Posts

Showing posts from June, 2011

Who needs self-righteous bullshit artists?

Image
'I do not know if you are aware of this, Pl, but in Gaelic Bono means "self-righteous bullshit artist"...is there anything more lame then white guys ripping off black musicians,poorly? Yes, multi-millionaires telling me I need to give money for starving kids.I remember when musicians had a conscience. It seems an eternity ago...' That pithy comment, which was added to my recent post about U2's Glastonbury Festival gig , leads to the CD seen above, which is one of several I brought back from my recent trip to France . Aziz Sahmaoui grew up in Marrakech , Morocco where he absorbed a range of musical influences including the healing sounds of the Gnawa masters . After studying literature he moved to France in the late 1980s and became one of the founders of the very successful Orchestre National de Barbès which combines North African rhythms with jazz and fusion. In 2005 he played on Joe Zawinul's live double album 'Vienna Nights' and went on to becom

Who needs the complete works?

Image
All around the world orchestras are presenting Mahler cycles, including the complete symphonies in twelve days . BBC Radio 3 has just finished grinding its way through two and a half days of British light music . In January the same station cleared its schedules for twelve days to air the complete works of Mozart . All of which makes the following comment by the Hungarian composer Sándor Balassa particularly piquant: 'To my mind Bach would be angry if he knew that the first volume of the Wohltemperiertes Klavier is performed nowadays in a single concert. The twenty-four preludes and fugues were not meant as a recital program. Or, just imagine a huge concert with 300 concerti grossi by Vivaldi played one after the other. I think, if he had to listen to it, the composer himself would have a breakdown. A composer does not work for a complete edition of his music. He strews his pieces in time and space. If a Vivaldi concerto is programmed next to Mozart or Bruckner, nobody would be t

Light, white and right is trending

Image
Prince Charles would doubtless approve . Light, white and right - 1 is here . Also on Facebook and Twitter . Report broken links, missing images and errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk

It's official - Tchaikovsky is cool

Image
Gidon Kremer and friends play Tchaikovsky's Trio in a-minor on the new ECM CD seen above. Do correct me if I am wrong, but I believe this is the first music by Tchaikovsky released by ECM in the label's forty-two year history . And staying on this path, which great composer and conductor declared " I hate Tchaikovsky "? Also on Facebook and Twitter . Report broken links, missing images and errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk

Did John Cage write a Second Piano Concerto?

Image
In the introduction to his book Three Questions for Sixty-Five composers Bálint András Varga refers to "John Cage's Second Piano Concerto." When I quoted this in a recent post composer and blogger Daniel Wolf took Varga to task in a comment saying: 'Cage did not write a Second Piano Concerto. He wrote one Concerto for Prepared Piano and Chamber Orchestra and a Concert for Piano and Orchestra (note that that's a Concert and not a Concerto), but no work of the title Varga mentions.' Now in response to Daniel's comment I have received the following spirited defence of Varga's appellation from his editor at the University of Rochester Press Ralph P. Locke : 'I am the founding (and current) editor of the series in which Balint Varga's book appeared ( Eastman Studies in Music , published by University of Rochester Press). It was my decision, and I stand by it, to allow Balint to refer casually to Cage's "Second Piano Concerto" in the

Light, white and right

Image
In April 2007 BBC Radio broadcast a profile of the black Guyanese conductor Rudolph Dunbar . Last Sunday (June 19) the BBC rebroadcast a programme about the Moroccan Master Musicians of Jajouka . Both these programmes have strong classical music connections; Rudolph Dunbar was the first black conductor of the Berlin Pilharmonic Orchestra and the 1995 rerelease of the Master Musicians' iconic first album had Philip Glass as executive producer. Yet neither of the programmes was broadcast on BBC Radio 3, instead they were both aired on Radio 4. BBC Radio 3's love affair with the ratings honeypot of Middle England is reflected in a schedule which is increasingly light, white and right. At the 2011 BBC Proms world music is relegated to one late night concert plus two others which are transparent plugs for a BBC TV series. Of course I realise the BBC Proms is not a world music festival. But neither is it a festival of film or children's music , yet alone comedy . Which does n

If it is good enough for Gustavo Dudamel...

