On An Overgrown Path

'Though distrustful of logical chains of ideas, I loved the polyphony of ideas. As long as you don't believe in them, the collision of two ideas - both false - can create a pleasing interval, a kind of diabolus in musica . I had no respect for some ideas people were willing to stake their lives on, but two or three ideas that I did not respect might still make a nice melody. Or have a good beat, and if it was jazz, all the better.' Umberto Eco writing in Foucault's Pendulum gives the lie to our hypermediated society which silences the all-important polyphony of ideas. Header photo shows Quator PercuCIMO in the Benedictine Abbey Church of Saint-Jean d’Orbestier in Château-d'Olonne, France. Adding to the polyphony of ideas in the 12th century church was the artwork by Bernard Philippeaux seen below. More on the importance of the diabolus in musica here . Also on Facebook and Twitter . Photos are (C) On An Overgrown Path . Any copyrighted material on these page...

Art disconnected from suffering is thought by some impoverished on account of its apparent failure to face up to the genuinely tragic episodes of life. Yet there remains a serious risk that in the name of a dubious artistic authenticity we may inhumanly reject all harking back, and, in so doing, cut ourselves off from important facets of art's joyfulness - some of it not unconnected with cosiness. Good art, it is undeniable, ought to engage in due measure with the more painful aspects of life, but it cannot, without denaturing itself, wholly ignore what is joyful and comfortable, even if such an engagement be achieved via indulgence of nostalgia. From Piers Tattersall's programme note for the world premiere of his Kreisler, l'entre deux guerres which is being given by Henning Kraggerud and the Britten Sinfonia . Header image is from the London Children's Ballet production of Piers Tattersall's Rumpelstiltskin . Philippa Schuyler's 1946 debut as composer and ...

Could this activity on my site's traffic log be related to October 5 being the closing date for offers for EMI? The occupants of the deckchairs on the Titanic were reading this article . They should have been reading this one . Also on Facebook and Twitter . Report broken links, missing images and errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk

While Gustav Mahler was composing his Third Symphony, the longest work in the mainstream symphonic repertoire, he was also working on an arrangement for string orchestra of Schubert's Second Quartet, Death and the Maiden . In 1894 Mahler gave a performance of his re-orchestration of the second movement of the Quartet in Hamburg where he was chief conductor at the Stadttheater. But he did not complete the arrangement and it was only published in 1984 after the manuscript was discovered by the composer's daughter Anna. The performing edition is the work of Mahler authorities Donald Mitchell and David Matthews who produced it from the composer's annotated score. What motivated Mahler to arrange a string quartet while composing his Third Symphony and leading a major opera company? Was the Death and the Maiden project simply the composer's way of destressing or was there another motivation? As classical music struggles to reach new audiences, is there something we can lea...

'Images are the literature of the layman.' Umberto Eco provides that coda to yesterday's path about the medium usurping the message . Connecting with the layman is the holy grail of the arts. Yet it is one of the paradoxes of digital culture that so much emphasis is placed on communications technology while so little is placed on the visual and verbal vocabularies that populate the technology networks. Umberto Eco's field is semiotics , so I offer two interpretations of the non-photo of Carl Nielsen. The glass is half empty - as Umberto Eco tells us, the visual is the literature of the layman, which once again points to the path of seeing the music . Yet, as Philip Amos points out in a a thought provoking comment , that literature and the important cultural linkages which sustain it are being subverted in the name of accessibility. Yes, a lot of fuss about a photo of a radio presenter. But just one example of how media organisations are cynically abusing the arts in t...

An awful lot of visitors are arriving today on my article about Anna Meredith's children's opera Tarantula in Petrol Blue, see production photo above. They are all coming from searches for ' Who composed The Young Person's Guide to the Opera? ', because that happens to be the title of my post but sadly not of Anna's opera. The profile of the traffic is that normally associated with a crossword clue. So please can one of my many erudite readers put the googlers out of their agony - who was the composer of 'The Young Person's Guide to the Opera'? Or is there a crossword compiler somewhere who hasn't got a clue ? My post about Anna Meredith's opera, which was premiered at Snape in 2009, is here . Also on Facebook and Twitter . Photo credit Alex Eales . 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)....

Sounds and Silence, the film of Manfred Eicher working with leading ECM artists including Arvo Pärt, Anja Lechner, Anouar Brahem, Kim Kashkashian and Jan Garbarek, which featured in a 2009 path , is now available on DVD and the accompanying soundtrack CD is seen above. Much appreciated on my recent travels was the new ECM CD capturing Maria Farantouri in concert in Athens with saxophonist Charles Lloyd. Maria Farantouri, who has been called the Joan Baez of the Mediterranean, is accompanied by John Williams in songs and music by Mikis Theodorakis on one of my favourite discs of all time . Also on Facebook and Twitter . Report broken links, missing images and errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk

From BBC Radio 3 website . More on the cult of the presenter here . Also on Facebook and Twitter . Report broken links, missing images and errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk

Installation by Rainer Gross in Chapelle Saint-Nicholas, Pluméliau, Brittany is above and mural by Olivier Nottellet in Chapelle Saint-Jean, Le Sourn is below. Both part of the annual L’art dans les chapelles (Art in the chapels). Is the link between music and the visual arts neglected ? Also on Facebook and Twitter . Photo (c) On An Overgrown Path 2011. Report broken links, missing images and errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk

It may sound unlikely, but this aerial ballet performed by trained birds of prey to Wagner’s Venusberg music was both powerful and chilling, doubtless helped by the visual resonances from the arena design. Recorded classical music is an integral part of the family oriented spectacles at the Puy du Fou near Nantes, France; the superb reproduced sound at the outdoor performances left me thinking that Jonathan Harvey was on the right track when he suggested that, in certain circumstances, classical music should be amplified , and that Jeff Harrington also had a good point when he said we need to turn up the bass . Les Orgues de Feu , another of the spectacles at the Puy du Fou, follows the overgrown path of seeing the music . The result is a typically Gallic mix of the genuinely inspired and totally naff. See for yourself below while I continue on my travels. Also on Facebook and Twitter . Photo (c) On An Overgrown Path 2011. Report broken links, missing images and errors to - ...

Friday evening live music from Hélène Brunet and Nicola Hayes in the Leclerc hypermarket at Pontivy, Brittany . Their latest Cajun, Irish and Appalachian flavoured album is titled Travelling . Which is appropriate because that is what I am still doing. More music outside the comfort zone here . Also on Facebook and Twitter . Photo (c) On An Overgrown Path 2011. Report broken links, missing images and errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk

Second World War German gun emplacement on L'île de Noirmoutier overlooking the seaward approach to Saint Nazaire. Follow this path to musique concrete . Also on Facebook and Twitter . Photo (c) On An Overgrown Path 2011. Report broken links, missing images and errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk