Andrea Bocelli’s ‘Music for Hope'

By Rosie Penetreath, ClassicFM London

The Italian tenor sang at the historic landmark without an audience, in a special concert for Easter Sunday.

Andrea Bocelli performed a special online concert from the Duomo cathedral in Milan this Easter Sunday (12 April 2020).

Entitled ‘Music for Hope’, Bocelli’s concert was poignantly performed without an audience and instead streamed globally via Bocelli’s YouTube channel, in light of social distancing measures in place across the globe to stem the spread of coronavirus.

Bocelli was joined – at distance, of course – by cathedral organist, Emanuele Vianelli, who provided accompaniment for his chosen pieces. Selected to communicate a message of love, healing and hope to Italy and the rest of the world during this difficult time, the pieces included the popular Bach/Gounod setting of ‘Ave Maria’ and Mascagni’s ‘Sancta Maria’, as well as an arrangement of John Newton’s enduring ‘Amazing Grace.’

Click for the latest coronavirus advice from the NHS >

Andrea Bocelli will perform in isolation at Duomo Di Milano for a special online concert to mark Easter Sunday this year. Picture: Veneranda Fabbrica del Duomo di Milano

The Italian tenor, who was invited to give the special solo performance by the City of Milan and the cathedral itself, says: “On the day on which we celebrate the trust in a life that triumphs, I’m honoured and happy to answer ‘Sì’ to the invitation of the City and the Duomo of Milan.”

Read more: watch Katherine Jenkins’ living-room concert for quarantined audiences >

Bocelli continues: “I believe in the strength of praying together; I believe in the Christian Easter, a universal symbol of rebirth that everyone – whether they are believers or not – truly needs right now.

“Thanks to music, streamed live, bringing together millions of clasped hands everywhere in the world, we will hug this wounded Earth’s pulsing heart, this wonderful international forge that is reason for Italian pride.”

The Andrea Bocelli Foundation is currently fundraising for hospitals, to help with the purchase of medical and protective equipment needed in the face of the coronavirus pandemic.

Sharks love jazz music but don’t get classical ...

(C) By ClassicFM London

Sharks love jazz music but don’t get classical. Picture: Getty

By Sian Hamer

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A study finds the ‘regular beat’ of jazz is alluring to the finned species... when there’s a tasty snack involved.

Scientists say sharks may have a musical preference, and it’s not for classical music.

A study found that one species of the finned predator, the Port Jackson shark, enjoys the sound of jazz – when there’s food on offer.

Sharks, like most fish, rely on sound waves underwater to locate food and hiding spots, and to communicate with other creatures.

Researchers from the Macquarie University Fish Lab in Australia theorised that sharks might be able to recognise musical stimuli, when associated with an edible reward.

Read more: Naughty cat disrupts live orchestra concert and steals the show >

A Port Jackson shark. Picture: Getty

To test out the theory, researchers played jazz music at one end of a tank, and taught eight young sharks to swim towards a feeding station for a tasty reward.

It was quite the task for the creatures, who were unable to tell the difference between music genres when classical music was also introduced to the task.

“Right off, I would probably guess that the jazz music happened to have more of a regular beat that would be more what the sharks are used to being attracted to,” explained Phillip Lobel, a biology professor at Boston University.

Port Jackson sharks can recognise jazz music when food is involved. Picture: Getty

Although the sharks struggled to determine the difference between the music genres, the study could still offer some insight into the learning abilities of the shark – several species of which are more intelligent than the average fish.

Experts are particularly keen to dispel the negative perception of sharks as “human-hunting death machines”.

“Gaining a better understanding of this will help grow positive public opinion of sharks and may shift public and political will towards their conservation,” Lobel said.

Beethoven: Overture Egmont - Radio Filharmonisch Orkest led by Karina C...

Pianist Yuja Wang issues emotional reply ...

...after critics shame her for wearing glasses on stage

(C) by ClassicFM London

Pianist Yuja Wang shamed for wearing sunglasses on stage. Picture: Getty

By Maddy Shaw Roberts, ClassicFM London

9K

“Humiliated” after being detained at the airport, Yuja Wang says she delivered the recital in sunglasses to hide her tears.

Chinese pianist Yuja Wang has issued an emotional response, after being criticised for wearing sunglasses during a recital in Canada.

After Friday’s concert, Wang was shamed by critics for her appearance, with one classical music blogger – Norman Lebrecht, who runs Slipped Disc – labelling her “attention-seeking”.

The piano virtuoso has defended herself in an emotional response, explaining that she had been detained and subjected to “intense questioning” for over an hour at Vancouver International Airport, causing her to almost miss her recital at the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts.

