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In the coming weeks there will be some much-needed silence between the notes as An Overgrown Path takes a summer break. Do support other music blogs here and here while I am away, or even better go to a live concert.
...listen, there's a hell
of a good universe next door; let's go
e.e. cummings
Photo of detail in Musée de Marrakech, Morocco (c) On An Overgrown Path 2008. Report broken links, missing images and errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk
Yesterday's post about ArkivMusic's reissue of David Munrow's The Art of Courtly Love reminds me that there are also some fine re-issues in Teldec's Das Alte Werk's 50th anniversary series. Particularly notable is Troubadours, Trouvères, Minstrels from Thomas Binkley's (left) under-rated and pioneering Studio der Frühen Musik who also recorded for EMI Electrola's ground-breaking, but so far not re-issued, Reflexe series. Yet more evidence that the tills are alive with the sound of early music.
Image credit Indiana University. 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 errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk
News comes from Future Radio that one of the station's four salaried team members has lost his job because of funding pressures. Producer Dan Nyman has been a huge support for my various Overgrown Path projects and will be badly missed. Future Radio is a not-for-profit community station and the rest of the team (including me) are volunteers committed to exploring alternative programming and new media opportunities, and the impressive download figures for projects such as my podcast of the music of Peter Paul Fuchs show it is working. Donations to support the running costs of the station can be made via PayPal.
Elsewhere comes news that the BBC's management has been accused of "poor financial accountability" by the BBC Trust after it emerged that the corporation went almost £36m over budget in its spending on bbc.co.uk in the past financial year. A review of bbc.co.uk published by the trust shows that the actual spend in the 12 months to the end of March 2008 on the corporation's UK web operations was £110m - almost £36m, or 48%, above what had been budgeted. The review by the BBC Trust, the corporation's governance and regulatory body, branded this incident a "serious breach" of bbc.co.uk's service licence. The BBC's income in 2007 was £3.2 billion financed by a non-negotiable license fee paid by all UK TV viewers.
"All that you can do is to make - and publicise - the best and most passionately well-crafted programmes you can think of. Ratings have to be watched, but calmly and with a sense of proportion. You have to believe that if even one person is swayed, or inspired, or changed, or comforted, by a programme, then that programme has been worthwhile" - Libby Purves in Radio: A True Love Story.
The good news is that people are being swayed and inspired.
Dan Nyman can be contacted via me using the email address below. 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 errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk
The CD is fighting back by connecting with its inner child, the vinyl LP. Check out this wonderful list of budget-priced re-issues of vinyl classics from Everst which includes Carlos Chavez conducting his own symphonies , Barbirolli conducting Ravel and Boult conducting Hindemith, the latter CD playing for precisely 29 minutes 47 seconds; is that really a record? Cue a tale of two Chavez.
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 errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk
Steinway Musical Instruments, Inc. has announced it has acquired ArkivMusic, LLC, an online retailer of classical music recordings. Specializing in the efficient delivery of a broad selection of classical music titles direct to the consumer, ArkivMusic sells over 90,000 titles, including thousands of previously out-of-print recordings produced "on-demand" through its ArkivCD program. The company's annual revenue growth rate has accelerated over the last four years, exceeding 30% in 2007, with sales last year of just over $8 million. ArkivMusic will continue to operate independently as a wholly owned subsidiary of Steinway.
ArkivMusic has a business model that the struggling major record labels can learn a few things from as it combines the strengths of physical product with the benefits of a minimum inventory technology based business. An example is their licensing and making available "on-demand" EMI's David Munrow back-catalogue, the latest release being The Art of Courtly Love. There is a wonderful irony that as EMI's new owner Guy Hands pontificates about finding "a solution to the problems that face the entire recorded music industry" other smart companies are building those very solutions with EMI's crown jewels.
Read about David Munrow on the record here.
With thanks to T E McCarthy for pointing me down this 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 errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk
Glance at the retouched CD sleeve above from EMI's new budget priced American Classics series. What is the music? - Grofé's Grand Canyon Suite or, perhaps, Copland's Rodeo or Billy the Kid? No, as the original sleeve below shows, it is three masterpieces from that most cerebral of composers, Elliott Carter.
The marketing trick of 'every cover picture tells a different story to the music' has been around since the dawn of the LP age. It continues today, in the twilight of the CD era, with, for example, the excellent Warner Apex budget reissues of Boulez resorting to soft focus library images of flowers. But if the cover image doesn't affect sales why not use typography, as HatHut do with their [now]Art label? And if it does affect sales why couple an easy on the eye photo of the Grand Canyon with an excellent CD containing what a perceptive sleeve note by Martin Cotton calls 'a tough listen'.
Connecting with new audiences for contemporary music is quite rightly a pre-occupation on the blogs and elsewhere. But how many floating listeners will buy this £8 CD expecting to hear contemporary music's Grand Canyon Suite, only to feel misled by the visual 'recommendation'? Isn't it better to manage expectations than flatter to deceive? In today's credit crunch markets cost is the excuse that covers all manner of sins. Yes, library images are cheap. But so is the creative use of typography or royalty free deals (as are used so aggressively by the record companies for the music itself) with ambitious young artists and photographers. Independent label Soli deo Gloria shows how it can be done with their attention-grabbing covers using the powerful photos of Steve McCurry.
Surely a new series celebrating the music of America, that most graphic of countries, just cries out for contemporary graphics? Coverless MP3 downloads may be the new wave, but not yet in the budget market where these American Classics CDs are over-the-counter impulse buys. Low priced re-releases like this are an important vehicle for expanding the market for new music, and as Alan Rich explains in his excellent book Music - Mirror of the Arts the visual arts are a powerful tool for making contemporary music accessible.
'The listener who feels out of touch with some of today's musical developments can, beyond any question, enhance his understanding of this music by observing contemporary developments in painting, sculpture and architecture. For the separate arts do not exist in isolation. Together they provide a key to the prevailing creative impulses of their time: a firsthand report, worded directly from the inner consciousness of the creators themselves. Together they form a body which draws upon the spirit of the time, each in its own way. Together they attest strongly to the integrity of the whole of artistic creation.'
The feeble imagery on this EMI re-issue is the greater pity because the music and performances are so good and the price is so affordable. If you don't have Carter's Concerto for Orchestra, Violin Concerto and Ives influenced Three Occasions for Orchestra in your collection this is a 'must buy'. If you have the works but not these performances by Oliver Knussen, the London Sinfonietta and violinist Ole Böhn you are missing something quite special. And the gorgeous sound captured by engineer Tryggvi Tryggvason in Henry Wood Hall and Blackheath Concert Halls in 1992 is confirmation that the fine art of sleeve design may be dead, but the black art of great recorded sound lives on.
Now this is what I call great sleeve art.
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 errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk
AfriClassical reports that in a last minute change African American conductor James DePriest, who is Director of Conducting and Orchestral Studies at the Juilliard School and nephew of Marian Anderson, will not, as previously announced, be leading the Juilliard Orchestra in their imminent tour of China which takes in Beijing and Shanghai. Instead the concerts will be led by Chinese conductor Xian Zhang.
Elsewhere in an unrelated news item leading artists agency Harrison Parrott has just announced the opening of a Shanghai office and says about its new Chinese venture - 'Harrison Parrott's programme for the future includes orchestral tours, artists and special projects as we build on our collaboration with the presenting halls and orchestras ... From an artist management perspective we are proud to represent conductor Xian Zhang with her rapidly accelerating international career.'
More music behind the great firewall of China here.
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 errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk
On 29 September 1958 John Barbirolli conducted Part 1 of Gerontius with the Dublin Choir in the presence of Pope Pius XII at Castel Gandolfo, only a few days before the Pope's death. 'I have often wondered', he wrote, 'what the feelings of Newman and Elgar would be if they could know that the last music [the Pope] heard had been Elgar's setting of Newman's words "Go forth upon thy journey, Christian soul". As Barbirolli knelt before him, the Pope said: 'Figlio mio, questo e un capolavoro sublime' ('My son, that is a sublime masterpiece').
The header photo shows Sir John Barbirolli recording The Dream of Gerontius in 1964 in the Free Trade Hall, Manchester. No CD collection is complete without Barbirolli's Manchester account or Benjamin Britten's version which was recorded in Snape Maltings, the latter is now, thankfully, back in the catalogue - grab it while you can. Also noteworthy is the recent first-ever CD release of Barbirolli conducting Gerontius in Rome in 1957 with the RAI Rome Symphony Orchestra and Chorus. This super-budget version from Archipel has come available because the original recording issued on LP is now out of copyright. Despite the poor quality of the RAI sound the Rome recording is an important historical document as it is the only version with the incomparable Jon Vickers in the title role (the Hallé version has Richard Lewis). But Barbirolli's Manchester version is the one to have, as the Holy Father said 'that is a sublime masterpiece'.
Now read about Glorious John in New York.
Quotation from Barbirolli, the Authorised Biography by Michael Kennedy. The Dublin Choir was from Our Lady's Choral Society. 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 errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk
My photos show textiles and other artefacts from a wonderful collection that celebrates the art of the Sahara. A major geographic and cultural barrier, the Sahara is the world's largest hot desert and the second largest desert of any type after Antarctica. Following the Islamic conversion of West Africa in the seventh and eighth centuries important trade routes opened-up across the Sahara connecting North Africa and Europe with sub-Saharan Africa using Berber guides who also supplied camels.
One of the earliest trading routes connected the Senegal and Mali regions south of the Sahara to Sijilmasa in southern Morocco and then on to Marrakech and to European Moorish al-Andalus. As well as transporting gold and slaves north the route also became a very early communications channel along which cultural influences travelled and my photos show exhibits in the remarkable museum recording the multi-cultural development of the Sahara region which was created in Marrakech by the Dutch anthropologist Bert Flint.
Flint was born in Groningen in Holland in 1931 and after studying Islamic and Hispanic art and culture moved to Marrakech in 1957 where he taught art while continuing to study Andalusian-Arab culture. Over the years his focus increasingly turned to rural culture and he built up an important collection of artefacts from the Saharan region through his extensive travels which reached as far as Mali to the south of the Sahara.
In 1981 Bert Flint opened his private collection in a beautifully restored riad, the Maison Tiskiwin, to the public, and it is there that my photos were taken. In 2006 he donated the riad and the major part of his collection to the city of Marrakech and the museum is now administered by the University of Marrakech as a wonderful antidote to the 'lifestyle tourism' that is in danger of submerging the city.
Now playing - The Mandé Variations by Toumani Diabaté; brought up in Bamako, capital of Mali, and son of one of the country's leading griot musicians Toumani Diabaté is one of the best known exponents of the twenty-one string African harp known as the kora. Griot musicians are part of an oral tradition which also includes the storytellers of Morocco who featured in an earlier article here. In recent years Toumani Diabaté has been responsible for the emergence of the kora from ensemble to solo instrument, and this move continues with The Mandé Variations which lay Western pop, Indian classical, flamenco and blues over a foundation of Malian griot music. As a member of the harp family the sound of the kora is not alien to Western ears which means this album is an excellent and accessible introduction to the musical art of the Sahara region.
Judith Weir wrote an opera set in the desert. OK, I know Verdi did as well.
Photos (c) On An Overgrown Path 2008. Report broken links, missing images and errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk
I don't want to write about it and I'm sure not many want to read about it, but here's the link if you must. Or you could ...
Report broken links, missing images and errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk
'My favourite music is the music I haven't heard' - John Cage.
Try some music I'm pretty certain you haven't heard tonight at 0.01am May 26 UK time (Sunday afternoon or evening North American, find the local time here) when Future Radio webcasts a complete African trance ritual together with a minimal trance set as a contribution to cleaning the ears of the musically educated.
Header image was photographed by me at an exhibition of contemporary graphics inspired by Islamic typography in the Badii Palace, Marrakech, and I'm sorry but I don't have a note of the artists name. Photo (c) On An Overgrown Path 2008.Report broken links, missing images and errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk
He has set up his own highly successful record company and is an acclaimed instrumentalist, composer, conductor, musicologist and intercultural ambassador for the European Union. He has received two Grammy nominations for his film soundtracks, his album of music from the film Tous les matins du monde has sold more than a million copies and last year he performed 182 concerts. Jordi Savall is 67.
You can hear him in conversation with me at 5.00pm May 25 and 0.50am May 28 UK time on Future Radio. Now read why youth is a state of mind, not a time of life.
Header photo is from Jordi Savall and Hesperion XXI's Orient-Occident CD which will feature on my Future Radio programme. 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 errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk
'Had Sigi been able to pursue his education without interruption in Austria he might have followed a profession other than that of a musician. He has an excellent mind and says he would have liked to have been a scientist; but he is also a gifted linguistic and competent in many fields. He once called himself a frustrated footballer. The cellist William Pleeth, with whom the Amadeus frequently played, summed up his relationship with Sigi in these words: "I feel I can talk to Sigi all day and night. When you have an affection for someone, then you are contetedly alive with that person, there are no reservations spiritually, humanity-wise and intellectually, and you play ping-ping non-stop".' Muriel Nissel writes of her husband Siegmund Nissel (far right in photo above), second violin of the Amadeus Quartet, who died on May 21, 2008.
The last time I heard the Amadeus play was in the Philharmonie in Berlin shortly before the death of their viola player Peter Schidlof brought their performing career to a premature end in 1987. It was a privilege to have heard them making music live. Fortunately they left many fine recordings behind, their CD of Haydn's Emperor Quartet, op. 76 No. 3 plays as I write.
Speaking of ping-pong.
Quotation from Married to the Amadeus Quartet by Muriel Nissel (ISBN 1900357127 which is highly recommended. 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 errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk
'If something is boring for one minute try it for two, and if it is still boring, try it for four minutes; eventually one discovers it is interesting' - Zen saying.
Find out whether the Zen masters are right this holiday weekend when my Future Radio programme scores another first with the broadcast premiere of a complete African trance ritual recorded in the Medina of Marrakech, Morocco. The performance is by traditional gnawa musicians (photo above) and has been made possible by a collaboration between the Norwich community station Future Radio 96.9FM and KamarStudios who are based in Marrakech and New York.
Marrakech is known as the Gate of Black Africa and gnawa music came to Morocco from sub-Saharan Africa with the slave trade. For centuries gnawa has only been played in secret spirit-possession and healing ceremonies called lilas that evolved from ancient African animistic and Islamic Sufi rituals. In these religious rites healing spirits are said “to mount” the possessed, who whirl and writhe in an ecstatic trance.
Recordings of the gnawa trance rituals are very rare as they are performed in private. But KamarStudios have worked with leading gnawa musicians to record the complete ‘black’ section of the twelve hour long Nights of the Seven Colours trance ritual which celebrates the creation of the universe. The ‘black’ ritual lasts for two hours and in a broadcast first will be aired on Future Radio without interruption. The performance is led by gnawa master musician Abbes Baska Larfaoui supported by eighteen musicians and dancers.
Gnawa music, which combines vocals with repetitive and intricate cross rhythms on percussion has many connections with contemporary music and now has its own festival at Essaouira on the Moroccan coast which attracts an international audience, while Steve Reich and many other contemporary composers have been influenced by African drum rhythms.
To reflect these contemporary connections the broadcast of the sacred lilas is being paired with a one hour set which combines the traditional gnawa musicians with two young Marrakech DJs whose influences range from Philip Glass to Bill Laswell. This one hour electro-acoustic ‘minimalist trance’ set concludes the webcast which starts on Future Radio at 12.01am UK time early on Monday morning May 26 which is Sunday afternoon or evening in North America, find precise local time here.
Remember also my interview with Jordi Savall which is being broadcast at 5.00pm UK time this Sunday May 25. As the gnawa trance broadcast takes the usual Overgrown Path repeat slot early on Monday morning the Jordi Savall interview is getting a special repeat at 12.01am on Wednesday May 28, which is Tuesday afternoon or evening in North America.
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 errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk
Jordi Savall's office in Spain was quite certain, he really wanted to give an interview On An Overgrown Path when he was in Norwich. The maestro (above) even phoned me back from his home in Barcelona to say yes, he would definitely find time. I couldn't raise him again on his mobile phone after he arrived in England, but on the morning of the concert I met him at his signing session and he told me to come to the concert venue of St Peter Mancroft at the end of the sound-check at 6.45pm, and he would do the interview between the rehearsal and the 7.30pm concert start. But I arrived at St Peter Mancroft at 6.30pm to find a disaster. The taxi sent to collect him had arrived at his hotel 30 minutes late. So everything was behind schedule and the event manager thought an interview was unlikely. But a message came back from the maestro, he would do the interview after 7.00pm.
