A piano, alone in NY...

This very moving short film is in the Op-Doc section of the New York Times website. Please watch all of it (5 mins).

http://nyti.ms/QUxtcX

Save creativity in our schools - before it's too late

Tasmin Little has been speaking at the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Music Education and sends these vital words about just how loudly we need to shout for this message to be heard, and what we stand to lose if it is not.

"Hi everyone. For those who have been following the EBacc saga, the meeting yesterday went well - however, it is becoming clear that we really need to galvanize as many people as possible as there is a long way to go with this situation.

What you can do: PLEASE get everyone you know to sign the Bacc for the Future campaign. It takes about 3 seconds to do and we are at 36,000 signatures but need

50,000.

Next and just as importantly, please ask every parent you know to write to their MP stressing the importance of including the creative subjects in the Ebacc, and asking their MP to take this up and ask a question in the House.

Schools are ALREADY cutting funding to music etc, because they don't feel there is any point if it's not going to give the children any marks in an exam.

And this is before the ink is even dry with the proposal!!!

The biggest problem is that most people don't understand the huge implications of these measures for, not just our own enjoyment of the Arts, but the tourism industry, job losses and our whole cultural identity."

Here is the link to the Bacc for the Future petition. If you haven't already signed it, we urge you to do so right away. The consultation itself is now OVER, so now all we can do is sign this petition and write to our MPs as Tasmin suggests.

Farewells to too many people

In the past week we have heard of the deaths of SIX musical legends. The beloved composer Jonathan Harvey (73). The marvellous jazzer Dave Brubeck (91). Charles Rosen (85), pianist and author, whose books are required reading. Then the great sopranos Lisa della Casa (93) and Galina Vishnevskaya (86). Now Ravi Shankar (92). Here is a tribute to each of them.


Jonathan Harvey's Tranquil Abiding:



 Dave Brubeck and his quartet in 'Take the A Train' (1966):



Charles Rosen talks about Schoenberg and emotion:



Lisa della Casa sings Strauss's 'Frühling'




Galina Vishnevskaya sings Rachmaninov's 'O ne grusti'



Ravi Shankar - with Yehudi Menuhin. 'Tenderness'.

It's Human Rights Day

Of course, we shouldn't need one: every day should be Human Rights Day. Here, to mark the occasion, is a special video about how music can transform lives. Please welcome Rosemary Nalden, founder of Buskaid in Soweto, in a TED talk given in March.

Solti remembered

I had a long and fascinating interview with Lady Valerie Solti about her husband earlier this year and five sections of it are available to see on Sinfini Music, the new webzine recently launched under the auspices of (though editorially independent from) Universal Classics. Here's my article and the first of the films. Here is another chunk in which Lady Valerie talks about Solti's early life. And one in which she discusses Solti's last project, the work that he never lived to conduct, the score of which still stands on his desk today...