Overgrown Path's People of the Year for 2006

During 2006 Viktor Ullman, Pierre Villette, György Kurtág, Eric Whitacre, Rudolf Mauersberger, Antony Pitts, Morten Lauridsen, Dr Samuel Hoffman, Lou Harrison, Arvo Pärt, Antal Dorati, Bill Thompson, Herbert Howells, Michel Petrucciani, Nick Drake, Beata Moon, Frederic Rzewski, Ernst Hanfstaengl, Roger Mayor, Olivier Messiaen, Helen Ottoway, Charles Ives, Joby Talbot, Ivan Moody, Vanessa Lann, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Michael Berkeley, Thomas Crequillon, Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck, György Ligeti, Brian Eno, Huw Watkins, Francis Poulenc, Hans Werner Henze, Thea Musgrave, Michael Tippett, Ruth Schonthal, Jan Johansson, Tansy Davies, Roland Dyens, John Coltrane, Darius Milhaud, many contemporary Finnish composers, Stuart MacRae, Julian Anderson, Malcolm Arnold, Heinrich Kaminsky, Gerald Finzi, Francis Pott, Michael Zev Gordon, numerous mid-20th century German composers, Joyce Koh, Nigel Osborne, several Icelandic composers, Moritz Eggert, composers who write for the theremin, George Ratzinger, Plastic People of the Universe, Robert Simpson, Iannis Xenakis, Peteris Vasks, Jacob Obrecht, Pete Seeger, Arnold Bax, Ali Ufki, George Lloyd, Huw Warren, Hugo Distler, Paolo Pandolfo, Viktor Kalabis, John Cage, and several little known 18th century Russian composers featured On An Overgrown Path, and are my People of the Year.

Dmitri Shostakovich, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, John Adams, Osvaldo Golijov, Tan Dun and Philip Glass also featured here in 2006.

Now decide how my choice compares with Time magazine's Person of the Year 2006.
Virtually all the composers in my first paragraph are in the montage - somewhere. Any copyrighted material on these pages is included as "fair use", for the purpose of study, review or critical analysis only, and will be removed at the request of copyright owner(s). Report broken links, missing images and other errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk

A New Year's Honour for classical music

The 2007 UK New Year's Honours announced today are remarkable for the absence of political awards, which may have something to do with the current scandal over cash for honours. But classical music does appear in the awards, with Evelyn Glennie receiving a damehood for 'services to music'. Glennie (above) is a lady of many parts, and on her website describes herself as " solo percussionist, composer, teacher, motivational speaker and jewellery designer." She has strong views on the futute direction of music, and in June 2006 published an open letter to music professionals. Here is an edited version:

Dear Colleagues. My comments here demonstrate my huge concern over what our business is actually offering our customers today. As many of you know, I am naturally “stubborn” and do not just accept the dismissal of a need when there is an urgent requirement for its address in a healthy, open, honest and constructive way from ALL quarters of the business and beyond.

So who are our customers ? While my employer may be the many orchestras and other promoters that hire me to perform over 100 performances per year, my customer is actually the paying public who come to these venues and events to be entertained and stimulated by our artistic endeavours and experience the passion which we bring to our specialities. An artist without passion is the same as any other employee who is just doing their job – our extra effort makes the difference.

I was rehearsing in the wonderful Disney Hall in Los Angeles – the new building designed by Frank Geary – and looked up and counted approximately 200 fixed lighting features and about 20 moving light fixtures - I walked past far more backstage. There is also a fantastic sound system built into and especially for the space. I was banned from using all of it and was told that, “This is a concert Hall and not a theatre” and that the logistics of the event in which I was involved excluded even the modest audio reinforcement that I and the composer had requested. We have all the ingredients right in front of our faces to consistently put on great events but at this point I see this part of the music business and many of our performances like the ingredients of a cocktail sitting in a glass and needing to be shaken or stirred. Let's face it, we aren't going to repeat a bad cocktail experience by choice.

The elitism and refusal to accept that what orchestras are doing now is far less relevant to the general public is answered by the old mantra “they need to be educated”. I do not believe that entrenching ourselves in tried, trusted and accessible repertoire is the answer. It cannot be denied that the composers of these pieces are great composers with many wonderful works available to us to experience - It is the only reason why these pieces continue to be performed. However, with the advent of the myriads of alternative entertainments available to the public why should they want to come to hear the same thing time and time again done in exactly the same way? We would not expect a contemporary artist to continue to play the same repertoire endlessly and continue to make a living yet this is exactly what we see the orchestras doing.

Despite the classical orchestras being perhaps the older of the Arts we have not learnt new tricks. The pop world, theatre, dance and the graphic and written arts have all reinvented themselves and where deserved, thrive. This is also known as evolution. Dame Evelyn Glennie OBE, June 2006

But for an opposing view read about The latest avant garde tricks.
Any copyrighted material on these pages is included as "fair use", for the purpose of study, review or critical analysis only, and will be removed at the request of copyright owner(s). Report broken links, missing images and other errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk

Berlin parties as Europe expands

Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate is the place to be on New Year's Eve as a huge party gets underway to welcome Bulgaria and Romania to the EU. The headline act is the Scissor Sisters, with the two new member states supplying support in the form of Bulgarian rock singer Roberta and Romanian band Sistem, and more than one million visitors are expected to attend. The Brandenburg Gate has been the scene of a number of famous free concerts including Leonard Bernstein’s Beethoven Ninth in 1989, see the photo above. If you can’t be in Berlin tomorrow night the next best thing is to join in the fun online via this link.

* Now playing - Michael Tippett's suite from his opera New Year. Not exactly party music, the opera is set on New Year's Eve in Terror Town where the principal characters face up to life in a violent, blighted society with the help of friendly space voyagers. There is only one recording, Richard Hickox presides over the fun with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra.

For more on eastern European music read how Composers struggle under Shostakovich regime
Any copyrighted material on these pages is included for "fair use", for the purpose of study, review or critical analysis only, and will be removed at the request of copyright owner(s). Report broken links, missing images and other errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk

The musical tastes of our politicians

Downing Street last night insisted that Tony Blair had paid properly and in full for his winter break, after a day of confusion over the arrangements surrounding his stay in the Miami mansion of former Bee Gee Robin Gibb (left). As yet another political storm rages around Blair's holiday arrangements it is difficult to know what is more suspect, his financial judgement or his taste in music. But appalling musical taste is not limited to the prime minister, as Michael Church pointed out in an Independent article in July.

What it adds up to is the rampant anti-intellectualism that I found Sir Peter Maxwell Davies (below) raging against, when I visited him at the Royal Academy of Music. The Master of the Queen's Music has just been listening to David Cameron's Desert Island Discs choice on BBC Radio 4, and he's not amused. "In any other European country," he says, "a politician who chose that sort of garbage would be laughed out of court. The anti-artistic stance of our leaders gets up my nose. Their main aim is to turn us all into unquestioning passive consumers who put money into the bosses' pockets. That is now the purpose of education."

David Cameron is the leader of the Conservative Party, and here is the music which caused Max to rage.

1. Tangled Up In Blue, Bob Dylan, CBS 26334
2. Ernie, Benny Hill, EMI CDGO 2040
3. Wish You Were Here, Pink Floyd, EMI 536112
4. On Wings of Song, Mendelssohn, Kiri Te Kanawa and Utah Symphony Orchestra
Decca 475 6013
5. Fake Plastic Trees, Radiohead, Parlophone CDRS6411
6. This Charming Man, Smiths, WEA, YZ000ICD2
7. Perfect Circle, R.E.M, I.R.S.DMIRHI
8. All these Things that I've Done, The Killers, Lizard King,Lizard012

Book:The River Cottage Cookbook by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall
Luxury: A crate of Scottish whisky.

For more on the musical tastes of politicians visit Condoleezza's musical mystery tour revealed, and for more Maxwell Davies visit A musician with teeth,.
Image credit - MaxOpus. Any copyrighted material on these pages is included as "fair use", for the purpose of study, review or critical analysis only, and will be removed at the request of copyright owner(s). Report broken links, missing images and other errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk

Sibelius – his genius remains unrecognised

The history of the rise of Sibelius in the good opinion of the fashionable intelligence makes an interesting story. Thirty years ago he was known in the parks, around the bandstands, as the composer of ‘Finlandia’; at concerts he was occasionally represented on the less austere evenings by the ‘Valse Triste’. Outside Finland a few musicians had studied the scores of the First and the Second of the symphonies; and the one in E minor was confidently supposed to be written in the manner and idiom of Tchaikovsky. Not until after the war of 1914-1918 was Sibelius taken up by the best people of Great Britain and America; on the continent in general his genius remained (and remains) more or less unacknowledged or unrecognised.

The remarkable fact is that the more bald and taciturn Sibelius’s music became, the more and more his public grew in the places where it was played at all. The critics and the coteries of London were condescending about the First and Second symphonies, in which he exploits spacious tunes and strong and palpable and far-flung rhythms. It was only after he had pared his music down to the bone and adopted the aspect of aloof austerity that he interested the post-1918 leaders of what is what in the arts. Then the gramophone companies surprisingly ventured on his symphonies, all of them, even the grim and forbidding Fourth. Sibelius the swooning voluptuary of the ‘Valse Triste’; Sibelius the military-band rhetorician of ‘Finlandia’; and Sibelius the big-fisted and big-chested extravert of the E minor symphony lived to see himself drawn in as a heavy reinforcement to aid the reaction against romanticism.

Neville Cardus, celebrated music critic of the then Manchester Guardian, writes in 1944, at a time when music critics were wordsmiths rather than HTML wizards. In 2007 we celebrate important anniversaries for both Jean Sibelius and Edvard Grieg. By a strange coincidence these two Scandinavians died almost exactly fifty years apart, Sibelius on September 20th 1957 and Grieg (right) on September 4th 1907. Sibelius’ lifespan was extraordinary. He was born in 1865, the year when the American Civil war ended. He did not compose at all for the last thirty years of his life, and when he died in 1957 the Korean War had been ended for four years, and Elvis Presley’s Heartbreak Hotel had sold more than a million copies.

Let me make my own position on Sibelius clear. I stood in the grounds of Sibelius' house in Järvenpää and heard the beating of the swans' wings, and I felt the force - give me one bar of Sibelius for one symphony of Shostakovich. And for those who think the music of Sibelius and Grieg is just Scandinavian bombast here are three thought provoking CDs for their anniversary year.

* Edvard Grieg – Lyric Pieces played by Emil Gilels. These pieces are often thought to be the province of children and music teachers, but these juvenile connotations are quite wrong. These exquisite piano miniatures combine lyricism with a deep maturity, and Gilels 1974 recording made in Berlin by legendary DG producer Gunther Breest is a classic of the gramophone.

* Jean Sibelius – Works for String Orchestra played by Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra conducted by Juha Kangas. A wonderful selection of little known Sibelius including incidental music for the stage and his little Suite in D Minor for violin and strings. The Suite lasts for less than eight minutes, but it is tremendously important. It was composed in 1929, five years after the Seventh Symphony. Soon after writing the Suite Sibelius the composer fell silent, although he continued to work on the Eighth Symphony in secret. The Eighth disappeared in the flames of the composer’s self-criticism, which at least spares us a BBC commissioned completion for the 2007 Proms.

* Joan Baez - Bowery Songs. This live album is a the product of the 2004 Presidential election. As conventioneering and electioneering fever grew more heated in the US Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 stirred the pot, and Baez joined Rage Against The Machine's Tom Morello for the West Coast leg of Moore's 'Slacker Uprising Tour.' For the opening track of the live album Baez sings an a cappella version of Finlandia to which she has added her own words which start with: "This is my song, a song of peace for lands afar and mine." Sibelius composed Finlandia to express his opposition to Russian influence over Finland, and his hymn to peace remains as relevant today as it was in 1899.

Here is Joan Baez's (or rather Lloyd Stone's) unique take on Sibelius:



Now read an American critic’s opinion of Sibelius in Pliable’s Path
Neville Cardus quote from Ten Composers published by Jonathan Cape, 1945. Audio sample linked from Joan Baez.com. Any copyrighted material on these pages is included for "fair use", for the purpose of study, review or critical analysis only, and will be removed at the request of copyright owner(s). Report broken links, missing images and other errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk

Free MP3 downloads as jazz station launches

A new online and UK digital radio jazz station launched on Christmas Day. Playing bepop to contemporary, theJazz is coming from the same stable as Classic FM. With 6.3 million listeners Classic FM is the UK's most successful commercial station, and the audience grabbed by its its smooth classics format has been a major factor in the dumbing down of BBC Radio 3. If theJazz follows Classic FM's easy listening formula it isn't going to push the envelope too far. But let's give it the benefit of the doubt. You can listen via this link, and to be totally cool theJazz is offering some free downloads until January 2nd. They include Bill Evans, John Coltrane and Miles Davis, just follow this link.

Now push the envelope a little more with A jazz supreme.
Any copyrighted material on these pages is included as "fair use", for the purpose of study, review or critical analysis only, and will be removed at the request of copyright owner(s). Report broken links, missing images and other errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk

I am a camera - Vincent Van Gogh

On 24th December 1888 Vincent Van Gogh threatened Paul Gauguin and cut off the lobe of his own left ear. Eighty local residents in Arles signed a petition demanding that he was confined, and in May 1889 Van Gogh commited himself to the insane asylum in Saint Rémy de Provence. When he arrived at the asylum he was met by Doctor Théophile Peyron, the director. The doctor welcomed his new guest who calmly undertook the admission formalities, and confirmed his request for voluntary confinement.

The house was vast and partly unoccupied, thirty rooms were empty and Van Gogh was able to use one of these as his studio. He stayed in Saint Paul de Mausole until his departure fifty three weeks later. His period of intense creative activity there changed the course of western art, and produced an astonishing output of 150 paintings and 100 drawings. Among them are many of his best know works including Starry Night and Cornfield and Cypress Trees. Two months after leaving Saint Remy Van Gogh shot himself in the chest, and died aged 37.


Van Gogh’s precarious mental state caused his extraordinary outburst of creativity in Provence, but the hospital of Saint Paul de Mausole was the catalyst. During his confinement this remarkable institution encouraged his painting and gave him the facilities and space to work, and most importantly allowed him to paint in the local countryside accompanied by an attendant. The far sighted Doctor Peyron was practicing an early form of art therapy, and Saint Paul de Mausole continues as a working psychiatric hospital today. It now cares for more than 100 patients and offers them workshops in art therapy, music and painting among architecture and landscape of staggering beauty.


We visited Saint Paul de Mausole in September 2006 when the photographs in this article were taken. The hospital is located in the monastery of Saint Paul which dates from the 10th century, and the beautiful buildings with their Romanesque cloister and church , which ares seen above, were taken over by the Fransciscans in the 17th century who started to use them as an insane asylum. Following the Revolution the monks were expelled, but the institution continued to work with psychiatric patients through to the present day, the only interruptions being World War 1 when prisoners from Alsace Lorraine were interned there, including Nobel Prize winner, organist and Bach scholar Albert Schweitzer, and World War II when it was requisitioned by the German Army.

The buildings were extensively restored in 2002, and are now run by the not-for-profit Association et Centre d'Art Valetudo. The monastery is open to visitors, and a permanent exhibition of paintings by patients is displayed in the cloister and renovated Romanesque staircase. At the top of this stair is a reconstruction of Van Gogh’s room; the view through the barred windows (below) of that so familiar landscape with its olive and cypress trees in intensely moving.


Saint Paul de Mausole is an inspirational establishment that pioneered the treatment of psychiatric illness, and it still continues today the therapies that fanned the flames of Vincent Van Gogh’s creativity. There is no better summary of its work than the manifesto for a painter’s co-operative that Van Gogh set out in a letter to his brother Leo: - “Artists won’t find anything better than living together, giving their paintings to their association, which in return would allow them to live and work. “

Now, for more on therapy and France take An Overgrown Path to Serendipity 2
All photos taken by Pliable in September 2006 and (c) On An Overgrown Path. Any copyrighted material on these pages is included for "fair use", for the purpose of study, review or critical analysis only, and will be removed at the request of copyright owner(s). Report broken links, missing images and other errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk

Many musicians are just making a quick buck

"At present," she says ruefully, "there is a growing trend towards commercialisation, with many musicians practically playing to the gallery just to make a quick buck rather than for the love of the Classics. This explains why many students stop attending classes after they have developed a certain level of proficiency." The perennial sellers are compositions of the Baroque and Romantic composers, and the Hooked On Classics series.

"Today, the keyboard has replaced many instruments. Though a number of piano teaching classes have mushroomed all over the city, the students prefer to learn the keyboard. As a result, there are fewer takers for piano classes these days. As for other instruments such as the violin and the flute, the numbers are dwindling."

Another doomsday report from the musical front line in the US or UK? Well actually no. Extracts from a very interesting article in The Hindu on the decline of Western classical music in India. Thanks to the excellent Traditional Catholic blog for the heads-up. Now sample the essence of India.

Header image from The Hindu. Any copyrighted material on these pages is included as "fair use", for the purpose of study, review or critical analysis only, and will be removed at the request of copyright owner(s). Report broken links, missing images and other errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk

Europe's news secret weapon - culture

With industry in decline and high streets dominated by Far Eastern imports, Europe has discovered a secret economic weapon: culture. The arts and creative industries now earn more than double the cash produced by European car-makers and contribute more to the economy than the chemical industry, property or the food and drink business.

An independent study commissioned by the European Commission has underlined the changing way in which Europeans earn their living. Throughout the Continent people are now much more likely to work in sectors such as television, fashion or other "niche" jobs than in a car assembly plant.

The sector employs no fewer than 5.8 million people, more than the working population of Greece and Ireland together. While jobs disappeared overall in the EU between 2002-04, they actually rose by 1.85 per cent in the culture and creative sectors. And creative workers tend to be better educated and more flexible than others. Almost half have a university degree, as opposed to about one-quarter of the overall working population, and the sector has twice the standard rate of self-employed people.

Jan Figel, the European commissioner for education, training, culture and multilingualism, said: "This study confirms that the arts and culture are far from being marginal in terms of their economic contribution. The culture sector is the engine of creativity, and creativity is the basis for social and economic innovation." The study draws on a broad definition of the cultural sector, beyond traditional areas such as cinema, music and publishing. The written press, radio and television, and creative sectors such as fashion and interior and product design, cultural tourism, the performing arts, visual arts, and heritage, were included - reports today's Independent.

My header photo shows Zwickau's tribute to local boy Robert Schumann. For more on Europe's cultural secret weapon take An Overgrown Path to Leipzig and Dresden, and read how in Europe music history was rewritten.

Header image taken by Pliable March 2006 (c) On An Overgrown Path. Any copyrighted material on these pages is included as "fair use", for the purpose of study, review or critical analysis only, and will be removed at the request of copyright owner(s). Report broken links, missing images and other errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk

A Very Happy Christmas To All My Readers

Church attendance, baptisms and religous marriage vows may be on the decrease, but the Holy Spirit is at work, with a great spiritual awakening in Europe that goes beyond institutional structures. There is in general an increased awareness that we are spiritual beings with an invisible dimension that demands our exploration and understanding. The yearning for the sacred is universal, and love, the highest of all human and divine expressions, is the crown jewel of spiritual life - Stafford Whiteaker.

The image is of a copy of a 16th century portable icon from the Monastery of the Transfiguration at Meteora, Greece. Stafford Whiteaker has been a member of a Christian monastic community, and is author of the Good Retreat Guide.

For more on spiritual awakening take An Overgrown Christmas Path to There is a green hill faraway called Taizé
Any copyrighted material on these pages is included as "fair use", for the purpose of study, review or critical analysis only, and will be removed at the request of copyright owner(s). Report broken links, missing images and other errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk

This Christmas I'll be a child again

I don't think there are any boys for whom the singing is a deep religious experience.

My mother says I was born three weeks late and that it was typical of me.

Talking one's way out of fights is a very useful skill. Once a mugger said, 'Give me your iPod' and I said, 'I'd rather not', and he said, 'Well, I'd rather not hit you', and I said, 'Oh come on', and he was a bit confused by that and then said, 'How much money have you got?', and I said 'Oh, only a couple of quid', so he thought a bit more and then walked off. Another time a chav on crutches tried to mug me.

I have a weird feeling when I look at myself or my reflection. 'How can that work?' That I exist and am conscious of myself and things move when I want them to move. It's pretty weird. My parents could have created countless different people. Yet they created me, Maud and Tolly.

The biggest cheque I've received from Westminster Abbey is £260, for the year which included various tours and the death of the Queen Mother. It's all in a high-interest account.

As you approach the end of a hymn it's like everyone in the congregation is holding their breath before they can begin coughing, sneezing, rustling or fidgeting.

Having milk or chocolate the night before a concert is not advised, because it coats the throat.

To be called a faker - faking off, faking a cold - is a big insult among chorists.

Ben the Westminster verger can always be relied upon to tell a couple of good, random, really, really bad jokes as you line up waiting in the cloisters. Like, 'How do you stop a rhino charging? Take away its credit card.'

There's a knack to carrying a candle. It basically involves a firm grip, not moving your hand around and keeping it on the exact level with the candle of the person adjacent to you.

You don't break down in tears when your voice finally breaks and you can't sing treble any more. You can stay on at school for the rest of the year and wear a different, stripy tie. And it feels cool and manly to sing down low. I'm not a bad baritone.

There's regular school choir service and local church choir this Christmas and I get to go back to Westminster Abbey, but I feel I may never be as 'famous' as I was until 14.

It's important to have a straight back, a straight neck, to look and sing up and out (never at the congregation) and to not shift your weight because the swaying is more noticeable than you think.

The best place to sing at home is in the living room, if my sister's not in there, or in my bedroom with the window open, so it has somewhere to go.

Historically the dean has all the choir schoolboys over to his house at Christmas, for murder in the dark, sardines, a treasure hunt and wrapping each other up in toilet paper as mummies. But this Christmas I'll get to be a child again at home and have a wonderful meal at Grandma's.

We had a nasty scare last year when the hospital phoned to say my grandfather was dead. But it turned out they'd made a mistake. Mother texted the message 'Grandpa not dead after all.'

I used to support QPR - but then I actually went and saw them play. (That link, and the definition of chav, is for my many US readers - Pliable.)

I was named after a Jacobite ancestor [Dr Archie Cameron] who was hung, drawn and quartered - on my birthday.

For Christmas last year my parents gave me ... hmmm ... I've forgotten. I want nothing specific this year. But if it's an Xbox 360, I'm not complaining.

Lovely Christmas piece from today's Observer. Now, as we celebrate Peace on earth, read about the German choristers from the Kreuzchor who sung in the Dresden Requiem for eleven young victims. The boys of the Kreuzchor also supply the photographs for this article.

Picture credits: Header Berliner Morgenpost, footer Dresden Kreuzchor. Any copyrighted material on these pages is included as "fair use", for the purpose of study, review or critical analysis only, and will be removed at the request of copyright owner(s). Report broken links, missing images and other errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk

Simple gifts – a guilt-free Christmas CD

This is the perfect guilt-free Christmas CD. Don’t worry about dumbing down - it has shed-loads of scholarship and musicianship. But don’t worry about muesli and sandals – it delivers demonstration quality sound, has all the favourite Christmas tunes you will ever need, and finishes with one of the great moments of recorded music, the recessional carol In dulci jubilo complete with organ, instrumental ensemble and a very large choir in a 12th century cathedral.

A Mass for Christmas Morning presents a selection of Michael Praetorius’ music arranged as it might have been heard in one the large churches in central Germany in the early 17th century. Praetorius was born into a strict Lutheran family, and his compositions became the musical core of the liturgy of Protestant churches in northern Germany. The Lutheran Mass uses the basic structure of the Roman mass, but with more congregational participation – which gives a great opportunity to produce a sonic spectacular.

The versatile Paul McCreesh compiled the mass and conducts. His Gabrieli Consort & Players uses authentic instruments, and include well-known singers such as Sally Dunkley. The professional artists are supplemented by the excellent Boy’s Choir and Congregational Choir of Roskilde Cathedral (my header photo shows the boys), and these choirs are supplemented in turn by local amateur forces. The recording venue is Roskilde Cathedral in Denmark which provides suitably resonant acoustics, and a perfect organ in the form of a three manual instrument dating from 1554.

The final clincher for this guilt-free Christmas purchase is the price. The recording was made by Archiv in 1994. Which means that in today’s crazy music market where the new is valued above everything else, this CD is now available for mid-price or lower – I paid £7.85 ($15.50) for mine from Caiman in Florida delivered to the UK. Don’t worry about the date of the recording. Like a fine wine this Mass for Christmas Morning simply gets better with age, but unlike claret it gets cheaper at the same time.

Now spend more time in Denmark with a Danish thread
Any copyrighted material on these pages is included for "fair use", for the purpose of study, review or critical analysis only, and will be removed at the request of copyright owner(s). Report broken links, missing images and other errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk

The BBC is performing badly

When a business performs badly its share price drops. Yesterday's news that the UK government has imposed a six-year below inflation cap on the BBC's annual license fee increase was the public sector equivalent to a plunge in share price, and it confirms what a lot of people have been saying for a long time - the BBC is performing badly. The license fee decision prompts a Guardian leader to say "a measure of economy is overdue in some parts of the organisation, as extravagant pay deals for Jonathan Ross and other celebrities have recently shown", but this does not stop predictable bleating from the BBC as today's main Guardian story reports:

'In an email to staff, the BBC's director-general, Mark Thompson, admitted the reported settlement was a "real disappointment" and warned it would mean "some very difficult choices" for the BBC. "Even with a settlement as tight as this one we would still remain totally committed ... to doing everything we can to maintain the quality and creativity of our services to the public," he said.

On An Overgrown Path says the BBC can still produce great programmes such as the radio documentary on Brother Roger of Taizé that I praised here this week. But quality content in the form of BBC Radio 3 is being remorselessly dumbed down to become Radio 2.5. In recent weeks we have had Aled Jones presenting a 'lad's guide' to Christmas choral music, and In Tune celebrating multi-culturalism with a dittie about Polish plumbers that would not have been out of place in a Murdoch tabloid newspaper. Meanwhile presenters are using their newspaper columns to defend the network's dodgy habit of claiming commercial recordings as the Corporation's own work, and elsewhere top BBC TV personality Jeremy Clarkson is being reprimanded for homophobic comments. It is clear that the quality and creativity of BBC services was in decline long before this license fee cap was announced.

