Georg Tintner is dead

Conductor Georg Tintner died tragically in a fall at his home in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada on 2 October, aged 82.

Tintner, born in Vienna, sang in the Vienna Boys Choir, and also conducted the group in his own compositions. He studied conducting with Weingartner, and was appointed as Assistant Conductor of the Volksoper at the age of nineteen, but his career in Austria was cut short when he attempted to sue the Nazis for unfair dismissal from his post. He was forced to flee his country (never forgiving the Austrians for their anti-Semitism and for 'spitting him out'), working in New Zealand and Australia. Before settling in Canada to work with Symphony Nova Scotia, he worked in Cape Town, London, then again in Australia.

Honoured by the governments and institutions of at least three countries, Tintner was also widely acclaimed as a lecturer, and his lectures have been broadcast extensively throughout Canada, Australasia and the US.

Sign the petition for a Georg Tintner Memorial Edition CD.

Richard Strauss Edition

Marking the 50th anniversary of Richard Strauss' death, Peters Edition have issued volumes 19-30 of the Richard Strauss Edition. These twelve volumes contain 58 orchestral works, many of which are previously unpublished, little-known or long out of print.

A special subscription price of GBP 420 also includes a facsimile of the autograph score of Till Eulenspiegel. Order online, or contact Peters Music Shop at Boosey and Hawkes, 295 Regent Street, London W1R 8JH, UK.

Finnissy at Ultima

Metier has produced three CDs of music by the English composer Michael Finnissy: string quartets, the composer playing Folklore, and Voces Sacrae singing Seven Sacred Motets. The NMC label has also produced a CD with major chamber works, so Finnissy's music is receiving growing attention.

Career services

American readers in particular might find the New England Conservatory's Career Services Center of benefit when seeking jobs in music performance, teaching and arts administration. Listings are worldwide and available to all for $25 per year for email subscriptions, $35 for a print version, and $49 for overseas. Info from careerservices@newenglandconservatory.edu.

MOODS - science helps music

The Music Object-Oriented Distributed System (MOODS) is a new scientific tool for performing musicians. Conventional printed scores and music stands are replaced with new electronic lecterns. Developed by Paolo Nesi and colleagues at the University of Florence, enhancements to this system could allows composers and publishers to deliver customised versions of their scores electronically.

During rehearsals, individual musicians alter their parts if necessary and conductors can make changes to the full score. Any changes appear immediately in the appropriate parts, and several musicians can work on the score at once, all altering the same bar if required. The lectern screens scroll the music automatically, in time with the performance. Players are no longer distracted by awkward page turns, and the audience experiences a performance free of paper shuffling noises. Further information about MOODS.

Chuench'i

Gerard Schurmann's song-cycles, Chuench'i (translations of Chinese poems by Arthur Waley), and Six Songs of William Blake, together with Nine Slovak Folk Songs have been recorded for commercial CD by Alison Wells (soprano) and Martyn Hill (tenor), with Keith Swallow (piano).

José Serebrier

Composer and conductor José Serebrier is a protégé of Antal Dorati and Leopold Stokowski, and is known for his work with music of the Russian Romantic school. Two new CDs have been released - Serebrier Conducts Serebrier is devoted to his own prize-winning compositions, including Partita (Symphony No 2), Fantasia, Winterreise (for full orchestra) and violinist Gonzalo Acosta playing the youthful Sonata for violin solo. The second CD features Serebrier conducting Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade, and the Russian Easter Festival Overture. Info: Reference Recordings.

Gillian Weir in Chinese

Henry Luo has translated Dame Gillian Weir's article Aspects of Vision into the Chinese language for the publication Philharmonic. Gillian's article was first published here at Music & Vision in January.

Fong plays Cage

Violinist Christina Fong (who has performed-premièred the works of composers such as Philip Glass, Michael Nyman and Michael Gordon) has a new CD which features world première recordings of John Cage's complete 'number pieces' for violin. The CD is the first in a series, to feature previously unrecorded works for violin/viola by well-known composers. Info (and ordering information) from Christina Fong.

Moulin Rouge

Rumon Gamba's first CD, 'The film music of Georges Auric', is available from Chandos, and was their September 'disc of the month'. The BBC Philharmonic Orchestra plays specially reconstructed scores from the Ealing Studios years, including The Lavender Hill Mob, Passport to Pimlico, Moulin Rouge and Dead of night. The music should appeal to both classical and film music audiences.