synaphaï | Gene Gaudette's Blog

The Alleged Sins of Georg Ratzinger

Tuesday, 09 March 2010 11:01 Gene Gaudette

News stories concerning alleged abuse of children by Catholic clergymen have become almost routine, but this one is also sending ripples throughout the world of classical music: the Pope's brother, Georg Ratzinger — who served for three decades as choral director of "the much-heralded Regensburger Domspatzen, a thousand-year-old male choir and boarding school" — was involved in a conspiracy to cover up allegations of clergy sex abuse. The Independent UK has the full story.

Back to Mono: Petri on the CD Player

Friday, 05 March 2010 21:54 Gene Gaudette

It must be nearly a decade since I've popped any of pianist Egon Petri's recordings into the CD player. I'm very pleased to have made his reacquaintance.

Passionato.com Blogs, Tweets, Rocks On

Wednesday, 03 March 2010 14:31 Gene Gaudette

If you like classical music and care about quality, you should check out Passionato.com (full disclosure: I'm helping them with Web presence expansion).

Hammer of the Gods: Vänskä / Minnesota Orchestra @ Carnegie Hall

Tuesday, 02 March 2010 20:30 Gene Gaudette

Okay, so it wasn't a hammer, but a sword — and it was only on loan from one of the gods. I'm referring to the weapon which plays a singing role in the final movement of Sibelius's "Kullervo." My review of last night's concert has just gone live at Classical Source.

Bernard Coutaz, 1922-2010

Tuesday, 02 March 2010 09:52 Gene Gaudette

Bernard Coutaz may not be a household name, but he was the founder of the influential harmonia mundi record label. The New York Times and AP have brief obituaries; Le Temps has more in French.

Wyn Morris, Champion of Mahler's Music, 1929-2010

Sunday, 28 February 2010 17:06 Gene Gaudette

It has been a while since I spoke with Wyn Morris, the mercurial and brilliantly gifted conductor who made a number of pioneering recordings of the music of Gustav Mahler. I just learned this afternoon of his death at age 81. Here is his obituary from his own favorite Tory-leaning paper, The Telegraph.

Kronos 25

Sunday, 28 February 2010 10:21 Gene Gaudette

Go read Steve Smith's interesting NY Times feature on the Kronos Quartet — an ensemble whose revolutionary programming and concertizing laid much of the groundwork for the "alternative classics" championed by Bang on a Can, Absolut Ensemble and innumerable other adventurous ensembles and series — as they celebrate their 25th anniversary. To be honest, though, the more traditonal but often more daring Arditti Quartet deserves the same amount of ink.

In Your Facebook

Friday, 26 February 2010 15:16 Gene Gaudette

I have just installed Joomla's autoFacebook module on my blog. This will give my Facebook friends a chance to quickly link to my latest expostulations on music, politics, technology, and other ephemera. Enjoy!

Tweeting My Blogginess to All

Friday, 26 February 2010 14:51 Gene Gaudette

Hello all -- I am now using the excellent Joomla AutoTweet module to bring my multitude of Twitter followers (all 3 dozen or so) links to my latest bloggy goodness. If you don't follow me on Twitter, log in, go here, and click the "Follow" link.

Muti's CSO Era Begins

Friday, 26 February 2010 12:43 Gene Gaudette

John von Rhein has the preview at the C-Trib.

Mom, Apple Pie, Baseball, and Mass Transit

Friday, 26 February 2010 12:43 Gene Gaudette

I couldn't agree more:

[H]ere the problem is that merely being located in the United States of America isn’t good enough to pass the inane identity politics litmus tests of the contemporary right—New York City isn’t America (except for purposes of exploiting 9/11 on behalf of torture and aggressive war) nor are Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, DC, etc “really” American. So therefore mass transit is un-American and therefore it’s socialist, so it follows that anyone who wants to build mass transit is doing so out of socialistic hatred for the United States.
— Matthew Yglesias

Read the rest here. (Hat tip: Atrios.)

For the record, I use regional mass transit for about 80% of my local commuting and travel, a bicycle for about 15% more, and a car for the rest. It also merits mention that much of the anti-mass-transit agenda can be traced directly back to the national effect of policies enacted by the enormously influential Robert Moses in the mid-20th century; his closer-than-previously-known ties to both the automotive and petrofuel industires are at last being examined by historians.