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Showing posts from April, 2013

Slipping off the harness for a while

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The cowardly belief that a person must stay in one place is too reminiscent of the unquestioning resignation of animals, beasts of burden stupefied by servitude and yet always willing to accept the slipping on of the harness. There are limits to every domain, and laws to govern every organized power. But the vagrant owns the whole vast earth that ends only at the non-existent horizon, and her empire is an intangible one, for her domination and enjoyment of it are things of the spirit. That quote is from the young, gifted and finally trending Isabelle Eberhardt and I am about to slip off the harness myself to become a vagrant for a while. But I dislike leaving readers looking at a 'gone away' post, so tomorrow I will park the blog with something chewier. Take care while I am away. Also on Facebook and Twitter . Photo which I took recently in Morocco is (c) On An Overgrown Path 2013. Any other copyrighted material on these pages is included as "fair use", for the

What price Tippett conducting Tippett?

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Tucked away on the BBC Radio 3 blog among the usual thoughts of Chairman Roger is a valuable reminiscence by the BBC Symphony Orchestra's sub-principal viola Phil Hall . In his blog post Phil Hall recalls how in March 1993 the BBCSO recorded Michael Tippet's Second and Fourth Symphonies for broadcast with the 88 year old composer conducting. What the post does not go on to explain is that the symphonies were also issued as the free cover mount CD seen above with BBC Music Magazine in 1995, but, to my knowledge - see correction in comments - have never been released as commercial discs. As I write my BBC CD from 1995 of the Second Symphony plays. It is a spacious reading in which Colin Davis' insistence is traded for the composer's authority; the BBCSO playing is inspired, and the sound captured in All Hallows Church, Gospel Oak is of demonstration quality. Which brings me to the question of why this, and thousands of other valuable recordings, remain hidden in the

If you want your music performed keep it short

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Reader responses to Friday's post emphatically confirm that I am not the only one that does not ‘get’ Paulo Coelho. Which is reassuring, but we should not be complacent, because intellectual superficiality can be found much closer to home in classical music’s love affair with the über cool TED movement. TED stands for 'Technology Electronics & Design' and is the brand of the privately owned not-for-profit Sapling Foundation whose main activities are networking conferences dedicated to "ideas worth spreading". The TED movement originated in Silicon Valley, California and its events are now held around the world, with the global spread helped by the TEDx outreach programme. Central to the TED format is a strictly enforced 18 minute duration for presentations, and there is a queue to join Bill Clinton, Lance Armstrong, Al Gore, Richard Dawkins, Bill Gates, Larry Page and Sergey Brin who have spoken at the conferences over the years. Classical musicians a

All you need to know about Twitter in 100 characters

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Alex Ross offers a pithy Nietzsche quote that is as applicable to social media users as it is to opera composers. In the same vein I offer these 100 characters from Dōgen Zenji , founder of Sōtō Zen: Think three times before speaking and then choose to speak only in one out of ten of those instances Also on Facebook and Twitter . Image of Zen monk first appeared in The sound is just following its own nature and is (c) On An Overgrown Path 2013.

Alchemist of words or universal hippie babbling?

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That photo shows Yehudi Menuhin with the Brazilian author Paulo Coelho at the 1999 World Economic Forum in Davos. During my frequent explorations of esoteric paths I am very aware of the danger of what David Hare , with scathing reference to Peter Brook’s style of directing , describes as “a universal hippie babbling which represents nothing but fright of commitment”. For me that universal hippie babbling is epitomised by the books of Paulo Coelho . As Coelho has sold more than 100 million books I must be one of the very few people on this earth with that opinion of his writing, and, believe me, I have tried many times to prove myself wrong. Last year I took The Alchemist to France to see if a different environment would throw a fresh light on that global best seller. But, alas, I found it – again - no more than a trite distillation of perennial wisdom that fails to encourage further exploration of those important traditions outside Coelho’s copious title list. In the continuing sea

Does Jackie's Elgar really need reinvigorating?