* Every UK household has to pay the annual BBC license fee, including students living in private accomodation. The fee currently stands at £131.50 ($250)

* The £6 $5.5m) million annual salary to BBC presenter Jonathan Ross compares with an annual new music commissioning budget of around £350,000 ($650,000)

Now read how the BBC Annual Report gets its facts wrong - and On An Overgrown Path's Christmas Quiz is to identify the contents of the bottle in the foreground of my picture of the BBC In Tune studio with presenter Sean Rafferty and Trevor Pinnock. (Photo credit BBC).

Any copyrighted material on these pages is included as "fair use", for the purpose of study, review or critical analysis only, and will be removed at the request of copyright owner(s). Report broken links, missing images and other errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk.

The Madonna of Stalingrad

"I spent Christmas evening with the other doctors and the sick. The Commanding Officer had presented the letter with his last bottle of champagne. We raised our mugs and drank to those we love, but before we had had a chance to taste the wine we had to throw ourselves flat on the ground as a stick of bombs fell outside. I seized my doctor's bag and ran to the scene of the explosions, where there were dead and wounded. My shelter with its lovely Christmas decorations became a dressing station. One of the dying men had been hit in the head and there was nothing more I could do for him. He had been with us at our celebration, and had only that moment left to go on duty, but before he went he had said: "I'll finish the carol first, O du Frohliche!" A few moments later he was dead. There was plenty of hard and sad work to do in our Christmas shelter. It is late now, but it is Christmas night still. And so much sadness everywhere."

The German army was trapped outside Stalingrad during the bitterly cold Christmas of 1942. Among the German troops was Kurt Reuber, a clergyman and doctor. Drawing on the back of map of Russian (the folds can be seen on the reproduction above) he used a stick of charcoal to portray Mary holding the baby Jesus in her arms, and shielding Him with her arms. The opening words are taken from Kurt Reuber's last letter before he was captured by the Russians. He perished in a Soviet prisoner-of-war camp.

His family chose the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church in Berlin to display the Madonna of Stalingrad, and to pass on the message of light, love, and a sense of protection contained in this moving drawing. A message particularly appropriate at this Christmas time.

Two copies of the Madonna have been sent from Berlin as symbols of hope and reconciliation. One is in Coventry Cathedral which was destroyed by German bombs in 1940, and reconsecrated in 1962 with the first performance of Britten's War Requiem. The other is in the Russian Orthodox Church in Volgograd (formerly Stalingrad).

For more on the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church take An Overgrown Path to Music rises from the ruins in Berlin
The full story of Kurt Reuber and the Madonna, from which the quotation above was taken, can be read here. Image credit: Scanned from reproduction purchased in the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church in Berlin. Any copyrighted material on these pages is included as "fair use", for the purpose of study, review or critical analysis only, and will be removed at the request of copyright owner(s). Report broken links, missing images and other errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk

Celebrating with Saint Sarah

Conflict in Palestine and the persecution of minorities are topical themes today, But this Overgrown Path takes us back 2000 years to when, following the crucifixion of Christ, Christians were persecuted in Palestine and sent into exile by the Jews. Boats containing religious refugees were regularly sent to far flung destinations in the Mediterranean, and one of these boats contained the biblical figures of Mary Magdalene, Mary Jacobe and Mary Salome and the resurrected Lazarus. At the last moment their black Egyptian servant, Sarah, was allowed to join the refugees, and their boat made landfall on the Camargue in the very far south of France. The exiles built an oratory at the point where they landed, and today this has grown into Les Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer, one of Provence’s most holy places and famous as a centre of pilgrimage for Romas and many others.

We made the pilgrimage by car from East Anglia to the Rhone Delta, a distance of just over 1000 miles. Today Saintes-Maries is best known for the pilgrimage of Mary Jacobe in May, this attracts thousands of gypsies from all over the world as they have canonized her servant Sarah as their patron saint. The relics of Saint Sarah are in the 12th century church. The Camargue was a vulnerable frontier in medieval times, and subject to raids by the Saracens. As a result the church (right) is one of the most impressive fortified churches in Provence. Its crenallated exterior has loop-holes for windows, and inside there are wells in the nave to supply the church-fortress when it was under siege. My header photograph shows the crypt where the relics and statue of St Sarah in her seven robes are kept. The importance of Les Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer as a pilgrimage destination means that the statue of Sarah has been kissed so many times that the black paint has been worn away in places.

Now playing - Song of Sara by Manitas de Plata. The Camargue is famous for its gypsy music, and Manitas de Plata (below) is regarded as one of the greatest exponents of flamenco. He was born in a Gitano Gypsy caravan in Sète on the western fringe of the Camargue. For a full biography and sound files follow this link. He is related to the Calé musicians, the Gypsy Kings, who took flamenco into the mainstream. Song for Sara is playing on the CD Guitarra Flamenca de la Camargue recorded by Los Gitanos, which also contains Gypsy King and traditional tracks. This Overgrown Path started with a pilgrimage from East Anglia to the Camargue, and this CD of gypsy music from the Camargue brings the journey full circle as it was recorded here in East Anglia in the south transept of Ely Cathedral by the enterprising Lantern Productions. The sound is excellent, and the music making is wonderful. You can only buy it from the Lantern website or Ely Cathedral shop, but it is well worth seeking out.

• Provence is a veritable bouillabaisse of races, religions and legends. My version above is the commonly accepted version of the legend of St Sarah. But there are several alternatives. One claims that Sarah was a native of Provence born into a noble race and queen of her tribe, who welcomed the Marys and was converted to Christianity by them. Another legend claims that Sarah was Egyptian and abbess of a large convent in Libya, while a third says that she was a Persian martyr.

• Bill Clinton, Charlie Chaplin, Rita Hayworth and Shayne Ward all claim to be descended from gypsies, but the the Romas still remain the forgotten diaspora of Europe. At the time of the discovery of the relics of the Marys in the 1440s there was a convergence of Romas in Provence with groups coming from as far afield as North Africa, Spain, Greece and the Balkans. Now read about Roma - the forgotten Holocaust victims

Header photo by Pliable, September 2006. Any copyrighted material on these pages is included as "fair use", for the purpose of study, review or critical analysis only, and will be removed at the request of copyright owner(s). Report broken links, missing images and other errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk

Key ruling in organ court case

In a judgment that could have profound consequences for the music business, the organist on the 1967 Procol Harum record won the right for a share of the song's royalties. Gary Brooker, the band's singer and co-founder who had contested the action, said the decision represented a "darker shade of black" for the music industry.

Matthew Fisher, 60, who played the Hammond organ on the record that has since sold 6m copies, claimed that the distinctive opening bars of the song, which he had provided with some inspiration from JS Bach, should have entitled him to joint authorship, along with Brooker and the lyricist, Keith Reid. Mr Justice Blackburne, who heard six days of evidence from both sides last month, ruled that Mr Fisher's contribution entitled him to 40% of the composing half of the royalties, but back-dated only until May 2005, when he began his legal action.

From today's Guardian - now read how Culture is remix
Any copyrighted material on these pages is included as "fair use", for the purpose of study, review or critical analysis only, and will be removed at the request of copyright owner(s). Report broken links, missing images and other errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk

Not much of a career - but free MP3s

"You don't have so much of a career now," I say, when I meet the Russian pianist Andrei Gavrilov. In 1974 Gavrilov (left) was the youngest ever winner of the prestigious Tchaikovsky piano competition, aged just 18. He was a protege of the great Russian pianist Sviatoslav Richter, and a superstar in the 1980s. In 1990 he had a recording deal with Deutsche Grammophon and the world at his feet - or, rather, his fingertips.

That was then. It's been all downhill since - a story of abandoned concerts, loss of confidence, the end of the DG deal, a broken marriage. It was a personal and artistic implosion, though which fed which is hard to say. I asked a friend, who knows his musical onions, what Gavrilov meant to him. Nothing. He was too young. Gavrilov hasn't made any recordings since the mid-90s, and he hasn't played many concerts either. He was history.

From today's Guardian interview with fallen superstar Andrei Gavrilov, and the article allows you to download new recordings by him of seven Chopin Nocturnes.

* If you don't know Gavrilov's recording of Handel's Keyboard Suites made with Sviatoslav Richter in 1982 when Gavrilov was an EMI superstar you are missing something seriously beautiful - two double CDs at mid-price here and here.

But now follow this link and read about The Real Piano Man
Any copyrighted material on these pages is included as "fair use", for the purpose of study, review or critical analysis only, and will be removed at the request of copyright owner(s). Report broken links, missing images and other errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk

Simple gifts – Baghdad’s Spring

Travel Notes – new music for the viola da gamba was one of the most thought provoking CDs of contemporary music that I heard in 2006. One of the tracks is Baghdad’s Spring, and here are composer and viol player Paolo Pandolfo’s own words:

Baghdad’s Spring was born while I was on tour in Japan, in March 2003. The TV was like a window opening onto what was happening in Iraq. CNN accompanied me every moment I spent in the hotel room: satellite transmissions of an Iraq reduced to a videogame session, the camera gradually zooming in on the images of bombed targets, strategic sites, bridges, streets, cities … Reality was quite different from those images, the violence of the explosions, the terror of the people … The was seemed to boil down to a question of skill and precision, a game in which someone surgically dosed out horror and death with the click of a mouse button, undoubtedly in the interest of all the world’s TV viewers.

I remember the moment in which I decided to keep watching CNN, but with sound turned off. The images were quite sufficient and the booming quality of the news commentators seemed superfluous, impeding a better understanding of what was really going on. Those images began soaking in silence, like a fine rain, in the small hotel in Hiroshima where I found myself. I’d already visited the museum of horror, the loose strands of memory, the deafening silence of the shoes carbonised by radiation.

My viola was there, resting against the table, mute. I started playing: the instrument produced anguished, subterranean sounds. Now it was there, on the streets of Baghdad, it was next to the fearful families transfixed by a TV screen, like I was, listening in amazement to the same news commentators who explained the characteristics of the tempest of fire which was descending on their city as if they were describing a real atmospheric disturbance, directly connected with the eye of the hurricane ….

Travel Notes comes from the innovative Spanish label Glossa. Violist Paolo Pandolfo (photo above) is better known for his interpretations of baroque and early music. All the compositions on this CD, with one exception, are by him, and this unashamedly contemporary album for viola da gamba, trumpet, percussion and human voice is remarkable proof that today’s new music knows no boundaries.

Paolo Pandolfo wrote the notes for Baghdad’s Spring in the summer of 2003. How tragic that his words, and music, are more relevant today than they were three years ago. There is no simple gift that will bring peace to Baghdad this Christmas, even as I write BBC News reports that a suicide bomber has killed at least 10 in the Iraqi capital - horror and death are still being surgically dosed out.

* Less 'left-field' is Paolo Pandolfo's new CD of improvisations on 16th and 17th century musical forms. Improvisando is another superb Glossa release, and is certainly on my shortlist of best CDs of 2006.

For more seasonal reflections take An Overgrown Path to For unto us a child is born
Any copyrighted material on these pages is included for "fair use", for the purpose of study, review or critical analysis only, and will be removed at the request of copyright owner(s). Report broken links, missing images and other errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk

Simple gifts – Philip Glass

As we prepare for Philip Glass’ seventieth birthday on 31st January 2007 his Etudes for solo piano have been one of my great discoveries of 2006. There is a variety in these beautiful miniatures that I sometimes find lacking in his more elaborate compositions. Glass’ own recording on Orange Mountain Music is definitive, and the composer really says it all in the sleeve note: ’The Etudes began for me in the mid-90s and I am still adding new music to this collection as I write these notes in 2003. Their purpose was two-fold. First, to provide new music for my solo piano concerts. And second, for me to expand my piano technique with music that would enhance and challenge my playing. Hence, the name Etudes, or “studies”. The result is a body of work that has a broad range of dynamic, tempo and emotion.'

Simple music, simple gift, and simply great. And now read Philip Glass explaining that World Music is the new classical
Any copyrighted material on these pages is included for "fair use", for the purpose of study, review or critical analysis only, and will be removed at the request of copyright owner(s). Report broken links, missing images and other errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk

Choose your fellow award winners carefully

Several fellow bloggers made something this week of Time magazine’s “2006 Person of the Year” award to “You” to celebrate the rise of blogging, YouTube, MySpace and other “user-generated” sites. Very flattering and all that, but a trawl through past winners is much more interesting. Musicians are notable by their absence, which does raise questions about the relevancy of contemporary music. Music can drive change, but the last time it featured was way back in 1966 when rock-fuelled Young People took the award because“they shook up society, and trusted no one over 30”. U2’s Bono was a joint winner last year, but in recognition of his charity work rather than his music.

The media and new technology have done better with awards going to Amazon founder Jeff Bezos (1999), Ted Turner (1991) and The Computer (1982). Unsurprisingly politics supplies most winners, and the dodgy double winners include George W. Bush (2004 & 2000), Ronald Reagan (1980 & 1983) and Richard Nixon (1971 & in 1972 jointly with Henry Kissinger), with Ayatullah Khomeini scoring just once in 1979.

But before we all get too excited about being Time “Person of the Year” remember that it is awarded to the person “who most affected the news and our lives, and embodied what was important about the year, for better or for worse.” So, for better or for worse, the award puts us alongside Joseph Stalin (right) who won twice, including in 1942 for being “the US’ new ally in the war against Hitler.” And Uncle Adolf himself doesn’t go unrecognised. Hitler was “Person of the Year” in 1938. He was celebrated in the issue dated January 2, 1939, which was less than two months after Kristallnacht. In this pogrom, on the night of November 9-10 1938 thousands of Jewish homes and stores were ransacked across Germany, and more than 1500 synagogues were attacked or set on fire.

In fairness to Time the fate of the Jews was clearly highlighted in the award article, and the cover for the 1938 award issue, showing organist Adolf Hitler playing his hymn of hate in a desecrated cathedral while victims dangle on a St. Catherine's wheel and Nazis look on, was drawn by Baron Rudolph Charles von Ripper, a Catholic who found Germany intolerable. But despite all that I'm not sure this blogger will be adding Time 'Person of the Year' for 2006 to his CV.

Now take An Overgrown Path to The Year is ‘72
Any copyrighted material on these pages is included for "fair use", for the purpose of study, review or critical analysis only, and will be removed at the request of copyright owner(s). Report broken links, missing images and other errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk

Simple gifts - free Czech music downloads

Few people over the last half century have made an impact on Czech classical music that comes anywhere close to that of the composer Viktor Kalabis (left), who died on 28th September 2006 at the age of 83. His work emerges from a great musical tradition that includes Stravinsky and Martinu, and his compositions are typically characterized by a sense of drama combined with a strong feel for inner musical logic.

Viktor Kalabis was also a brilliant organizer. The legacy of his twenty years as Music Director at Czechoslovak Radio that ended in 1972 is felt to this day. He did not have an easy time with the communist regime, and had to wait over forty years before finally being awarded the title of PhD, that he had earned at Prague's Charles University back in 1952. In the years after the Velvet Revolution he played a central role in setting up the Bohuslav Martinu Institute in Prague, devoted to the legacy of the composer. The institute's current director, Ales Brezina, was a close friend and colleague, and a few days ago we met to talk about the life and work of a man who will be hugely missed.

This tribute to Viktor Kalabis comes from the website of Radio Prague. The great news is that it is the introduction to an eleven minute podcast in English which can be downloaded here -

And it gets even better. The programme on Kalabis is one of ten feature length podcasts in English which can be downloaded for free. Among the other featured Czech composers are Jaroslav Jezek (1906-1942), Oldrich Korte (b1926), Antonin Rejcha, Leos Janacek, and from the Baroque Jan Dismas Zelenka. The perfect simple, and free gift -we all owe the indefatigable Walt Santner huge thanks for giving us an alternative to yet another Toy Story re-run this Christmas.

Now take An Overgrown Path to Marvellous Má Vlast - Czech it out
Any copyrighted material on these pages is included as "fair use", for the purpose of study, review or critical analysis only, and will be removed at the request of copyright owner(s). Report broken links, missing images and other errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk

Simple Gifts – Christmas Vespers from Dresden

Rudolf Mauersberger has featured on these pages before when I wrote about his immensely moving Dresden Requiem. Mauersberger was Cantor of the Kreuzkirche (Church of the Holy Cross) in Dresden from 1930 until his death in 1971. He was central to the 20th century revival of Bach and Schütz’s music, and is usually remembered today as one of the most important German church musicians of the last century. This categorization is unfair, as not only did Mauersberger write some very under-rated music, but he was also a great humanitarian. His tenure at the Kreuzkirche in Dresden was under two extreme political regimes, first the Third Reich, and then the communist German Democratic Republic. Through these two despotic, and anti-religious regimes Mauersberger kept alive a Protestant church tradition that stretched back to Martin Luther.

The anniversaries of the dreadful destruction of Dresden on 13th February are still marked by performances of his Dresden Requiem, and under the GDR these were followed by candle lit processions from the Kreuzkirche, which became silent protests against tyranny and dictatorship. Mauersberger’s contribution in these dark years was marked by an appreciation from Roman Herzog, President of the re-unified Federal Republic of Germany, in the sleeve notes for the 1994 Carus recording of the Dresden Requiem (above).

The Saxony region of Germany has a strong tradition of Christmas music, and two of the masterpieces of the genre, Johann Sebastian Bach’s Christmas Oratorio and Heinrich Schutz’s Christmas Story were written in the Saxon towns of Dresden and Leipzig. During his time at the Kreuzchirche in Dresden Rudolf Mauersberger developed and embellished the traditional Christmas Eve sequence of carols and choruses to create a self-contained work tailor made for the fabulous boys voices of the Dresden Kreuzchor (seen in my header photo). The Christvesper is identified in Mauersberger’s catalogue as RMWV 7. The Protestant chorale stands at the core of the work, and the musical style is seasonably rich, with Brucknerian brass sonorities reflecting the Saxon trombone tradition.

Every Christmas Eve there are two performances of the Christmas Vespers in the Kreuzkirche in Dresden. Under the GDR regime these performances also became communal symbols of solidarity and hope. Mauersberger’s successors as Cantor at the Kreuzchirche continued the traditional performances, and one of these, Gothart Stier, made an excellent recording of the Vespers in 1993 with the Kreuzchor and Dresdner Philharmonie. It is on Berlin Classics 13462BC (left), available via Amazon Germany.

The fine recording was made in the Lucaskirche in Dresden. This studio is a converted church and has been the venue for many famous sessions. As a testimony to the power of music to reconcile, two of my all time favourite recordings were made there. In 1970 Herbert von Karajan travelled to the shattered city of Dresden to record his classic account for EMI of Richard Wagner’s misappropriated hymn to reconciliation, Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg. Twenty-four years later Matthias Jung recorded Rudolf Mauersberger’s Dresden Requiem with the boys voices of the Kreuzchor in the Lucaskirche. The words used by Roman Herzog to describe this work can also be applied to the composer's Christmas Vespers - "a sign of hope of a more peaceful world”.

For more on Dresden take An Overgrown Path to I am a camera - Dresden
Any copyrighted material on these pages is included for "fair use", for the purpose of study, review or critical analysis only, and will be removed at the request of copyright owner(s). Report broken links, missing images and other errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk

Taize and the message of trust

Are there realities which make life beautiful, and of which it can be said that they bring a kind of fulfilment, an inner joy? Yes, there are. And one of those realities bears the name of trust.

Do we realise that what is best in each of us is built up through a simple trusting? This is something even a child can do.

The words of Brother Roger of Taizé (pictured above) who was the subject of a superb BBC Radio 3 programme on December 17th. For me this was one of the most imporant broadcasts of 2006. It is available on demand until December 24th via this link - I urge you to listen and reflect on it as Christmas approaches.

For more on Taizé visit There is a green hill far away and The music of Taizé
Any copyrighted material on these pages is included as "fair use", for the purpose of study, review or critical analysis only, and will be removed at the request of copyright owner(s). Report broken links, missing images and other errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk

Record companies, newspapers and reviews

On November 29 I published an investigative piece in response to Charlotte Higgins' Guardian article about music education in Venezuela. In my post I drew attention to shared interests, including agents, record companies and future tours, that linked the artists (notably Simon Rattle, Claudio Abbado and Gustavo Dudamel) mentioned in the Guardian story. Yesterday I received the following email from Charlotte Higgins:

Hello there - I was slightly alarmed that you seem to think I am some kind of instrument of Askonas Holt.

This piece was my idea. I organised it, the practicalities of it, working with a contact in the System in Caracas. I did it because I think what's going on there is deeply fascinating. It's important to set the record straight about costs. The Guardian paid for nearly everything.(Exceptions:in Venezuela some costs, eg internal travel, were paid for by the System, whose funding comes from the Venezuelan government; in a (very brief) visit to Rome most costs were borne by DG, but if they hadn't offered the Guardian would beyond a doubt have stumped up.)

Of course it's true that Abbado and Rattle and Dudamel are represented by the same agent. As I understand it, Dudamel was taken on partly because of a recommendation from Rattle, which doesn't seem entirely unreasonable, if one accepts that Rattle has some idea what he's talking about. It would have seemed perverse not to have mentioned the fact that Abbado spent 3 months in Venezuela last winter, or that Rattle (left) has spoken highly of the System - just because they are represented by the same agency doesn't mean they aren't genuinely interested in what's happening in Venezuela, or aren't genuinely mentors to Dudamel.

Anyway, be that as it may - that's not really my business. The point is that Askonas had nothing to do with the idea for this piece or the work I put into its execution or any of the costs that it involved. As far as I knew they didn't even know I was doing it; I didn't consider it their business.

I mentioned the disc and the Edinburgh appearance because it seemed reasonable to imagine that the readers of the Guardian, most of whom are not about to fly to Venezuela, might want a chance to judge the results of the System for themselves. The fact that they are going to Edinburgh next year was let slip to me in Caracas - I can't imagine Askonas or the Edinburgh festival actually being very pleased about that being published ahead of the official announcement.

I think your blog is terrific, and some of the points raised in this post are absolutely valid. Nor do I agree with Norman's analysis of the blogosphere. But I do totally reject the suggestion that I am some kind of tool of Askonas's global promotion strategy. I wrote the piece because it is a good story.

All best wishes,
Charlotte Higgins
Arts correspondent, the Guardian

Hats off to Charlotte, she is a fellow blogger and clearly understands the power of music blogs. She makes some fair points, although I don't buy "I can't imagine Askonas or the Edinburgh festival actually being very pleased about (tour information) being published ahead of the official announcement" as the link in my original post leads to an Askonas Holt webpage which says "The Simón Bolívar National Youth Orchestra of Venezuela come to the UK and Europe with their music director Gustavo Dudamel (above) ... and will perform in London, Edinburgh, Spain and Germany".

But my main point was to highlight the link between record companies, agents, tour promoters and newspaper reviews. Charlotte's article gave a very favourable review of a concert in Rome in which Gustavo Dudamel conducted the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra, both of whom are clients of Askonas Holt, and both of whom had a major new release on the DG record label, a CD which was also featured in her article. In her response above Charlotte says "in a (very brief) visit to Rome most costs were borne by DG".

So all credit to Charlotte for telling us that the record company paid for most of her trip to Rome, and for clarifying that Askonas Holt didn't pay for her Venezuelan visit (although their partners paid some costs). Now, in the further interests of clarity, can we be told who paid ‘most of the costs’ for the journalists (who didn’t include Charlotte Higgins) responsible for the glowing reviews of the Vienna premiere of John Adams' A Flowering Tree? – a work that will shortly be seen in London, Berlin and San Francisco.

• DG is one of the classical labels of Universal Music Group, the largest record company in the world. As well as Gustavo Dudamel and the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra DG artists include Luciano Pavarotti, Sting, Sophie von Otter, and they own a major portion of the Herbert von Karajan back-catalogue. Other classical labels in the group are Decca, Philips and ECM. Universal Music Group had revenues of €4.989 billion in 2005, and controlled 25.5% of the music market. Their rock acts include U2, Shania Twain, and Mariah Carey. They also own one of the largest music publishing businesses in the world.

• The link between Universal Music and ECM Records is interesting, and probably deserves a separate article. In August 2006 Charlotte Higgins’ colleague over on the Observer, Mark Hudson, took a trip to the annual ECM sales conference at St Gerold in the Austrian Alps, and wrote a glowing piece about ECM which said “Yet ECM remains a success, a commercial prize that many majors have tried to snap up …. ECM offers you the opportunity to (access classical music and jazz), but without taking on the establishment cultural baggage of traditional labels like Deutsche Grammophon.” Yet the Universal Music Group website says: “Record Labels – UMG’s strength and legacy of music flows from a diverse family of record labels which include … DG and ECM”.

Now read about The frustration of the classical music industry
Any copyrighted material on these pages is included as "fair use", for the purpose of study, review or critical analysis only, and will be removed at the request of copyright owner(s). Report broken links, missing images and other errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk

Suffolk murders end Britten sea interlude

Just two weeks ago I wrote about the moving anniversary performance of Benjamin Britten's cantata St Nicholas at Snape Maltings, and ended with these words about the singers - "their faces radiated youth, exuberance, total innocence, and above all a dazzling hope for the future". Elsewhere the thirtieth anniversary of Benjamin Britten's death was celebrated with loving descriptions of his native Aldeburgh and the surrounding Suffolk countryside.

These idyllic images were cruelly shattered last week with five serial murders in Ipswich, the county town of Suffolk, which lies just twenty miles west of Aldeburgh. The facts are grim. Ipswich is a characterless town whose heart was ripped out by World War 2 bombing of the docks. Over ten days five prostitutes working in the town's red light district (photo above) have been brutally murdered and their bodies dumped in the surrounding countryside. The average age of the victims was twenty-four, and one was pregnant. In contrast to the commercial lie of Christmas we have been confronted with brutal truths. The truth about a society in which cocaine and crack addiction forces young girls into the vicious spiral of prostitution. The truth about a society in which male demand fuels a sordid female market. And above all, the truth about a society where at Christmas time we have once again failed the poor and vulnerable.

In a terrible coincidence singers from Ipswich schools took part in Britten's own recording of St Nicholas in 1955. One choir came from Ipswich School Preparatory Department, while the three pickled boys came from the Choir of St Mary-le-Tower, the civic church of the town located close to the red light district. The five young murder victims from that Ipswich red light district have been denied their youth, their exuberance, their innocence, and any dazzling hope for their future. These dreadful events serve as a stark reminder that Britten's music is no more about idyllic Suffolk seascapes than Mozart's is about Salzburg chocolate treats. One of Britten's greatest work, Peter Grimes, is about the outcast, the prejudices of the community, and the desperate search for justice. These are themes that are more relevant in Suffolk today than they ever have been.

+ Now playing in memory of Tania Nichols, 19, Gemma Adams, 25, Anneli Alderton, 24, Annette Nichols, 29, and Paula Clennel, 24 - Britten's Cantata misericordium op. 69 +
A recurring theme in Britten's music is a belief in a better and more harmonious society. The Cantata misericordium could not be more relevant at this terrible time with its setting of the most famous story of compassion and reconciliation, the Parable of the Good Samaritan. The work is scored for tenor and baritone soloists, a small chorus, solo string quartet, and string orchestra, with piano, harp, and timpani. The recording playing (above) is the only one you will ever need, Britten conducts and the soloists are Peter Pears and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau.

* Latest news on the Suffolk murders from the BBC News website

Read how Now men will go content with what we spoiled
Picture credit Telegraph.co.uk Any copyrighted material on these pages is included as "fair use", for the purpose of study, review or critical analysis only, and will be removed at the request of copyright owner(s). Report broken links, missing images and other errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk

Naxos launches books with Stravinsky title

Robert Craft, whose recordings of the complete works of Stravinsky and Schoenberg are currently being released on Naxos, launched his latest collection of memoirs at a press reception in The Ritz, London recently.

Down a Path of Wonder (Naxos Books, 1-84379-217-6 / 978-1-84379-217-8, £19.99) brings together in nearly 600 pages his association over six decades with many of the leading artistic and cultural figures of the 20th century – Stravinsky and Schoenberg in particular, but also W.H. Auden, T.S. Eliot, George Balanchine, Aldous Huxley and many more. The book is packed with observations and anecdotes, many drawn from his close association with Stravinsky.

Interestingly, Craft declared that despite his championing of Stravinsky’s music, he retains a particular respect for Schoenberg’s music. ‘I have got to know it much better since making the recordings for Naxos. Who knows the Opus 8 songs, for example? – but they are wonderful.’

The publication of Down a Path of Wonder is given extra impetus by the current controversy that has emerged following the appearance of the second volume of Stephen Walsh’s Stravinsky biography, The Second Exile. Craft claims that there are some 400 errors in this book.

Naxos Books is a new imprint launched by Naxos to publish classical music books, many with CDs and website attached. For further details visit: www.naxosbooks.com.

From Naxos website. For an interview with Robert Craft in today's Guardian follow this link.

Now read about the perils of globalisation by Naxos and other brands in Music like water
Photo credit showing Caft with Stravinsky from Sam Falk/The New York Times. Any copyrighted material on these pages is included as "fair use", for the purpose of study, review or critical analysis only, and will be removed at the request of copyright owner(s). Report broken links, missing images and other errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk

Simple gifts – baroque party music

Top independent store Prelude Records reports a surprise best seller in among all the usual Christmas dross. Los Impossibles is the latest release from the early music group L’Arpeggiata which is directed by the immensely talented Christina Pluhar, who also plays the baroque harp and theorbe. L’Arpeggiatta is one of a number of exciting early music groups in Europe who are breaking down musical boundaries, and they featured in a post about improvisation On An Overgrown Post way back back in November 2004. As Christina Pluhar says in the sleeve notes for Los Impossibles – “Music knows no frontiers; even the frontiers of time are blurred … “

The new CD follows a fascinating overgrown musical path through Italy, Spain and Portugal in search of the origins of an obscure early 18th century romanesca found in Mexican manuscript by the Spanish Baroque guitarist Santiago de Murcia. If all that sounds like a dry piece of musicological research fear not, Los Impossible’s position high up in the Christmas best seller lists gives the game away. This is great baroque party music, and there is a seasonal relevance as the negrillos featured on the recording are part of the Portuguese Christmas celebration. Joining in the party are the wonderful King’s Singers, who are making unusual repertoire something of a speciality, and featured here recently on the highly recommended recording of Turkish psalm settings by Ali Ufki. And really making the party swing is a rare appearance by the legendary flamenco guitarist Pepe Habichuela.

L’Arpeggiata has swapped labels from the enterprising Alpha Productions to Naïve, who may be larger but have one of the worst websites in the business. Thankfully the production quality of the CD itself remains high, and the recording venue is the Chapelle de l’Hôpital Notre-Dame in Paris which is also used by Alpha (see header session photo). The sound, assisted by a battery of baroque percussion, is demonstration quality. And there is a real Christmas bonus; the beautifully packaged CD comes with the usual illuminating sleeve notes from Christina Pluhar (left), plus a full-length bonus DVD of the recording sessions which is worth the purchase price alone.

For more on L’Arpeggiata take An Overgrown Path to Improvisation
Any copyrighted material on these pages is included for "fair use", for the purpose of study, review or critical analysis only, and will be removed at the request of copyright owner(s). Report broken links, missing images and other errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk

Free Mozart scores go online

A free Mozart database has been launched on the internet, with 24,000 pages of sheet music incorporating all the composer's works. The database also contains more than 8,000 pages of critical commentary, said Ulrich Leisinger, head of research at the International Mozart Foundation. The site, dme.mozarteum.at, has had more than 1m hits since its launch on Monday. Next summer it hopes to make available 270 letters written by Mozart, some 100 original manuscripts and about 2,000 pages of texts accompanying many vocal works.

From today's Guardian - and it works!

Now also read how Mozart's music diary goes online
Any copyrighted material on these pages is included as "fair use", for the purpose of study, review or critical analysis only, and will be removed at the request of copyright owner(s). Report broken links, missing images and other errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk

Classical music's Top 20 blogs

A very useful piece of research by Scott Spielberg over on Musical Perceptions which I reblog below with thanks:

Inspired by John Scalzi's list of the top 51 SF/F personal blogs, I decided to compile a list of the top 51 classical music blogs. I decided not to count aggregators like Jeff Harrington's New Music reBlog or BlogNoggle, and used rather arbitrary lines on whether a blog wrote enough about classical music to count. I did not include any blogs that have been defunct since the beginning of 2006. I note that being a professional writer does not guarantee a high ranking, nor does the musical output of the blogger. I have decided to stick with 51, to continue a tradition that will befuddle e-archaeologists in centuries to come. The technorati ranking is listed, and a designation of Academic Musicologist or Theorist (A), Composer (C), Critic (Crit), Operablog(O), Listener (L), or the instrument of the author. It is amazing how many opera blogs there are, justifying their own category. Please let me know if I missed any blogs that have a higher ranking than 285,000.

1 The Rest is Noise: 6,577 Alex Ross (Crit)
2 Sequenza21: 23,260 Jerry Bowles (C)
3 On an Overgrown Path: 25,137 Bob Shingleton (producer)
4 Ionarts: 27,639 Charles T. Downey (A)
5 PostClassic: 31,123 Kyle Gann (C)
6 Sandow: 36,793 Greg Sandow (Crit)
7 Sounds and Fury: 44,607 AC Douglas (L)
8 La Cieca: 45,144 James Jorden (O)
9 The Rambler: 50,718 Tim Rutherford-Johnson (A)
10 Adaptistration: 54,276 Drew McManus (orchestra management)
11 Night after Night: 56,128 Steve Smith (Crit)
12 Think Denk: 57,134 Jeremy Denk (piano)
12 Jessica Duchen: 57,134 (Crit)
14 Aworks: 58,196 Robert Gable (L)
15 Oboeinsight: 59,315 Patty Mitchell (oboe)
16 Terminaldegree: 60,452 (kazoo)
17 Musical Perceptions: 78,160 Me (A)
18 The Well-Tempered Blog: 80,219 Bart Collins (piano)
19 Red Black Window: 84,277 Roger Bourland
20 The Concert: 86,494 Anne-Carolyn Bird (voice)
For the long tail of the Top 51 blogs follow this link

Thanks for that Scott, and staying with the theme of research on blogs technology analysts Gartner have predicted in a report published today that blogging will peak in 2007 with around 100 million blogs online. Gartner explains that this is because most people who would ever start a web blog would have already done so. The research says that Technorati, used by Scott above, is tracking more than 57 million blogs, of which it believes around 55% are "active" and updated at least every three months. If an "active" blog is updated at least every three months I guess that makes Alex, Jerry and me hyperactive.

Now read how Blogging is doing it for our time
Image credit Radio Explora. Any copyrighted material on these pages is included as "fair use", for the purpose of study, review or critical analysis only, and will be removed at the request of copyright owner(s). Report broken links, missing images and other errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk

Alagna caught in the act on video

For a hilarious version of Roberto Alagna leaving La Scala follow this link

For more hot-headed Latins read my Reflections on the Philadelphia Orchestra. With thanks to Antoine Leboyer. Any copyrighted material on these pages is included as "fair use", for the purpose of study, review or critical analysis only, and will be removed at the request of copyright owner(s). Report broken links, missing images and other errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk

Simple gifts - Hansel and Gretel

Like the drawing above by the underground artist Banksy Englebert Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel is an opera of contradictions. It is the perfect Christmas opera, yet it is set in the Spring. It is the perfect children’s opera, yet it has been described as ‘Wagner for the nursery’ as Humperdinck worked as Wagner’s assistant on Parsifal from 1880-1881. It is the ultimate story of innocence, yet it was recorded, shortly after the horrors of World War II, by artists better known for their experience than innocence. And it is a top seller in the CD catalogue, yet in a market where digital and surround-sound are the norm, the best selling version is a 1953 mono recording.

Englebert Humperdinck was born in Germany. In the 1890s his sister wrote a libretto based on the Grimm fairy tale, and Humperdinck set it to music for the entertainment of his sister’s children. It was later turned into a full-scale opera, and was premiered on December 23rd 1894 in Weimar. Success was immediate with both critics and audiences, and none other than Richard Strauss described it as “a masterwork of the first rank”.

In the early 1950s EMI recording producer Walter Legge was looking for recording projects that would exploit the new long playing record format. The opportunity came to record Hansel and Gretel with Elisabeth Schwarzkopf as Gretel, Elisabeth Grümmer as Hansel, and with Herbert von Karajan conducting Legge’s own Philharmonia Orchestra. But there were some obstacles, not the least of which was that Karajan had never conducted the work before the recording sessions. This unfamiliarity, coupled with limited rehearsal time, resulted in a performance of freshness and vitality that has never been surpassed. Schwarzkopf remembers the sessions as being semi-improvised, with Karajan constantly surprised by the delights in the score. The photo above shows me talking to Elisabeth Schwarzkopf at a Philharmonia concert in 1979.

The story of the recording sessions is a fairy tale itself. The overture used on the commercial release was recorded as a test take to check the orchestra balance, and was judged to be so good that no further takes were needed. Don’t let the mono label put you off, because the sound is staggeringly good on the recent Naxos budget re-issue of this classic recording. What you will hear when the CD transfer is played on a top-end audio system is a salutary reminder that more than half a century of technical developments have done very little to improve the sound actually coming out of the speakers.

The definitive recording of Hansel and Gretel was made in 1953 in London by a German conductor and an English orchestra. In a final contradiction, in December 2006 an English conductor travelled to Berlin to conduct a German orchestra in three semi-staged performances of the opera. The conductor was rising star Mark Elder, and the orchestra was the Berlin Philharmonic, who amazingly had never performed Hansel and Gretel before. And in the perfect Christmas happy ending the critics loved Elder's interpretation, with Anthony Holden writing in the Observer - "Every detail emerged in all its considerable splendour, giving Berliners an authentically German feast they relished."

Now take an Overgrown Path to In memoriam Elisabeth Schwarzkopf
Any copyrighted material on these pages is included for "fair use", for the purpose of study, review or critical analysis only, and will be removed at the request of copyright owner(s). Report broken links, missing images and other errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk

The Phantom of the Opera

'Yes, Hitler had always been a good friend of the house of Wagner; she, Winifred, admired him and was grateful to him. Yes, he had been misled by the people around him, and pushed into making decisions. No, she had never slept with Hitler.'

An extract from an interview with Winifred Wagner, given, quite unbelievably, in 1945 immediately after the collapse of the Third Reich. The extract is from an interview with Klaus Mann (son of Thomas Mann) published in the US army newspaper Stars and Stripes, and quoted in the recently published Winifred Wagner, A Life at the Heart of Hitler’s Bayreuth, which also supplies my header photograph of Hitler with the book's subject.

The story of Winifred Wagner is the stuff of fiction. In 1907 a nine-year-old English orphan, Winifred Williams, was sent to live with distant relatives in Berlin. In 1915, in the middle of World War 1, the eighteen-year-old girl was married in Bayreuth. Her groom was Siegfried Wagner, the 46 year-old only son of Richard Wagner, head of the Bayreuth Festival, and a homosexual, or as author Brigitte Hamann tactfully puts it, “a man’s man”.

Therein lies one of the the many flaws in this meticulously researched book, which at 582 pages is Wagnerian, both in length and sympathy. Hamann lives in Vienna, studied in Germany and Austria, and is the author of a study of Hitler’s early years. A good biography gives the details of the subject’s private life, but does not pass judgement. I can only conclude that Hamann decided that chronicling Bayreuth’s musical beds might invite judgement. Her circumvention of issues central to the story verges on the comic. An eighteen-year-old girl marries a 46 year-old homosexual to provide an heir (Wieland) to the Wagner dynasty. Yet in the lengthy index entry for Siegfried Wagner there is no entry at all under 'homosexuality', and just one (on page 8) under the tactful heading 'sexual proclivities', while elsewhere we read that the notorious Nazi homosexual Ernst Rohm stays in Siegfried’s house with his 'friend' Franz von Epp. But at least gender equality is respected, and Winifred’s affair with Bayreuth artistic director Heinz Tietjen also gets the ‘don’t mention it in front of the children’ treatment.


