How we fall

Sunsets have taken on mythic proportions for me in past months - on Gavdos, at Katwijk, and at Limassol on Cyprus where the photo above was taken. The combination of Mother Nature and apposite music can transport us, albeit briefly, to a higher level of consciousness, and my soundtrack for several such moments has been the sonic sculptures of J. Peter Schwalm. His latest apocalyptic album 'How We Fall' is inspired by Sophie Clements' eponymous large scale video work, which the artist describes as examining a point of dramatic change, perhaps suggestive of personal, political and collective trauma. As a character in Aldous Huxley's novel 'Island' tells us:
Don't try to behave as though you were essentially sane and naturally good. We're all demented sinners in the same cosmic boat - and the boat is perpetually sinking.
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Classical music's problem nailed in one sentence

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While admiring Igor Levit as a pianist, in a Wall Street Journal review Tim Page takes exception to Levit's new book House Concert , describing it as "a dreary jumble—a succession of would-be aphorisms". Predictably Norman Lebrecht, who has turned negativity into a lucrative Olympic sport , gloats over the WSJ review. A few months ago I wrote enthusiastically about Igor Levit's double CD Tristan , so I bought and read House Concert with some interest - that's the book on my 'just read' bookshelf. Now, as Tim Page confirms, Igor Levit is a remarkable pianistic success story. One measure of the value he has added to classical music is that at a time when the artform is suffering from serial deflation , his acclaimed Beethoven Sonata cycle for Sony retails for around double the price of cycles from other legendary pianists. So I read House Concert not to have my preconceptions and prejudices confirmed or to generate some tasty clickbait, but to learn m
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Classical music is not connecting with its rewired audience

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We're a record label. But we are not evil

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The Berlin Philharmonic's darkest hour

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Nada Brahma - Sound is God

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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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Scarlatti to Silvestri to sound

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BBC Radio 3's recent documentary  Scott Ross - Harpsichord Rebel prompted a Radio 3 forum link to my photo essay about Scott and the village of Occitan Assas where he lived and recorded. Staying with Scarlatti but moving from harpsichord to piano, I have been very impressed with Lucas Debarque's recording of 52 Scarlatti Sonatas , which, in its own way, ascends to the dizzy heights reached by Scott Ross.  Particular mention should be made of the sound quality captured by the Sony production team. The recording venue was the acoustically-blessed  Jesus-Christus-Kirche in Berlin-Dahlem . This 1930s Protestant Church has been the scene of many, many celebrated recordings from, among other, Karajan and Furtwängler. Another less celebrated but notable disc recorded there which showcases the Dahlem church's superb sound is David Robertson and the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin's pioneering 1995 recording of Valentin Silvestrov's Fifth Symphony which I highlight
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Classical music or New Age nonsense?

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The purpose of puffery and closed-mindedness

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