market, music constructed by US National Bonds figures, CPIs and other “market related algorithms.” The first track, “Long Bond,” is as inappropriate as a requiem.

I’d be more inspired by tax rates, or ledgered tax revenue converted into a requiem, which is as unescapable as death’s, according to Benjamin Franklin.

The BBC made a report on the injury of James Levine, who fell from the podium and cancelled all his subsequent Met shows. He will not appear on the Met pit until September, when he will conduct his first Madama Butterfly. It came after he cancelled his Boston Symphony appearances.

He was reported to fall onto his right shoulder during an ovation in a night of Beethoven 9th. Though no newspaper reported why did he fall. Did he kicked something or did he lose his steps on the stage wider than a pit?

Anthony Camden, the principal oboist of the London Symphony Orchestra from 1972 to 1988 and the founder of London Virtuosi, died peacefully at home on Tuesday, March 7.

He was also the Dean of Music of the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts from 1993 to 2003. The Academy awarded Honorary Fellowship in 2004 in recognition of his contribution to the development of the school.

His homepage has not yet announced the news at the time of this article.

And resurrected after fourteen days. May be someone accidentally flicked it on? There is not any explained answer to its revival yet. Considering that I’m just back from a Mahler 2 concert, isn’t that what Mahler has called for loudly?

The London Underground is playing classical music to cut commuters’ anti-social behaviour, according to the BBC. There is not a clear statistic which type of assaults have been reduced, but it is acknowledged that the result is “drastic.” Also in England, the dogs are Bach-ing instead of barking while a newly installed audio system plays classical music.

Music selection limits to Mozart and Pavarotti in the Tube, while the RSPCA plays Mozart and Beethoven to barking dogs. Soothing music is the common point here. Will it work under a killer dose of Elektra as well?

Classical Music, Arts News, Music Effects

DG now offers a preview of Pierre Boulez’s Mahler second symphony which will be due out in this May. This recording features Christine Schäffer and Michelle DeYoung.

Also in the news: Washington Post reviewed the Bernstein complete Mahler DVD. If Boulez’s cycle could not prepare you for the coming Mahler 2 concert in Hong Kong, you may better watch the DVD. Mr. Banno comments,

More than any other work, the Second (Resurrection) was Bernstein’s signature piece, and this London Symphony performance at England’s Ely Cathedral preserves his interpretation at its best.

The Hong Kong Resurrection concert will feature Edo de Waart conducting Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra and City of Birmingham Symphony Chorus.

The Hong Kong Arts Festival opens today with Michael Tilson Thomas conducting the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra. The earlier fear that the orchestra might cancel their China trip was by mutual agreement.

The Arts Festival office said that as of today, “90,000 performance tickets have been sold, accounting for over 80% of all seats and setting a 34-year record high of sales for the Festival Opening.”

After some hard downtime last month, the high-profiled classical music portal andante.com was put permenantly offline on February 1. Access was difficult starting from last December, although it turned up its face and showed some of the archived page earlier in January, the site’s death was declared on the dawn of the new month.

Hong Kong’s Mingpao reports today a newly-invented erhu with its membrane made by a common plastic used for soft drinks bottle, known as PETE or PET. Developed by the veteran instrumentalist Yuen Shi-chun, the plastic erhu, according to Mr. Yuen, is better than the traditional erhu, which commonly uses python skins as the cover of the sound box. Mr. Yuen said using plastic is simply better. The plastic-skin erhu is “suitable for all weather, while snake-skin erhu sounds dull in wet or dry-cold days,” he said.

Mainland China enforced a new rule at the dawn of 2006 to allow trade only on certified erhus which are made not by wild pythons but farm-grown ones, mounting erhus to a historic high. Mr. Yuen, who has successfully developed various new instruments in support of the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra, said his invention sounds better than the other environmentally-friendly substitute, using synthetic skins as a replacement, but he admitted that mainland erhu players would not easily accept the new instrument.