The sound-check finished late at 7.05pm and as the capacity audience started to fill the church a charming but tired Jordi Savall said he wanted a cup of tea before facing my microphone. Just after 7.10pm the recording started to the side of the stage in view of some of the audience and soon it really started to flow. But with five minutes to go to the concert start time and only half my questions asked it looked as though On An Overgrown Path might go down in history as the first blog to delay the start of a Norwich Festival concert. So I decided discretion was the better part of valour and bailed out using my scripted exit which thanked the maestro for his time. At which point, and we were now four minutes from the start of the concert, to my disbelief he said 'I just want to say one more thing...' and went on to deliver a short but inspirational message about the power of music and the need inner peace.
He never missed a beat, the concert started on time and was, of course, magnificent. And after it had ended many of the audience wouldn't leave, and the four musicians from Hesperion XXI stayed on stage for some time to talk to members of the audience about the rare instruments they had been playing including an oud, rebab, santur and 100 year old Moroccan drum. The next morning was Sunday, and Jordi Savall was leaving his hotel in Norwich at 7.00am to return to Spain. Before the interview he told me had played 182 concerts last year.
Hear my just-in-time interview complete with audience noise and Jordi Savall's message on inner peace on Future Radio at 5.00pm on Sunday May 25 repeated at 00.01am on Wednesday May 28. Or listen to the podcast which will be also be available on May 25.
The words 'Prayer for inner and outer peace' are written in Beethoven's own hand in the manuscript of his Missa Solemnis over the line in which the 'Dona nobis' theme first appears. 'For Inner and Outer Peace' was also used as the title of a moving book (below) inspired by Beethoven's masterpiece and written by another great musician and humanitarian. Read more about Antal Dorati here.
Now playing - the Sanctus from Beethoven's Missa Solemnis in the recording with Philippe Herreweghe conducting the Choeurs de La Chapelle Royale and the Collegium Vocale Gent, the Orchestre des Champs-Élysées and soloists. It is surprising how many of today's 'jet set' conductors have failed to scale this peak of Beethoven's creativity satisfactorily. Like Jordi Savall, Philippe Herreweghe built his reputation in early music, but, also like the Catalan musician, for Herreweghe there is no early, classical or contemporary music, just music. For me Herreweghe's performance, which was recorded live at a concert, is one of the great interpretations of Beethoven's masterpiece, as indeed is Dorati's own on BIS. Dorati's version is still in the catalogue but his book and Herreweghe's recording are both, alas, no longer available. Dorati's book was published by International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, read more about their vital work for inner and outer peace here.
Photo of Jordi Savall taken by my wife during the just-in-time interview and (c) On An Overgown Path 2008. Report broken links, missing images and errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk
'Neglected genius' and 'undiscovered masterpiece' have become devalued marketing-speak following the John Foulds World Requiem debacle last year. And yes, I know I've used those words myself enough times. But recently both here and on Future Radio I have tried simply to present the music, irrespective of how well or little known the composer is. The music itself is the best advocate of a composer's powers and the listener is the best judge. So as presenter I now try simply to be a conduit for the artist's genius, or otherwise. In that spirit I am discussing a composer today who will probably be as unfamiliar to most readers as he was to me until recently, and my best introduction is to say I was very surprised I had not come across him before.
Maurice Ohana's musical influences are truly multi-cultural. He was born in Casablanca , Morocco in 1913 one year after the Treaty of Fès imposed French rule on the country. He came from Sephardic-Jewish stock and his parents were of Spanish-Gibraltarian origin and held British nationality as a result of the Gibraltar connection. This meant that Ohana was a British citizen until he became a French national in 1976. But although the British side of his parents determined his nationality it was his Spanish ancestry coupled with his exposure to traditional tribal music from Morocco and sub-Saharan Africa and Afro-Cuban folk-music that helped forge his musical style. The photos accompanying this post were all taken during my recent visit to Morocco and I hope they give a flavour of the unique culture that helped mould the young composer.
The teenage Ohana left Morocco to study architecture in Paris, a vocation he shared with Iannis Xenakis. But he soon switched his studies to music and became a concert pianist on graduating. He worked as pianist with a Spanish dance group and became immersed in the music of Falla, Albéniz and Granados. But he saw his future as a composer and in 1937 enrolled in the composition class at the Schola Cantorum in Paris where Renaissance polyphony added another layer to his cosmopolitan composition style. His studies were cut short by the outbreak of the Second World War and, unlike several other composers, Ohana was committed to fighting the horror of Fascism. He escaped to Britain via Portugal in 1940 and saw active service with the British Army in several theatres of war.
When Ohana returned to Paris after demobilisation in 1946 he found himself marginalised by what he considered to be doctrinaire groups who had pursued their music careers during the German occupation. Although Ohana's voice was contemporary and he certainly wasn't swimming against the tide of modernism he felt out of sympathy with Boulez and other members of the Darmstadt School. So Ohana joined with three like-minded composers to form the Groupe Zodiaque which was committed to freedom of musical expression developed from sources such as folk music and plainchant rather than the perceived tyranny of tone rows. This group gained support from Henri Dutilleux and other contemporary composers. But Ohana's refusal to align himself with the fashionable avant-garde left him unclassified and largely unknown outside France. Sixteen years after his death he remains an overlooked figure, a sad and surprising situation given the huge impact of Hispanic culture on contemporary North America.
But at this point I am going to break from the chronological narrative because I've noticed several readers logging off with a resigned sigh saying 'Oh no, here we go again, Ohana is just a late-20th century John Foulds'. Please stop before you leave. Because Maurice Ohana was not a disciple of Darmstadt and IRCAM does not mean he was a reactionary who spent his time writing 'comfort music'. His stylistic influences were pretty eclectic even if they did not include the holy trinity of Boulez, Messiaen and Stockhausen. That great figure of twentieth century music Igor Stravinsky was a major influence with Ohana's Livre des Prodiges (“Book of the Prodigies”) for orchestra paying homage to the Rite through quotation, while some of Ohana's progressive counterpoint recalls Witold Lutoslawski and there are also hints of Carl Orff in his writing for voices.
Among Ohana's early influences are de Falla with whom he shared a passion for the harpsichord, and Ohana's own wonderfully edgy contribution to the harpsichord repertoire looks forward to Xenakis and shares Elisabeth Chojnacka as an advocate. Ohana's orchestral balances were of the moment and favoured piano and percussion over strings, and he explored new techniques including the use of micro-intervals and writing for the voice as instrument rather than narrator. But counterbalancing these contemporary credentials were references to the past including Medieval and Renaissance Spain and Andalusian flamenco.
But I'm going off track again. Ohana would probably have hated my dogmatic attempts to categorise his output, and anyway the music is his most eloquent advocate. For just £12 ($24) you can buy Erato's superb 4CD overview of Maurice Ohana's music which includes what is arguably his finest work Syllabaire pour Phèdre from 1967 together with Livres des prodiges from 1979, plus his first cello concerto and some of his fine music for harpsichord played by the incomparable Elisabeth Chojnacka and much more supported by a fine essay from the composer's biographer Caroline Rae. As I said at the beginning I'm just the conduit. But, believe me, the music of Maurice Ohana is well worth unlocking. My copies of the Erato discs have received far more than the industry standard 1.3 playings and they will be receiving an airing soon on my Future Radio programme. So for this contemporary composer from Casablanca it really is - play it again Ohana
Maurice Ohana website here, read about the Sephardic Jews here.
With thanks to David Derrick for giving me the key to this particular door. All photos (c) On An Overgrown Path 2008. Report broken links, missing images and errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk
The Berlin Philharmonic has a close encounter with fire. Some, but fortunately not too much, damage to the Philharmonie (above), so it wasn't the orchestra's darkest hour. But moving their concerts to alternative venues must bring dark memories. And close encounters with fire reminds me it happened not once but twice to the Philadelphia Orchestra. But the inferno at Britten's Snape Maltings was music's greatest tragedy and triumph.
Image credit Wikipedia. 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 errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk
"Herbert Eimert, who was a critic of Kölnische Rundschau, was a gentle patriarchal figure whom many people found rather unapproachable. In the following years he was to become Stockhausen's paternalistic sponsor, paving his way for his first performances and employment at WDR (West German Radio). Eimert himself had dabbled in composition. The bases of his musical thinking were measure and number; he was deeply impressed when he later found these features in the construction of the Moorish Alhambra Palace in Southern Spain (above), describing it as 'serial music in terms of architecture'" - from Stockhausen - A Biography by Michael Kurtz (Faber ISBN 057117146). Which is also where the graphic below from Stockhausen's score for Zyklus came from.
The recent release of Stimmung by the Theatre of Voices directed by Paul Hillier has been spending a lot of time in my CD player. This is the first recording of this work for more than twenty years, and follows on from Paul Hillier's recent CD of Terry Riley's In C which was recorded in Copenhagen with the Danish vocal group Ars Nova. Stimmung also comes from Copenhagen, but this time with Theatre of Voices who now include several singers from Ars Nova. It seems that football teams aren't the only ones transferring players.
Now see how Iannis Xenakis composed in glass.
Photo credit Wikipedia. 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
For the first time ever, the legendary centenary production of Wagner's The Mastersingers, conducted by Reginald Goodall (above) and broadcast live from Sadler's Wells Theatre on 10 February 1968 is being released by Chandos on CD as a commercial recording. The 4-CD set is currently being re-mastered from the tapes of a BBC Radio 3 live broadcast from Sadler's Wells Theatre and is scheduled for July release. The cast includes Alberto Remedios as Walther von Stolzing, Norman Bailey as Hans Sachs, Derek Hammond-Stroud as Sixtus Beckmesser and Gregory Dempsey as David, and those of us who were privileged to see this production will remember it as a life-enhancing and life-changing experience.
As I recounted in an earlier article the resounding success of the 1968 Mastersingers brought Reginald Goodall in from the musical wilderness and led to his conducting an 'English' Ring at the London Coliseum in the 1970s. This Ring Cycle was commercially recorded and released originally by EMI on LP, and after that company fell into the hands of accountants it was re-released by Chandos who are doing a magnificent job of keeping these great performances available. But please Chandos, can you do something about your website? It may be cutting-edge and allow the purchase of MP3 files, but the search facility is terrible. Which is why the link above to the Goodall Ring points to Amazon.
It is very good news that this great 'lost recording' of The Mastersingers is at last being released commercially by Chandos to sit in their catalogue alongside that great English Ring. But it does beg the question why it needs an independent record company to exploit this legendary material from the BBC archive? What about the BBC's own appropriately named BBC Legends record label which already has some Goodall material in its catalogue? The BBC's reasons for licensing this priceless material to Chandos escapes me, but I'm quite sure they have nothing to do with the Goodall ENO Ring competing with the Covent Garden Heritage label's own Die Meistersinger recording which just happens to be released this month by the same company as is responsible for BBC Legends.
Now read the full story in Reginald Goodall - the holy fool.
Picture credit from Reggie, the Life of Reginald Goodall by John Lucas. Highly recommended but like many great things, currently out of print. But I do notice that author John Lucas has a new biography of Thomas Beecham scheduled for autumn publication by music specialists Boydell & Brewer. 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 errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk
This visual celebration of different cultures starts a week of cultural diversity On An Overgrown Path. I took the photos in the Majorelle Gardens in Marrakech, Morocco. These famous gardens were created in North Africa in the 1930s by two generations of French artists, Jacques and Louis Majorelle and are now owned by Yves Saint Laurent who was born in Oran, French Algeria.
My week's celebration will culminate with two exclusive Future Radio programmes over the coming holiday weekend. At 5.00pm UK time on Sunday May 25 I will present an interview I recorded with Jordi Savall minutes before he went on stage last night with Hesperion XXl for the rapturously received closing concert of the 2008 Norfolk & Norwich Festival. Hear Jordi Savall talking about the relationship between early, contemporary and world music, about the music of Arvo Pärt, about the shortcomings of major record labels and about music as a humanitarian force in this exclusive interview. Jordi Savall's Norwich concert presented music from his Occident-Orient project, and my programme will also feature this truly multi-cultural music.
My interview with Jordi Savall will be followed a few hours later by another multi-cultural celebration, the webcast premiere of a complete African trance ritual recorded in the medina of Marrakech, Morocco. The performance is played by traditional gnawa musicians and is being broadcast at 12.01am on May 26 on Future Radio followed by a contemporary 'minimal trance' set.
Now playing - Rimsky-Korsakov's Symphonic Suite after "A Thousand and One Nights" Scheherazade in the classic 1959 recording by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra conducted by Fritz Reiner. It is easy to understand from this extraordinary performance why Reiner was feared and hated by members of his orchestra. It is hard-driven with almost impossible tempi for the exposed parts and the result is one of the wonders of the gramophone. Not a first choice for Scheherazade, but no CD collection should be without it. Meanwhile back at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra it is still love 'em, hate 'em.
All photos (c) On An Overgrown Path 2008. Report broken links, missing images and errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk
Dear Bob, I just listened to your brilliant program on composers in exile. Bravo to you and to Future Radio.
Thank you for playing Peter Paul Fuch's music (photo above). I do hope that you will have some interesting feedback. Thank you also for helping me discover Karl Weigl's music. I must admit that I really knew nothing of it, and it's wonderful.
I must now run to rehearsal this evening, we're an hour later here. Bravo, et à bientôt..
Adrian McDonnell, Orchestra de la Cité International, Paris
Hear Composers in Exile repeated tonight at 12.50am UK time May 19 (that is Sunday evening North American time, convert to local time zones here) or download Peter Peter Paul Fuchs' music on An Overgrown Path podcast.
We may not be BBC Radio 3, but strong enthusiasm really can change the world.
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Tinkle, tinkle, pi-a-no,
Only thirty-six hours to go
Just one timbre all weekend
How we wish this stuff would end
Drive the listeners away
Gone to CFM to play.
The few listeners that BBC Radio 3 has left are resorting to doggerel on the station's website to deride this week-end's ill-conceived Chopin Experience. Instead of opting for more of the same on Classic FM why don't they try some Chopin therapy here?
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Here are three very good reasons to try the Future Radio experience. All the broadcasts are available on the internet plus 96.9FM in the Norwich, UK area. Times are UK (convert to local here) and more details on the two marathon projects will follow nearer the broadcast dates.
May 18 & 19 - As relief from BBC Radio 3's endless Chopin Experience you can listen on Sunday May 18 at 5.oopm (repeated May 19) to music in exile by Bohuslav Martinu, Karl Weigl and Peter Paul Fuchs. The webcast of Peter Paul Fuchs' Five Miniatures for chamber ensemble from private tapes is a Future Radio first. Grammy winning conductor John McLaughlin Williams knew Fuchs and he sent me this comment after listening to the advance podcast of this Sunday's programme - 'I hope you'll have a wide audience for the Fuchs/Weigl broadcast. I downloaded the Fuchs and it's interesting. Sounds just like I imagined his mature music would. Merits further investigation'.
May 26 12.01am (this is a holiday weekend in both UK and US) - After the complete Inner Cities comes another Future Radio first with the broadcast premiere of a complete African trance ritual recorded in the medina of Marrakech, Morocco. The performance is played by traditional gnawa musicians (above) and has been made possible by a collaboration between Future Radio and KamarStudios who are based in Marrakech and New York. The trance ritual lasts for approximately two hours and will be followed by a one hour minimal trance set combining the traditional gnawa musicians with two young Marrakech DJs whose influences include Philip Glass and Bill Laswell.
August 25 12.01am (UK holiday) - a complete webcast of Kaikhosru Sorabji's epic piano cycle Opus Clavicembalisticum played by Geoffrey Douglas Madge without any announcements or other interruptions. Just think, four hours of radio without once having to endure Petroc Trelawney. Do join thousands of other happy new ears for the Future Radio experience.
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'Denis Wick (previous 1st Trombone LSO) put it this way. Playing symphony brass is like flying a Jumbo. Long periods of boredom with nothing to do, followed by a few minutes of terror when you land the plane' - says Steve Freeman on I don't worry about status.
Now how about the Art of Fugue for brass?
Photo credit Los Gatos Observer. 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 errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk
Email received on May 15, 2008 - WGBH 89.7 Presents a Virtual First on May 27 with Live Second Life® Concert Event. On Tuesday, May 27 at 11am, WGBH 89.7 will embark on one of the more innovative classical music events in recent memory when pianist Jeremy Denk performs a concert in the WGBH Fraser Performance Studio that will simultaneously broadcast live on air, on the web, and in the virtual online 3-D world, Second Life®.
Overgrown Path August 14, 2007 - Next month, a British orchestra will stage the first full-scale symphonic concert on Second Life.The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic has created a virtual, 3-D version of its concert hall and on September 14 users of the website will be able to attend a concert led by the orchestra's chief conductor, Vasily Petrenko.
Ah, I get it, it's a virtual first. Or perhaps this is a record?
Second Life mirror image from here with thanks. 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 errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk
Mixing it is the way forward- Pierre Boulez did it in his Domaine Musical concerts in Paris in the 1950s when he played Bach, Machaut and Dufay alongside Stockhausen, Maderna and Cage, Stravinsky did it in 1960 when he recomposed three of Gesualdo's madrigals for instruments, David Munrow did it in 1975 with The Art of the Recorder which put music from the Middle Ages alongside Britten and Hindemith, the Hilliard Ensemble did it in 1993 when they added jazz saxophone to Morales' Officium defuntorum, while in 2000 Kent Nagano did it in Berlin by programming Mahler with Ockeghem, and confirmed that mixing it really is the way forward by selling the Philharmonie Hall out.
Now The Orlando Consort, Paul Hillier and the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir are doing it with a new release that mixes choral music by Guillaume Dufay and Guillaume de Machaut with twenty-first century works by Tarik O'Regan and Gavin Bryars. The main juxtaposition is Tarik O'Regan's 2006 Scattered Rhymes which is followed by the fourteenth century masterpiece that inspired it, Machaut's Messe de Nostre Dame. And in the brave new world of the download even the performers mix it. Paul Hillier and his Estonian choir only perform for 16 minutes on a 61 minute CD. If you want Paul Hillier just pay to download the first track.
The marketing of this new Harmonia Mundi release also indulges in some gentle mixing, with the sleeve proudly proclaiming Production USA. Now I know my friends in Sequenza21 land are territorial but is Greyfriars Kirk, Edinburgh, Scotland really in the U.S.A? Well I suppose the team of producer Robina G. Young and Soundmirror Inc engineer Brad Michel are from the States, and, as expected, they do a great job of delivering a credible soundstage enhanced by the church acoustics. When all is said and done Scattered Rhymes is an important new work (it reminded me of Joby Talbot's superb 2006 Path of Miracles, which cannot be bad) and 30 year old Tarik O'Regan is mixing it in all the right places with posts at Cambridge (England), Columbia (New York) and Harvard. And most importantly mixing it is a great way to reach new audiences.
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The Detroit Symphony's publicity stunt with Asimo the robot conductor reminded me of this review from the non-too happy period when their new music director was in charge of a leading London orchestra - 'The BBC Symphony Orchestra under Leonard Slatkin gave a vigorous, perhaps slightly mechanical performance of ... Alexander Goehrs' second musical offering (GFH 2001)'.
Alexander Goehr was a member of the Manchester School in the 1950s together with Peter Maxwell Davies, Harrison Birtwistle, Elgar Howarth and John Ogdon, read the story here.
Photo of Leonard Slatkin from Thomsonian. 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 errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk
Aren't robot conductors rather old news?
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Now playing - Gothic Pipes with Kimberley Marshall organ and vocal ensemble Cappella Romana. This Loft Recordings CD goes back to the fourteenth century to present some of the earliest music written for organ from the Faenza Codex and other sources framed by liturgical settings . Beautiful sound from the reconstruction of a fifteenth century organ in Basel's Predigerkirche and the use of the organ's "birdsong" device in the chanson "Or sus, vous dormés trop" ("Now awake, you sleep too much") reminds us that Messiaen trod in the footsteps of others.
Talking of Messiaen it is interesting to reflect that the time that elapsed between the compilation of the Faenza Codex and the birth of Bach is greater than the time that has passed between the death of Bach and today. A select few early composers have become the musical equivalent of household names. But we need more projects like Gothic Pipes to explore the true dawn of Western music.
More truly early music here, and back in the twenty first century read how Loft Recordings built a virtual concert hall.
'Pipes' photo taken in the joiners new house and (c) On An Overgrown Path 2008. Report broken links, missing images and errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk
'To Whom It May Concern: the white paintings came first: my silent piece came later.' John Cage writes in Silence about Robert Rauschenberg who died on May 12, 2008. My photo of Rauschenberg in front of his White Paintings comes from an article about about the artist and Cage on Emvergeoning. Read more about cleaning the ears of the musically educated here.
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Let's celebrate the best record stores in the world before they are all submerged beneath characterless web sites and anonymous file downloads. One of the truly great stores is shown in my photos here. Rombaux at Mallebergplaats 13 in Bruges, Belgium opened as a piano retailer in the early 1920s, and has remained an independent store which is now run by the third generation of the original owners. The piano origins of the business can be seen in the legend over the door in the final photo in my sequence.
Despite retaining its traditional look Rombaux's store has moved with the times. It has recently been completely refitted with floor to ceiling CD browsers to hold their massive range and their is a separate room for opera recordings with auditioning equipment. The company also continues to sell pianos and other instruments and the store next to the current one has been acquired for a new instrument showroom.
This is a classical music store, but jazz and world music are also stocked. There is no discounting, so given the current strength of the Euro prices reflect the quality of the store. Visit the Rombaux web site here. Despite the prices I defy anyone to visit this store and not leave with a pile of CDs. Below are details of just two of the new recordings with local connections that I bought there.
Hans Neusidler - music for renaissance lute played by Bart Roose. Flanders has a particularly rich musical heritage and continues to be home to a thriving music scene. The emphasis is on early music but, like the country itself, tastes are catholic and we were in Bruges for the John Cage Happening. Lutenist Bart Roose was born in Ostend in 1962, studied in Ghent and Antwerp and now teaches at the Conservatoires of Aalter and Gentbrugge and lives in Bruges. Hans Neusidler was a leading figure of the German lute school of the sixteenth century, and the music on this recording dates from the 1530s. Released on the Belgian Passacaille label this CD is beautifully played and atmospherically recorded in the Maria-Aalter Chapel 'De Brooders van Liefde' in Flanders. Wonderful late night listening.
Joseph Haydn - Harpsichord Concertos in F and G and Divertimento in F played by Ewald Demeyere with La Petite Bande directed by Sigiswald Kuijken. Another home team, young Belgian harpsichordist and regular bande member Ewald Demeyere studied in Antwerp while Sigiswald Kuijken was born in Brussels and studied in that city and at the Bruges Conservatoire. A typically spikey performance from La Petite Bande finely captured in the Doopsgezinde Kerk, Haarlem across the border in Holland. (Interestingly Doopsgezinde Kerk is a member of the Universal Mennonite Congregation - the Mennonites are a group of Christian Anabaptist denominations named after Dutchman Menno Simons [1496-1561] and are one of the historic peace churches committed to nonviolence and pacifism.) This excellent CD is released on the Accent Records label, which appropriately was founded in 1979 by the the Belgian maker of baroque recorders and transverse flutes Andreas Glatt.
Rombaux in Bruges is undoubtedly one of the best record stores in the world. Other examples of this much-needed but sadly threatened species gratefully received On An Overgrown Path. In the meantime I'll relish those few wonderful hours in Bruges when record shopping was fun again.
* Another candidate for best record store in the world is Prelude Records in Norwich. In a pleasing convergence of independent retailer and independent record label Jordi Savall will be in Prelude this Saturday (May 17) at 11.30am not only signing his discs but also playing his viola da gamba ahead of his evening Norwich Festival concert. Music to the ears of the independents!
All photos (c) On An Overgrown Path 2008. Report broken links, missing images and errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk
Greg Sandow writes a high-profile blog on 'the future of classical music' and I received the following email this morning:
I thought your readers might be interested in this week’s post on the NPAC (National Performing Arts Convention) blog: Greg Sandow writes about how distinguishing between “high” and “low” art and “popular” culture versus, simply, “culture” limits audiences. All comments – agreements and arguments alike - are welcome.