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"Our acquisition of the renowned labels, EMI Classics and Virgin Classics, will open up huge scope for us to reinvigorate our approach to classical music, starting with the development of a new brand for our activities in this genre" - Warner Music Group CEO Steve Cooper quoted in Music Week April 2013 . "Or should we not be protecting great intellectual properties from the ravages of the free market and safeguarding them for future generations by establishing some form of international cultural exception?" - On An Overgrown Path February 2010 . 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 only, and will be removed at the request of copyright owner(s).

The moment anything is a success it must be abandoned

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Last Friday’s Barbican performance of Sir Michael Tippett’s Second Symphony received a thoughtful review by David Nice which ended with the observation that “Wherever Tippett may have gone wrong in later years – some would argue that he simply changed shape – he left us a masterpiece in the Second Symphony”. Which raises the question of how long should an artist stay with a successful formula before moving on and risking the loss of his audience? Writing of Peter Brook’s approach to direction – which is influenced by Gurdjieff’s ‘work’ – John Heilpern explains that “Part of the crippling nature of the work is that the moment anything is a success it must be abandoned. If not, it becomes set and closed – unable to teach anything fresh”. One of the four Buddhist noble truths tells of the danger of attachment , yet classical music is firmly attached to successful but set and closed formulas ranging from minimalism through authentic performances to chart radio . Tippett’s Second

In search of the miraculous universal music

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Alex Ross has a noteworthy post on The Rest is Noise detailing a collaboration between New York psychedelic club The Electric Circus and the pioneering early music ensemble New York Pro Musica seen above. A post On An Overgrown Path last year profiled the largely-forgotten founder of Pro Musica Noah Greenberg, who died tragically early in 1966. In the following year his early music ensemble played in an Electric Circus gig at Carnegie Hall, performing “beneath a gigantic filmed projection of a fish opening and closing its mouth” – Norman Perryman please note - and later with Circus Maximus , the club’s house rock band, in a rendition of Machaut’s Douce Dame Jolie . That collaboration between early music and popular culture is more than a historic curiosity. In Conference of the Birds: the Story of Peter Brook in Africa John Heilpern explains how: Disenchanted with a weak and elitist status quo , [Brook] believes it’s possible to discover the miraculous: a universal theat

Smack the hacks continued

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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 only, and will be removed at the request of copyright owner(s).

New music festival sounds a very flat note

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My efforts to raise the profile of the Alchemy at Zahar Festival have backfired as I am now told the event was cancelled a few days before it was due to take place. The story sounds rather messy; reports are circulating that this is the second cancellation, that the required government permit may not have been in place, and that plans to run a four day festival in the Moroccan Sahara in 40 degrees plus temperatures may have been somewhat optimistic. There are reports of a reincarnation in Marrakech but, understandably, those that bought tickets and travelled to M’Hamid El Ghizlane last weekend are not happy – particularly the fan who travelled from Brazil. My thanks go to Frank Rynne , producer of the 'other' Master Musicians of Joujouka - who were not appearing at the festival – for updating me on the lack of alchemy at Zahar. Things are never straightforward in Morocco , and I was going to end by saying that next time I’ll go with the flow and stick to posting BBC press

They paved paradise and put up a parking lot

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In Big Yellow Taxi Joni Mitchell tells of how, in Hawaii, they paved paradise and put up a parking lot. She wrote the song in 1970, and more than four decades later, despite soothing references to eco-resorts and sustainable tourism, " global hospitality company" Hyatt and others are paving the paradise in Morocco seen in the header photo, as this reblog from my wife's Facebook page explains. We visited the Berber village of Tamraght in southern Morocco for the first time two years ago and returned this year to find the diggers and heavy machinery seen above in place of the grassland and grazing camels and goats seen below - the two photos were taken in the same place two years apart. Below is an extract from an article detailing what is to replace the beautiful rugged terrain we found and it will change Tamraght – not for the better in our opinion - but of course it will provide jobs for the locals which some of them think is a good thing. "Dubai-b

