On An Overgrown Path

An Israeli website is directing an awful lot of traffic to my 2008 post Young Mahler - encouragement worthwhile? As this is Mahler anniversary year and the little story is only available On An Overgrown Path I thought it worth sharing with everyone. 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

A critic writing a savage review of a concert is considered to be doing his job, not being anti-classical music. But a commentator writing critically of the BBC's output is considered to be an anti-BBC heretic. Which suggests parallels between the BBC and the established Church. Both have been flattered for decades by unquestioning believers. Both are now in terminal decline. And the loss of both will be a great tragedy. A regular reader from the States writes asking for comment on the latest reports of cuts at the BBC, a subject I have hesitated to cover for the reasons set out above. But, using the justification so often cited by the BBC - 'it's what the audience wants', here goes. There is currently so much bad news about the BBC it is difficult to know where to start. Within the last few days two major stories have broken. First came a damning report from the National Audit Office on the £100 million overspend on the rebuilding of Broadcasting House, which included...

I well remember my own flattered astonishment when some good simple soul told me, after listening to my own Jardin Parfumé , of the various rustic sounds he said he heard therein; the brook, the bees, the birds doing all the things you expect birds, bees and brooks to do in their punishable moments. I would not forebear to ask the good soul if he also heard the rich purée d'epinard plop of the cows emptying their bowels, those least - so admirably least - costive of creatures, whose evacuations, performed with such nonchalance and brio, and full-bowelled ease, are such a shining example to the constipated idiots who live on and by them. Kaikhosru Sorabji writing in his 1947 book Mi contra fa : The Immoralisings of a Machievellian Musician . Geoffrey Douglas Madge's recording of Sorabji's Opus Clavicembalisticum is available as a download for £13.98 from amazon.co.uk , which is quite a bargain for 5 hours 43 minutes and 23 seconds of music. My John Ogden post is the obvi...

We Want Miles at La Cité de la Musique in Paris was packed when we visited it recently. Those are some of the graphics above and the multimedia Miles memorobilia was certainly stunning, but the average age of those packing into the exhibition was even more stunning. There are not many countries where you see young people paying 8 euros (11 US dollars) to queue for a celebration of a jazz musician who died before some of them were born. That is French bebop pianist René Urtreger above, and I was particularly pleased to find an extended video interview with him as one of the We Want Miles exhibits. René Urtreger studied classical piano before making his reputation in the famous Club Saint-Germain on Paris' Left Bank with his Bud Powell influenced style. He has played with many jazz greats including Miles Davis, and recorded the the soundtrack to Louis Malle's film Ascenseur pour l'échafaud (Elevator to the Gallows) with Miles' band in 1957. René Urtreger has also wo...

Someone clearly misread my post. I did not mean list the building . I meant list the great EMI recordings made there . 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

“If you looked at the tax returns of every composer in America, somewhere between 90 and 95% would be at universities. And I’m not looking down on those – it’s merely the job that’s most open to you. But people say you teach during the day and you’re free at so-and-so, but there’s a certain energy that goes into teaching people, it seems to me…and if you don’t give them that energy, then you’re immoral. And if you do give them that energy, then you’re wiped out. Because there’s only so much energy anyone has. From Steve Reich talking at the Red Bull Music Academy . With thanks to Future Radio Station Manager Tom Buckham for the heads-up. As well as being the boss Tom spins the discs in the station's electronica, downbeat, electro and electronic music programme . That interview links nicely to my recent Contemporary music at the Reich price post. Photo credit FactMag . Any copyrighted material on these pages is included as "fair use", for the purpose of study, review or c...

The terrible amnesia to which humankind is prey is undoubtedly one of the principal causes of our inability to learn from history. The invasion of Occitania and particularly the massacre on 22nd July, 1209, of the 20,000 inhabitants of Béziers on the pretext that the town harboured 230 heretics whom the town council refused to hand over to the Crusaders, dramatically recalls similar events in modern times, such as the Spanish Civil War triggered in 1936 by Franco's army with the excuse of the Communist threat and the division of Spain, the invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1939 with the excuse of the Sudetenland, and the invasion of Poland by Hitler's German troops, in September 1939, over the question of Gdansk. More recently, we remember the wars in Vietnam (1958-1975), Afghanistan (2001), those launched in retaliation against the terrorist attacks of 11th September, and the Iraq war (2003) with the excuse of that country's supposed possession of weapons of mass destruction....

Instrumentation: violin, 12 brakedrums, 6 flowerpots, plumbers pipe, damped plumbers pipe, wind chimes (glass & metal), 2 sistra , temple blocks, dustbins, spring coils, cymbals, congas, gongs, double bass laid on its back and struck with sticks, snare drum, tom toms, maracas, 2 triangles, tin cans. Lou Harrison's Concerto for the Violin with Percussion Orchestra calls for these instruments. A wonderful and genuinely accessible work from a composer who should be much better known . Below is the recommended recording from Madeleine Mitchell violin, Ensemble Bash and Karen Hutt percussion. Lou Harrison's Fifth Simfony (yes really) is here . Header photo was taken by me at Wisques, France on my recent road trip , but I couldn't see the violin. Image is (c) On An Overgrown Path 2010. Fiddlesticks was bought at retail price. Report broken links, missing images and errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk

No apologies for another post about the UK radio station of the year . A few months ago Petroc Trelawny , whose day job is being BBC Radio 3's star presenter , was complaining on the Telegraph website about what his headline described as 'the misery of British Airways' . The hapless BBC presenter spent four hours on a British Airways flight from Istanbul to London, and was moved to share with Telegraph readers just 'how long and unpleasant those hours seemed' . Many of us know just how long and unpleasant those hours must have seemed. Because, as the British Airways website proudly proclaims , their inflight entertainment 'features radio channels hosted exclusively for British Airways by ... Petroc Trelawny' . And it's no better on a cruise ship . 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 brok...

So Abbey Road studios are not for sale . EMI's owners say there will be a 'revitalisation project' instead. Just like the record label I guess. But the myth continue to grow. Doug Ramsey, a writer I admire and who invariably gets his facts right, tells us : Sir John Barbirolli conducted the premiere performance of Vaughan Williams' Symphony No. 5 at Abbey Road. In fact Ralph Vaughan Williams himself conducted the premiere performance of his Fifth Symphony at a Promenade Concert on 24 June, 1943 in the Royal Albert Hall. Sir John Barbirolli's classic EMI recording of RVW's Fifth, one of the great achievements of the gramophone capturing one of the great achievements of twentieth century symphonic writing, also happened elsewhere. It was made in May 1962 in the Kingsway Hall. My header photo shows Glorious John in the Kingsway Hall control room marking his score at the final climax of the Passacaglia of the symphony during the sessions. Searches indicate that h...

King's College Chapel, Cambridge is famous around the world. Evensong sung by the college choir in the 15th century chapel is one of the great free experiences of the Western world, but King's is best known for its annual carol service. Some time ago the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols became a property of 'Big Music' and, despite the continuing inclusion of new commissions , has crossed that crucial dividing line between art and entertainment . But, like nearby Aldeburgh , Cambridge has always been about the new. As is confirmed by this email from the city that has brought us pivotal musical figures ranging from Nick Drake , whose last album provides my headline , to David Munrow : I thought you would be interested in a concert the Cambridge University New Music Ensemble are doing in King's Chapel on the 24th of February. They're performing Claude Vivier's amazing 'Lonely Child' (of which there is a video here if you don't know it... hav...

How many classical scores call for a Jew's (or mouth) harp? Charles Ives' Holidays Symphony features a brief solo for the instrument in the 'Washington's Birthday' movement, and, apparently, Beethoven's teacher Johann Georg Albrechtsberger composed seven concerti for the Jew's harp. Which exhausts my list of classical works using it, although readers will doubtless add more. Of course there are more examples in rock, including John Lennon's contribution on mouth harp to The Fool on the Hill . My question is prompted by listening to French flautist Pierre Hamon's album Hypnos which features a guimbarde (French Jew's harp) on four of the tracks, and some other pretty exotic sounds on others including the duduki played by the Armenian master of that exotic wind instrument M. Malkhassian. Pierre Hamon is a formidable flautist in his own right , but he is probably best known to readers for his appearances on many Jordi Savall discs including Di...

Within minutes of uploading WFMT Chicago shows the Brits a thing or two I received the first email of support. It came from Graham Hardwick, a reader who, like me, says he pays his BBC license fee "through gritted teeth". Before dismissing my criticism of BBC Radio 3 as a lone voice two points are worth considering. First independent analysis shows On An Overgrown Path is the most widely read UK classical music blog . And secondly, I am the only prominent UK classical music blogger who does not take paid work from the BBC . Now read Graham Hardwick's email: I was interested to read your comments on WFMT Chicago. Thoroughly fed up with BBC Radio 3, I recently bought an internet radio - swiftly followed by a iPod Touch - and it's been a real ear opener to explore some other stations. On WFMT I have been particularly enjoying Andrew Patner and his Critical Thinking programme - also available as a podcast. Hard to describe, usually conversation-based and Chicago-cen...

Many, including this writer, have in the past blamed 'Americanisation of the media' for the remorseless decline in the quality of BBC broadcasting . But this week came startling evidence that the BBC has surpassed its transatlantic cousins to become the new gold standard for international radio awfulness. BBC Radio 3 has been broadcasting recordings of the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival made by Chicago's only classical music station WFMT . Presumably the tapes (audio files?) of the excellent Santa Fe concerts came with the WFMT presenter's voice inextricably mixed with the concert ambience, so Radio 3 had no choice but to broadcast them complete with American continuity announcements. And what a revelation they were. Gone were the self-regarding BBC classical jocks elongating their vowels in a futile attempt to make the trite sound important, gone were the endless plugs for BBC house brands such as the 'new generation artists scheme' , and gone thank heavens, ...

Other UK classical music blogs and Sir Paul McCartney are having a Diana moment over the reported closure of EMI's Abbey Road studios. Demands are being made to turn the studios into a museum and performance space, mourning fans are reportedly gathering outside the famous venue, and floral tributes on the railings must follow shortly. All of which is of course errant nonsense. I have already commented here that it is sad to see the inevitable happening . But have my fellow bloggers and Sir Paul failed to notice that things are changing in the music industry? Virtual spaces - performing, recording, and retailing - are rapidly replacing physical spaces. No point in debating whether it is good or bad, it is happening. Another music venue is the last thing London needs. On any one night many of the current classical music venues are dark, and most of the rest are hosting performances of Tchaik 5. Last week it was record shops closing , this week it is recording studios, next week it w...

This thought provoking coda to my recent post about Olivier Messiaen's Saint François d'Assise comes from the Indian mystic Osho's unique interpretation of the Buddhist Diamond Sutra . 'Just the other night I came across a very beautiful story about Saint Francis, a Buddha. Saint Francis of Assisi lay on his deathbed. He was singing, and singing so loudly that the whole neighbourhood was aware. Brother Elias,a pompous but prominent member of the Franciscan order, came close to Saint Francis and said, "Father, there are people standing in the street outside your window." Many had come. Fearing that the last moment of Francis' life had come, many who loved him had gathered together around the house. Said this Brother Elias, "I am afraid nothing we might do could prevent them from hearing you singing. The lack of restraint at so grave an hour might embarrass the order, Father. It might lower the esteem in which you yourself are so justly held. Perhaps...

"I suppose it can be said that I'm an absent-minded driver," Glenn Gould [seen above] once said. "It's true that I've driven through a number of red lights on occasion, but on the other hand, I've stopped at a lot of green ones but never gotten credit for it". We seem to have a Glenn Gould riff going right now and I am not complaining. A regular reader has written asking - Having recently bought the Arabian Passion on your "recommendation", I now find myself awaiting delivery of Glenn Gould's Byrd, Gibbons and Sweelinck disc, having followed an Overgrown Path last night . What other Gould recordings do you think I should not be living without? I currently only have the Bach recordings? Glenn Gould's 'contrapuntal radio' documentaries made for CBC are really a special case, and I will return to them in another post. But it is worth pointing out that the CBC Records CD release Glenn Gould the Radio Artist includes his Sto...

I don't know what was going on in the studio, but that is producer Michel Glotz apparently doing what other people have only dreamed of doing behind Herbert von Karajan's back. Today the sad news comes of the death of the French recording producer aged 79. Glotz is best known for his work with Karajan and he won several Grammys including one for producing HvK's 1978 Beethoven symphony cycle for Deutsche Grammophon. He was part of the non-negotiable 'Karajan package' that came with the conductor's recordings, irrespective of the label they were to be issued on. Unfortunately for that reason he was not a popular figure with EMI's staff producers who had to step aside for Glotz on classic Karajan recordings such as Pelléas et Méliande . Image credit is Siegfried Lauterwasser Archive, Überlingen: did I say 'Karajan package' ? Any copyrighted material on these pages is included as "fair use", for the purpose of study, review or critical analys...

It was Christopher Bishop with whom Sir John Barbirolli was working at the Abbey Road Studios on a day at the height of the Beatle's popularity. As John arrived he saw the famous four and their retinue. 'Is that the Fuzzy Wuzzies?' he asked Christopher, 'because we'd better close the door in case they charge. That anecdote from my post David Munrow on the record reminds us of just what a musical melting pot EMI's Abbey Road Studios were in their heyday. Today comes the not unsurprising news that the iconic studios are for sale . Spot the link ? Image is Studio 1 Abbey Road from music-dna.com . 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

Judging by the number of price cuts I found in the Harmonia Mundi boutique in Lille on my recent road trip, the French record industry is in real problems. Among several half-price bargains I picked up was German label Orfeo' s release of four of the tableau from Olivier Messiaen's only opera Saint François d'Assise with Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau in the title role. I was on the road for nine day exploring overgrown paths in northern France. As the US East Coast was sharing its extreme weather with Europe I stopped overnight in Canterbury en route to France, and the inclement weather was to provide a basso profundo for the entire trip. Photo 2 above was taken in sub-zero temperatures after attending Evensong in Canterbury Cathedral . Archbishop Thomas Becket was murdered in the cathedral in 1170, since when it has attracted thousands of pilgrims. Which fitted neatly with this road trip as my early web name of Pliable (created to avoid conflicts of interest with my then da...