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Showing posts from July, 2011

Symphonic musicians against specialisation

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Not too much specialisation in the photo above as the Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra of Moscow Radio is joined in Studio 5 of the State Recording House, Moscow by jazz and world music group Oregon. Much of Oregon's distinctive sound comes Paul McCandless' oboe, English horn and bass clarinet and his double reeds have given the group strong links with the symphony orchestra. These stretch back to Oregon's formation in 1970 and their collaborators have included the Philadelphia Orchestra and the St Paul Chamber Orchestra with Dennis Russell Davies. That 1999 session captured in the photo was for the Grammy nominated double CD Oregon in Moscow . Conductor for the sessions was the Armenian Russian saxophonist, bandleader and composer George Garanian (1934-2010) who was a leading figure in Russian jazz. Production credit goes to Steve Rodby who is better known as the Pat Metheny Group's bassist. Oregon in Moscow was released on Schott Music's Intuition label but i

Bach - the specialists would never allow that

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I couldn't agree more strongly with Théo . As Colin Davis said when he took over at the LSO, what the orchestra needed was to play a great deal of Mozart and Haydn, string tone often having been the Achilles heel of London orchestras. Davis has also said that, of works he would most still like to record he would most like to record, he would choose the St Matthew Passion, but noted that, alas, the 'specialists' would never allow that. As our good host points out, the present situation would have been incomprehensible to great conductors of the past, whether Walter, Klemperer, Mengelberg, or Furtwängler. How is one to hear the Bach in Mahler, let alone the Mahler in Bach, if one does not know Bach - and know him intimately? Even if one were to take the ayatollah-like view that Bach and Handel were and could only be chamber music, it would be necessary to play them for that reason alone. Those would confine Bach, Mozart, Monteverdi, or anyone else, to a (generally grossly mis

How many black conductors at the BBC Proms?

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The separate paths of BBC Proms and black conductors have been the hot topics here recently. Now they converge in this question - how many black conductors have appeared at the BBC Proms and Henry Wood Promenade Concerts during their 117 year history? It is not a rhetorical question as I do not have a definitive answer and therefore would welcome collaborative input from readers. One definitely has, Wayne Marshall conducted Porgy and Bess in the 1998 season . But have any other black conductors appeared at the Proms? Rudolph Dunbar , Dean Dixon , Everett Lee and James Frazier did not, while James DePriest , Paul Freeman , Isaiah Jackson , Kwamé Ryan , John McLaughlin Williams , Tania León and others to date have not; but I may have missed someone. Just as a benchmark, Charles Hazlewood has so far conducted two evening BBC Proms and four daytime concerts. My header photo shows Kwamé Ryan and you can read more about him here . Also on Facebook and Twitter . Report broken links

Orchestras unable to play a Mozart symphony

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'Some conductors are starting to realize how deep the problem is : they can see an incredible quantity of great professional BUT also some almost amateur orchestras are able to play a Mahler symphony, with great commitment and sense of the music's character, but are totally unable to play a Mozart symphony.' Part of a comment left by Théo Bélaud on Specialisation is damaging classical music . That great Mozart interpreter Bruno Walter gave the first performance of Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde and Ninth Symphony. More on Bruno Walter here . Also on Facebook and Twitter . Report broken links, missing images and errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk

Specialisation is damaging classical music

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'I would go a little further. One of the issues we face today is the ever-increasing division of classical performances into small, ghetto-like compartments. Forty years ago Fischer-Dieskau could be a giant among singers whether he was performing Bach or Wagner, Schubert lieder or Weber operas. For modern performers that doesn't seem possible. The baroque period has largely been abandoned to specialists. Even performances of Mozart, Hadyn and even early Beethoven, which used to be a staple of most symphony orchestras' concert seasons, are becoming rarities. This over-specialisation makes for less rounded and perceptive musicians. What's more it creates a uniformity of performance style which becomes more and more difficult to challenge. What isn't clear to me is why this should have become the norm. As a lifelong listener it isn't a development I ever wanted and I can't believe the move towards clinical uniformity has done anything except drive audiences awa

