On his new ECM album After the Last Sky oudist Anouar Brahem is joined by jazz multi-instrumentalist Django Bates and bassist Dave Holland . Plus, in a serendipitous link to that ultimate opposer of musician's indifference Pau Casals, long-time ECM maverick cellist Anja Lechner plays with Brahem for the first time, In his 1986 book After the Last Sky , Edward Said evoked Palestinian history in musical terms, as a "counterpoint (if not cacophony) of multiple, almost desperate dramas, with "no central image (exodus, holocaust, long march)... Without a center. Atonal". In a thoughtful booklet essay Adam Shatz explains that Brahem's " After the Last Sky is in no way a didactic work of art and still less an anthemic expression of protest" and goes on to point out that "Brahem is Tunisian, not Palestinian, but he is no stranger to the tragedy of the Palestinian people". Most tellingly Shatz recounts how we are all t...
Comments
'Jerry probably meant (charitably) that Britten was a Brit...'
To really work for me the War Requiem needs to be a performamce event in a suitable venue. After all it was written to be performed in a cathedral. I often find conventional concert hall performances a bit sterile.
Colin Davis' 2004 Proms performance was very fine - appropriate venue for the forces, a wonderful conductor, and an electric atmosphere. But I have also heard fine performances outside London in venues such as Ely Cathedral using semi-professional forces.