Although there is a wealth of detail on the wonderfully bitchy world of Bayreuth and the ‘Master’, this is much more than a music book. It tells of a cataclysmic collision of politics and music, and the photo above from the book shows one of the points of impact - Tietjen and Furtwängler with Winifred’s friend ‘Wolf’ at the new Berlin City Opera staging of Lohengrin in 1929. As worlds collide Brigitte Hamann only makes a token attempt to disguise her allegiance to the Wagner camp, just one small example is how she recounts on page 374 how performances of the Wesendonck Lieder were banned at Bayreuth by Wagner’s widow Cosima, but omits any mention of the song cycle in the entry for Wagner, Richard Compositions in the comprehensive index, despite their appearance in the text.

Winifred confirmed the Wesendonck ban in 1944, and the end of the war did not see the end of her political blunderings. In 1952 she visited the GDR (interestingly following the same itinerary as my recent visit - Leipzig, Dresden and Zwickau), and upset the West Germans with her praise for the communist regime. Back in Bayreuth she lived in her husband's old house which she referred to as the Führer building, and it became a gathering place for the widows and children of the former Nazi leaders. When they were there Hamann describes how they "could talk openly about old times, which for all of them were the best times of their lives. And they could express their enthusiasm for the Führer to their heart's content." Another contact of Winifred was David Irving, who Hamann generously describes as "the revisionist British historian". Others describe him as a holocaust denier.

In 1975, at the age of 78, Winifred was at the center of yet another controversey when Hans-Jürgen Syberberg's documentary film about her was released. In the film she says the following - "If Hitler were to walk in through that door now, for instance, I'd be as happy and glad to see him here as ever, and that whole dark side of him, I know it exists, but it doesn't exist for me because I don't know that part of him". Four years later, in 1979, she was guest of honour in Bayreuth at a rally of hundreds of former Hitler Youth and Bund Deutscher Mädel members, and she followed this by attacking the award of the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade to Yehudi Menuhin with these words - "despite all his achievements, I regret the prize has been given to a Jew, because it's just more grovelling to that race on the part of this generation - haven't we got any pride?" Winifred Wagner died in March 1980, aged 82.

An extraordinary, and truly frightening tale that is essential reading, particularly for the bon mots that litter the text. The most memorable include Winifred's description of Hitler's personal physician, Karl Brandt, who was responsible for carrying out Hitler's euthanasia programme which systematically murdered the mentally ill and the disabled. On hearing of Brandt's death sentence in 1948 Winifred Wagner complained: "What a nice, decent fellow he was, and what a price he's got to pay now for the things he was made to represent." (P 441)

Elsewhere Hassmann writes about the Bayreuth concentration camp (see note 1 below), in which Winifred's son, Wieland (see note 2), held a senior position until April 1945, and reassures us with these words - After 1945, ex-inmate Hans Imhof described his stay at Bayreuth as ‘the best part of my whole time in concentration camps’ (P 380).

Extraordinary words from an extraordinary book. Unless you read it you will never believe it.

Note 1. Bayreuth concentration camp was a satellite of the Flossenbürg KZ site. Around 30,000 died in Flossenbürg and its subcamps. Among those killed were Admiral Wilhelm Canaris, Pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer, General Hans Oster, and others involved in the plot to assasinate Hitler on 20th July 1944. These men had been arrested following the collapse of the plot, but they were held in various prisons and camps until being sent to Flossenbürg, where they were hanged on 9th April 1945, shortly before the liberation.


Note 2. In 1949 Wieland Wagner was cleared of all political charges despite his Nazi past and close friendship with Hitler - the photo above shows him with Hitler watched by a member of the Bayreuth domestic staff. Wieland's failure to mention in his de-Nazification questionnaire that he held a senior position in the Bayreuth concentration camp was of no consequence as enquiries into these activities had ceased by 1949. He took over as Bayreuth Festival Director in 1951, holding the position until his death in 1966. Although Wieland symbolically removed the old order from the Bayreuth productions the pre-war legacy remained very much present behind the scenes, including Winifred's close friend Dortmund steel magnate Moritz Klönne, who became president of the Society of the Friends of Bayreuth. In another of the book's bon mots designer Emil Preetorius describes Wieland Wagner as "the arsehole of Bayreuth".

Although Winifred was removed from involvement in the Festival, the Wagner dynasty continues its control of Bayreuth to this day through Wieland's brother Wolfgang. He was born in 1919, and his close association with Hitler is chronicled in Hamann's book. Despite these Nazi connections musicians of the calibre, and integrity, of Daniel Barenboim work at Bayreuth. In an illuminating conversation with Edward Said Barenboim says - "one has to distinguish between Wagner's anti-Semitism, which is monstrous and despicable and worse than the sort of normal, shall we say, accepted-unacceptable level of anti-Semitism, and the use the Nazis made of it."

Winifred Wagner, A Life at the Heart of Hitler’s Bayreuth by Brigitte Hamann is published by Granta Books, ISBN1862076715

For more on Hitler’s musical inner circle take An Overgrown Path to Hitler’s court composer was a Harvard alumni.
Photo credits - Winifred Wagner, A Life at the Heart ofHitler’s Bayreuth, Granta Books. Any copyrighted material on these pages is included for "fair use", for the purpose of study, review or critical analysis only, and will be removed at the request of copyright owner(s). Report broken links, missing images and other errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk

Oldest record shop in world to close?

'The shopfront (left) is unassuming, the inside rather scruffy, but Spillers Records has been firing the dreams of aspiring rock stars - and aficionados happy to remain just fans - for generations. Before they made it the Manic Street Preachers busked outside, while Cerys Matthews of Catatonia and the Super Furry Animals browsed the indie racks in search of inspiration. Enthusiastic collectors knew that if they needed a gold-coloured vinyl version of a Stone Roses single, a rare punk album or a cutting edge bit of electronica that the staff at Virgin had never heard of, then Spillers in Cardiff, believed to be the oldest record shop in the world still trading, was the place to go.

But to the deep concern of record enthusiasts, ranging from the cream of the Cool Cymru mob to the spottiest teenager holed up in his bedroom with his precious sounds, Spillers Records (est 1894) is under threat. Spillers has been told that it is not going to be able to afford the rent the landlord will demand when two big shopping developments opposite and next to the shop open. When the rent rises owner Nick Todd, who has worked at the shop for 31 years, says the shop will be lost.

Its possible disappearance has created shock waves not just among Cardiff musos but also among many who would not know their house music from their jungle. More than 2,000 people have signed a petition demanding that it be saved and calling on its landlords, the developers Helical Bar, to acknowledge that Spillers ought to be saved. Half of the members of the Welsh assembly have put their names to a separate statement supporting the shop, and Cadw, which promotes the conservation of Wales's historic buildings and landscapes, has been asked to help.

The Manic Street Preachers put out a statement, saying: "Spillers was a lifeline, it gave us our musical education. The only record shop in Wales where we could find the music that made us who we are." Columbia Records, which bills itself as the oldest label in the world, has asked its British artists such as the Zutons and the Coral to sign the petition, and a gig to raise awareness is planned.'

More bad news from today's Guardian. But I wonder if, as well as asking their artists to sign a petition, Columbia Records are going to give Spillers the same terms as Amazon.co.uk?

Now take An Overgrown Path to find out about Tower Records - the lessons that must be learnt. Any copyrighted material on these pages is included as "fair use", for the purpose of study, review or critical analysis only, and will be removed at the request of copyright owner(s). Report broken links, missing images and other errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk

Arianna Huffington's classical music connection

Yesterday's Observer ran a big profile of the Blackberry-toting, Bush-baiting Queen of the Blogosphere Arianna Huffington (left). Her Huffington Post blog is a mix of comment, news and personal blogging, and gets 30 million page views a month. The profile reminds us that as well as being the lady that 'holds the mainstream media's feet to the fire' the young Huffington had intimate connections to the world of classical music:

'Arianna Stassinopoulos was born in Athens on 15 July 1950. Her mother, Elli, who Arianna says has been the 'greatest influence' on her life, left her unfaithful father partly at the young Arianna's instigation. 'When she left my dad because of his massive philandering, she had no money, no job, no formal education. She was fearless. That was the kind of woman she was,' Arianna tells me.

Her mother's inspiration gave Arianna the courage to apply to Cambridge University after seeing a picture of it in a magazine. It paid off. Arianna arrived in the UK burdened with an accent people still mistake for Hungarian. She left as head of the Cambridge Union, and a society beauty. She had also become something of a media star, writing The Female Woman, a best-selling response to Germaine Greer's The Female Eunuch.

But there was one thing missing: the great love of her life, English journalist and writer Bernard Levin, would not marry her. She had had enough of Britain, though she remembers her years here as formative: 'They were incredibly important times. I got my education in speaking out at Cambridge, at the Union. It is where I discovered both my heart and my mind. I learned how to argue. I apply that now in my blog,' she says.'

Bernard Levin (right) was a Times columnist, music critic, travel writer, social commentator and Wagner enthusiast par excellence, and he has featured on these pages on several occasions. His erudition and meticulous prose style put today's music journalists and bloggers to shame. It is touching that when Bernard Levin died of Alzheimer's two years ago the best tribute to him was written by the usually hard-nosed Arianna Huffington.

Bernard Levin also featured On An Overgrown Path in And so to Wagner ...
Any copyrighted material on these pages is included as "fair use", for the purpose of study, review or critical analysis only, and will be removed at the request of copyright owner(s). Report broken links, missing images and other errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk

Benjamin Britten's women

Ask any opera buff who sung the roles of Quint and Miles in the first performance of Benjamin Britten’s Turn of the Screw in Venice in 1954, and they will have no problem answering Peter Pears and David Hemmings. But ask them who took the pivotal role of the Governess and they will probably struggle for the answer.

Glyndebourne Opera’s new touring production of The Turn of the Screw left me musing on the conundrum of gender in Britten’s operas. So often the male leads in today's Britten productions seem to be singing someone else’s role. It is hardly surprising, as we are familiar with the original casts through the astonishingly good recordings made with the composer himself conducting, and Pears, Hemmings and other artists singing the roles Britten wrote for them. But although the women in these recordings often reflect the first performance casting, posterity hasn’t been so kind to the sopranos.

The Governess at the Teatro La Fenice in 1954 was Jennifer Vyvyan, and she is seen in my header photograph trying to connect with Quint, sung of course by Pears. Britten also created the roles of Lady Rich in Gloriana, Tytania in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Mrs Julian in Owen Wingrave for Jennifer Vyvyan. So it was quite remarkable that in Glyndebourne’s new Turn of the Screw the startling new soprano Kate Royal (who I wrote about back in July 2005) made the female lead her own, and scored a real home run for gender equality with a performance which put the Governess firmly at the center of the plot. Watch out for Kate Royal (above), she is a real star in the making.

The gender bias in Britten’s operas is reflected in their critical treatment, with the male roles consistently in the spotlight. Following the premiere of Turn of the Screw Antoine Golea wrote in L’Express of Britten’s ‘intense preoccupation with homosexual love and the futility of struggling against it’, while predictably Virgil Thomson in the New York Herald Tribune described David Hemmings as ‘adorable all round’.

This bias does Britten an injustice as he wrote superb roles for his ‘house’ sopranos. As well as Jennifer Vyvyan, the British singer Joan Cross had roles created for her, including Mrs Grose in The Turn of the Screw, Female Chorus in The Rape of Lucretia, Lady Billows in Albert Herring, and Elizabeth lst in Gloriana (below). Unfortunately she retired before Britten committed the operas to disc, the exception being a 1955 mono Turn of the Screw. Cross had a close working relationship with Britten, lived in Aldeburgh after her 1955 retirement, and is buried in same churchyard in the town as Britten and Pears. Britten also worked closely with women who were not singers. In 1952 Imogen Holst, daughter of the composer Gustav Holst, joined the staff at Aldeburgh to work on Gloriana, and she was an artistic director of the Aldeburgh Festival from 1956 to 1977, and continued to live in Aldeburgh until her death in 1984. A portrait of her by Mary Potter hangs in the Snape foyer.

John Bridcut’s recent book Britten’s Children has justifiably enjoyed considerable success. Perhaps someone will now recognise the brave new world of gender equality by writing Britten’s Women?

* To keep things equal the other members of the excellent cast for Glyndebourne’s Turn of the Screw were Daniel Norman as Prologue/Peter Quint, Joanna Songi as Flora, Christopher Sladdin as Miles, Anne-Marie Owens as Mrs Grose, and Rachel Cobb as Miss Jessel. The conductor of a fine musical evening was Edward Gardner, and the director of a production that could have turned a little less was Jonathan Kent.

For more on gender bias take An Overgrown Path to BBC Proms 2006 lacks the eternal feminine
Any copyrighted material on these pages is included for "fair use", for the purpose of study, review or critical analysis only, and will be removed at the request of copyright owner(s). Report broken links, missing images and other errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk

Carbon emission story without foundation

My post earlier today described the disastrous collapse of the vaulted ceiling of the choir of Beauvais Cathedral in 1284. And by a strange coincidence in today's Observer an architect recommends building houses without foundations to eliminate the carbon emission intensive process of digging the foundations. In support of the 'carbon-zero' house the Observer says "Salisbury Cathedral and Ely Cathedral are still standing, and they don't have foundations".

