Archive for the ‘Music’ category

Classic FM streaming update

Friday, 6 April 2012

Ever since Classic FM’s owners made half-hearted attempts to stop overseas listeners from listening online a few years ago, people around the world have been listening quite happily to internet streams of the station. If the streams are accessed directly by URL, for example using a media player, there is no check of the listener’s […]

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Pointless Proms protest

Friday, 2 September 2011

Tonight I was at the Royal Albert Hall to hear the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra under Zubin Mehta perform some of my favourite works, including Rimsky-Korsakov’s Capriccio Espagnol, and the popular Bruch violin concerto with Gil Shaham as the soloist. Unfortunately, a small number of people in the audience chose to spoil the concert with protests […]

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Henryk Górecki (1933–2010)

Friday, 12 November 2010

I was sorry to hear that Henryk Górecki had died today at the age of 76. Earlier this year, I attended what should have been the world première of his 4th symphony. Unfortunately, the performance didn’t go ahead, we were told because ill health meant Górecki had been unable to complete the work. It was […]

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A tune with a familiar ring

Sunday, 25 July 2010

Question: which composer is the most popular when it comes to mobile phone ringtones? Just the other day when I was on the train, I heard someone’s phone ring with the familiar Nokia ringtone. My first thought was to wonder why so many people leave what is in effect a free advertisement for their handset […]

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Last Night of the Proms let-down

Saturday, 12 September 2009

Tonight was the annual Last Night of the Proms, the finale of the BBC’s famous concert series. While the Last Night featured the usual eclectic collection of music: the old, the newly commissioned and the bizarre (for example, Sir David Attenborough “playing” the floor polisher) the BBC managed to spoil it by messing about with […]

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Against sound recording copyright extension

Friday, 18 July 2008

The EU Commission is proposing an extension to copyright on sound recordings, the same idea having been rejected by the UK government last year. At present, copyright on a recording lasts for 50 years, after which it enters the public domain. The proposal is for the copyright to be extended to 95 years. Unsurprisingly, the […]

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Not impressed by new Classic FM schedule

Friday, 29 February 2008

Following the news that GCap Media are to scrap their theJazz and Planet Rock digital radio stations, it seemed that Classic FM, as an analogue station, would emerge unscathed. Unfortunately, the closures have had a knock-on effect that has changed Classic FM for the worst. In the week, I’m only really able to listen to […]

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Thoughts on format shifting

Tuesday, 8 January 2008

Copyright law in the UK allows few exceptions for fair use. People who rip their CDs to make MP3 files for their portable players are actually breaking the law, although record companies have indicated in the past that they won’t pursue people for doing so. Today, a consultation was announced on changes to copyright law […]

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Romany Wood

Monday, 17 September 2007

I was quite surprised to hear the name David Gaukroger on the Classic FM Evening Concert this evening. His Romany Wood was the first work played on tonight’s programme. David Gaukroger taught my GCSE music class at King Charles I School, Kidderminster, in 1993–94. There were only seven of us in the class, so I […]

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Yahoo’s DRM-free music

Friday, 21 July 2006

Yahoo! have released their first music download in MP3 format without digital rights management (DRM) copy protection. This means the track can be played on any hardware device, or played using the software and operating system of your choice. The track in question is A Public Affair by Jessica Simpson. What is most surprising is […]

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