One Canuck's Radio Weblog

  Tuesday, 30 November 2004

.< 9:36:10 PM >
Amid Dire Predictions, Classical Records Flower
Despite the financial struggles in the industry, it feels as if we are in the midst of a golden age of classical recording.
[Via New York Times: Arts]

'Sounds bad, right? Yet I have seldom had so many exciting and important new classical music recordings come across my desk as in the last year or so.

Major labels like EMI Classics are championing contemporary music, as with the new recording of Messiaen's visionary "Éclairs sur l'Au-Delà," his last major orchestral score, in an exhilarating performance by Simon Rattle and the Berlin Philharmonic. Smaller labels are releasing invaluable explorations of the masters, like the mezzo-soprano Lorraine Hunt Lieberson's sublime program of Handel arias and cantatas with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, conducted by Harry Bicket on Avie. Koch International Classics showed that sizable companies are still open to offbeat projects of special interest, like the pianist Sara Davis Buechner's lovely program of piano works by the operetta composer Rudolf Friml, surprisingly fine music and a labor of love from Ms. Buechner.'

.< 9:29:50 PM >
Macworld Gear Guide: Part Two
In the second part of Macworld’s Gear Guide, we look at some gadgets that will help movie-making Mac users pursue their celluloid dreams and other devices that will help them enjoy the Great Outdoors once their skyrocketing movie career allows them to enjoy a life of leisure.
[Via MacCentral]

.< 9:26:32 PM >
Diana? 'She's done all right'...

Words tend to fail any effort to give Don Thompson his due as a jazz musician. The late American alto saxophonist Paul Desmond captured the dilemma as well as anyone when he wrote in 1975, ''If Don Thompson didn't exist, nobody could invent him.''

I have a master for his new disc sitting on my drive. Hopefully it will be out soon. Don is amazing.

< 9:19:39 PM >

Good choice. Couldn't bare to watch the show though. Thirty seconds had me cringing and reaching for the remote.

< 10:45:12 AM >

If you work with partitioned disks, there's a good chance you've eventually discovered that you gave too much space...
[Via macosxhints]

.< 2:52:44 AM >
Alabama clings to segregation
US state with racist history votes to keep 'separate schools for white and coloured children' as part of constitution.
[Via Guardian Unlimited World Latest]

.< 2:30:14 AM >
Apple airs iTunes Canada ads
Ads now appearing on Canadian television networks are advertising a localized version of Apple's iTunes Music Store, although the service has yet to open for business.
[Via AppleInsider]

.< 2:16:25 AM >
Macworld Gear Guide: Part One
Office workers and photographers use their Macs for two very different purposes -- one group turns to the Mac to help them get their job done quickly and easily, while the other is looking to store, edit, and print digital images. Yet both disparate segments of the Mac universe have at least one thing in common -- a slew of gotta-have gadgets that will enhance their Mac. In this first part of Macworld's Gear Guide, we look at half-a-dozen gadgets that will make ideal gifts for the office worker or photographer in your life.
[Via MacCentral]

.< 1:31:40 AM >
Nokia Collector syncs files between cell phone, Mac
Nokia has released Nokia Collector 1.0, a utility that transfers images, videos and other files between a cell phone and your Mac, with the ability to keep specific items synchronized. The company's Web site indicates that the application is aimed at owners of Nokia 7280 phones, but the materials that come with Nokia Collector state that "it can also be used with many other Bluetooth-enabled devices." The free software requires Mac OS X v10.2.8 and works with both internal, factory-installed Bluetooth modules and external USB Bluetooth adapters.
[Via MacCentral]

.< 1:14:36 AM >
The Music Scene Winter 2005 Issue
The Music Scene Winter 2005 Issue
Download the PDF version (6 Meg)
[Via LaScena-Features]

.< 1:12:29 AM >
CD Company Naxos Slips Quietly Into a World of Creativity
What's really remarkable, however, is the involvement of a record company in commissioning new music. The conventional wisdom at most major labels is that it's hard enough to sell new music. Going out and helping it come into being is virtually unprecedented.

"Like all recordings of contemporary music," said Klaus Heymann, Naxos's founder and chief executive, "this is a not-for-profit project."

.< 1:11:38 AM >
100 Definitive CDs
Norman Lebrecht's weekly look at the 100 definitive recordings. This week, Verdi's Otello with Domingo [1986]
[Via LaScena-Features]

.< 1:08:03 AM >
Does the CBC know what it's doing?

< 1:07:01 AM >

< 1:05:13 AM >