Welcome to Shift, where Tom Allen takes you on a daily musical journey from the stalwarts of Classical music to the cutting edge of Contemporary tunes. Join us here on CBC music for a round-up of the stories of the day, some videos of music (or maybe just videos interesting to music fans) and a place to speak your voice.
Thursday September 6th
Commercials today are loud and distracting, but that has not always been the case. In Handel's day, his operas had become so successful that competitors began to spring up. Suddenly, a Handel opera wasn't enough. Handel, in order to keep attention and add value to his performances, began to compose concerti grossi to be performed between acts. The moment the actors left the stage the orchestra in the pit would begin to play. With a brand new piece by the acknowledged master unfolding before their ears, how could an audience leave?
This is one of those pieces. It's hard to imagine that a piece this impressive was written as extra value. In today's world, you could imagine it as something advertised after the sentence "but wait, there's more..." during an infomercial.
While we're on the topic of commercials, Nokia is under fire for their most recent marketing attempt. Their ad, which cutely shows a boy and girl biking together, claims to show footage taken directly from a Nokia phone. The problem is that the female biker goes past a reflective surface. Clearly, there was more going on behind the scenes during that production.
And we commemorate that moment with a tune about the authenticity of the printed image on film:
One study we've stumbled upon is making a bizarre claim: crime rates have little to do with policing. In fact, out of 67 countries studied, it seemed a less likely source was keeping the streets safe: Satan and Hell. The countries that believed more in an eternal punishment in the confines of hell showed a trend of lower crime rates. It seems some superheroes come with red skin and horns (other than Hellboy, of course).
You can contact us at SHIFT with your ideas, questions, or anything else by sending us a message on our Facebook page. Through email, you can reach show producers Alison Howard ( alison.howard@cbc.ca ) or Alex Redekop ( alex.redekop@cbc.ca ).