Image
In 117 years of Promenade Concerts at the Royal Albert Hall there have been no performances of Swedish composer Wilhelm Stenhammar's two Piano Concertos and just a single performance of one of his two Symphonies. But interestingly the Interlude from Stenhammar's cantata The Song [ Sången ] Op 44 was performed by none other than Gustavo Dudamel conducting the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra in 2008 and the YouTube clip above shows Dudamel rehearsing the composer's masterpiece, the Second Symphony, with the same orchestra. Both the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra and the Interlude from The Song feature in a new 3 CD set from Dutch super-budget label Brilliant Classics , albeit without Dudamel. The new multibox makes available at a very low price BIS's pioneering vinyl releases of Stenhammar orchestral music which included the LP seen below. In these much praised recordings, which span the years 1982 to 1992, Neeme Järvi conducts the Gothenburg band in the two Symphonies

The art of the CD sleeve

Image
Pascal Monteilhet is the unfortunate musician and the label making a rare error of judgement is Zig Zag Territoires . But don't let the sleeve put you off, Monteilhet's transcription of two of Bach's Cello Suites for the theorbo is well worth searching out. Sadly there are no posts about Shostakovich's opera The Nose , so instead let's see what an art director can do with Eine Kleine Nachtmusik . Also on Facebook and Twitter . The Zig Zag Territoires disc was bought by me. Report broken links, missing images and errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk

Have you had a similar experience to Lutoslawski?

Image
The presenter of KALW 91.7 San Francisco's Music from Other Minds Richard Friedman has posted a perceptive comment on my post about Seda Röder's new CD of contemporary Turkish piano music. In it Richard asks how is it possible for deserving music such as this to reach an audience today? Which chimes with the view expressed by Bálint András Varga in his introduction to Three Questions for Sixty-Five Composers : In addition, the interviews highlight...the tremendous significance of the radio as a provider of inspiration. Nowadays when radio stations are starved of financial resources and tend to ignore minority interests (which contemporary music no doubt represents), the statements of many composers regarding the fundamental role music broadcasts have played in their lives ought to make editors stop to ponder whether they are doing the right thing. The first of the three questions which Bálint András Varga directs to sixty-five leading contemporary composers is: Have you had

It is time to start respecting musical boundaries

Image
Visiting the ECM website is rather like attending a Salvation Army service. You know there are worthy and wonderful things happening. But there is also a feeling of stasis. Take for instance this description of a new release : Moroccan-born singer Amina Alaoui presents her own border-transcending project. When Alaoui sings there is “no need to discuss the origins of fado, flamenco or Al Andalusi” for the music itself explores the common crucible of the styles, and Amina’s delivery makes the interconnections impossible to miss. The third question asked by Bálint András Varga in his invaluable book Three Questions for Sixty-Five Composers is "How far can one speak of a personal style and where does self-repetition begin?" Now I will be the first to acknowledge that in the past On An Overgrown Path has featured more than its fair share of border-transcending projects . But that it not going to stop me saying that in world music, which Philip Glass famously described as the n

Strike while the music is hot

Image
Treating the arts and healthcare as purely commercial properties is certain to lead to disaster. And it is surprising just how quickly that disaster can happen. Last week I described the privately owned Clinique Médipôle Saint-Roch à Cabestany - Perpignan in France, where I recently underwent surgery , as "a disturbing mix of Gallic arrogance and ineptitude overlaid with American-style corporate crapola". Now comes the news that my poor opinion of the clinic's management is shared by more than 300 of its staff who have gone on strike in a dispute over pay and contracts, see image above from French TV news . This industrial action means the clinic is effectively closed and most of the patients have been transferred to other hospitals in the region. All of which can be dismissed as a storm in a coffee cup in far away French Catalonia. Except that the hospital is owned by international private equity group Bridgepoint (formerly Nat West Equity Partners ) which also owns

