Here is your regular Sunday selection of links to good things in Blogville and Beyond.
- Ceci n'est pas un but. Bad officiating decides Red Wings-Stars game yesterday on Steve Ott's shootout shot. That puck did not cross the goal line. [YouTube]
- Forcing Gustavo "Old Duffer" Dudamel to take a seat in the young conductors department is British teenager Alex Prior, just appointed to an assistant conducting position by the Seattle Symphony. [The Telegraph]
- Anne Midgette gives voice to some of the questions rumbling around town about the leadership of Plácido Domingo as General Director of Washington National Opera. [Washington Post]
- Critics and commenters pile on Plácido Domingo. [New York Times]
- Tim Rutherford-Johnson shares the unbelievable news that the Victoria and Albert Museum has decided to close its permanent collection of musical instruments, splitting up the holdings and sending them to a number of other institutions. [The Rambler]
- One of the most devastating images to come out of the disaster of the Haitian earthquake was that of the ruins of the cathedral of Port-au-Prince. Joseph Serge Miot, the archbishop of Port-au-Prince, was killed in the quake, and the 18th-century cathedral was mostly toppled. At last report, most of the students in the city's seminary were still trapped in the rubble of that building. Please consider a donation to Catholic Relief Services, to help the people of Haiti. [Whispers in the Loggia]
- Why is the media willing to show more graphic images of the Haitian earthquake than it has of other disasters in the past? [Philip Kennicott]
- Our favorite Milan opera blogger has an interview with violinist Hilary Hahn. [Opera Chic]
- Hilary Hahn, in turn, has another of her fascinating video interviews, this time with composer David Lang. [Sequenza21/]
- Don't forget that you can follow Ionarts on Twitter: it's that thing that all the kids were doing last year. [Twitter]
The V&A's decision is certainly disappointing, partly for what it says about the status of 'classical' music in British culture: an elitist embarrassment. The Rambler is right that there are other collections in London and elsewhere in the UK (one not mentioned is the early keyboard collection at Fenton House in Hampstead in north London (http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-vh/w-visits/w-findaplace/w-fentonhouse/w-fentonhouse-seeanddo/w-fentonhouse-collections/w-fentonhouse-collections-keyboards.htm)) but the V&A is central and free to enter and has a high profile. That it is neglecting its instruments is sad.
ReplyDeleteHowever, it must be said that the focus of the collection seemed mainly to be on the quality of the decorations than on the quality of the instruments. A set of glass cases containing pretty harpsichords and violins without strings or with damage to their playable parts is pretty sad. Frankly, if the V&A isn't interested in them then they are better off somewhere else where they might be loved and perhaps made playable.
An excellent point. Personally, I would rather have musicians playing historical instruments and keeping them in good condition than see them behind glass.
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