Best, Amanda
Amanda Ameer
web www.firstchairpromo.com
aim firstchairpromo
As regular readers will know I'm very interested in the future of classical music so I checked out First Chair Promotions website which told me they are - 'a fully integrated firm devoted to supporting unique artists and their vast ranges of interests and talents. First Chair promises the most innovative iniatives in marketing and publicity and is committed to breaking down conventional media and collabaration boundaries.'
First Chair Promotion's clients include Hilary Hahn who is managed by leading music power broker and talent agency IMG Artists, singer/songwriter Gabriel Kahane who is also contracted to IMG, bass/baritone Eric Owens who, sorry to be boring, is also with IMG, soprano Measha Brueggergosman who is, you guessed it, signed to IMG, England's own King's Singers, yes they are too, and 'critic/composer/consultant' Greg Sandow .
Just people doing their job, nobody is hiding anything, you can find it simply by Googling, and it is the future of classical music.
Photo of opening night of 2006 BBC Proms conducted by IMG artist Jiri Belohlavek and played by IMG ensemble BBC Symphony Orchestra (c) On An Overgrown Path. Report broken links, missing images and errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk
'The more new things we try — the more we step outside our comfort zone — the more inherently creative we become, both in the workplace and in our personal lives ... It turns out that unless we continue to learn new things, which challenges our brains to create new pathways, they literally begin to atrophy, which may result in dementia, Alzheimer’s and other brain diseases. No one is sure why, but scientists speculate that getting out of routines makes us more aware in general' This extract from a New York Times article by Janet Rae-Dupree could be the mission statement for the Michael Clark Company's Stravinsky Project.
Last night's double-bill by the company at the Norwich Festival, showed the power of working outside comfort zones with an ultra-modern Rite using nudity in the sacrificial dance as a talisman against dementia. Budgetary comfort zones also took a battering as the forty-minute Rite in the first half used the economical four hand reduction, while for the second half two more Steinways, a supplemented Britten Sinfonia, four soloists, the New London Chamber Choir and conductor Jurjen Hempel were added for a marginally less modern, but still sublime, twenty-five minutes of Les Noces - see header production shot.
Visual comfort zones were also up for grabs, with the second half of Les Noces (except it wasn't - see below) opening with a stunning video of Stravinsky himself conducting the closing pages of The Firebird (how did the players ever follow his beat?), with the maestro's virtual performance drawing enthusiastic applause from both the live and recorded audiences before the real dancing started. The Stravinsky video filmed at the Royal Festival Hall was courtesy of the BBC, and is a timely reminder of the priceless riches locked away in the BBC archives while their 'culture channel', BBC4, fights Alzheimer’s with challenging programmes such as Val Doonican Rocks.
Aural comfort zones become dead-meat with the Michael Clark Company with the exemplary musical forces 'benefitting' from substantial amplification and remixing via a state-of-the-art sound system. Strange when the words don't actually come from the mouths of the New London Chamber Choir, but if it stops dementia who is complaining? (Apparantely some of the audience did by walking out of the previous evening's performance of a different programme which featured very loud music by the Sex Pistols and Wire).
Pesky box-office comfort zones were also ignored by billing the two works as Mmm.. and I Do rather than The Rite and Les Noces. Thankfully there are some big sponsors behind the Stravinsky Project, but I wonder whether the 40% audience capacity would have been bigger had the publicity talked a little bit more clearly about a good old fashioned Rite of Spring?
But overall one of the most stimulating and dementia defeating evenings we have spent in the theatre for a long time. And the headline is for real, it is back-projected during The Rite, sorry Mmm... .
Now watch a video sample of Mmm.. here, read about the four pianists in Les Noces here and about the piano reduction of the Rite here, while Stravinsky has a topical Tibetan connection here.
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My photo shows Sir Colin Davis conducting the Chamber Orchestra Anglia in Elgar's First Symphony in an open work shop yesterday afternoon at the Norwich Festival.
We talked to the 80 year old Sir Colin after he had topped two full length rehearsals with a full-on play through of the three last movements of the symphony. I commented to him that there weren't too many conductors of his status who would give up a day to rehearse a student orchestra. Back in a flash came his reply -'Oh you see, I don't worry about status'.
The student musicians really played their heart's out for Sir Colin. But, as my photo below shows, they do seem to have picked up some of the bad habits of their professional colleagues. (Why is it always the brass players?)
More on Sir Colin and Elgar 1 here.
Photos (c) On An Overgrown Path 2008. Report broken links, missing images and errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk
Summer has arrived early in Norwich, the sun is blazing, the Festival is in full swing, live music rules, and here are just some of the events we will be enjoying this week:
May 10 - afternoon, open workshop with Sir Colin Davis rehearsing the Chamber Orchestra Anglia in Elgar's First Symphony (free!): evening - Stravinsky project, Britten Sinfonia make the music and Michael Clark Company dance a double bill of music by the master ending with Les Noces sung by New London Chamber Choir.
May 13 - cutting-edge circus performance, live music and video from NoFit State Circus, seen in my header photo.
May 16 - Barcelona Sunset, Catalunyan contemporary dance company Erre Que Erre bring film, live music and dance, includes music by the Beach Boys, Tina Turner and Kraftwerk. YouTube sample here.
May 17 - Jordi Savall & Hesperion XXI in Orient-Occident in the 15th century church of St Peter Mancroft.
And I haven't mentioned the Hilliard Ensemble, King's College Cambridge Choir, Willard White and many more Festival visitors. Can it get any better? - the full Norfolk & Norwich Festival programme is here.
Amid all the excitement don't forget Jacobus de Kerle's Missa Pro Defunctis and James MacMillan Veni, Veni, Emmanuel on Future Radio on Sunday May 11 at 5.00pm UK time and 12.50am May 12.
More summer in the city here.
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No sooner have I written about the 'unsung master' Philippe de Monte than Hyperion release a CD of his motets. Johann Kuhnau is also worth a visit.
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In their 1951-2 season the Hallé Orchestra perfomed all six of the symphonies Ralph Vaughan Williams had then written. Five of them were conducted by the inimitable John Barbirolli, while No. 1, the Sea Symphony with its Walt Whitman text, was conducted by Vaughan Williams himself. When the symphony was performed in Sheffield with the composer conducting, the orchestra was a 'cello short, and at Vaughan William's request Barbirolli, a talented 'cellist, took the vacant seat.
I was reminded of this story when listening to Jordi Savall and Hesperion XXl's superb new CD Estampies & Danses Royales. The programme of music from the thirteenth century Chansonnier du Roi is for instrumental forces only, so soprano Montserrat Figueras (aka Mrs Savall) wasn't needed for the sessions. But she wasn't going to miss the fun, and there she is on the recording playing the kithara, a rare instrument which featured here recently.
Fun is what this new release is really all about. It is superb music brilliantly played and recorded; but above all there is a quality that seems to be disappearing from recordings and live concerts - the sound of musians having fun. As contemporary composer Kurt Schwertsik said - 'I believe the function of art is to denounce seriousness. It should be fun. There's a halo of awe around modern music. You achieve more if you're not serious'.
Vaughan Williams, Savall, Barbirolli and Schwertsik in one post? - that's what I call fun! And there's more musicians having fun here.
The Kurt Schwersik quote is from the excellent CageTalk (ISBN 9781580462372). 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 errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk
I spend little time tuned in to the BBC these days for obvious reasons. But regular readers who do still tune in tell me things aren't getting any better, in fact they are getting worse.
At least in the past the mistakes were made with style.
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'That principle is, that the sole end for which mankind are warranted, individually or collectively in interfering with the liberty of action of any of their number, is self-protection. That the only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others. His own good, either physical or moral, is not a sufficient warrant. He cannot rightfully be compelled to do or forbear because it will be better for him to do so, because it will make him happier, because, in the opinions of others, to do so would be wise, or even right. These are good reasons for remonstrating with him, or reasoning with him, or persuading him, or entreating him, but not for compelling him, or visiting him with any evil, in case he do otherwise. To justify that, the conduct from which it is desired to deter him must be calculated to produce evil to some one else. The only part of the conduct of any one, for which he is amenable to society, is that which concerns others. In the part which merely concerns himself, his independence is, of right, absolute. Over himself, over his own body and mind, the individual is sovereign' - from On Liberty by John Stuart Mill, who was born in London on 20th May 1806 and died in Avignon, France, where my pictures were taken, on 8th May, 1873.