Into great noise

Image
'I am accustomed to having to compose under a strained variety of practical conditions, but the different external noises of those ambiences have had no discernible influence. I prefer to compose in a room whose quiet is disturbed only by the, relatively, nonmusical noises of a game, preferably football, on the television.' That is Milton Babbitt, who is seen above, quoted in Three Questions for Sixty-Five Composers by Bálint András Varga . The newly published English translation of this book is essential reading for anyone interested in contemporary music and looks set to become a fixture On An Overgrown Path for quite a while. Into Great Silence is here and Jonathan Harvey on Milton Babbitt is here . Three Questions for Sixty-Five Composers was supplied as a requested review sample by Boydell & Brewer . Also on Facebook and Twitter . Any copyrighted material on these pages is included as "fair use", for the purpose of study, review or critical analysis on

High Mass in C minor with the choir boys nude

Image
'I want the works, long and continuous, with subtle and brazen variations in minor and major keys, ending with a shower of roses and a display of Roman candles, and possibly a High Mass in C minor with all the Priests in embroidered vestements and the choir boys nude.' No, that is not a BBC executive envisioning classical music's contribution to the 2012 Cultural Olympiad . It is in fact Carl van Vechten writing to Brion Gysin in 1950 about the art of performance. Carl van Vechten , seen above in a self-portrait, was the American writer and photographer who famously wrote a first-hand account of the audience reaction at the 1913 premiere of Stravinsky's Rite of Spring . Brion Gysin was the performance artist whose patronage launched the international career of the Master Musicians of Jajouka . Quote is from include Nothing is True but Everything is Permitted - The Life of Brion Gysin by John Geiger. Photo source is Wikipedia . Report broken links, missing images and

Every picture tells a story

Image
No comment from me about that extract from Overgrown Path's traffic logs. Except to say that if enlightened of Bromley had tried the correct spelling of Petroc Trelawny even more dreadful things would have been returned . Also on Facebook and Twitter . Report broken links, missing images and errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk

Another pianist with a religious habit

Image
Yesterday I pointed out that Norman Lebrecht was wrong in saying that French pianist Jean-Rodolphe Kars had entered a monastery in 1981 and had not been heard of since. But in a fascinating twist reader Leo Carey, who sparked my recent Hans Schmidt Isserstedt post , has reminded me of another French pianist who did indeed disappear into a Benedictine monastery. Thierry de Brunhoff was born in 1933. His father was the writer and illustrator Jean de Brunhoff (1899-1937) who was famous for creating the Babar the Elephant books. When he was nine years old Thierry de Brunhoff became a pupil of Alfred Cortot at l'Ecole Normale de Musique in Paris. Brunhoff's father had died when he was just three and he was encouraged as a pianist by his mother who had also been a pupil of Cortot's. He was a favourite pupil of Cortot and his career developed in the early 1960s to include acclaimed recitals and records, notably of Schumann. Some of his recordings from this period remain availa

Slipped facts

Image
'Jean-Rodolphe Kars was born in India to Austrian-Jewish refugees and was building quite a career, in the 1970s when, under the influence of Olivier Messiaen, he retired from playing in 1981 and, like Liszt, entered holy orders. Kars went one further than Liszt: he joined a monastery and was never heard from again.' That is Norman Lebrecht reviewing a new Deutsche Grammophon release of Liszt's piano music and, of course, he has his facts wrong. If we overlook the fast and loose use of dates the statement that "Jean-Rodolphe Kars... joined a monastery and was never heard from again" is quite simply untrue. As my 2009 profile of Kars explained, having taken Holy Orders he continues to give occasional lecture recitals on Messiaen and in 2005 released the CD seen above of Hassidic Jewish piano music on the French Editions de l'Emmanuel label. Read the facts, as opposed to the fiction , about Jean-Rodolphe Kars here . Also on Facebook and Twitter . Report broken

A scholar and a gentleman

Image
Decca's 2 CD Davy Graham retrospective A Scholar and a Gentleman offers a remarkable opportunity to explore the music of an influential guitarist who blended traditional themes with blues, jazz, Indian and Arabic influences. Davy Graham was born in Leicestershre in 1940. His father was a Gaelic teacher from the Isle of Skye and his mother came from Guyana, as did the Berlin Philharmonic's first black conductor Rudolph Dunbar . Having left school Davy Graham's music education came from busking in Paris, Greece and Morocco . After establishing his reputation in London folk clubs and playing with Alexis Korner and John Mayall he appeared in Ken Russell's prescient 1959 TV documentary Hound Dogs and Bach Addicts: The Guitar Craze and in Ken Losey's iconic film The Servant . In 1963 Davy Graham's made his recording debut, which was captured on a hired tape recorder in his mother's basement flat in London, with his composition Angi . This went on to become a

Miracle cure for concert coughs?

Image
Could the following information help eliminate the maddening problem of serial coughers during concerts? In the recovery period immediately after stomach surgery coughing is exceedingly painful and possibly dangerous. During my recent stay in hospital a helpful nurse told me that coughs can be suppressed by gently pinching the windpipe at the base of the neck. I can confirm it works, apparently because it derails the small spasms in the windpipe that cause the cough. Surely worth including in concert programmes? Now perhaps someone can tell us how to pinch a mobile phone's windpipe ? Photo is of a 1922 Promenade Concert. Follow this link to find out what the sign to the left of the stage says. Also on Facebook and Twitter . Report broken links, missing images and errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk

A PR consultants wet dream

Image
Yet more evidence that the spin doctors are taking over . A two hour forty minute mix of the sound of eight washing machines has been created for a project about listening in time and space for Impactsessions at the Sint-Lukas academy for art in Brussels. Listen online here , and remember that, as Scott Ross reminded us, anyone who has a touch of madness has a touch of genius . Also on Facebook and Twitter . Report broken links, missing images and errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk

Surrealism through the keyhole

Image
'The days of the great journeys, like those taken across the Sahara with Paul Bowles , had passed, but Brion Gysin began to travel more frequently, to Amsterdam, Tangier briefly, and later to Cadaqués where he saw Salvador Dalí, who was consumed with his forthcoming induction to the Académie Française and was planning to embroider the green habit and solder a likeness of the head of Gala onto the sword which he planned to wear at the ceremony.' In 1979 performance artist Brion Gysin visited Salvador Dalí at his home in Portlligat near Cadaqués in Spanish Catalonia . Dalí lived and worked in his house in Portlligat from 1930 until his wife and muse Gala died in 1982 - photo 8 shows the conjugal bedroom. A limited number of visitors are admitted into the Dalí House-Museum and I took all the accompanying photos there a few weeks ago. Quotation is from Nothing is True but Everything is Permitted - The Life of Brion Gysin by John Geiger and surrealism meets music in the stories o

Talk radio

Image
During my recent reading I came across the following words of a Buddhist sage and I offer them here in the hope that BBC Radio 3 presenters and those at other stations may meditate on them: 'Do not speak unless you can improve upon the silence .' Artwork was photographed with permission in a gallery in Ceret, France. But I must offer my apologies as I did not note the name of the artist. Source of quote is Alone in Community by William Claassen. Report broken links, missing images and errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk Also on Facebook and Twitter .

A Time of Gifts

Image
Like many of us Patrick Leigh Fermor was a seeker. But what made him unique was that his starting point was far beyond where mere mortals were ever likely to reach with their own humble searches. He was a traveller, maverick, scholar, war hero and Hellenophile; but above all he was one of the great masters of English prose of his generation. A Time of Gifts , which chronicles his youthful walk across Europe in the 1930s, is recognised as his masterpiece. But for me A Time to Keep Silence , his journal of retreats at the Benedictine Abbey of St Wandrille, the Abbey of Solemnes, the Cistercian Monastery of La Grande Trappe, and the rock monasteries of Cappadocia, will always be very special. Such a long and rich life was indeed a time of gifts - adieu Paddy . * Sample Patrick Leigh Fermor's peerless prose here . Header image is my first edition of A Time of Gifts . The artwork is by John Craxton who designed the 1951 Royal Ballet production of Ravel's Daphnis and Chloë . Repor

Clown imperial

Image
While otherwise engaged in France I missed Prince Charles' debut as a BBC classical jock. Our heir to the throne is, of course, noted for his wide ranging musical tastes . Also on Facebook and Twitter . Report broken links, missing images and errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk

The anatomy lesson

Image
Among those in Amsterdam in 1651 watching the public dissection of a corpse captured in Rembrandt's The Anatomy Lesson was thought to be the Norwich based writer, philosopher and physician Sir Thomas Browne . My thanks go to the many kind readers who sent messages following my recent somewhat less public surgery . On Monday evening I flew back to the UK and my appreciation goes to Ryanair whose treatment of me as a wheelchair passenger was exemplary. Appreciation also goes to the medics at La clinique Médipôle Saint-Roch à Cabestany - Perpignan in France for their speedy intervention. I wish I could also praise the post-operative care I received at this clinic, but sadly I cannot. At this private hospital I experienced a disturbing mix of Gallic arrogance and ineptitude overlaid with American-style corporate crapola. La clinique Médipôle Saint-Roch à Cabestany - Perpignan is owned by international private equity group Bridgepoint which also owns a leading independent provider

Requiem for a record label

Image
Although not billed as a limited edition the fate of the newly released 'Klaus Tennstedt: the great EMI recordings' must surely be a racing certainty . There can be no reason not to buy it today for around £25 unless every one of the fourteen CDs , which includes Ein deutsches Requiem , is already in your collection. While in France I read the recently published 'Nick Drake: the Pink Moon Files' , a compendium of writing about Nick edited by Jason Creed. The subject of the 1975 obituary by David Sandison quoted below may have been an English folk rock singer, however the message is both timeless and universal. But in a world full of bullshit, hype, and glittery horrors with the talent of dead oxen and the integrity of starving rats, Nick Drake was a man of sincerity, an artist of tremendous calibre and one of the few entitled to be called unique. But what the hell do they care ? Also on Facebook and Twitter . Any copyrighted material on these pages is included as &

Joining up the dots

Image
Yes, I know the teaching of selflessness is the most distinctive feature of Buddhism . But I still cannot resist featuring this link . Artwork is by Barry Blend who retains the copyright, I photographed it with permission in his gallery at Collioure, France . Report broken links, missing images and errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk Also on Facebook and Twitter .

Beethoven pure and simple

Image
We have Toscanini's Beethoven, Furtwängler's Beethoven, Karajan's Beethoven, Kleiber's Beethoven, and, if you must , Norrington's Beethoven. But where is Beethoven's Beethoven? My nomination for Beethoven pure and simple would be the LP of the Seventh Symphony seen above, recorded by Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt. This great German conductor, who was born in 1900, was a product of the kapellmeister system. After studying at Berlin University he held a series of posts at German opera houses before being chief conductor of the Deutsche Oper , Berlin from 1943 to 1944. Despite holding such a prominent position under the Third Reich, Schmidt-Isserstedt was not a member of the Nazi party. This perceived political "neutrality" counted in Schmidt-Isserstedt's favour with the occupying forces at the end of the war and he was invited to form the Symphony Orchestra of North German Radio (NDRSO) in 1945, a position he held until two years before his death in 1973