Happy Holidays!

I hope you all had a productive semester, and I wish you a safe and happy holiday season. I hope to see you all in January for the spring semester. In the mean time, the Music Library will be open from 8 a.m. until noon and from 1 p.m. until 5 p.m., Monday through Friday from today, December 15, 2008, until Friday, January 9, 2009. We will be closed completely from Wednesday, December 24, 2008 through Sunday, January 4, 2009. We will resume our regular schedule when the Spring Semester begins on Monday, January 12, 2009.

Article on Messiaen's 100th Birthday

Tom Huizenga wrote "Messiaen At 100: A Song For The Solar System," a brief article commemorating the composer's centennial, for NPR.org.

Another new reference title

Hischak, Thomas. The Oxford Companion to the American Musical: Theatre, Film, and Television. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008. Call no. MUR ML102.M88 H593 2008.

New reference title

Here is our newest reference title:

Beck, John H. Encyclopedia of Percussion, 2d ed. New York: Routledge, 2007. Call no. MUR ML102.P4 E5 2007.

Naxos Music Library is back up

Naxos Music Library at NIU was down for a while this week, but it is now back up. I am sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused.

A Discussion of Bel Canto

Here is an interesting article on the term "Bel Canto":

Bel Canto: Audiences Love It, but What Is It? by Anthony Tommasini (New York Times, November 28, 2008).

Lists of Recent Recordings

If you are looking for lists of critically acclaimed recordings, here are several:

The Year In Jazz: Best CDs Of 2008 by Gary Walker. (NPR.org)

'World Cafe' Picks 2008's Top 10 CDs by David Dye. (NPR.org)

Holiday Gift Guide: Classical Music by Vivien Schweitzer, James R. Oestreich, Anthony Tommasini and Allan Kozinn. (New York Times)

Holiday Gift Guide: Pop and Jazz by Jon Pareles, Ben Ratliff and Jon Caramanica. (New York Times)