Research has confirmed listening to classical music can have a significant positive impact on perception of chronic pain, says the BBC.

“US researchers tested the effect of music on 60 patients who had endured years of chronic pain. Those who listened to music reported a cut in pain levels of up to 21%, and in associated depression of up to 25%, compared to those who did not listen.”

This has been known about for many years along with music’s ability to aid learning. But only certain types of music seem to work. Mozart and Bach are particularly good for Super-learning, soothing classics for pain relief and relaxation.

The Journal of Advanced Nursing study also found music helped people feel less disabled by their condition. The patients who took part in the study were recruited from pain and chiropractic clinics, reports the BBC.

“They had been suffering from conditions such osteoarthritis, disc problems and rheumatoid arthritis for an average of six-and-a-half years. Most said the pain affected more than one part of their body, and was continuous.”

Carnegie Hall, January 2006.

The New York Times reports today that the rumors of classical music’s demise are dead wrong.

Everyone has heard the requiems sung for classical music or at least the reports of its failing health: that its audience is graying, record sales have shriveled and the cost of live performance is rising as ticket sales decline. Music education has virtually disappeared from public schools. Classical programming has (all but) disappeared from television and radio. And 17 orchestras have closed in the last 20 years.

Has American culture given up on classical music? The numbers tell a very different story: for all the hand-wringing, there is immensely more classical music on offer now, both in concerts and on recordings than there was in what nostalgists think of as the golden era of classics in America.

Read the whole article.

The Washington Post reports that eight young musicians competed for more than $30,000 in prizes on Sunday in the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater.

Interestingly, each of the three first-prize winners (one each for violin, viola and cello) won by playing music from 20th-century masterworks. Daniela Shtereva’s reading of the first movement of Bartok’s Second Violin Concerto was shot through with fantasy and fire, while Yu Jin brought shapely phrasing and an array of dazzling colors to the first movement of Bartok’s Viola Concerto. David Requiro played most of Kabalevsky’s Second Cello Concerto, bringing out its wit and dynamism. Of the other finalists, a personal favorite was third-place winner Susie Park, who amplified the drama in her commanding reading of Ravel’s showpiece “Tzigane” by theatrically flourishing her bow in the pauses between the work’s Gypsy-flavored violin licks.

Well done to all the prize-winners.

Like many classical music buffs, I often wonder what the appeal of the enduring 1812 Overture is. Some people avoid it like the plague because of the noise, the jingoism, and the sheer exuberant crazyness of it all.

Imagine firing cannons in a concert hall. What could the old Russian madman have been thinking of. Not the insurance bill, clearly.

BBC’s Radio 4 asked the question in a thoughtful programme last week. The show was presented by Alasdair Malloy, principal percussionist with the BBC Concert Orchestra.

We heard how one over-enthusiastic musician almost did away with the conductor by setting off fireworks in his trombone. On another occasion pellets from a cannon left much of the orchestra covered in blood and with permanent scars and dents in their faces. The 1812 is not for the fainthearted.

As it’s safer to listen to the piece at home, I’ve chosen a nice version on Deutsche Grammophon with Neeme Jarvi conducting the Gothenburg Artillery Division and the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra. Note how the guns are put first.

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