Music from beyond the viral circle


Tomorrow the annual festival celebrating trance music and the role of women in the Sufi hadra tradition opens in Essaouira, Morocco. My recent photo essay explored how the workshops linked to this festival are banging the drum for oppressed women musicians. Much needed progress has been made towards giving women their rightful place in art music's celebrity culture. So it would be good if more attention was now paid to those women who make music in very difficult circumstances far beyond the reach of charmed viral circles.

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Master musician who experienced the pain of genius

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On that sleeve for his 1985 recording of the Goldberg Variations , Scott Ross is seen standing in the grounds of Château d'Assas in Languedoc. It was here that many of the harpsichordist's great recordings were made. Then, as today, the château dwelt in the twilight zone between grandeur and dereliction, and thirty years ago the recording sessions were regularly interrupted by the sound of rats scurrying across the floor. Scott Ross was born in Pittsburgh in 1951, and moved to France with his mother following the death of his father in 1964. He studied at the conservatoires in Nice and Paris, and first came to Château d'Assas in 1969 to give music lessons to the grandson of its owner Mme. Simone Demangel . When an early music academy was established at the Château d'Assas, Scott Ross gave masterclasses and became a frequent visitor. At first he stayed in a room in one of the towers, but from 1983 he rented a small house across the road from the château. The photos b...
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Sketches of Joaquin Rodrigo

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All that twitters is not gold

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Are we ready for an Islamic interpretation of Wagner?

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May I say a word about André Rieu?

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Can classical music learn from Rumi?

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Music exists within silence

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