She adds, in an Instagram post, that although she found the experience “humiliating and deeply upsetting”, she was determined not to let her audience down so decided to wear sunglasses to cover her “visibly red and swollen” eyes.

On 23 February, Lebrecht published a blog post quoting audience member and conductor Tania Miller, who wrote on her own Facebook page:

“Your innocent audience, some donning masks to protect themselves from the potential Coronavirus, came to be in your presence for this sold-out concert, and to hear the music and extraordinary talent that you had to share. Instead they experienced the rejection of an artist withholding the permission to share in the feeling, transcendence and the shared emotion of the beauty, joy, and humanity of music.”

Miller has since apologized for her comments.

Vivaldi’s ‘infuriating’ Four Seasons

... dropped as hold music by Government hotline

Vivaldi 'Spring' is no longer DWP's hold music. Picture: Getty

By Maddy Shaw Roberts, ClassicFM London

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Callers waiting to speak to the Department of Work and Pensions will no longer hear music from the Baroque masterpiece, after saying they couldn’t deal... ‘Viv-al-di’ repetition.

Vivaldi’s Four Seasons has been dropped by the Department of Work and Pensions as its on-hold music, after callers said the repetitive clip was making them feel anxious. Callers waiting to speak to an adviser about a benefits problem have heard a 30-second loop of ‘Spring’, the first concerto in the great Italian composer’s masterpiece, for nearly 15 years.

But with millions of callers on hold for up to an hour, many people were hearing the clip up to 120 times in a row. One user called the DWP’s choice of music a “cruel and unusual punishment”.

“We had some feedback that the Vivaldi clip caused anxiety for claimants and in particular had an impact on autistic callers,” a DWP spokesperson said.

The Department has said ‘Spring’ will be replaced by a ‘calming’ 20-minute mix of eight unnamed musical tracks that aims to reduce callers’ anxiety by creating “a steady and neutral pace and reducing the issue of repetition”.

“We tested it with claimants in job centres and they overwhelmingly preferred it,” a DWP spokesperson said. “It was seen as more calming and peaceful and light. One person said, ‘I loved The Four Seasons, it’s a lovely piece of music’, but most preferred the new music.”

The DWP has used ‘Spring’ as its on-hold music since 2006. They called it a ‘cost-effective solution’, explaining that while the music would usually be funded by taxpayer money, they were licensed to play the Vivaldi for free.

But while the average helpline on-hold time is eight minutes, waiting times can go up to an hour. The repetitive music appears to have caused unnecessary anxiety for those calling about an often stressful matter.

“Queue times can be long, longer than the whole symphony on occasion, and callers are required to listen to the same sample, interspersed with the same recorded message, for infuriating periods of time,” it said.

“The false jollity of the piece in question, combined with the repetition involved in the short sample length, is largely at odds with the motives of people ringing the line, usually because of a problem with receipt of benefits.”

Rachmaninov is the most innovative composer ...

... in 200 years, researchers reveal

Rachmaninov was more innovative than Beethoven, researchers say. Picture: Getty

By Maddy Shaw Roberts, ClassicFM London

3K

Beethoven might be considered one of the greatest composers of all time – but his music wasn’t as original as Rachmaninov’s, researchers claim.

Sergei Rachmaninov was the most innovative composer in classical music history, according to new research that puts the Russian giant just ahead of Bach, Brahms and Mendelssohn.

A study of more than 19 composers, published in the open access journal EPJ Data Science, showed that Rachmaninov’s music was the most unlike his predecessors’ across the Baroque, Classical and Romantic eras (c. 1700-1900),

His compositions were also judged the most original, compared to his earlier works.

Beethoven, whose music bridged the gap between the Classical and Romantic eras, was found to be the most influential composer in the later period. However, the study did not consider his music highly original compared to his previous works.

Similarly, Classical composers Haydn and Mozart were considered influential in their time, but their compositions did not evolve drastically over their lifetime. To carry out the research, a team from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology in South Korea studied 900 classical piano compositions written by 19 composers between 1700 and 1900 – widely considered the two defining centuries in classical music history.

They calculated each composition’s influence (how it differed to predecessors’ piano music) and novelty (how it differed from previous piano works by the same composer).

Composers from the Romantic era, such as Brahms and Mendelssohn, scored greater overall for ‘novelty’.

Read more: Why Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 2 is an epic work of genius >

Beethoven was considered the most influential composer in the Romantic period. Picture: Getty

Juyong Park, the corresponding author, said: “Our model allows us to calculate the degree of shared melodies and harmonies between past and future works and to observe the evolution of western musical styles by demonstrating how prominent composers may have influenced each other.

“The period of music we studied is widely credited for having produced many musical styles that are still influential today.”

The authors cautioned the results might have been different if works other than piano compositions had been included in their analysis.