September 2, 2007

It’s this week in classical music, an update on what’s happening in the classical music world, I’m Randy Kinkel.

The remains of Czech-born American pianist Rudolph Firkusny will finally be laid to rest in his native land, a decade after his death.  Firkusny and his wife, Tatiana, were cremated and their ashes were mixed together and held by the family until burial in the Czech Republic could be arranged.  Burial will be September 10^th in the Central Cemetery in Brno.

Latest research 0n German composer Ludwig Von Beethoven’s hair and bone fragments suggests treatments by the composer’s physician meant to help, may have actually led to his death.  Analysis of hair strands by Viennese forensic expert Christian Reiter shows several peaks in the final months of Beethoven’s life, where the concentration of lead rose pretty massively on the four occasions when Beethoven himself documented that he had been treated by Dr. Wawruch, who punctured his abdomen and sealed the wound with a lead-laced poultice.  These administrations, on top of an already lead-poisoned body, and a cirrotic liver, ultimately may have caused the composer’s demise.  The report was published in the Beethoven Journal, published by the Ira F. Brilliant Center for Beethoven Studies at San Jose State University.

Perfect pitch may be all in the genes, researchers say.  Only 1 in 10,000 people have absolute or perfect pitch, the ability to name the note of just about any sound without the help of a reference tone.  Dr. Jane Gitschier and colleagues analyzed the results of a three-year web based survey and musical test that included more than 2200 people.  Gitschier said pitch naming ability was an all-or nothing phenomenon, leading researchers to believe a single gene, or perhaps a few, are behind this talent.  Early musical training might also be a factor.  The next step is identifying the perfect pitch gene through gene mapping.

For more information on these and other items and events, go to the KBAQ website at www.kbaq.org.  Be listening every week at this time for another update, and join me at noon every weekday for the Mozart Buffet, an hour of music by Mozart and his contemporaries.  I’m Randy Kinkel, for KBAQ’s “This Week in Classical Music” on eighty-nine-five K-B-A-Q Phoenix, a service of Rio Salado College and Arizona State University.