Classical Life: 2012 annual report

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Happy New Year and all that. May it be better than the last.

Some of you may remember last year around this time, when the good folks at WordPress prepared an annual report on Classical Life.

Well, they’ve done it again, and the numbers are scintillating.

The best news is that, despite the economic situation, despite the fiscal cliff, despite rising healthcare costs, the profit margins for this blog remained the same as last year. The bad news is that there were no profits whatsoever, unless you count all the good friends who visit this space as profits.

Here are a few stats included in the annual report.

1. The number of “views” (different from “visitors”) here went down a smidgen, but then I didn’t post as often. Still, the “view” number is pretty healthy, I think. I posted 145 times in 2012, and in those posts included 120 photos.

2. The busiest day of the year was January 24 and the most popular post that day was Classical Life: 2011 annual report.

3. The most popular posts in 2012 were Great moments in commercial music: Air France; Review: ‘The gospel According to the Other Mary’; Same old song; Another celebrity columnist re-assigned; and 10 Giulini recordings. Two of those posts weren’t even written in 2012, but people keep on finding them. The annual report suggests: “Some of your most popular posts were written before 2012. Your writing has staying power! Consider writing about those topics again,” which makes me feel like Woody Allen in ‘Stardust Memories.’

4. The most popular searches that brought visitors to Classical Life were classical life, air france commercial music, air france commercial, yuja wang dress, and bruckner. I guess I should write something about Yuja Wang performing Bruckner in a red dress while on an Air France flight.

5. The top referring sites to this blog (they sent people here) were …

  1. therestisnoise.com
  2. outwestarts.blogspot.com
  3. npr.org
  4. allisyar.com
  5. facebook.com

Thanks to Alex, Brian, the government, CK and Mark (Zuckerberg).

6. I had visitors from 115 countries, including Nigeria, Botswana and Bolivia.

7. My most commented on post for 2012 was Same old song.

8. The top commenters were … drum roll please … CK Dexter Haven, MarK, deborah, chris and Lisa Hirsch. Good work and mille grazie.

In closing all I’ll say is that I aim to keep this little blog going and I hope you’ll continue to visit. Stay thirsty, my friends.

The Regers

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Inspired by Martin Bernheimer’s venerated Beckmessers (OK, we just stole the idea), we give you the first annual Reger Awards (named after Max Reger) for classical music, offered with tongue firmly in cheek.

Click here to see the winners of the Reger Awards for 2012.

The sad mouse

Just because it’s hilarious … but note the crucial contribution of the music to the sketch.

The next time you’re “overthinking it,” remember this video.

Reunion

The Register band, now called The Trusted Sources (get it?), made a long-awaited reunion last night at the company Christmas party, which for the first time since I started there was held off-site, at the Hyatt Regency in Huntington Beach, courtesy of the new owners. We kicked five sets (if I say so myself), and I had a particularly grand time thanks to a couple of stringers we hired for the horn section, Johnny V on trumpet and Tom Morgan on saxophone. I attempted to keep up with those guys, and since they tried to make it easy for me, I mostly did, even nailing the tough horn lick (to my surprise) in Stevie Wonder’s “Superstition” near the end of the evening. (Photos 1-3 by M.A. Mullen. Photo 4 by Kevin Sullivan.)

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Zubin

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In today’s Orange County Register online, I review Zubin Mehta’s 50th anniversary concert with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. The concert repeats (today, in progress), Saturday and Sunday.

Click here to read my review or pick up a copy of tomorrow’s newspaper.

photo: Craig T. Mathew/Mathew Imaging

Tango and stuff

The Laguna Beach Music Festival announces its roster and schedule.

Spin the wheel

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In today’s Orange County Register online, I review cellist Alisa Weilerstein and conductor Alexander Shelley in performances of music by Handel, Debussy and Dvorak with the Pacific Symphony.

Click here to read my review or pick up a copy of tomorrow’s newspaper.

The concert is repeated today and tomorrow.

Salonen and L.A. Phil celebrate Lutoslawski centenary

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In today’s Orange County Register online, I review Esa-Pekka Salonen and the Los Angeles Philharmonic in performances of music of Lutoslawski and Beethoven.

Click here to read my review, or pick up a copy of Monday’s newspaper.

Photo: Clive Barda

Delightful

Just because it’s delightful and you’ve probably never heard it.

A prodigy comes of age

Earlier this week I interviewed cellist Alisa Weilerstein, a MacAurthur Foundation “genius” who performs with the Pacific Symphony in three concerts, Dec. 6-8.

Click here to read my interview

For you kids out there, here’s a Weilerstein quote on practicing that didn’t make it into the interview:

“Of course like any kid I had many days when I didn’t feel like practicing. But what (my parents) told me was, ‘Well, this is what you want to do, you’re only hurting yourself if you don’t practice.’ In a way I made it easy for them because I was absolutely sure from the very beginning that I wanted to be a musician. I never wavered from that, not even in my teenage years at all, I was completely sure. So I knew deep down that even on days that I didn’t want to practice that I really was only hurting myself.”

In the video above, Weilerstein rehearses Elliott Carter’s Cello Concerto with the late composer himself.