On An Overgrown Path

The Vienna Philharmonic New Year's Concert 2010 will be conducted for the second time by the French conductor Georges Prêtre. Due to the television and radio broadcasts in more than 70 countries, the New Year's Concert is in terms of its international coverage the largest classical music event in the world. That quote comes from the Vienna Philharmonic's website. Big is the new beautiful in classical music, so the Vienna New Year's Day Concert - the largest classical music event in the world - joins the BBC Proms - the world's largest classical music festival. Of course size matters . Or does it ? From 1950 to 1982 a radio programme called Listen with Mother was broadcast by the BBC. The format of the fifteen minute programme of nursery rhymnes and stories for the under-fives and their mothers was desperately tired. But nobody at the BBC dared take it off air because the rudimentary research data of the day showed it reached a large audience. But then BBC resear...

Nielsen and Haydn arguably wrote the most life-affirming music in the classical canon. Which may explain why two sets of these composer's symphonies have been among my most listened to CDs in 2009. I have already written about Brilliant Classic's re-issue of Adam Fischer's set of Haydn's symphonies with the Austro-Hungarian Haydn Orchestra and, interestingly, my Nielsen symphonies of choice come from the same Dutch budget label. Theodore Kuchar's recordings of Nielsen's six symphonies with the Janáček Philharmonic Orchestra have become something of a legend among those who have sought them out since their release by Brilliant Classics in 2007. These Czech performances are not just superb bargain priced Nielsen, they are superb Nielsen at any price. No one has put it better than Jack Lawson in his Musicweb International review : If this Brilliant set was marketed as a Limited Edition with wooden crate and gold-plated audiophile CDs at £110, I would advise every...

Is identity theft a problem in post-communist classical music? Well, Collegium Musicum , which claims to represent many notable Bulgarian and East European musicians, certainly thinks so. Here is what their website says , complete with typos: Stop the abuse of the Bulgarian musical institutions - The reputation and prestige of Bulgarian musicians abroad is ruined by scrupless people. It happens often abroad where groups of musicians with suspicious quality are presented in the name of Bulgarian musical institutions deceiving both the audience and the host organization. A commission has been found in accordance with the Bulgarian musical institutions and communicating directly to Ministry of culture to lodge complaints against such charlatans. Many of these deceivers has been blocked by now. Victims of such a deceive are „ Sofia Festival Orchestra ”, “ National opera and ballet Sofia ”, “ Sofia Philharmonie ”, Opera and philharmonic society-Plovdiv ” and “ Symphony orchestra of Sliven ...

Underneath the dictionary perhaps? What's in a name? 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

Excited by the links he found between painting and Wagner's music, Vincent van Gogh took lessons from the organist of St Catherine's Church in Eindhoven. But the lessons were not a success and the organist concluded he was dealing with a madman . Presumably Vincent was not a fan of ECM discs, because their 2009-10 catalogue does not contain a single note of Wagner's music, or of Tchaikovsky's . Talking of madmen, near the end of his life Van Gogh was incarcerated in an asylum at Saint-Remy-de-Provence, which is close to where my header photo was taken a couple of weeks ago. And talking of meteors that burnt out prematurely , the organ in the church in Saint-Remy was used by Scott Ross in 1972 to record Couperin's two organ masses . Photo is (c) On An Overgrown Path 2009. Report broken links, missing images and errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk

New forms meet old traditions in the church of Notre Dame de Pentecôte in Paris. French architect Franck Hammoutène's 2001 design uses a 115 feet tall front wall of translucent glass wall which can be seen in my centre photo. L'Eglise de Notre Dame de Pentecôte is in François Mitterrand's monumental contribution to the Paris skyline, the new la Défense business district . This temple to the free market overlooks the campus of Paris West University Nanterre , which was at the centre of the unrest that sparked the 1968 student riots in Paris. In 1968 the demonstrators may have been chanting Vive la Révolution! but today financial service and technology consultancy employees from the surrounding tower blocks form a large part of the congregation for the new church. On the day I took these photos in November 2009 there was a very different demonstration of new forms meeting old traditions. Giant photos of Tiger Woods promoting the Accenture management consultancy graced ...

Come, come, whoever you are, Wonderer, worshipper, lover of leaving. It doesn't matter. Ours is not a caravan of despair. Come, even if you have broken your vows a thousand times Come, yet again, come, come. Meulana Jalāl ad-Dīn Rumi Reflections of Christmas captured at Printemps Haussmann , Paris and (c) On An Overgrown Path 2009. Report broken links, missing images and errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk

Most Sufis believe that the great religions and mystical traditions of the world share the same essential Truth. The various prophets and spiritual teachers are like the light bulbs that illuminate a room. The bulbs are different, but the current comes from one source, which is God. It is the same light; each of the individual bulbs receives electricity from a single source. The quality of the light is always basically the same, and so is the original source - from Essential Sufism . Although Sufism is technically an esoteric branch of Islam it has also fascinated great minds from other cultures including the Catholic mystic Thomas Merton . My header photo shows Titi Robin (right) and Faiz Ali Faiz (left) whose new album Jaadu Magic sets Sufi poetry. Faiz Ali Faiz was born in Pakistan and trained in Qawwali , a form of Sufi devotional music. Titi (Thierry) Robin is a French gypsy guitarist whose biography says - ...has explored various streams following his destiny East, through...

There is some nice chewy music on Future Radio over Christmas. That is me above putting together My World of Music , a two hour special of music from different cultures and traditions around the world which is being broadcast by Future Radio at 4.00pm UK time on December 26th on a local FM frequency and over the internet . A podcast of the programme will be available a few days after broadcast. Here is the playlist together with links to related articles On An Overgrown Path : 1 - Titi Robin (guitar) and Faiz Ali Faiz (voice), Lage Jiya from Jaadu Magic : Accords Croisés AC130 2 - Jean-Rodolpe Kars (piano), Beloved of the Soul from Musique Juive : Editions de l’Emmanuel CDD0148 5.37 3 - Keyvan Chemirani (Iranian percussion) and Pandit Anindo Chatterjee (tabla), Ma maison se trouve sur le chemin emprunté par mon Coeur from Battements au Coeur de l’Orient (Percussion at the heart of the Orient): Accords Croisés AC121 4 - Driss el Maloumi (oud), Rajery (Madagaskan bamboo tubu...

Neat vodka - not on the rocks, but poured already several degrees below freezing. The first few swallows had tasted of harsh sunlight...and only now did each glass bring the comfort of deepening shadows. His eighth symphony had been written and rewritten over and over again until, after twelve years of self-torment, he had destroyed every sketch and plan, every last cancelled note: page after page of laborious manuscript had been fed to the stove in one final act of renunciation - and release. From then on, silence. The harsh sunlight of hope the twilight of gathering despair - which was worse? It had been a quarter of a century since that glorious conflagration, and getting drunk at least led somewhere: to oblivion. Just then the clowns appeared. At first Sibelius thought the three red-nosed, banana-footed entertainers had to be an impurity in the homemade spirit. they trooped around the side of the house in a small procession through the snow: the leader in long-tailed evening dress...

During the second half of the twentieth century the harpsichord made the remarkable transition from almost extinct historical curiosity to concert hall staple not just for early music but also for new music from composers including John Cage , Elliott Carter and Maurice Ohana . Wolfgang Zuckermann's $150 harpsichord kits, which were launched in 1959, were a major factor in the rehabilitation of the harpsichord, and Zuckermann supplied instruments to John Cage and many other musicians from his workshop in Greenwich Village, New York. The legendary 'Model T' harpsichord kit is Wolfgang Zuckermann's best known contribution to music history. But he had been making high quality finished instruments for a decade before entering the self-assembly market and his manufacturing business continues today under different ownership . In 1969 he published his influential book The Modern Harpsichord which advocated a return to authentic specifications for contemporary instruments and...

This was a scene a few minutes before the start of the Britten Sinfonia's lunchtime concert in Norwich today. A sequence of five gigs has taken the band from Krakow in Poland to Cambridge, Birmingham, London and then finally Norwich in less than a week. Today's Norwich Assembly Halls venue is right in the city centre next to the region's largest mall which was thronged with Christmas shoppers despite the driving snow. It is worth reflecting on the music that tempted a good sized audience away from the stores and into the concert hall today. There were no excerpts from the Nutcracker, no Lieutenant Kijé or Peter and the Wolf, and not even Corelli's Christmas Concerto. The programme, which was as bracing as the weather outside, comprised three Harrison Birtwistle works, six Birtwistle arrangements, and a new commission from young English composer to watch Christian Mason . Another composer, John Woolrich , devised the inspired programme which had yet another composer, H...

December 1st was a chance day. Having closed up our rented apartment in Paris my wife headed back to London while I took the TGV train from the Gare de Lyon to Avignon en route to Le Barroux . When I arrived in Avignon in the late afternoon I dumped my backpack at my hotel and hurried off to Wolfgang Zuckermann's Libraire Shakespeare ( post follows ) before enjoying a leisurely meal and what I planned to be an early night. After the usual reasonably priced and excellent fare (and red wine!) at Les Artistes I was walking back to my hotel along La Rue de la République at 8.15pm when I noticed a large poster for an interesting concert at L'Opera . The performers were the Trio Chausson and what caught my eye particularly was that there was a composer on the programme who I had never heard of. Moreover the concert was that evening, it started in fifteen minutes and I was ten minutes brisk walk away from L'Opera . As I do not benefit from BBC-style expenses I settled for ...

In 1968 pianist Jean-Rodolphe Kars was awarded first prize in the Concours de Piano Olivier Messiaen . During his international career Kars recorded Debussy and Delius for Decca and an LP of Schoenberg's solo piano music for EMI. As well being acclaimed for his interpretations of Ravel and Debussy Kars established a reputation as a Messiaen specialist. He has recorded Messiaen , has lectured and written about the mystical aspects of the composer's music, and considers Messiaen to be his 'first spiritual father'. But despite this Kars, who lives in France, is virtually unknown today. Jean-Rodolphe Kars' parents were non-practising Viennese Jews who fled to India following the Anschluss in 1938. Kars was born in 1947 and the following year the family moved to France. From 1967 onwards he followed a career as an international concert pianist. But, influenced by the faith of Messiaen and by a religious epiphany, Kars converted to Catholicism in 1977. Two years later h...

Armenian mystic G.I. Gurdjieff's funeral was held in La cathédrale Saint Alexander Nevsky in Paris, which is seen in my photos. The cathedral choir is famous for its tradition of Russian Orthodox chant. In 1967, under their director Evgeni Ivanovitz Evetz, the choir recorded the superb anthology of Russian Orthodox music that featured On An Overgrown Path three years ago . Photos (c) On An Overgrown Path 2009. Report broken links, missing images and errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk

When the Soviet invasion started, Radio Kaboul continued to function as did the music school where I was teaching. The government in power exhorted the singers to interpret communist revolutionary songs. In 1992, after the departure of the Soviets and the arrival of the Mujahiddins, the music school was closed and all the instruments confiscated. The University of Fine Arts was closed as well. At the radio all the female artists were fired. With the Talibans this death penalty for cultural life as a whole was reinforced. They strictly forbid singing, even by men, as well as the instruments. Only the religous a capella singing was authorized. I left the country six months after the arrival of the Mujahiddins, when Rābani was president. The greatest tragedy in my life was the closing of the musical lyceum. I am the only surviving teacher, the others died in exile or in the country in poverty. When my brother, Ibrahim Nassim, was forbidden to broadcast his songs, he died from sadness, l...

Arguably the most important change in the past decade has been the shift from the mass media reflecting public taste and opinion to the mass media dictating public taste and opinion. That exemplar of the power of the media the X Factor final airs in Britain today and as chaos theory takes effect a UK record store closes every 2.7 days and Borders UK folds . But all is not quite lost. One of the best record retailers in the world is in Belgium and many record stores in that independent thinking country display the Kwadratuur web page above and play the linked audio samples. Despite the Christmas classical releases including such crackers as Sting's If On A Winter's Night , the sole classical representative in Kwadratuur's December 1 selection was the Arditti Quartet's recording of Jonathan Harvey's Fourth Quartet , where it joined albums from Dying Fetus ( sic - in more ways than one), 3 inches of Blood , Wu Fei (which I am told is worth a listen) and others....

My latest experiments with Chance Music are now available online. December's programme for Future Radio is here , the complete listing is here . It's work in progress and certainly no coincidence that one track starts with the lyric, 'Someone told me it's all happening at the zoo' . But the whole point is music has to be an adventurous experience . Photo taken in the Rue de Fauborg St-Antoine, Paris and (c) On An Overgrown Path 2009. Report broken links, missing images and errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk

Yesterday evening's BBC Four TV programme about the Ballets Russe proved to be yet another miserably unsuccessful attempt by the BBC to present art for those that do not like art. But one contribution stood out head and shoulders above those from the usual self-important talking heads. In a sequence filmed specifically for the programme Pierre Boulez talked briefly about the music of Stravinsky and Debussy, and his subtle authority and obvious integrity left no doubt that you were listening to one of the great minds of our time. In his contribution Boulez made the distinction between 'popular music' and what he described as 'music savant'. I have mused here before about the difficulties and dangers of categorising music , and the term 'music savant', literally 'knowing music', struck me as a very powerful alternative to the more common appelations of 'classical music', serious music', and 'art music'. In fact a veritable title g...

Thankfully the CD format can still surprise and delight. This handsome book format box of Iannis' Xenakis' chamber music has just been released by French label Naïve . As well as 2 CDs of re-released recordings by the Arditti Quartet and Claude Helffer the added value package includes a 47 page bi-lingual (English and French) book with an excellent essay on music and mathematics by Harry Halbriech plus a discography. And if that was not enough to surprise and delight, the box is retailing internationally for less than a full price CD. I paid 16.99 euros in FNAC in Paris, but prices are even lower online . It is one in a series of fifteen newly released disc and book boxes from Naïve. Xenakis' chamber music offers wonderfully chewy music in definitive performances captured in excellent sound. And the imaginatively hyphenated typography has created the new game seen below, guess the composer. So what about that Xenakis and Zen headline? Wasn't John Cage influenced by ...

December 10, 2009, For Immediate Release - The Boston Symphony Orchestra announces long term agreement with Boston Culinary Group and Gourmet Caterers. Cultural institution names exclusive food operator at Symphony Hall and Tanglewood. Boston, MA - The Boston Symphony Orchestra is pleased to announce that two Boston-based companies, Boston Culinary Group and Gourmet Caterers, are partnering together to serve as the exclusive food service company for the BSO’s two performance venues, Symphony Hall and Tanglewood, beginning in May 2010 with the start of the Boston Pops spring season ... BSO Managing Director Mark Volpe comments, “We are thrilled to be able to work with Boston Culinary Group and Gourmet Caterers. Both have great reputations and expertise, which will ensure that the dining experience at Symphony Hall and Tanglewood is on par with what patrons have come to expect from their concert experience. The quality of the food and beverage service has become an integral component to...