Sep 23rd, 2008 · A symphonic driving experience ends Tuesday in Lancaster, California. Grooves carved into a quarter-mile stretch of road play the "William Tell Overture" when cars drive over them. It was part of an ad campaign by Honda, which designed the road. A Honda Civic going 55 mph plays the music at perfect pitch. Neighbors were not amused. They said it kept them up at night. City officials plan to pave over the road.
Jul 16th, 2008 · Stars Like Fleas' music is disjointed, meandering, chaotic, and wonderfully unique. The group's second full-length release, The Ken Burns Effect, is a gorgeous jaunt through experimental orchestral pop that is as engaging as it is utterly confusing. The record seems at times aimless and at other times perfectly composed, if insanely so. With a wealth of instruments (at the album's recording the group was a 12-piece collective) that clash as often as they harmonize and tracks that drift from beautiful symphonies to discordant pandemonium on a whim, the album stands as a work of mad genius. Stars Like Fleas have created a sound that, though certainly not easily digestible, is extremely rich.
Jul 12th, 2008 · The Cleveland Orchestra is matched against Claude Debussy's tennis-inspired ballet Jeux, which conductor Franz Welser-Möst calls one of the most difficult symphonic pieces to perform.
Jun 20th, 2008 · Marin Alsop, meet Robert Schumann. The Baltimore Symphony conductor reconnects with the composer's symphonies, probing for a deeper meaning within this widely performed but still misunderstood music. The Symphony No. 2, Alsop says, traces Schumann's emotional frailty.
May 18th, 2008 · Gustav Mahler once said, "The symphony is a world; it must contain everything." For the famous composer, that meant writing symphonic music with the dramatic punch and poignancy of opera.
May 8th, 2008 · Alex Turner of Arctic Monkeys and Miles Kane of The Rascals recently joined forces to form a new side project called The Last Shadow Puppets. The duo's debut is a soaring collection of symphonic, '60s-tinged pop that brings out the strengths of both their bands. Hear the band play a stripped-down set on WXPN.
Apr 21st, 2008 · For the work of an artist best known for the symphonic, soul-baring "Breathe Me," Sia's punchy "Buttons" seems like an odd fit. A hidden track on her new album, the hooky "Buttons" nevertheless runs the risk of defining its album in spite of itself.
Apr 18th, 2008 · Czech composer Antonin Dvorak wrote his 'New World Symphony in New York. Conductor Marin Alsop sees the work as Dvorak's symphony of self-discovery, filled with the sounds of new places, and nostalgic nods to his homeland.