Mill wrote against repression in Ireland and as a Member of Parliament introduced the first vote on women's suffrage. He campaigned for free speech and proportional representation and against slavery. But we are most indebted to him as a defender of individual conscience and expression. He is buried alongside his wife in the cemetery of St. Veran on the outskirts of Avignon and his tomb, seen in my photos, is marked 'En hommage à John Stuart Mill Défenseur des Femmes'. The plaque has been added by Centre d'Hébergement et de Réinsertion Sociale "Stuart Mill", a refuge for women victims of violence in Paris.
Now playing Motet (Excerpta Tractati Logico-Philosophici) by Elisabeth Lutyens sung by Exaudi directed by James Weeks. Lutyens was a defender of individual conscience and expression but was not a supporter of organised feminism as this extract from Meirion and Susie Harries' excellent biography of her tells - 'Why, she asked, did people speak of 'women's music' and 'female composers' and yet stop short of implying that male homosexuals wrote 'queer music?''If women are to be butts,' she argued, 'let homosexuals be also ... and impotence or any other private sexual consideration, all of which, no doubt, affects one's work.' In 1973 she would write to The Times complaining that William Glock was labelled a supporter of Women's Lib because he had included four pieces by female composers in that season's Proms, and yet no one drew the obvious inference that he had programmed the work of no less than sixteen male homosexuals.'
More on Elisabeth Lutyens here, and listen to a podcast about her music here.
Photos (c) On An Overgrown Path 2008. Report broken links, missing images and errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk
Stereophonics on V2 Records 2005
Stockhausen on BMC Records 2006
More double vision here.
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'This reminded me that when Elliott Carter visited Keele University on October 17, 1977, he answered questions in front of an audience after a recital of his music. He was asked, "Mr. Carter, what do you think of John Cage?" and replied "I don't think of John Cage."'
This quote comes from editor Peter Dickinson's introduction to CageTalk (ISBN 158046 2375), a book which I strongly recommend. Dickinson's English roots and the fact that much of the material originates from BBC interviews gives this Cage anthology a refreshingly cosmopolitan feel. The interviewees include Merce Cunningham, Bonnie Bird, David Tudor, Virgil Thomson, Karlheinz Stockhausen, La Monte Young and Pauline Oliveros. I will be dipping into CageTalk again several more times, meanwhile Cage is happening here and Carter here.
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My photo shows a halakis, or storyteller, in the Jemaa El Fna in Marrakech, Morocco. Every evening there are several halakis continuing the great oral tradition of storytelling in Marrakech's public space, and they are real performance artists who attract large local audiences of all ages. Storytelling was traditionally an important way of passing down ideas and legends in a society where 47% of the adult population are still illiterate and where the legacy of gender discrimination means that in the twenty-first century 60% of Moroccan women remain illiterate, a statistic that is missing from most of the 'lifestyle' coverage devoted to Marrakesh and other fashionable cities.
But despite this dependance on oral communication the art of words is under threat as young Moroccans turn to new technolgy for their entertainment. Spanish author and Marrakech resident Juan Goytisolo has eloquently pleaded the case for the storytellers and in 2001 UNESCO named Jemaa El Fna as 'a masterpiece of the oral and intangible heritage of humanity' and it is planned to make recordings of the halakis available online.
More proof that words are the new music.
Photo (c) On An Overgrown Path 2008. Report broken links, missing images and errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk
Muti is in the news with one American orchestra today. So here are some reflections on his time with another one.
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Another contribution to the Glock centenary - Sir William with Peter Maxwell Davies at Dartington Summer School in 1979. Glock is often criticised for ignoring the music of certain British composers. So it is interesting to note that there is not a single note of Max's music in the 2008 BBC Proms Season. But, don't worry, there's lots here, and a new CD here.
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'It has been said that William Glock had a greater influence on musical culture in post-war Britain than anybody, and perhaps that is true. He would have been happier, I am sure, with a more modest epitaph: that he helped to make the understanding of music more acute. Inside and outside the BBC, he sought constantly for a repertory that was stimulating, and he made a strong commitment to the new, but one might say he did as much for Haydn and Schubert as for Stravinsky and Boulez. As for his BBC legacy, it needs re-articulating and defending by his successors in the same way as John Reith's does; it cannot be denied. More particularly, at the Proms every summer we take it for granted, and there, surely, there can be no going back' - from Stephen Plaistow's Guardian obituary of Sir William Glock (above) who was born on 3rd May, 1908 and died on 28th June, 2000. His centenary passes without any celebration on BBC Radio 3. But find lots more celebration here.
Photo credit Sunday Times/Thomson Regional Newspapers. 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 errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk
'String theory predicts the existence of more than the three space dimensions and one time dimension we are all familiar with. According to string theory, there are additional dimensions that we are unfamiliar with because they are curled up into complicated shapes that can only be seen on tiny scales' - caption for computer generated images of grid of Calabi-Yau shapes of higher dimensions from string theory. The images by computer illustrator Jeff Bryant , one of which is seen above, are part of the Beyond Measure - Conversations Across Art and Science at Kettle's Yard in Cambridge until June 1. The exhibits also include a score by the composer Guillermo Gregorio. Get there if you can.
There's eye-music here.
Image credit Jeff Bryant. 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 errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk
News of the victory of hard line right-wing candidate Boris Johnson in the election for London mayor causes many of us to be afraid. So I was glad I had to hand We'll Never Turn Back, the inspirational new CD from Mavis Staples.
The Staples Singers were a major voice in the American civil rights movement and they sung the great freedom songs including Why Am I Treated So Bad? When Will We Be Paid for the Work We've Done? and Long Walk to DC. On the new CD Barack Obama supporter Mavis Staples revisits twelve of the classic freedom songs in an album produced by Ry Cooder and with a line-up of musicians including Ladysmith Black Mambazo. This is no gentle walk to memory lane, the urgent, upbeat and powerful music really rocks, and here is Mavis Staples explaining what it is about:
With this record, I hope to get across the same feeling, the same spirit and the same message as we did with the Staples Singers - and to hopefully continue to make positive changes. We've got to keep pushing to make the world a better place. Things are better but we're not where we need to be and we'll never turn back.
Amen to that.
Now read about Love of the Blues.
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I am sure every reader will know the name of the recording ensemble featured on the LP sleeve above. But how many know the story of the building which they take their name from? Read the story of St Martin-in-the-Fields here, and read about the Academy here.
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'According to official listening figures released yesterday ... BBC Radio 3, controversially overhauled last year to loud complaints from some listeners, saw its share of listening slump to a record low. The classical music, arts and culture station sank to its lowest share of listening, 0.9%, and saw weekly reach fall to 1.795m, a drop of 155,000 on the previous quarter and just above its all-time worst figure of 1.78m.
The shakeup in November 2006 saw Performance on 3 moved to 7pm, Late Junction moved to a late night slot and controller Roger Wright having to deny charges that he had reduced the amount of live music. Wright, who also took charge of the Proms last year, argued at the time that while there was less "live as live" performance, there was more "as live" recorded pieces and that listeners tended not to differentiate. A Radio 3 spokesman said it was "disappointing to see that classical music listening figures are down generally".'
There can be little surprise about today's Guardian report on RAJAR audience data for quarter ending March 2008 from which the quote above is taken. And it is typically disingeneous of the BBC to use the excuse that "classical music listening figures are down generally." Time and time again I have reported here how intelligent, imaginative and challenging programmes - the very qualities dumbed-out of today's Radio 3 - have boosted classical music audiences.
On Sunday May 4 you can listen to In Memory of the Six Million on Future Radio at 5.00pm (repeat at 00.50am on May 5) featuring this music:
Richard Strauss - Metamorphosen, realisation for string septet played by supplemented Brandis Quartet
Benjamin Frankel - Violin Concerto ‘In Memory of the Six Million’ played by Ulf Hoelscher with Queensland Symphony Orchestra conducted by Werner Andreas Albert.
Or listen to BBC 'Radio 2.5's' week long Composer of the Week featuring music by Noel Coward and Warsaw Concerto composer Richard Addinsell.
On May 17-18 you can wallow in Radio 3's wall-to-wall Chopin Experience, or reflect on Future Radio's Inner Cities webcast and anticipate their upcoming complete webcasts of Kaikhosru Sorabji's Opus Clavicembalisticum and of a lilas, an authentic Morrocan gnawa trance ritual in a world premiere broadcast.
BBC Radio 3 has a lot in common with today's big banks. They both blame market conditions for problems that are, in fact, caused by their own incompetence. And like banks the management rewards for failure at the BBC are not very different to those for success.
Image credit of BBC Radio 3 'photo opportunity' from TimesOnline. 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 errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk
Why do we make life so complicated? Making a great recording is really quite simple. All you need is some outstanding music, an orchestra and conductor who thrive on risk taking, a first-rate recording venue and a visionary record label to release the result. Which is precisely what this new release of Jonathan Harvey's music delivers, and believe me it is a truly great recording.
69 year old Jonathan Harvey worked at both IRCAM in Paris and Stanford University, California before a period as Composer in Association with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra from 2005-7. On this CD the BBC Scottish perform five of his compositions under their dynamic, and outgoing, young Israeli Chief Conductor Ilan Volkov. There is a transcedental theme to the programme, with the song cycle White as Jasmine, which is beautifully sung by Finnish soprano Anu Komsi, using Hindu texts and three of the four orchestral works reflecting the composer's preoccupation with Buddhism.
From the three Buddhist inspired works Body Manadala must surely become a contemporary classic. It is has its origins in Buddhist ritual music, and uses Western instruments to mimic the famous Tibetan low horns called tungschens seen on the excellent cover above. The opening of Body Mandala with its low horn calls echoes Philip Glass' 1997 score for Martin Scorsese's Kundun, but whereas Glass stays in his own stylistic comfort zone Harvey takes us post-Boulez and beyond. The sole work without religous connections is Timepieces which uses two orchestras and two conductors (Stefan Solyom conducts the second group) and three rhythms to pay homage to Gruppen, a seminal work by another Harvey influence, Karlheinz Stockhausen.
Everybody involved in this recording deserves credit, with special mentions for independent label NMC who continue to tread where the majors fear to go, and to BBC Scotland staff engineer Graeme Taylor for capturing the ravishing sound of the refurbished Glasgow City Halls. But the real heroes are the BBC Scotish Symphony Orchestra and Ilan Volkov who delight in music making on the edge while their compliant cousins in the BBC's London based BBC Symphony remain happy to provide a platform for Jiri Behlolavek's global ambitions. What a delicous irony that the BBC Scottish are now upping the ante on the BBC management in London who tried to disband them in 1980.
Highly recommended, particularly to those who are "tired of the Brits shoving their immature wunderkind composers down our throats". Lots more Jonathan Harvey resources here.
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The fight to the death in the U.S. primaries has taken world media attention away from an important election that takes place today. The contest for the powerful post of London mayor is a two horse race between current incumbent Labour candidate Ken Livingstone and Conservative Boris Johnson. Today's poll has produced one of the more memorable Guardian headlines seen above, read the rest of the story here.
More on the art of the headline here.
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Yesterday's post about ArkivMusic's reissue of David Munrow's The Art of Courtly Love reminds me that there are also some fine re-issues in Teldec's Das Alte Werk's 50th anniversary series. Particularly notable is Troubadours, Trouvères, Minstrels from Thomas Binkley's (left) under-rated and pioneering Studio der Frühen Musik who also recorded for EMI Electrola's ground-breaking, but so far not re-issued, Reflexe series. Yet more evidence that the tills are alive with the sound of early music.
The CD is fighting back by connecting with its inner child, the vinyl LP. Check out this wonderful list of budget-priced re-issues of vinyl classics from Everst which includes Carlos Chavez conducting his own symphonies , Barbirolli conducting Ravel and Boult conducting Hindemith, the latter CD playing for precisely 29 minutes 47 seconds; is that really a record? Cue a tale of two Chavez.
One of the earliest trading routes connected the Senegal and Mali regions south of the Sahara to Sijilmasa in southern Morocco and then on to Marrakech and to European Moorish al-Andalus. As well as transporting gold and slaves north the route also became a very early communications channel along which cultural influences travelled and my photos show exhibits in the remarkable museum recording the multi-cultural development of the Sahara region which was created in Marrakech by the Dutch anthropologist Bert Flint.
'My favourite music is the music I haven't heard' - John Cage.
Now playing - the Sanctus from Beethoven's Missa Solemnis in the recording with Philippe Herreweghe conducting the Choeurs de La Chapelle Royale and the Collegium Vocale Gent, the Orchestre des Champs-Élysées and soloists. It is surprising how many of today's 'jet set' conductors have failed to scale this peak of Beethoven's creativity satisfactorily. Like Jordi Savall, Philippe Herreweghe built his reputation in early music, but, also like the Catalan musician, for Herreweghe there is no early, classical or contemporary music, just music. For me Herreweghe's performance, which was recorded live at a concert, is one of the great interpretations of Beethoven's masterpiece, as indeed is Dorati's own on BIS. Dorati's version is still in the catalogue but his book and Herreweghe's recording are both, alas, no longer available. Dorati's book was published by International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, read more about their vital work for inner and outer peace here.
'Neglected genius' and 'undiscovered masterpiece' have become devalued marketing-speak following the John Foulds World Requiem debacle last year. And yes, I know I've used those words myself enough times. But recently both here and on Future Radio I have tried simply to present the music, irrespective of how well or little known the composer is. The music itself is the best advocate of a composer's powers and the listener is the best judge. So as presenter I now try simply to be a conduit for the artist's genius, or otherwise. In that spirit I am discussing a composer today who will probably be as unfamiliar to most readers as he was to me until recently, and my best introduction is to say I was very surprised I had not come across him before.
The Berlin Philharmonic has a close encounter with fire. Some, but fortunately not too much, damage to the Philharmonie (above), so it wasn't the orchestra's darkest hour. But moving their concerts to alternative venues must bring dark memories. And close encounters with fire reminds me it happened not once but twice to the Philadelphia Orchestra. But the inferno at Britten's Snape Maltings was music's greatest tragedy and triumph.
My week's celebration will culminate with two exclusive Future Radio programmes over the coming holiday weekend. At 5.00pm UK time on Sunday May 25 I will present an interview I recorded with Jordi Savall minutes before he went on stage last night with Hesperion XXl for the rapturously received closing concert of the 2008 Norfolk & Norwich Festival. Hear Jordi Savall talking about the relationship between early, contemporary and world music, about the music of Arvo Pärt, about the shortcomings of major record labels and about music as a humanitarian force in this exclusive interview. Jordi Savall's Norwich concert presented music from his Occident-Orient project, and my programme will also feature this truly multi-cultural music.
My interview with Jordi Savall will be followed a few hours later by another multi-cultural celebration, the webcast premiere of a complete African trance ritual recorded in the medina of Marrakech, Morocco. The performance is played by traditional gnawa musicians and is being broadcast at 12.01am on May 26 on Future Radio followed by a contemporary 'minimal trance' set.
Now playing - Rimsky-Korsakov's Symphonic Suite after "A Thousand and One Nights" Scheherazade in the classic 1959 recording by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra conducted by Fritz Reiner. It is easy to understand from this extraordinary performance why Reiner was feared and hated by members of his orchestra. It is hard-driven with almost impossible tempi for the exposed parts and the result is one of the wonders of the gramophone. Not a first choice for Scheherazade, but no CD collection should be without it. Meanwhile back at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra it is still love 'em, hate 'em.
All photos (c) On An Overgrown Path 2008. Report broken links, missing images and errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk
No sooner have I written about the 'unsung master' Philippe de Monte than Hyperion release a CD of his motets. Johann Kuhnau is also worth a visit.
Muti is in the news with one American orchestra today. So here are some reflections on his time with another one.
'According to official listening figures released yesterday ... BBC Radio 3, controversially overhauled last year to loud complaints from some listeners, saw its share of listening slump to a record low. The classical music, arts and culture station sank to its lowest share of listening, 0.9%, and saw weekly reach fall to 1.795m, a drop of 155,000 on the previous quarter and just above its all-time worst figure of 1.78m.
