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Showing posts from October, 2009

You have been warned

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Holy health and safety at Mount Saint Bernard Abbey , in Charnwood Forest, Leicestershire. The Aeolian String Quartet's recording of the complete Haydn quartets, which featured in Unlocking the Sound Of Vinyl , includes The Seven Last Words interspersed with readings by Peter Pears . Using spoken texts with The Seven Last Words follows the historical precedent of the first performance in Cádiz Cathedral in 1787. The sources for the readings by Peter Pears are John Donne , George Herbert , Robert Herrick , Edith Sitwell , Edwin Muir and David Gascoyne , and the texts were selected by Reginald Barrett-Ayres . Photo is (c) On An Overgrown Path 2009. Report broken links, missing images and errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk

Better than working in McDonald's

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Vivaldi's Cello Sonatas are among the great Baroque works for the cello. But it is surprising how many CD collections do not include these nine magnificent sonatas. No excuse now though, because Dutch budget specialist have just released two newly recorded CDs of the sonatas played quite winningly by early music specialist Jaap Ter Linden and captured in excellent sound in the warm acoustic of Hervormde Kerk, Rhoon , in the Netherlands. I paid £6.79 delivered for the two CDs from amazon.co.uk. Enough said? Any opportunity to quote from the irrepressible Ron Butlin must not be missed. So here, from the title story of Vivaldi and the Number 3 , is il Prete Rosso in training: Over the caffè latte and panetto next morning Vivaldi remembered his strange dream, and had a good laugh. After a night like that he deserved a leisurely breakfast. He was late already, but so what? Becoming a junior-priest had never been his first choice - all that kneeling and standing, elevating the host

Almost the threepenny opera

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After paying £4.40 for two cups of coffee in a store in Norwich I walked round the corner to Prelude Records . There I bought the newly re-issued CD of Purcell's Dido and Aeneas recorded by Andrew Parrot and the Taverner Choir and Players in 1999 for the non-discounted price of £4.88. I assume someone at Sony BMG has discovered the formula for turning sausages back into pigs . Image credit to aboutcolonblank.com . Photo is by Dora Maar and is part of the Meret Oppenheium collection at Moma . 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

Music does not exist in a vacuum

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Benjamin Britten in reflective mood outside the Old Mill at Snape while completing Peter Grimes in 1945. That opera, like all of Britten's output, is a mystical fusion of music and place. We talk of Britten's Aldeburgh, Bach's Leipzig, Elgar's Malvern, and Bernstein's New York, yet the relationship between music and place is only just starting to be explored by pioneering projects such as musicDNA . That mystical fusion of music and place appeared again a few days ago in an email from Alex Ross - I first heard that Korngold recording in high school — there was a wonderful art room with a no less wonderful record collection curated by an art teacher who had since passed away. I would play it at maximum volume late at night. Alex's anecdote resonated with me as I too have an extraordinarily strong recall of music and place, to the point where I can remember where and when I first heard many pieces of music. So strong is the recall that I have sometimes wondered

Bus pass music

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In November I qualify for a free bus pass and, Insha'Allah , a pension, so here is how we will be celebrating . Dedicated Savall and Sufi watchers will also be interested in another concert in Paris , which will form a yet-to-be-announced Alia Vox combined CD and book release. Blogging will be at a reduced rate for a fair while as I will be in retreat , but not defeated, after Paris. Now take La Route de l'Orient . All champagne, travel, accomodation and concert tickets in France are being paid for by me, but don't let that deter any Parisian readers who want to buy me a drink. Suggestions for other arts projects worth taking in while we are in Paris at the end of November are welcome. A note on carbon footprints. I have posted quite a few articles about our low budget travels in 2009. The upcoming French trip will bring the total of miles travelled overseas in the year to more than 5000. My return journey by plane in December from Marseille to London will be the only fl

The art of the CD label

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With MP3 downloads you don't have to imagine there's no artwork . This CD by the Tashi Lhunpo monks featured in Wagner and the Tantric orchestra . Featured CD was purchased by me. Report broken links, missing images and errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk

His Strauss is unsurpassed

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Many readers have written in praise of Rudolf Kempe after reading my post Great recordings without the spin . Among them is Alex Ross who writes 'His R. Strauss, too, is unsurpassed, perhaps unequaled'. To continue the Kempe thread I am featuring two of his many recordings in my collection. Sleeve's featuring photographs of him are rare. Above is an early CD re-issue of his peerless disc of the Strauss concertos; it does feature an artist photo but is marred by EMI's crassly insensitive typography and logo. Below is my 1973 LP of the Alpine Symphony with its subtle graphics but typical for the period library photo; my 'first edition' disc is, incidentally, encoded in SQ Quadraphonic sound meaning that a multi-channel release (SACD?) would be possible. Unmissable music making as Kempe's blazing interpretation of Strauss' unquiet thoughts melts the hoar frost of musical routine . Tucked away in the Kempe/Strauss compilations is his recording of the com

Great recordings without the spin

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This wonderful Christian Steiner portrait of Charles Gerhardt(1927-99) featured in my 2007 post LPs were like the force of gravity . Gerhardt's important contribution as a conductor, producer and champion of twentieth-century composers such as Howard Hanson , whose Second Symphony is the main work on the disc above, has never been fully recognised. So I was delighted when David Cavlovic sent me a link to a wonderful appreciation of Gerhardt's work . Reading Robert E. Benson's memories of Gerhardt prompted me to dig some of his great recordings out of my collection, and to write my own appreciation below. Charles Gerhardt was a champion of the music of Erich Wolfgang Korngold , and collaborated with the composer's son George on recordings of his film music. One result was the 1972 LP seen above conducted by Charles Gerhardt and produced by George Korngold, which is a true sonic and musical delight. At one time it was available as a Chesky CD transfer, but I can find no

John, Paul, George and Gustavo

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gordon has left a new comment on your post " Gustavo Dudamel - in too much of a hurry ": Gustavo is a Genius!!! A true 'Maestro" who tugs at your heart with his impassioned cry of "LOVE", not your average run of the mill love. NO this is "TRUE LOVE", with all it's flaws and foibles intact... The Beatles were right when they penned their famous lyrics..."All you need is Love", only we needed to wait for "EL Maestro". Now follow the path from Beatlesto Berio and on to Boulez . Montage is (c) On An Overgrown Path 2009. Report broken links, missing images and errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk

We soon forgot we were recording a CD

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Avoiding what Wilhelm Furtwängler decried as 'the hoar frost of musical routine' has become something of a personal preoccupation. After Bach, Golijov, Piazzolla and Vivaldi from the Britten Sinfonia in Norwich on Sunday we travelled to London on Monday for a rare opportunity to hear an evening of Gavin Bryars' music in the architecturally and acoustically exquisite late 19th century Union Chapel in Islington . Monday's concert was part of the Marginalised festival to raise funds for the Margins Project which works with London’s homeless. The centrepiece of Monday's event was the first London performance for fifteen years of Gavin Bryars' influential 1971 Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet for tape loop and instrumental ensemble. Bryars' understated minimalism and innovative tonality have been constants on the contemporary music scene since the late 1960s. He studied briefly with John Cage after reading philosophy and music at university, and was a

Feeble and belated half-stabs at arts journalism

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* Norman Lebrecht to leave London Evening Standard: Arts columnist Lebrecht departs to focus on BBC Radio 3 series - The London Evening Standard arts columnist, Norman Lebrecht, is to leave the paper this week after seven years ... He said today that with a new series on BBC Radio 3 and a novel coming out next month it seemed a good time to leave - Guardian Media June 24, 2009 . * The BBC has just appointed yet another arts 'supremo' to its top-heavy executive layer, but at roots level it has no clue what goes on canvas or on stage, day in, day out. Nor is it in any position to comment on unsubsidised newspapers that are forced to reduce their arts spend. The [BBC's] Culture Show is years behind the real story and the BBC undermines its own future by such feeble and belated half-stabs at arts journalism - Norman Lebrecht, Slipped Disc, October 21, 2009. Bluster on Norman . Any copyrighted material on these pages is included as "fair use", for the purpose of study

Music of the sexes

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Riveting concert this evening of Bach, Golijov, Piazzolla arr. Desyatnikov and Vivaldi from the Britten Sinfonia . Gratifying to see a good-sized audience for their Norwich gig (and pre-concert talk ) despite competition from ECM's Tord Gustavsen Trio and the amazing Kit Downes (a name to watch) just across the road. It is interesting to speculate why the Britten Sinfonia are making such a name for themselves in such difficult times. Is it because they do not have a jet set music director ? Is it because they do not have an expensive conductor ? Is it because they are one of the few environmentally responsible bands in classical music? Perhaps it is something to do with the Alexander Technique and that they play standing up - apart from the lower strings and harpsichordist! Or is the secret of the Britten Sinfonia's success that 80% of the 25 musicians on the platform last night were women? I have already suggested that publicly funded ensembles should reveal the fees they

No such thing as a naked lunch

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Myriad times a day it is murdered by novice piano students, only to rise up again. Two especially for the contemporary musician: the Classical Music pool and the Experimental Music pool . But it doesn’t seem to be going out on much of a limb to say: this Nadja Michael can’t sing. As my pace begins to pick up for this final stretch I'm finding that the increased focus and time spent working is naturally leading to my becoming a little bored with the sections I'm concentrating on most intently. Just kidding! The bros with the vinyl vision were named Emile and Joseph Berliner. My header photo shows the torchlit peace sign in Budapest during an anti-Iraq war rally in 2006 ...you have got to see this video! Clues: rollerblading, bottles, Toreador song. A graduate of the Curtis Institute, Alan performs regularly with the Chicago Sinfonietta and Lake Forest Symphony. I'm not complaining, however, because such changes in the season are all strangely comforting to this Midwestern

The festival of lights

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On October 17th Hindus around the world celebrate Diwali , the festival of lights. My header photo shows the torchlit peace sign in Budapest during an anti-Iraq war rally in 2006. It comes from the recently published Peace - 50 years of protest 1958-2008 by Barry Miles, who has also written biographies of Allen Ginsberg and William Burroughs . Peace is both essential reading and a visual delight, and it comes out in paperback in March 2010. Previous guest appearances by Barry Miles on the path here and a different Doctor Atomic here . An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind ~ Mahatma Gandhi Header photo is (c) Peter Kollanyi/epa/Corbis via Peace - 50 years of protest 1958-2008 by Barry Miles' ISBN-13: 978-0762108930 . My copy was borrowed from Norwich library. That Corbis ownership worries me, even though the image is being used for review purposes, But, any copyrighted material on these pages is included as "fair use", for the purpose of study

Here come the old generation artists

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Interesting to see Simon Rattle's newly released cycle of the Brahms symphonies with the Berlin Philharmonic selling today in leading independent retailer Prelude Records , who are not known for their discounting, for £19.99 . Presumably because the recordings were made at live concerts, EMI released the four symphonies on 3 CDs with no fillers, which gives a playing time of just 42 minutes for the CD of the Fourth Symphony on its own, which is short measure even for an LP! At £19.99 the price per Berlin Phil CD is just 80 pence more than a Naxos disc in the same store featuring the Camerata Transylvanica . I am trying to work out whether that is an example of reputation inflation or deflation . Talking of LPs, my header image is my 3 LP box of Bruno Walter's Brahms stereo cycle from the 1960s (He made an earlier mono cycle with the New York Philharmonic). My set contains Dutch pressings from the early 1980s, and, unlike the American Columbia pressings of the same period, they

Let's talk Osvaldo Golijov and climate change

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Bach ~ Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 in G BWV 1048 Osvaldo Golijov ~ Last Round Interval Vivaldi ~ Four Seasons Astor Piazzolla arr. Leonid Desyatnikov ~ Four Seasons of Buenos Aires This programme is being performed by the Britten Sinfonia in Norwich on Sunday (Oct 18) . I am giving a pre-concert talk with Thomas Gould who is co-leader of the Britten Sinfonia. Tom is also guest leader of the McGill Chamber Orchestra in Montreal and is something of a contemporary music specialist, working with composers such as Nico Muhly . Sunday's concert is titled Eight Seasons . Apart from being a cracking band the Britten Sinfonia is one of the few classical ensembles that are environmentally aware. Last December they teamed up with Greenpeace to play at the UN meeting on climate change in Poland, and they travelled there by train and coach, two of the most environmentally friendly methods of transport. By contrast the National Symphony Orchestra of Washington DC has teamed up with Cunard to

I have seen the future and it is cardboard

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This striking structure is the work of the Japanese architect Shigeru Ban. It houses one of the electric powered tugs that worked on the Burgundy Canal until the 1930s, and is part of the Cap Canal museum at Pouilly-en-Auxois in France which we visited recently. By any criteria this is a remarkable work of art, but it becomes quite exceptional when it is explained that this is one of Shigeru Ban's famous paper tube structures. Shigeru Ban is famous for his innovative work using paper and cardboard tubing as a material for building construction, and he is particularly known for using recycled cardboard paper tubes to quickly and efficiently house disaster victims . His designs are influenced by the pioneering geodesic domes created by Buckminster Fuller, who made a guest appearance in Karlheinz Stockhausen - part of a dream . Free thinking chamber music ensemble Domus used a geodesic dome when they performed outside the comfort zone , while maverick architect Louis Kahn's w

Classical music on cruise control

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* Travel for the Arts and the English Chamber Orchestra are delighted to announce a 7 day Music Cruise, to take place aboard the Msy Wind Star. The musical programme of concerts by the English Chamber Orchestra under the batons of Vladimir Ashkenazy and Paul Watkins feature renowned guest soloists, and are played whilst at sea and in the picturesque ports of call - Deck 2 Per person sharing Double Stateroom $10,750 * Classical Music Cruise for 9 days with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra - aboard MS AIDAdiva From Majorca - Balcony cabin for 2 adults £5499 * Cunard Line is proud to announce a new partnership with the National Symphony Orchestra (NSO), an artistic affiliate of Washington, D.C.’s famed Kennedy Center. A highlight of the new alliance is the organization’s upcoming debut aboard Queen Mary 2 as featured guests of the acclaimed Cunard Insights programme. Six Kennedy Center Chamber Players and Nigel Boon, NSO director of artistic planning, will present programmes (including

ECM in focus

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Just as Decca is known as the label that lost the Beatles , ECM could have been known as the label that lost John Adams. But, other than triggering Adams' defection to Nonesuch , Manfred Eicher's decision not to travel to San Francisco for ECM's pioneering 1984 recording of Harmonium seems to have done his fiercely independent label very little harm. While other record companies are cutting staff , orchestras are cutting pay , and radio stations are cutting quality , ECM remains in rude health; despite not a single appearance of the highly fashionable word download on its website , and despite not a single appearance by a young female (or male) violinst clad in a wet T-shirt on its sleeve artwork. While others flounder ECM sticks to the knitting, and this autumn the label celebrates its 40th birthday with a range of releases that stand head and shoulders above the musical equivalent of airport fiction that is now the bread and butter of the corporate classical labels. Kei

The sounds of silence

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'Timeless purity, peerless beauty and spiritual ambiance ...' is a perfect description of the Cistercian L'Abbaye de Boquen in Brittany, which is seen in my photos below. But those words also apply to the riveting archive image above which depicts Dom Alexis Presse (1883-1965) who was responsible for the 20th century restoration of the ancient Abbey. L'Abbaye de Boquen was founded in 1137, and at its peak housed a community of more than a hundred monks. My photos show the Abbey church which is a classic example of French Romanesqe style with later influences. From the 16th century the Abbey fell into decline and when the French Revolution brought an end to monastic orders only the prior and three monks remained. In 1790 the abbey was sold into private hands. The property then became a stone quarry and great damage was done to the priceless buildings when they were used a source of building stone. In 1936, after 145 years of neglect, Dom Alexis came to live in the d

Adventures with chance music

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A couple of weeks ago I wrote about my chance music adventure on Future Radio . One of the pilot programmes is now available streamed from the station's website. Open this link and the programme is identified in the list as Chance Music 10 Oct 2009 . The next live programme will be broadcast/webcast on Sunday Nov 1. Thanks go to the team at Future Radio for again allowing me to try something different . Fixed mind is a stiff mind. Stiff mind is a dead mind, like dead wood. Flexible mind is a living mind like a living tree - Satish Kumar Flexible minds on internet radio here . Future Radio is Ofcom licensed and covered by an artists royalty agreement. Report broken links, missing images and errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk

Coincidence is free

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At 16.11h on Oct 6 I uploaded this article . At 21.30h on Oct 6 the Guardian website published this article. 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

Play it again Sam

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"... his campaign had given legitimacy to the cause of peace" - from the notes for Naxos' recording of Arnold Rosner's Fifth Symphony . In his notes the composer was referring to Democrat George McGovern's unsuccessful campaign against Richard Nixon in the 1972 presidential election. What is it about Fifth Symphonies ? Photo shows Senator George McGovern with Fidel Castro in Cuba in 1975 . 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 People United Will Never Be Defeated!

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Was Das Kapital the reading of choice on this cruise boat spotted when I was cycle touring on the Burgundy Canal in France? No prizes for guessing the nationality of the party that had booked the $50,000 a week hotel barge . Continuing the theme of music and place , my listening in Burgundy included The People United Will Never Be Defeated! This is an epic set of thirty-six variations for solo piano by the American composer Frederic Rzewski (yes, I know they don't spend all their lives in hot tubs). Rzewski's time at Harvard brought him into contact with Christian Wolff , John Cage , David Tudor and others. He studied in Italy from 1960 to 1962 with Luigi Dallapiccola and formed a performance group for electronic music with Richard Teitelbaum and Alvin Curran , whose Inner Cities I webcast in 2007 . The music of Frederic Rzewski (b.1938), who is seen in the photo above, is noted for its political agendas. The People United Will Never Be Defeated! is based on the song ¡