Sound green advice, except for one very small problem - Ely Cathedral (above) collapsed in 1322 because ..... it didn't have adequate foundations.

Here is the account from the Ely Cathedral website - Disaster struck on 22 February 1322, when the Norman central tower collapsed. The noise was so great that the monks thought there had been an earth quake. Alan of Walsingham, the monk responsible for the building, was deeply shocked. One of his fellow monks wrote: 'He was devastated, grieving vehemently and overcome with sorrow... that he knew not which way to turn himself or what to do for the reparation of such a ruin.'

A case of a global warming story quite without foundation?

Now read the remarkable story of another cathedral that rose from ruins in I am a camera - Dresden
Any copyrighted material on these pages is included as "fair use", for the purpose of study, review or critical analysis only, and will be removed at the request of copyright owner(s). Report broken links, missing images and other errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk

Happy birthday Olivier Messiaen

Olivier Messiaen was born on 10th December 1908. He is a pivotal figure in 20th century music. While Dmitri Shostakovich and Malcolm Arnold took an existing musical language to its ultimate expression, Messiaen created a totally new soundscape. Here, to celebrate his birthday, is an article I wrote in May this year.

Life today is all about boxes. Our working life is controlled by email inboxes and outboxes, commercial success is measured at the box office, entertainment is delivered by Xboxes, and we even get our contemporary music fix from NewMusicBox. But today’s superb performance of Olivier Messiaen’s L’Ascension by Julian Thomas on the organ of Norwich Cathedral reminded me of the importance of thinking outside the box.

L’Ascension is an early work by Messiaen (below) which was originally composed for orchestra as four symphonic meditations. The organ version has a different third movement to the orchestral version, and was first performed in 1936. The four movement twenty-five minute work has many of Messiaen’s signature ‘outside the box’ features including unusually slow and sustained tempi for the first and final meditations, and the use of highly chromatic harmony throughout. In the final meditation, which is inspired by verses from St John’s Gospel, the quiet, floating melody, harmonised in parallel, ascended slowly to the great Perpendicular roof of Norwich Cathedral like a prayer.

Box-like is the last description that could be applied to Norwich's awe-inspiring Anglican Cathedral. It was built by the Benedictines to a Norman ground plan, and was consecrated in 1278, but the magnificent roof and 315’ high spire date from 1463 when they were rebuilt after a lightning strike destroyed the originals. The earliest reference to an organ in the cathedral dates from the 14th century, and a succession of new organs were built, and later destroyed, either by fire or deliberately through the centuries. The present organ (photo above) was constructed in 1899 by Hill, Norman and Beard and extensively rebuilt following a fire in 1938, and is eminently suited to Messiaen’s rich textures.

Messiaen's complete organ works, including L'Ascension, are available in a highly recommended 6 CD budget priced set on Regis (RRC6001). Jennifer Bate plays the organs of Beauvais Cathedral and L'église Sainte Trinité in Paris, and the recordings were made in the presence of the composer.

That mention of Beauvais Cathedral provides a fascinating coda to this overgrown path. Thinking outside the box means experimenting, and experiments sometimes end in failure. This is well-illustrated by the Cathedral of St Pierre in Beauvais. This cathedral, which is in some respects the most daring achievement of Gothic architecture, consists only of a transept and choir with apse. The vaulting in the interior exceeds 150 feet in height. There is no nave, and the small Romanesque church of the 10th century known as the Basse Oeuvre occupies the site destined for the nave.
Begun in 1247, just thirty-one years before Norwich Cathedral was consecrated, the masons of Beauvais aimed outside the box by adding an extra 16 feet to the height, to make it the tallest cathedral in Europe. But the experiment failed, and work was interrupted in 1284 by the collapse of the vaulting of the choir (left), a disaster that produced a temporary failure of nerve among the artisans. In 1573 more thinking outside the box resulted in the fall of a too-ambitious central tower. Work stopped again, and little further building, other than repairs, was carried out.

Today we hate computers that crash. But both Messiaen's music, and the glorious, and uncompleted, Beauvais Cathedral, remind us that there is glory both in thinking outside the box, and sometimes failing. I was recently very moved by a commemorative exhibition of photographs ‘Chernobyl, Twenty Years – Twenty Lives’. Here are the words from the introduction to that exhibition:

If all the people in the world looked in one direction only, this would have serious consequences on how mankind perceives itself. It is important that some people look around in all directions in order to describe what they see to others.

* The Messiaen performance by Julian Thomas, who is Norwich Cathedral's assistant organist, was a fund-raiser for the Cathedral Choir's US tour in October. The Cathedral Choir consists of sixteen boys (aged 8-13), all of whom attend Norwich School, and twelve men, six of whom are choral scholars. It sings regularly at six choral services a week during term and also at many of the special services held in the Cathedral – especially during Holy Week, Easter and Christmas. The choir's repertoire includes music by all the great English composers of the last five hundred years and also many works by continental composers from Josquin to Messiaen. The choir has given premières of music by many contemporary composers including Giles Swayne, John Tavener, Paul Patterson, Arvo Pärt (right -whose I am the true vine was a 1996 commission for the choir to celebrate the 900th anniversary of Norwich Cathedral), James Macmillan and Diana Burrell. The choir has toured Europe and the United States, broadcasts regularly on the BBC and features on numerous recordings.
* Churches comprising a choir and a transept without the nave make famously good recording venues. The remarkable acoustics of Merton College Chapel, Oxford, which is frequently used for recordings, are put down to the absence of a nave in this large building.
* Another remarkable church today compring a nave and chancel only is Dore Abbey on the Welsh borders which I mentioned, appropriately, in Wot no computers. Although Dore Abbey is used for occassional concerts its blissfully remote location means it is not used as a recording venue. A new organ (albeit not a pipe one) has just been installed in the Abbey, follow this link for more details and some wonderful photos.

CDs featured in this article are available from Prelude Records. Any copyrighted material on these pages is used in "fair use", for the purpose of study, review or critical analysis only, and will be removed at the request of copyright owner(s). Report broken links, missing images and other errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot ukIf you enjoyed this post take An Overgrown Path to Messiaen stars in early music festival

Grammy nomination On An Overgrown Path

Back in February this blog was one of the first to highlight Cloudburst, the exceptional new CD of Eric Whitacre's choral music on Hyperion. So it's good to see the Grammy Awards Recording Academy agreeing with me and making it one of their 2006 Grammy Nominations - check this link for the full list.

Now see what the Grammy winners actually receive at Her Master's Grammy.
Any copyrighted material on these pages is included as "fair use", for the purpose of study, review or critical analysis only, and will be removed at the request of copyright owner(s). Report broken links, missing images and other errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk

Is Wagner just a toy for the boys?

Spotted in the audience for Götterdämmerung at the end of the Mariinsky Ring cycle in Cardiff this week was Prince Charles. But interestingly his wife Camilla was not with him. Is Wagner just a toy for the boy's? Or had Camilla read the distinctly lukewarm reviews of a staging even Valery Gergiev's conducting couldn't transcend?

Now read about a boy with some really frightening toys in Wagner - I don't get to hear anything else
Any copyrighted material on these pages is included as "fair use", for the purpose of study, review or critical analysis only, and will be removed at the request of copyright owner(s). Report broken links, missing images and other errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk

Simple Gifts – Missa Russica

The quirky independent French label Edition Hortus hits all the right buttons for me. They refuse to follow fashions, and continue to find unexplored repertoire, and present it with a passion and flair that puts the major labels to shame. Missa Russica uncovers a treasure trove of sacred Russian choral music from little known composers – Stepan Degtiarev (1766-1813), Dimitri Bortniansky (1751-1825), Maxine Berezovsky (1745-1777), Artemy Vedel (1770?-1808), and Mikhail Strokine (1832-1887) - see below for biographical note on Strokine. During the 18th century Italian composers lived and worked in the imperial court in St Petersburg, and these Russian composers assimilated Western compositional techniques into an East/West fusion of sacred choral music. The majority of the pieces were intended for performance during Holy Communion, while the sacraments were being taken by the priests and the congregation waited. The excellent performances are by the Riga Russian Orthodox Music Choir, which was founded in 1989 as the first professional ensemble in Latvia specialising in the performance of sacred music. The direction is by Archpriest Johann Shenrock who works as a pastor in the diocese of Riga.

East/West fusion discs have emerged as one of the few lively segments in the CD market in 2006, and commercial exploitation is evident with reconstructions, elaborations, improvisation and other ‘improvements’. So it is refreshing that Missa Russica plays it straight and lets the music speak for itself. This disc is very well worth exploring, not just for students of sacred music, but also for anyone wanting to experience an accessible, and little known, musical backwater. The good news is that this is volume 1 in the series, and I look forward to volume 2 with anticipation.

* Mikhail Strokine is one of very few composers with no useful biographical entries on the internet. Here, to counter that, is the information on him from the excellent Missa Russica sleeve notes - Mikhail Porfirievitch Strokine (1832-1887) remains shrouded in mystery. All we know is that he was a voice teacher in St Petersburg and Kronstadt, and a composer of sacred music. His concertante approach to liturgical music places him with other composers on this recording in spite of the generation gap. In the "Canticle of Simeon" (for vespers), the choir accompanies the soloist, who is then at liberty to show the full extent of his art.

Now take An Overgrown Path to Brilliant Russian sacred choral music
Any copyrighted material on these pages is included for "fair use", for the purpose of study, review or critical analysis only, and will be removed at the request of copyright owner(s). Report broken links, missing images and other errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk

I would destroy all these high-tech buildings

"I would tear down the periphery-belts of the big European cities, Rome, Turin, these monsters, these ghettoes, which reflect what we have made out of our society. I would destroy all these high-tech buildings, the whole glass-architecture, these barbarian constructions, which are just to justify tremendous wastes of energy."


The words above are from the Swiss post-modern architect Mario Botta, and they are particularly appropriate this week as the public consultation for Norman Foster’s controversial 30-storey glass tower at 980 Madison Avenue in New York’s Upper East Side closes. I have followed the New York debate with interest as I live close to one of Foster’s early buildings, the Sainsbury Center for the Visual Arts, which featured on these pages recently. Foster’s futuristic designs always divide opinion sharply, and the director of the New York Historic Districts Council, Simeon Bankoff, has described the proposed addition to the flat topped 1940s building on Madison Avenue as “An atrocity, it flies in the face of any concept of preservation".


Mario Botta's post-modern designs are less controversial. With their debt to Le Corbusier, Carlo Scarpa and Louis Kahn, they grow from simple geometric shapes, and often use brick. His creations include the Médiatheque in Villeurbanne (1988), the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (1994), and he contributed to the controversial renovation of La Scala, Milan. But Botta’s signatures of simple geometry, brick surfaces, and ‘neo-realist’ style are seen to best effect in his dramatic Cathedral of the Resurrection at Evry in France, which illustrates this article. Botta’s dramatic use of surface textures is reflected in the 800,000 bricks arranged in geometrical designs, while the building’s form is a truncated cylinder. There is extensive use of glass between the roof and walls to provide natural light, and the floor of the nave is black granite.


The details pick up on the post-modern theme. The tower is crowned with twenty-four lime trees symbolising life (see the header photo), while the east window contains another tree reference. The Christ above the High Altar (see photo above) was made in Tanzania in the early 20th century, and the Virgin is a wooden statue from the 16th century, while sheets of petrified wood from the Arizona desert are used elsewhere.


The cathedral was constructed between 1992 and 1995, and the consecration in 1996 reflected the post-modern theme with a performance of Jacques Loussier’s Messe Lumieres. Loussier’s prodigous reworkings of Bach can sometimes sound like ‘elevator music’, but his so called Mass for the 21st century (Messe Baroque du 21 Siècle) is one of his most distinguished works, with its stylistic debt to Carl Orff and Stravinsky. Sadly (or should that be predictably?) this most distinctive of Loussier's compositions has disappeared totally from the CD catalogue, and is exceedingly difficult to find. Any readers with information on availability or re-issue please post below.

My money is on Norman Foster’s Madison Avenue tower being built. If it does it would be great to follow the example of Loussier’s Messe Lumieres by commissioning the contemporary music equivalent of a 30 storey glass tower. There is a great tradition of contemporary music celebrating new buildings, ranging from Britten’s War Requiem celebrating the rebuilding of Coventry Cathedral, to Morton Feldman’s Rothko Chapel celebrating the ecumenical chapel built in 1971 by the Ménil Foundation in Houston, Texas. What a great double opportunity for New York, a Norman Foster glass tower and a new music commission – step up to the plate you guys over there on Sequenza21!

Image credits, Cathedral of the Resurrection, Evry. Follow this link for the cathedral website, and this one for an interactive tour of the cathedral

For another mix of contemporary music and architecture see Iannis Xenakis composes in glass
Any copyrighted material on these pages is included for "fair use", for the purpose of study, review or critical analysis only, and will be removed at the request of copyright owner(s). Report broken links, missing images and other errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk

Simple Gifts – John Cage

Simple Gifts will be a series of short articles in December highlighting new, and not so new releases that make excellent Christmas gifts. One of the really positive outcomes from the growth of the super-budget labels has been the democratisation of modern music, with exciting non-mainstream composers being made available at taster prizes. Kudos to Naxos for their pioneer work in making modern music affordable, but now another really innovative super-budget label from Holland, Brilliant Classics, has come out with what I nominate as the one of the best new releases of 2006, and certainly the perfect Simple Gift.

John Cage, Complete Music For Prepared Piano delivers exactly what it says on the can, and the can only cost me £10 ($19.66) from my excellent local independent record store. For that staggering low price I got three newly recorded CDs (the most recent recording was made in April 2006) in superb sound, with music ranging from solo prepared piano to Cage’s Amore for Prepared Piano and Percussion, and his Concerto for Prepared Piano and Chamber Orchestra. The prepared pianist is Giancarlo Simonacci, who is also a composer in his own right. He studied at the Salzburg Mozarteum with Aldo Clementi (composition) and Carlo Zecchi (piano), and plays in a piano duo with Gabrielli Morelli.

These three CDs present challenging and exhilarating music, the recordings are excellent, and the beautiful packaging includes an intelligent essay on Cage by Emanuel Overbeeke. John Cage’s Complete Music For Prepared Piano, or a take-out pizza meal? No contest is it?

For more modern music take An Overgrown Path to Iannis Xenakis composes in glass
Any copyrighted material on these pages is included for "fair use", for the purpose of study, review or critical analysis only, and will be removed at the request of copyright owner(s). Report broken links, missing images and other errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk

Britten celebrated with new music campus

Benjamin Britten, composer, pianist, conductor, pacifist, humanitarian, and visionary, died on December 4th 1976. Today I celebrate the thirtieth anniversary of his death with the remarkable story of how he left not just a legacy of 20th century masterpieces, but also a remarkable vision which is about to be realised after three decades.


It was the dearest wish of both the composer and his life partner Peter Pears that a music centre should be created at Snape Maltings, and in 2006 comes the exciting news that this vision is to become reality. Over the next three years the ambitious plan is to transform the musical life of the Suffolk coast immortalised in Peter Grimes and other Britten compositions. Drawing on the inspiring landscape, Snape Maltings will become the first dedicated music campus in Europe where top artists from around the world can realise their full potential and connect with a wider public.


The plan is to establish a ‘creative campus’ on the Snape Maltings site, providing the perfect environment for leading artists to work alongside the next generation of musicians. The new campus will provide a catalyst for Aldeburgh’s other work, generating more performances, new commissions, and touring opportunities. It will provide additional high-quality facilities for the Britten-Pears Young Artists Programme and for their acclaimed work with schools and the wider community.


A budget of £12m ($22m) will be used to purchase a 999 year lease for the legendary concert hall complex, and will also purchase and redevelop adjacent redundant buildings. The new workspaces will complement those already in use, and will combine the simple austerity of the Victorian buildings with the technical needs of the 21st century musician. The centrepiece of the scheme is a large new studio, bigger than the main concert hall stage, and suitable for orchestral rehearsals. It will have excellent acoustics combined with the flexibility and high levels of sound insulation required for recording. Arup Acoustics, the consultancy responsible for the near perfect sound in the main Maltings auditorium, has been retained for the project. When not being used for rehearsals, the new studio will serve as a 340 seat performance venue.


An old malt kiln on the site will be renovated to provide a space large enough to accommodate instrumental groups, and chamber and music-theatre rehearsals, and will be equipped for video/electro-acoustic installations. For performances 80 seats will be available in a flexible configuration, and the renovation will retain the double height space of the original kiln, together with as much of the existing fabric as possible. In addition to these impressive performance spaces the new scheme will create two smaller fully sound-proofed rehearsal studios.


‘Dead Europeans’ and other perjoratives have been used in the past to describe the generations of composers that reached their culmination at the end of the 20th century with Britten and his contemporaries. Britten’s vision was responsible for the building, and rebuilding after the disastrous fire, of Snape Maltings, and the establishment there of one of the world’s foremost contemporary music festivals. There can be no more fitting testament to the continuing influence of Benjamin Britten thirty years after his death than the fulfillment of his vision through the creation of Europe’s first dedicated music campus.

Now read Britten’s manifesto – Music does not exist in a vacuum

With acknowledgements to Aldeburgh Music. For photos of the Snape redevelopment follow this link. Any copyrighted material on these pages is included for "fair use", for the purpose of study, review or critical analysis only, and will be removed at the request of copyright owner(s). Report broken links, missing images and other errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk

Britten shows how everybody can make music

'Everybody can make music. Everybody can compose, somehow. When you want to teach children sports, they play football, or get given a tennis racket, they don't simply watch. But when we want them to be involved in music, we ask them to sit passively. This is surely not the right concept' - Simon Rattle tells it like it is in today's Observer, in an article about the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra's dance project with marginalised children. How true, and I read those words while still on an emotional high from making music for the first, and probably last time in a Britten performance in Snape Maltings under the baton of Stephen Layton.

Tomorrow (December 4th) is the thirtieth anniversary of Benjamin Britten's death. Last night I was at a performance of his cantata St Nicholas as part of Aldeburgh's Britten Weekend, and my music making was a vocal contribution to the two congregational hymns in that wonderful work. They may only be congregational hymns, but the audience were given the sheet music, and in a pre-performance rehearsal Stephen Layton even reprimanded us for not observing the pianissimo marking for the first entry of God Moves In A Mysterious Way.

What an uplifting evening. Not just for the communal music making of almost one thousand voices celebrating Britten's genius, but also for Aldeburgh's continuing commitment to nurturing young musicians. Specific praise goes to the exquisite performance of the Ceremony of Carols by the high voices of the Choir of Trinity College, Cambridge, and the contributions of the young harpist Sally Pryce and the outstanding young tenor Allan Clayton who sung Nicholas, surely a star in the making? The full programme is given below, and the first half was performed as a continuous sequence, without applause. It ended as the bell tolled for the last time in Arvo Pärt's Cantus in memoriam Benjamin Britten with the capacity audience holding their collective breath and the bows of the Britten Sinfonia violins frozen in mid-air. A moment of sheer musical, and emotional magic.

But my special Britten champagne moment came even before the music started. To the side of the Snape auditorium is the box that Britten and Pears created for themselves. To call it a box is too grandiose term, it little more than a slit in the raw brickwork of the Maltings. The boy soloists for St Nicholas watched the first half of the evening from Britten's box. Before the concert started the four very young trebles from Ely Cathedral Choir, immaculately dressed in school uniform, leant over the front of the box laughing and waving to friends in the audience. It was a pure Britten moment. Their faces radiated youth, exuberance, total innocence, and above all a dazzling hope for the future.

Programme for Snape Maltings Concert Hall, December 2nd 2006

Frank Bridge (1879-1941)
Sir Roger de Coverley (A Christmas Dance) (1922)

Benjamin Britten (1913-1976)
A Hymn to the Virgin (1930; Rev 1934)
A Ceremony of Carols, Op. 28 (1942; rev. 1943)
Theme from 'A Boy was Born', Op. 3 (1932-3; rev 157-8)

Arvo Pärt (b. 1935)
Cantus in memoriam Benjamin Britten (1977), for string orchestra and one bell

Interval

Britten
Saint Nicholas, Op. 42 (1947-8)

Britten-Pears Chamber Choir
Choir of Trinity College, Cambridge
Holst Singers
Britten Sinfonia
Boy soloists from Ely Cathedral Choir
Allan Clayton tenor
Sally Pryce harp
Stephen Layton conductor

Now read how music rose from the wreckage at Snape
Header photo shows choristers of Coventry Cathedral with Britten in rehearsal for his War Requiem in Ottobeuren Basilica, West Germany in 1964.
Any copyrighted material on these pages is included as "fair use", for the purpose of study, review or critical analysis only, and will be removed at the request of copyright owner(s). Report broken links, missing images and other errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk

Record company recycles BBC Beethoven downloads

The worst enemy of the record companies are .... the record companies.

Back in June 2005 the record companies collectively squealed like stuck pigs when the BBC offered exclusive free MP3 downloads of the Beethoven Symphonies played by the BBC Philharmonic under Gianandrea Noseda.

In December 2006 record company Chandos offers exclusive MP3 downloads from their website of .... the Beethoven Symphonies played by the BBC Philharmonic under Gianandrea Noseda.

But no, the guys at Chandos are not turncoats. They are charging for them .... £2.50 ($4.97), or the price of a pint of beer, per symphony.

Now read more from the Download doomsayer
Any copyrighted material on these pages is included as "fair use", for the purpose of study, review or critical analysis only, and will be removed at the request of copyright owner(s). Report broken links, missing images and other errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk

Zen and the art of Shostakovich

"When I played Shostakovich's Sixth Symphony in Russia, I put it together with his song-cycle on Japanese texts. There I am emphasising the rather tragic aspect of the symphony, which is often neglected, and also the oriental touch about the first movement. I mean like Zen, like Japanese Zen. If you listen to the flute duet in the middle of the first movement of the Sixth Symphony, with the tam-tam and the harp - it's the most peculiar music, and the only thing it makes you think of is the last movement of Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde. That piece is totally Zen, and Shostakovich said the one piece he would take to a desert island would be Das Lied. But Russians have always had their own specific perception of Buddhism. If you read Tolstoy, a lot of his writings coincide with Buddhist thought, and I think the most Buddhist aspect of Russian culture is its passivity. Now, Shostakovich cannot be counted as passive, but this passage in the Sixth Symphony is completely static."

"I discovered the Tao Te King of Lao Tse about five years ago. It's one of the most important books in the history of mankind. We were never able to have a Bible at home, but this was 1987, so Gorbachev's glasnost was beginning to have its effects, and there were unofficial booksellers on the streets. It was a Bible in Russian, and I still have it. My parents thought I was losing my mind.The way yoga changes your perception of the world is amazing. It's another kind of ecstatic experience."

Designate London Philharmonic principal conductor, and Glyndeborne music director, Vladimir Jurowski (photo above) talks to Tom Service in today's Guardian.

Now see the light with Shostakovich and candles
Any copyrighted material on these pages is included as "fair use", for the purpose of study, review or critical analysis only, and will be removed at the request of copyright owner(s). Report broken links, missing images and other errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk

The rumour about Aids was swelling …

Around forty million people are living with HIV throughout the world, and that number increases in every region every day, with ignorance and prejudice fuelling the spread of a preventable disease. Since HIV was first identified a quarter of a century ago, it has been a stigmatised disease, resulting in silence and denial. Stigma discourages people from testing for HIV or disclosing their status to their partner, and this fuels the spread of the disease. Today is World Aids Day, an event that is committed to breaking down the stigma and silence.

Classical music, and the other creative arts, have suffered terribly from the impact of Aids. I have already written in these pages about the magnificent recording by Scott Ross (left) of the complete Scarlatti harpsichord sonatas. Here, as my small contribution to World Aids Day, is Michel Proulx’s account of Scott’s last years. The idiomatic translation is Michel’s own from his biography of Ross.

From then on, he did nothing but tour and record, and from records to concerts, rapidly becoming the most media covered harpsichordist, to the point of attracting to the instrument, thanks to his performance, a variegated public of which a good part should never have got interested in the harpsichord but for him.

But already there was an urgency. When Catherine Perrin saw him in 1984, at a time when the rumour about AIDS was swelling in a terrifying rumble, he confided with her of his fears. He actually had had bronchitis, the winter before, which had degenerated in pneumonia, and knowing that this was one of the associated diseases, he said he was “mort de trouille” (he got the wind up). And he added that he didn’t want to do the test because he was sure to get confirmation of his fears. There may lie part of the reason for the intense activity which he spread during his last years.

In April 1989, he went to Rome, at the Villa Médicis, where he gave a masterclass for the French Television. One can see him very thinned down and weakened by the attacks of the disease. As he had no Social Security (Medicare), he did not take care of himself well, and it is also possible that he saw no good reason for looking after himself correctly. I have been told that he took whatever he could find as medicine, and one might speculate that (but what is it that couldn’t be done with ‘ifs’) maybe he would have survived, with good medical care.

Actually, he was an illegal alien for the French administration who wanted to have him expelled, and would have, had it not been for the intervention of some friends of him, of which some influent members of the Regional Council for Culture, who represented the Prefect how silly he would have looked for the media, if this happened.

In the course of his last months, he was looked after by his friends, especially David Ley, harpsichord maker, who had built his second double manual instrument, and Monique Davos, who had been an assistant director for the first Festival de Radio-France et de Montpelier, in 1983. According to testimonials, there was a sort of competition between both these persons for the care of Scott, and Mrs Davos was an advocate of the use of intensive medication. It seems that this was the cause of a Homeric struggle between her and those who wished him to die in peace. It was James Ross Jr. who finally brought Scott back to Assas, by the end of May.

On the following June 13, he passed away in his little house in Assas. His brother James, who had insisted upon coming to see him, assisted him right at the end. As, obviously, Scott had prepared nothing for the circumstances, it is James who took care of everything and it is he who asked for the rights of his records to be paid to the profit of an organization devised to help young harpsichordists. Unfortunately, I could find no trace of that organization, if ever it existed, nor could I trace back Scott’s brother who seems to have vanished in the haze.

After the cremation at the Grammont Funeral Center in Montpelier, Scott’s ashes were dispersed over the village of Assas from a small aircraft, according to his last wishes.

The recording of Scarlatti's 555 sonatas was started by Scott Ross on 16th June 1984. Ninety-eight sessions were required, and the last take was completed on 10th September 1985. In all, there had been eight thousand takes.
Scott Ross died of an Aids related illness on 13th June 1989, he was 38

Any copyrighted material on these pages is included for "fair use", for the purpose of study, review or critical analysis only, and will be removed at the request of copyright owner(s). Report broken links, missing images and other errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk