It's good news week for contemporary music

To start the week two excellent reasons why this new release of Peter Maxwell Davies' chamber music is good news. First, it's great music passionately played by the chamber ensemble Gemini and vividly recorded in the slightly dry acoustics of Studio 1 at the Department of Sound & Recording at the University of Surrey. (The department is very highly rated and has offered a tonmeister course for many years). The main work on the CD is Ave Maris Stella from 1975 which lasts for almost 30 minutes. This is classic early Max, writing before he was seduced by the plush sounds of the symphony orchestra and string quartet. Strange isn't it how composers like Maxwell Davies and Ralph Vaughan Williams produce some of their best works on religous themes yet are non-believers? Worth the purchase price alone is Dove, Star Folded from 2001 which, unusually for Max, is based on a Greek Byzantine hymn; John Tavener had better look out.

The second reason why this CD is good news is that it comes from the Metier label which has been aquired by the enterprising small Divine Art Record Company (who have nothing at all to do with Falun Gong ). Metier have a back catalogue well worth exploring, Michael Finnisy Music for String Quartet, Roberto Gerhard String Quartets and Morton Feldman and Christopher Fox's Clarinet and String Quartet are just some of the riches while Divine Art has a future release of piano sonatas from Elliott Carter, Miklos Rosza, Charles Ives and Edward MacDowell.

And talking of Peter Maxwell Davies I'm playing his Missa Parvula on Future Radio on April 20 in a coupling with Edmund Rubbra's Symphony No. 6, which let's me give a heads-up to Dutton's excellent new recordings of Rubbra's chamber music. And it also means I can share some more good news. Future Radio's station manager told me today that the Overgrown Path programme page gets more hits than any other page on their website except for the schedule and webcam pages. That's more hits than the rock, hip-hop, electro and other programme pages. It must be all that Vaughan Williams I'm playing ... And more good news for the small guys/girls, leading independent record store Prelude Records in Norwich was packed on Saturday , the busiest I've ever seen. Is the tide turning away from the internet?

It's good news week, which is why music is good for you..
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John Cage was really happening in Bruges

happening - a gathering of people at which something happens. A party or function where people indulge in activities contrary to the social norm.
~ from John Basset McCleary's Hippie Dictionary.


If something is boring after two minutes, try it for four. If still boring, then eight. Then sixteen. Then thirty-two. Eventually one discovers that it is not boring at all ~ John Cage


The first question I ask myself when something doesn't seem to be beautiful is why do I think it's not beautiful. And very shortly you discover that there is no reason ~ John Cage.


Which is more musical: a truck passing by a factory or a truck passing by a music school?
~ John Cage


As far as consistency of thought goes, I prefer inconsistency ~ John Cage


There is no such thing as an empty space or an empty time. There is always something to see, something to hear ~ John Cage


John Cage was really happening in Bruges, Belgium on February 17, 2008 as my photos show. The one above was taken on the margins of available light in the Concertgebouw's main hall during the performance of Cage's 4' 33" and yes, my digital camera was in 'silent' mode. The amplified cactus, which provided a suitably mystical conclusion to the happening, can just be seen to the left front of the musicians. The Concertgebouw was built for the Bruges' tenure as European City of Culture in 2002. The main hall is acoustically adjustable to suit opera or symphonic/choral music and was also used for a performance of Morton Feldman's Rothko Chapel.


My photo above shows the stunning lantaantoren (‘lantern tower’) which is used for chamber music and amplified events. The new Concertgebouw provides a wonderful choice of flexible performing spaces. But, despite the claims of the project consultants Arup Acoustics, the isolation from external noise in the chamber music venue leaves a lot to be desired. But I'm sure John Cage would have approved of the traffic noise in his Hymns and Variations and the marching band in Sonatas and Interludes.


The Cage happening also included music by Earle Brown. Seen in my photos are the musicians who made it happen, Daan Vandewalle piano, Arne Deforce cello, Jean-Marc Montera electric guitar, Chris Cutler percussion, Aimé Lombaert carillon; Cage's Radio Music (photo 2) was performed by students from the Conservatories of Ghent and Bruge. Lunch (photo 5) was 'indeterminacy cooking' with individual menus decided by a random number generation programme. This was a true happening - a gathering at which something happened contrary to the social norm. Other concert planners, broadcasters and record companies please take note.


'I have nothing to say
and I am saying it
and that is poetry
as I needed it'
~ John Cage

All photos (c) On An Overgrown Path 2008. Report broken links, missing images and errors to - overgrownpath at tmail dot co dot uk

New music is Europe's hot ticket

The all day John Cage Happening in Bruge, Belgium this Sunday (Feb 17) is a complete sell-out. On An Overgrown Path will be there and also at Morton Feldman's Rothko Chapel two days before. Adventurous programming and new music is certainly pulling in the European audiences, and the next hot ticket looks to be the happening previewed below, and we will be there as well:

spnm’s experimental music night The Sound Source returns to Kilburn’s Luminaire (see footer photo) on 12 March with an unusual and creative response to the work of Karlheinz Stockhausen. Headlining the event are Belgian pianist Daan Vandewalle, who will perform Klavierstücke I-IV, and drummer and percussionist Chris Cutler, who will join him for a version of Kontakte. Electronic artist Scanner completes the line-up with some Stockhausen-inspired works. Rounding off the evening, the three will team up to perform a newly commissioned tribute to one of Stockhausen’s hidden gems, Stockhoven/Beethausen.

The event begins with an Open Source slot, in association with Music Orbit, offering emerging British artists the chance to showcase their work. A CD of the results will be given to audience members at the end of the night.

Chris Cutler is an English percussionist, composer, lyricist and music theorist. After working in the ‘70s with English avant-garde rock group Henry Cow, he founded Art Bears, News from Babel and Cassiber, and joined the American band Pere Ubu. In addition to special projects for stage, theatre, film and radio he still works consistently with Fred Frith, Zeena Parkins, Jon Rose, Tim Hodgkinson, David Thomas, Peter Blegvad, Daevid Allen, Hugh Hopper, Daan Vandewalle and Stevan Tickmayer and has toured the world as a soloist with his extended electrified kit. Other recent projects include Out of the Blue Radio - a daily year-long soundscape project for Resonance FM and p53 for Orchestra.

Belgian pianist Daan Vandewalle enjoys an international reputation as a new music specialist, with a strong focus on 20th century American piano music. He studied at the Conservatory of Ghent, Belgium with Claude Coppens and at Mills College, California with Alvin Curran. His recitals and projects have become increasingly more diverse and challenging, and his programmes are often highly unusual, both on a technical and intellectual level, often combining the classical repertoire with premieres of new works written especially for him e.g. Frith, Newman, Curran, Rzewski. As an improviser he has collaborated widely with David Moss, Fred Frith, Han Bennink, Chris Cutler and Tom Cora amongst others.

British artist Robin Rimbaud, aka Scanner (see header photo), traverses the experimental terrain between sound, space, image and form, creating absorbing, multi-layered sound pieces that twist technology in unconventional ways. From his early controversial work using found mobile phone conversations, through to his focus on trawling the hidden noise of the modern metropolis as the symbol of the place where hidden meanings and missed contacts emerge, his restless explorations of the experimental terrain have won him international admiration from amongst others, Bjork, Aphex Twin and Stockhausen. Scanner has collaborated with artists from every imaginable genre, including Bryan Ferry, Radiohead, The Royal Ballet, Merce Cunningham, Michael Nyman and Luc Ferrari.


Read about other 'hot ticket' new music festivals here and here.
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Let the sunshine on Morton Feldman

Nice riff going over on today's post about 'noises off' on recordings, and a comment from Brussels arrived just as I was enjoying Stephane Ginsburgh's new CD of Morton Feldman's For Bunita Marcus.

This excellent CD is notable for two reasons. First, Stephane Ginsburgh is one of the new generation of 'smart' Euro-pianists who play contemporary music with their heads as well as their hands - Daan Vandewalle and Jeroen van Veen are others. Check out Ginsburgh's website to see what I mean.

The second reason to comment on this new release are the sleeve notes. There aren't any. Except for these words - 'recorded by Daniel Léon at Igloo Studio, Brussels, April 1st, 2006, a sunny day'. Looking at that date I suspect a joke.

We're off to Belgium in February to hear lots of Morton Feldman and John Cage. Meanwhile, hear more 'noises off' here and here.
'Let the sunshine in' is, of course, from the musical Hair, which opened in New York and London forty years ago in 1968. 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). Report broken links, missing images and errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk

Music has to be an adventurous experience

Olivier Messiaen and Elliott Carter have centenary celebrations on consecutive days in December 2008. I have already written my first post on the Messiaen celebrations, so here to maintain the transatlantic balance are a couple of lesser known CDs of Elliott Carter's music that are well worth exploring in his centenary year.

Cedille Records is the independent label of The Chicago Classical Recording Foundation. Their CD Early Chamber Music of Elliott Carter (sleeve above) played by Chicago Pro Musica captures works from the transition period when Carter was moving away from Copland and other influences and finding his own distinctive voice. If you still think Elliott Carter's music is 'inaccessible' you will be delighted by this 1999 disc. A bonus are the excellent, but English only, sleeve notes from Stephen Heinemann.

I remarked on the English only sleeve notes as contemporary American music has a big following in Europe. The Bad Boys II event in Bruges, Belgium in February, which includes performances of Morton Feldman's Rothko Chapel and music by John Cage and Christian Wolff, is just one example of this following. Another comes from the Italian label Stradivarius in the form of the excellent CD Changes Chances of guitar music by Elliott Carter, John Cage (a transcription of Four6) and Terry Riley played by Elena Casoli (below). The Carter work is Changes from 1983, which post-dates the early chamber music by 30 years. In an excellent multi-lingual sleeve note Elena Casoli tackles the perceived inaccessibility of Elliott Carter's music head-on:

One reason why Carter's music is difficult to listen to is that the listener encounters no recurring themes or phrases. It is all a continually evolving process and Carter said as much himself: 'I like to think of my work as a series of journeys, every new piece represents a journey to me. Music has to be an adventurous experience.'

Amen to that last sentence; I'll make it my mantra for 2008.


Continue the journey to Terry Riley here.
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Brand new music for harpsichord

Jean-Philippe Rameau - Suite in D
Wilhelm Friedemann Bach - Fantasia in A minor
Franz Joseph Haydn - Sonata No 31 Hob XVI/46
Vicent Rodríguez Monllor - Sonata XXVII in C minor
Interval
Jeremy Peyton Jones (photo above) - In Memoriam Gát and Brodsky - first performance
Johann Sebastian Bach - Sinfonia No 8 BWV 794
JS Bach - Sinfonia No 9 BWV 795
György Ligeti - Passacagli ungherese
JS Bach - Invention No 13 BWV 784
Toru Takemitsu - Rain Dreaming
JS Bach - Invention No 14 BWV 785
G Ligeti - Hungarian Rock
G Ligeti - Continuum

This was the programme for last night's risk-taking harpsichord recital by Jane Chapman at the King of Hearts in Norwich. What a delight to see so much contemporary music in a thoughtfully compiled programme, and it was an even greater delight to attend the world premiere of a brand new work for harpsichord. Jeremy Peyton Jones (photo above) was born in Devon in 1955, and has worked with John Cage, Christian Wolff and the British pianist John Tilbury who is a leading exponent of Morton Feldman's music. Here are Jeremy Peyton Jones' programme notes for the new work:

In Memoriam Gát and Brodszky - When it was suggested that in order to fit with the rest of the programme this new piece for Jane Chapman might have a Hungarian theme, I was at first at a loss to know how to make the connection. However the combination of Hungary and the harpsichord led me to János Sebestyén's (right) fascinating brief history of the harpsichord in Hungary in which two of the key players are the pianist and harpsichordist József Gát, one time student of Béla Bartók, who taught piano and methodology at the Academy of Music and became interested in early instruments, and the eccentric Hungarian music scholar Ferenc Brodszky who owned one of the only two harpsichords in Hungary in the 1930s.

One of my main preoccupations in the creation of new music is how music both connects us to the past and also, as with any new creative endeavour pushes us forward into the future. A precedent of my approach here is Ravel's Tombeau de Couperin in which he both makes a homage to the sensibilities of the Baroque French keyboard suite while at the same time specifically making dedications in the music to friends and fellow sodiers who had died in the First World War.

In evoking the memory of József Gát (photo below) and Ferenc Brodszky (two people I know very little about) I am not so much evolking a personal memory of them as making a connection with two of those who have been closely connected with the harpsichord, its music and its history and who are therefore two links in the chain which connects us both across our cultural landscape and to our forebears. My piece is actually about the process of memory and connection in general, and could be dedicated to the memory of any person who is no longer with us through the specific connections of keyboard vituosity and the regular shapes and forms of much baroque keyboard music.

A programme such as tonight's is all about links - the links between baroque music, the music of Ligeti in Hungary, the history and legacy of harpsichord music in Hungary, which join periods and locations of creativity and human artistic activity.

My piece explores our relationship with the Western musical heritage through the use of virtuoso harpsichord techniques achievable by the simulataneous use of the two keyboards along with references to more contemporary contemporary music styles. There is another connection to József Gát who acquired an Ammer harpsichord and, assisted by an engineer friend, tried to install a discrete anplier that touched the strings - similar to the guitar - so that there was no need for a complicated solution with microphone.

In Memoriam Gát and Brodsky is in three sections. I Fast and Furious; II Calm and Measured; II Rocking and Rolling.

The János Sebestyén website really is worth visiting, there are music samples and wonderful photo albums. And take this path for a harpsichord recording I could not live without.
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). Report broken links, missing images and other errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk