On An Overgrown Path

My thanks go to fellow blogger Andrew Morris for reminding me of this 2006 Overgrown Path post . It recounts an anecdote told by André Previn, who h as died aged 89 , in his memoir No Minor Chords : Shortly afterwards I formed a trio, together with violinist Israel Baler and cellist Edgar Lustgarten. We called ourselves the Pacific Art Trio and played concerts up and down the West Coast, for anybody who wanted us. We were all involved in film studio work, and this endeavour was a sort of life raft for the three of us. It was far from unusual for us to work throughout the day on a Tom and Jerry cartoon and then meet after supper to prepare the Ravel Trio. One time we were planning a performance of the Shostakovich Trio, fairly new at the time. We had the typical chamber music discussion (otherwise know as a screaming argument) about the tempo of the first movement. The printed metronome markings in the score seemed arbitrary to us, and none of us believed them. I had an idea. ...

André Previn has died at the age of 89 . There will doubtless be fulsome tributes elsewhere stressing his Hollywood connection, marriage to Mia Farrow and TV celebrity status. To these I would like to add a personal memory. When I worked for EMI's International Classical Division in the 1980s André Previn was one of our major artists and his recordings were produced by my colleague and dear friend Christopher Bishop . One of the many great products of this extraordinarily productive partnership was the uncut version of Rachmaninov's Second Symphony recorded in the Kingsway Hall in 1973. This was something of a calling card for Previn and the London Symphony Orchestra, and had been performed by them in Moscow and Leningrad in their pioneering 1971 tour of Russia and the Far East . Rach 2 remained a staple of Previn's repertoire and more than a decade later I attended a performance in Croydon's Fairfield Halls . The venue had outstanding acoustics, but Croydon on a ...

At present there is saturation coverage by classical music's online activists of the possible cultural and humanitarian impacts of Britain leaving the EU. As someone who voted 'remain' in the EU referendum I share these concerns; but I also share concerns about other far more devastating cultural and humanitarian impacts which are being conveniently swept under the carpet by the same activists. Next month the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Vladimir Jurowski tour China , with their Peking concert including Stauss' 'Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks'. The accompanying images* are from archive footage used in Tom Peosay 's 2003 documentary ' Tibet: Cry of the Snow Lion ', a film which a New York Times review described as "an impeccably made, often moving account of the captive nation of Tibet, forcibly annexed by China more than 50 years ago". The newsreel footage from which the images are taken graphically depict that forcible...

W. Somerset Maughan's novel The Razor's Edge , which takes its title from a quotation* out of the Vedantic scripture the Katha Upanishad , contains the following passage: Nothing in the world is permanent, and we're foolish when we ask anything to last, but surely we're still more foolish not to take delight in it while we have it. If change is of the essence of existence one would have thought it only sensible to make it the premise of our philosophy. We can none of us step into the same river twice, but the river flows on and the other river we step into is cool and refreshing too. Impermanence is also a central tenet of Buddhism and the image shows the CD ' Prayers to the Protector ', a collaboration between ambient pioneer Steve Roach and Tibetan Buddhist monk Thupten Pema Lama. That distinctive artwork uses the graphic ' Diagram of Neural Net Microchip ' from the Museum of Modern Art, New York, and the Mandala of Raktayamari from Tibet dated c.1...

Facebook scandals are now a daily occurence and yesterday's centred on allegations that the social network restricts the breadth of news feeds. The allegations, which have substance, prompted an explanation from Ramya Sethuraman , a product manager at Facebook, that their algorithms filter newsfeed content because “The goal of News Feed is to show you the posts that matter to you so that you have an enjoyable experience". Which given the pivotal role of Facebook and other social media in shaping people's worldview - 43% of US adults source news from Facebook - raises the important question of is there not more to life than enjoyable experiences? Having our culture shaped by algorithms coded by a bunch of nerds in Menlo Park to deliver "an enjoyable experience" is obviously very undesirable. For instance, are those closing minutes of Mahler's Ninth Symphony which leave the listener hovering miraculously between hope and anguish an enjoyable experience? I...

During an amicable discussion on my recent post ' Meditation music has gone mainstream ' reader John Blackburn posted the following comment: Having just listened to Steve Roach's "Structures From Silence" for the first time after reading your earlier mention, I must say I see little connection between these atmospheric sounds and what I'd call "classical music", other than a long-form aural experience. I created a good deal of similar electronic mood music years ago in grad school and appreciate the technical aspects of its creation, but I also appreciate the simplicity with which a few sounds/ideas can be drawn out from seconds to minutes to hours through layered editing—all of which seems antithetical to classical music, in my opinion. This is not to criticize "Structures From Silence", but simply to express my surprise at finding it in a list intending in any way to link it to classical music. Tomatoes, tomahtoes, perhaps. John's ...

No; before the comments start flooding in, that injunction to not clap between movements does not come from me. It was displayed on two large boards at either side of the platform during Bombay Symphony Orchestra concerts; it was there on the orders of the orchestra's co-founder Mehli Mehta to explain Western concert etiquette to Indian audiences*. That is Mehli Mehta in the photo: born in Bombay in 1908, he founded the Bombay Symphony Orchestra in 1935 with the Belgian conductor Jules Craen . But after Mehta moved to America in 1945 the orchestra struggled to survive and finally ceased performing in 1955. Mehli Mehta went on to have a distinguished career in England and America: in Manchester he was concertmaster of the Hallé Orchestra under Sir John Barbirolli, in Philadelphia he was a member of the Curtis Quartet, and he founded the American Youth Symphony in Los Angeles. Like his son Zubin, Mehli Mehta was a member of the Parsi faith . Fifty-one years after the Bombay Sym...

Below is a useful contribution to my meditation music thread . It comes from the much-missed Pauline Oliveros writing in her book Deep Listening: A Composer's Sound Practice . It is of particular interest because not only does it legitimize the link between serious listening and meditation, but it also extends that practice to sounds beyond those conventionally considered 'musical'. This opens meditative listening to genres that received wisdom places outside the 'classical' canon such as the ambient electro/acoustic compositions of Robert Rich and Steve Roach which featured in earlier posts . (I will return to the thorny question of what is classical music? in the near future). Deep listening is a form of meditation. Attention is directed to the interplay of sounds and silences or the sound/silence continuum. Sound is not limited to musical or speaking sounds, but is inclusive of all perceptible vibrations (sonic formations). The relationship of all perceptibl...

Trying to find a middle way solution to Brexit now seems to be futile. But two Buddhist perspectives, both dating from the immediate post-referendum period, provide valuable perspectives. Buddhism without beliefs advocate Stephen Batchelor made the case for remaining in the EU in Tricyle magazine , to which his colleague at Bodhi College Michael Hoey responded with the case for leaving . Both are long and thought-provoking reads which are unlikely to be given any consideration by the fanatics on both sides who are hurling 280 characters of abuse at each other on social media. Which is sad, because Michael Hoey delivers the following crucially important message: We need to retain goodwill towards those we disagree with and actually try to find out what they are saying, respecting their integrity and good intentions. We need to avoid exaggeration and stereotyping. In the secular democracy that Stephen [Batchelor] espouses freethinking individuals are bound to differ. Diversity in...