The Welsh opera superstar, Bryn Terfel, has triumphed in Covent Garden’s new Jonathan Kent production of Puccini’s Tosca. Critic David Mellor called the performance “the best Scarpia I have seen in the theatre.” He was more critical though of the other star of the night, Angela Gheorghiu.

“Bryn doesn’t see his talent as a reason to puff himself up like some artists. But I’ll come to Angela Gheorghiu later. Off-stage, he simply reverts to being the Welsh countryman who likes nothing more than to live the simple life with his family on his North Wales farm.”

And the “divine” Angela? “Even [she] mostly seemed to meet Kent’s requirements, although hers, after all the hype, was a disappointing evening. Tosca is a spoilt, wilful diva, which, on the face of it, shouldn’t have posed Miss Gheorghiu too many problems on the acting front. But hers is a sketchy assumption and, more fatally, her voice is too small for the part.”

Ouch! But a good Tosca overall.

Does classical music need superstars? Music critic and arts consultant Steve Metcalf writing in NewMusicBox.org thinks it does. “Or one, even,” he almost begs.

But what about Placido Domingo? Or the many great orchestras and conductors we have now, or does it go deeper?

Back in the 1950s, he writes, among performers, Toscanini, Heifetz, Maria Callas, and others, were known to almost everyone. Even as late as the 1980s, a classical performer could be truly famous. Now it’s different, he claims.

“If we speak of instrumentalists who can reliably sell out a house somewhere other than New York or L.A.,” Metcalf continues, “we have basically Yo-Yo (Ma). After that we have a roster of names that are known mostly to aficionados and the readers of Gramophone, but who are unknowns to everybody else. You don’t realize the extent to which this is true until you start working with and around people who pay no attention to serious music, which is most people these days. Try dropping the name Leif Ove Andsnes in your company cafeteria.”

Isn’t it great composers we need? There don’t seem to be many of those around now.

Stephen Walsh recalls the throngs that greeted the composer at concerts in America’s smaller towns and cities, not because they necessarily understood the music but because they wanted to see an icon.

Could crossover music have removed the gloss from the purely classical?

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.