Live to iPod
In just weeks, live concerts by the New York Philharmonic and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, including the LA Phil’s fresh “Minimalist Jukebox” series, will be available for download on iTunes. Beginning tomorrow, you can get Lorin Maazel conducting the last three Mozart symphonies and by April 4 you should be able to pick up tracks from the “Minimalist Jukebox.” As reported in yesterday’s New York Times, both orchestras have shown signs of hipness by jumping on the digital bandwagon and joining a new initiative by the Universal Music Group built on its Deutsche Grammophon and Decca recording labels. The NY and LA Phils are the first two orchestras that will offer downloadable live shows, but negotiations are currently underway with 10 other US orchestras as well as groups in London, Paris, and three German cities. Participating orchestras will offer about four concerts per season through iTunes. Contemporary composers and new music aficionados undoubtedly stand to gain the most from this service–that is, if orchestras choose to offer programs that include premieres rather than programs of old warhorses. Gone will be the days of waiting years for a recording of a new work to become available for public consumption. And in a world where we joke that “premiere performance” is often code for “last performance,” at least there is the possibility that the new work will live on in recorded form, being accessible almost immediately for those who couldn’t make it to the premiere to discover.