Rare bird - music festival with no Wagner or Britten

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News comes via the Master Musicians of Jajouka diaspora that the masters are playing this weekend at the Alchemy at Zahar Festival . This new event, which takes place seven hours drive south of Marrakech in the Moroccan Sahara, replaces the Festival au Désert in Mali which has been cancelled due to the state of emergency there. Alchemy at Zahar is not quite as accessible as the BBC Proms : here are the travel instructions from the festival website . The location of the Festival is not something that you will find on a GPS or that you should ask a random person about : M’Hamid alone is a really common name – The complete name of the town is M’Hamid El Ghizlane – where the 4×4 cars will await you, to take you on sand tracks to the « Screaming Dune of Zahar » (this has been its popular name even before the idea of the festival was born). This ultimate step before arriving at the festival area is a one hour ride in the desert. Among the other artists playing Alchemy at Zahar are

Are they being relentlessly fashion driven, or what?

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David has left a new comment on your post " What do music industry awards achieve? ": The RPS shortlists seem bizarre to me - above all nominating the LSO for, what, playing stooge to Rowan Atkinson at the Olympics launch instead of lobbying (or getting Rattle to lobby) to show what they can do? And I couldn't believe the opera productions shortlist: I'm all for new opera, but that's all there is. Are they being relentlessly fashion driven, or what? In fairness it should be pointed out that the LSO nomination for an RPS Award was not for their appearance with Simon Rattle and Rowan Atkinson seen above. It was for when François-Xavier Roth conducted 80 LSO 'On track' young musicians , also at the opening ceremony. But, despite that confusion, David Nice still makes several good points. More on the music at the 2012 Olympics here . Also on Facebook and Twitter . Any copyrighted material on these pages is included as "fair use", for the pur

Drawing attention to music audiences should listen to

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A good bookshop will display the titles they think you will read, but they will also try to draw your attention to those they think you should read. That quote comes from a short piece in the Independent by Richard Hall. I was reminded of it by a comment added to my Sir Colin Davis tribute post by David Nice lamenting the absence from the catalogue of Sir Colin’s Tippett recordings . As for books, so for classical music, and, with a few notable exceptions, record companies, broadcasters and orchestras present the music they think audiences will listen to, without also drawing attention to music they think audiences should listen to. One notable exception to 'comfort programming' is the BBC Symphony Orchestra concert tomorrow (April 19) conducted by Martyn Brabbins – a conductor whose adventurous repertoire puts his higher profile colleagues to shame. Tomorrow’s Barbican concert prompted David Nice’s comment as it features a rare performance of Tippet’s Second Symphon

What do music industry awards achieve?

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Last week the RPS (Royal Philharmonic Society) Awards 2013 shortlist were announced. As the entry page of the awards website explains they are presented "In association with BBC Radio 3". Elsewhere we are told "our media partner, BBC Radio 3, carry extensive coverage of the awards including a full length programme which focuses on the winners". And one of the award categories is sponsored by BBC Music Magazine, while the announcement of the awards shortlist was broadcast exclusively on BBC Radio 3 on April 11 - see header image. From which you will gather that the BBC has a heavy involvement in the RPS Awards. But their involvement does not end there. Shortlisted for the 2013 'concert series and festival award' is the BBC's own Proms concert series, while nominated for the 'chamber music and song' and 'instrumentalist' awards respectively are the Elias Quartet , Francesco Piemontesi and Steven Osborne , all artists whose career

Bird concerto silenced

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So I finally found a use for all those unsolicited review CDs. Jonathan Harvey's unsilenced Bird Concerto with Pianosong - which was not an unsolicited review CD - played by Hidéki Nagano and the London Sinfonietta with David Atherton on NMC is recommended. Photo (c) On an Overgrown Path - another bird deterrent is visible in the background. Also on Facebook and Twitter .

Sir Colin Davis - farewell to a champion of new music

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Fulsome tributes are appearing around the world to Sir Colin Davis who has died aged 85. In his later years Sir Colin was revered for his towering interpretations of established masterpieces, but his commitment to new music also needs to be remembered. He was given little credit for his work as chief conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra from 1967 to 1971 laying the foundations that his successor Pierre Boulez built on so successfully. Indeed, as the following list shows, he was championing new music well into Boulez’s tenure with the orchestra: among the first performances – either world (wfp), European (efp), or UK (ukfp) – that Sir Colin conducted with the BBCSO were Shostakovich Cello Concerto No 2 (efp1966), Walton Capriccio burlesca (ukfp 1969), Thea Musgrave Clarinet Concerto (wfp 1969), Hugh Wood Cello Concerto (wfp 1969), Shostakovich Symphony No 2 (efp 1969), Gordon Crosse Violin Concerto No 2 (wfp 1970), Kurt Weill The Lindbergh Flight (ukfp 1970), Malcolm Arnold Fan

Where 'goons and ginks and company finks' fear to tread

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Things Gnostic, Coptic, Hermetic and Sufi take me to Egypt in the summer and I have been impressed by a new Naxos CD of music by the Arab-American composer Mohammed Fairouz who was born in Egypt in 1985 and studied with György Ligeti. The title work Native Informant – Sonata for Solo Violin is structured around a lament for the victims of the 2011/12 Egyptian revolution, while Jebel Lebnan for wind quintet chronicles the impact of the Lebanese civil war. Mohammed Fairouz’s rare commitment to relevance in contemporary music makes this new release notable, the incontestable merit of his music makes it doubly notable. Music and activism are closely linked in Egypt, and the princess of song Oum Kalsoum (??-1975) played an important role in the evolution of Egyptian nationalism. Arabic song is an important cultural tradition – three million people lined the streets of Cairo for Oum Kalsoum’s funeral – yet it is little appreciated in the West. Hopefully Tunisian singer Dorsaf Hamndani

Is all publicity good publicity?

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Much attention is paid to the benefits of social media buzz , but little attention is paid to its negative effects. I would be the first to admit that I am an atypical sample, but my own experience may be of interest to concert promoters, record companies, broadcasters and composers. It is sad but true that my experience is as follows: when a certain self-styled cultural commentator and the associated serial re-tweeters enthuse about something, I am repelled by it in equal measure irrespective of merit. Photo taken in Agadir, Morocco is (c) On An Overgrown Path 2013. Also on Facebook and Twitter .

Some music bloggers will do anything for a good story

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Philip Glass, Ryuichi Sakamoto and Maurice Jarre are all connected by this typically overgrown path to the hotel which was once a governor's palace seen in my photos. As I do not benefit from a Roger Wright-sized expense account , the hotels I frequent are functional rather than hip; which is why, as a rule, they do not feature here. But an exception just had to be made for the Hotel Palais Salam in Taroudant, southern Morocco . The city of Taroudant is located between the High Atlas and Sahara, and the resulting mix of mountain and desert terrain has made it the Hollywood of Morocco. Among the many blockbuster movies filmed on location around Taroudant are Kundun, The Sheltering Sky and Lawrence of Arabia - for which Philip Glass, Ryuichi Sakamoto and Maurice Jarre respectively provided the scores. After a superb lunch in the hotel's gardens we were left wondering if Martin Scorsese , Bernardo Bertolucci or David Lean had sat at the same table discussing the previous

Channeling is trending again

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Promotional material for Dobrinka Tabakova's new ECM album String Paths tells us that "the recording features... the Rameau-channeling Suite in Old Style for viola and chamber orchestra". Do we have another Rosemary Brown among us? Trending can be a dangerous obssesion and my header photo shows a famous musician whose channeling became a cause célèbre . 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 only, and will be removed at the request of copyright owner(s).

Where has all the diversity gone?

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This awful business of making others just like oneself so that one is thereby “justified” and under no obligation to change himself. What a terrible thing this can be. The source of how many sicknesses in the world. Thomas Merton expressed those thoughts in a letter to the Ceylonese philosopher and art historian Ananda Coomaraswamy in 1961, and the quote comes from the recommended compendium Merton & Sufism . I have to confess to not being a huge fan of Yo Yo Ma, but his recent Nancy Hanks Lecture on Arts and Public Policy at Washington, D.C.'s chimed with the view of Thomas Merton and also with the theme of many posts On An Overgrown Path . In the lecture Yo Yo Ma spoke of “…an edge effect… where those of varied backgrounds come together in a zone of transition; a region of less structure, more diversity and more possibility”. The important point is that Yo Yo Ma is not just calling for more diversity , but he is also calling for less structure and more possibility . It i

How classical music is controlled from cradle to grave

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Increased choice is the mantra of the digital age. But it is difficult to square that mantra with how classical music is now controlled by a few major corporations from the cradle of music publishing to the graveyard of multiple record stores. In a post last year I described how the classical music supply chain has become vertically integrated with massive corporations extending their control back towards the composer and forward to the listener. One example of a cradle to grave corporation is the BBC, where control extends from deploying the world's largest new music commissioning budget and influencing artist career development, to managing the world’s largest classical music festival, the BBC Proms, and developing content delivery technologies such as iPlayer. Another even more striking example is Universal Music , where control extends from classical music publishing, through recorded music and web journalism, to online stores. Universal Music extended its influence fur

Lucy in the sky with classical music

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How then, does one achieve gnosis , that spontaneous awakening which permanently shifts one consciousness? It can come unbidden at any time, through ordinarily normal activities such as listening to a piece of music, seeing a particular landscape at a certain time of day, or experiencing a sudden moment of clarity and silence into which something else makes its presence known. That passage from Sean Martin’s The Gnostics  recommends music as a chemical-free way of raising consciousness levels , and also reflects the recurring theme On An Overgrown Path that classical music should aspire to higher levels instead of regressing to the ordinarily normal . While travelling in the Mahgreb last month I was spontaneously reminded me of the power of great music, and that experience prompted the following notes on recent sonic flirtations with that elusive “something else”. Valentin Silvestrov’s Requiem for Larissa is a permanent fixture on my iPod and has featured in at least one previous po

Apocalypse across CNN

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While I was travelling in Morocco news came that the legendary Master Musicians of Jajouka are featuring in a CNN special with TV chef Anthony Bourdain to be aired in June. All these photos were taken during the filming at Jajouka and Bourdain can be seen in the footer image. Apocalypse Across the Sky is the 1991 album by the Master Musicians of Jajouka produced by Bill Laswell with sleeve notes by William Burroughs. More on the legendary Master Musicians recordings made by Bill Laswell and by Brian Jones in my interview with Jajouka authority Stephen Davis . Also on Facebook and Twitter . Photos are © Cherie Nutting

Another storm batters Aldeburgh

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The Banking Standards Commission has asked the Financial Services Authority (FSA) to consider if three top HBOS bankers should be barred from future roles in the financial sector. It said former bosses Sir James Crosby and Andy Hornby were largely to blame for the collapse of HBOS, then the UK's fifth biggest bank, in 2008. Former chairman Lord Stevenson was also heavily criticised. The commission accused the trio of a "colossal failure" of management. That extract comes from a BBC News story this morning . As has been noted here previously, Lord Stevenson of Coddenham is president of Aldeburgh Music , lists in the parliamentary register of his interests “Remunerated employment, office, profession etc - advice on strategy is given to Universal Music Group”, and is also a director of Glyndebourne . Déjà vu Also on Facebook and Twitter . Any copyrighted material on these pages is included as "fair use", for the purpose of study, review or critical analysi