Changes ahead for this blog

I will be moving this blog shortly, renaming it, and giving it a new look.

The new blog will be at www.dbduff.blogspot.com

This blog will be deleted.

Mikhail Pletnev

You may have heard the news about Pletnev's arrest in Thailand as a result of an accusation against him of child rape. Here's the latest, from the French press agency:

Thailand has cancelled the visa of Russian conductor Mikhail Pletnev, meaning he faces deportation even if child rape charges against him are dropped, an immigration official said on Wednesday.

"The Thai immigration bureau has blacklisted him on the grounds that his behaviour is detrimental to Thailand," said Major General Pansak Kasamsan, deputy commissioner at the bureau.

"His Thai visa was automatically revoked after his name was blacklisted," he said. "He would eventually be deported whether it goes to trial or the charges are dropped."

Pletnev, artistic director of the Russian National Orchestra, was charged in early July with the rape of a 14-year-old boy in Pattaya, where he has a house.

He denies the charge, which carries a sentence of up to 20 years in jail, and was released on bail.

The award-winning maestro was allowed by a Thai court to travel overseas but is required to report back every 12 days. He returned to Thailand over the weekend after attending a music festival in Macedonia.

Pletvev told Russian media Wednesday that he had been given permission by the court to leave the country again. It was unclear whether the cancellation of his visa would affect his travel plans.

"My mother's birthday is in a few days and I cannot and don't want to miss it. The lawyer has just told me that permission had been obtained," Pletnev told RIA Novosti.

Pletnev, 53, founded the Russian National Orchestra in 1990 just before the break-up of the Soviet Union and his arrest has sent shock waves through Russia's musical world.

Free video of Alec Baldwin with the Boston Pops

Here's a link to a video of excerpts from the Boston Pops presentation of "The Dream Lives On" with Alec Baldwin narrating. The excerpt lasts about three minutes.

www.box.net/shared/8rhcmu7o71

The future of the recording industry (especially classical)

Anne Midgette of the Washington Post interviewed Klaus Heymann, head of the Naxos record company, which is now a major force (maybe THE major force) in classical recording. Klaus indicated that Naxos intends to be the "last man standing" in distributing classical recordings.

The article is worth reading, and is at www.washingtonpost.com, under "The Classical Beat--The future of the recording industry".

Baldwin & Boston Pops team up

Emmy Award-winner Alec Baldwin will give life to the words of John,
Robert, and Edward Kennedy, when he joins conductor Keith Lockhart, the
Boston Pops Orchestra, and the Tanglewood Festival Chorus for a
performance of The Dream Lives On: A Portrait of the Kennedy Brothers at
Tanglewood in Lenox, MA on Sunday July 18 at 2:30 PM.

Celebrating the legacies of these three influential and inspiring
Massachusetts native sons, The Dream Lives On—composed by Peter Boyer
with Tony Award-winning lyricist Lynn Ahrens—was commissioned by Keith
Lockhart and the Boston Pops. This new multi-media work combines quotes
from speeches by the Kennedy brothers with original text and video,
accompanied by a dramatic orchestral and choral score. The choral
score is presented by the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, which celebrates
its 40th anniversary this summer.

The title of the work was taken from the closing
lines of Ted Kennedy’s speech at the 2008 Democratic National
Convention.

The Dream Lives On had its world premiere on May 18 as part
of the 125th Anniversary celebration with Robert De Niro, Morgan
Freeman, Ed Harris, and Cherry Jones as narrators, and will also be
performed on August 1 in Hyannis, MA with Academy Award-winner Chris
Cooper.

Bach--and others--on caffiene

What caffiene really does to you:

http://i.lifehacker.com/5585217/what-caffeine-actually-does-to-your-brain

More evidence that the Canadian Government is comprised of Philistines

I've been highly critical of the Canadian Government for its draconian approach to arts funding--and sadly, nothing has changed. Note this from the Times Colonist of June 5 (www.timescolonist.com), article entitled "Liberals Cut the Arts Adrift":

Things just seem to get worse for arts and culture in Victoria and the rest of British Columbia.

I'm not talking about the quality of the offerings, which often reach artistic levels that delight and surprise. Rather, it's our provincial government's mulish insistence on pretending the cultural industry in B.C. no longer exists.

The Liberal government's message is: "We are no longer interested in funding the arts. Fend for yourself. If your product is any good, the market will support it." Such an attitude shows, at best, a lack of understanding -- and at worst, blind ignorance. It's as if we've suddenly become a Third World country.

Read more: http://www.timescolonist.com/entertainment/Liberals+arts+adrift/3116979/story.html#ixzz0qCNVGoI8