From Carmen Jones to Arvo Part and beyond

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My recent post about Everett Lee ended enigmatically with his CD of Arvo Pärt's music released in 2000 by an Estonian label and an appeal for further information about the pioneering African American conductor. Now an email has come from Byron Hanson at the Interlochen Center for the Arts in Michigan and here is the very good news: 'Regarding Everett Lee, I had a call out of the blue from his son just a couple of weeks ago asking me to verify a concert Mr Lee conducted at Interlochen in 1974. Everett was in the room with his son and is therefore alive though nearly 100 years old!' My thanks go to Bill Zick at AfriClassical who relayed the email and also to the many readers who shared my article on Facebook and elsewhere . Byron Hanson tells me that the programme for that 1974 Interlochen concert was Mozart Overture to The Magic Flute, Bartók Romanian Folk Dances and Borodin's still neglected Second Symphony . The latter work is a natural for the BBC Proms, but was la

Is classical music too lean and mean?

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If the recent BBC Proms Gothic Symphony firestorm told us anything it is that there are a lot of people out there who like their classical music large and loud, and that many of them are classical music virgins who find something lacking in a standard performance of the mainstream repertoire. All of which points in the direction of Jonathan Harvey's thoughts about amplification , to Jeff Harrington's suggestion that we turn up the bass , and to the possibilities of nuanced sound reinforcement . But, quite understandably, electronic re-engineering of live classical music is a contentious subject. Which leaves me wondering whether there is, as the Buddhists say, a middle path that can be followed to reach classical music virgins. As I write Herbert von Karajan's recording of Arnold Schoenberg's Pelleas und Melisande plays. This was recorded in 1974; it was originally released as part of the 4 LP Second Viennese box seen above and was then re-mastered as a now deleted 3

'I don't believe in Negro symphony conductors'

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'Oh, come in, young man. I'm reading these reviews. They are out of this world. You really have something. But I might as well tell you, right now, I don't believe in Negro symphony conductors. No, you may play solo with our symphonies, all over this country. You can dance with them, sing with them. But a Negro, standing in front of a white symphony group? No. I'm sorry.' That is the impresario Arthur Judson discussing career opportunities with African American conductor Everett Lee, seen above, in the early 1950s. Judson headed Columbia Artists Management Inc and for twenty-five years was the power broker of musical America with a stable of artists that included Eugene Ormandy, Jascha Heifetz and African American contralto Marian Anderson, and at the time of the discussion he also managed the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. In 1940, together with fellow African American Dean Dixon and Canadian Benjamin Steinberg , Everett Lee attempted to circumvent the institu

Boredom and the lost art of listening

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'A Tantric master, Trungpa , has written that some meditation should be boring, should be as boring as possible, because in intense boredom all our habitual responses and concepts are dissolved. The mind's terror of boredom is the more acute because the mind suspects that through boredom, through its extreme experience, another reality might be reached that would threaten its pretensions, and perhaps even dissolve them altogether.' Andrew Harvey writes in A Journey in Ladakh . Terry Riley's in C provides the header image and Jeroen van Veen dissolves all habitual responses in an over-dubbed performance using keyboards and samplers in his 9 CD Minimal Piano Collection . The lost art of listening path started here . Also on Facebook and Twitter . Image of Terry Riley's in C from synthopia.com 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 o

I simply do not want sensationalism

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"I simply do not want to breath the air, which is filled by sensationalism and distorted values" writes Gidon Kremer in a letter to the organisers of the Verbier Festival which he then gives to Norman Lebrecht to publish. Go figure . Also on Facebook and Twitter . Photo of Gideon Kremer via The Blue Grass Specia l. Report broken links, missing images and errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk

Buddhist lama takes the rap

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Which Overgrown Path article has generated the largest readership over the seven year life of the blog? One about Guastavo Dudamel ? - sorry but no. One about Benjamin Britten ? - sorry, wrong again. Perhaps one about the BBC Proms ? - no, I am afraid not. Somewhat surprisingly my most popular post is Lost in Meditation , a 2009 piece about the bumpy spiritual path of the Buddhist lama Osel Hita Torres, while the follow up Found in Meditation is not far behind. Which must provide food for thought for those who believe spirituality and serious music do not mix. If I had a pound sterling for every reader of those two posts I would be very rich indeed and now their pre-eminence has been reinforced by huge numbers of new visitors following today's NPR preview of the debut rap single from Gomo Tulku, who is a close friend of Osel Hita Torres. Audience participation is all the rage, so here is my user's guide to Buddhist rap . Also on Facebook and Twitter . Report broken links

Contemporary music uncovered

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Good to see cover art can still arouse strong feelings . Back in 2006 the disc seen above on the Dutch Bvhaast label from pianist Tomoko Mukaiyama , which features music by Adriana Hölszky , Vanessa Lann , Galina Ustvolskaya , Sofia Gubaidulina and Meredith Monk , created a few ripples. And it's not just contemporary music that gets uncovered . Also on Facebook and Twitter . Report broken links, missing images and errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk

In a nutshell

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... but leads to interesting destinations . Talking of dangerous conditions, In a Nutshell is the title of a suite by a composer known for his sadistic and masochistic pleasure-seeking . Report broken links, missing images and errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk Also on Facebook and Twitter .

Slowly and inexorably he parted from his fellows

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'Both Stockhausen and Babbitt were interested in global time: they shared the High Modernist belief that time becomes space, and that one views a musical work, a work of art, as one object, very complex, which should be experienced somehow from above, moving through it but yet conscious of it as a whole, and with no particular sense of line pushing from moment to moment. The logic lies in the enormous planning of the temporal relationships in Gruppen , or the serial value in time-points, dynamics and registers in Babbitt's work' - Jonathan Harvey quoted by Arnold Whittall . 'The impression left by the school [ Downside ] was sufficient to have inspired a 1947 literary effort by Gysin - "Time and Brother Griphen" - a story about a "sad, brave" monk whose indulgence in chronodaedaly led to his discovery of an error in the calculation of time. Don Griphen resolved to live his own life according to his corrected measure. At first the difference was

Drowned in a fusion sauce?

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More fusion sauce here and Take Five's composer is here . Also on Facebook and Twitter . Report broken links, missing images and errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk

I want to comment and 'like' on Facebook but...

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'BBC Radio 3,will, I suppose, make this abysmal state of things into a sort of national standard. The worst journalists and bloggers it co-opts by dipping into its very weighty bag of goodies because they fit in well with Radio 3's own standards, and so also they try to co-opt the best, often with success, because they live in mortal fear that they may one day train their critical faculties full bore on Radio 3 itself. And so I wasn't surprised to find Dr. Service occasionally is on there, nor to learn that Mr. Lebrecht will be. There are only two music blogs in Britain, as I review in my mind those I'm pretty well-acquainted with, that I know are untarnished by all this, and only one I can think of that is willing to go head to head with the Beeb, and that is the most admirable one I'm commenting on at this very moment.' That is part of a comment added by Philip Amos to yesterday's post . Many other personal emails have been received from readers who agree

Great Wagnerian who does not spin the Ring

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A truly talented 65 year old conductor with just one catalogue CD to his credit scores a full page Guardian profile. How cool is that? And what is even cooler is that the profile does not boost a BBC Prom and Tom Service did not write it . Some readers may recognise Reginald Goodall and Anne Evans in the photo above taken at a rehearsal for a Welsh National Opera production of The Valkyrie . But who is conducting? Well, it is Goodall's assistant Anthony Negus and I personally have experienced his truly great talent. A 2003 WNO Parsifal conducted by Negus ranks among my most moving experiences in more than fifty years of concert going and it was also my good fortune to be at Longborough when he conducted the Jonathan Dove adapted Ring with Donald McIntyre as Wotan. Anthony Negus' credentials are impressive. As well as working with Reginald Goodall at Welsh National Opera and at English National Opera on the their legendary demotic Ring and Mastersingers he was an assist

A gritty and angry new symphony

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'My new Symphony - for that is what it eventually turned out to be - would serve as a memorial to the victims of the [ Sharpeville massacre ] in which eighty-three people were shot dead by the police while taking part in a peaceful demonstration against the notorious Pass Laws , the hated symbol of black subjection to white supremacy. I was also influenced by the example of Shostakovich's own memorial to the victims of political oppression in the shape of his Eleventh Symphony, which so movingly commemorates the dead of the 1905 Revolution in which another peaceful demonstration was turned into a massacre. But where Shostakovich uses Russian political songs as symphonic material, I resolved to make use of three African melodies to give my work a similar sense of urgency and immediacy of purpose.' That is John Joubert writing in the notes for the new Dutton release of his Second Symphony , which, as related here , recently made an unexpected appearance in the classical char

Classical music beyond Twitter

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Yesterday's BBC Proms performance of Havergal Brian's Gothic Symphony confirmed that history has passed fair judgement on the work. This is honest music that certainly deserves to be heard and full credit should go to everyone involved in the concert. But this is by no means great music and, given the cost and complexity involved, the thirty-one year gap since the last professional London performance does not seem unreasonable. Yesterday I quoted Peter J. Pirie as saying it is "difficult to make an objective assessment of [Havergal Brian's] work", and this point is worth dwelling on. Another post highlighted the prominence being given to Twitter reactions on the BBC Proms website , a development that is not conducive to making objective assessments of the featured works. Because, as Tweets Law states, if you give one hundred chimpanzees instruments, put them on a concert platform and broadcast the result, 95% of Twitter users will give the performance a rave rev

Please welcome the citizen music journalists

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Listener's tweets are being prominently displayed on the new BBC Proms website . Intrigued by the one above I followed the link to read more from the new generation of citizen music journalists. Here is the same contributor on Janáček's Glagolitic Mass . RIP the art of the animateur ... Report broken links, missing images and errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk Also on Facebook and Twitter .

Havergal Brian - a spurious glamour?

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'Then there was the first performance of Havergal Brian's overture Dr Merryheart . In those days [1913] his music was still being performed, and he had not sunk into that long and mysterious neglect which has given his name a spurious glamour, and rendered it even more difficult to make an objective assessment of his work.' That quote is from the English Musical Renaissance by Peter J. Pirie which was published in 1979. Havergal Brian is certainly not neglected today in the record catalogue and there is, thankfully, the opportunity to make an objective assessment courtesy of tonight's BBC Prom performance of his Gothic Symphony . Is this work a neglected masterpiece, another of classical music's Diana moments , or something in between? Worth remembering that Peter J. Pirie had it right about John Fould's World Requiem . Image is via YouTube clip from 1972 Havergal Brian documentary . Quote is from Peter J. Pirie's The English Musical Renaissance - Twentiet

Two little-known Arvo Part premieres

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Pärt, Byrd, Mussorgsky, Reger, de Falla, Milhaud, Garcia Lorca and anon are a pretty remarkable mix for any playlist. They are even more remarkable as the tracklisting for a CD by stereotyped 'early music specialists' Jordi Savall and Montserrat Figueras . Their 2002 album Ninna Nanna was linked from yesterday's post and that prompted me to listen to it again last night. (With Petreoc Trelawny fronting the BBC Prom on Radio 3 , Figueras and Savall followed by silence was a no brainer.) That composer line up is pretty special, and the fact that two of the Arvo Pärt pieces were commissioned for the album makes it even more special. But what is equally noteworthy is the discrete cultural activism of a disc that presents lullabies from across the cultures that developed under the three great monotheistic traditions. Yet another example of the Savall family rearranging the geometry of heaven . * Dedicated Savall watchers should note the performance of Elogie de la folie: E

Dvorak will never sound the same again

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Musicians with a conscience make many appearances On An Overgrown Path and I offer no apologies for today featuring another artist who eschews the self-righteous bullshit that is the lingua franca of today's music industry . The presence of Berber's in Morocco predates the Arab invasion of the country by eight centuries. Around three-quarters of the 30 million population of modern Morocco are of Berber descent and the number of Berber speakers, either as a first language or bilingually with an Arab dialect, is estimated to be around 10 million. Although Tamazight is the generic term for Moroccan Berber (Berber culture is known as Amazigh culture ) there are actually three main Berber dialects, Tamazight, Tashilhit and Rifi. Despite the establishment in 2001 of a Royal institute to safeguard and promote Berber culture Moroccan schools did not recognise any of these dialects until constitutional changes forced by the Arab Spring this year, and as a result there have histor