Alfred Schnittke:Suite in the old style

I have long lamented the inability of modern composers to write a tune. A straightforward enough idea one would have thought; what after all is music devoid of melody?

Just discovered a lovely exception; Schnittke's Suite in the old style. Listen to it here. (Just let it keep it playing, the movements will follow in sequence).

Mozart for beginners

How should someone who likes the big, stirring works of the Romantic era approach Mozart? Mozart's music brims with melody, he could not by any stretch of the imagination be described as 'difficult'.

Nevertheless, tastes differ, and for someone enamoured with the Romantics,  I would imagine that the difficulty lay in adjusting to the scale of the music of the Classical period, which is much narrower in terms of sound.

Perhaps the most dramatic of his works are his operas so excerpts such as the overture to the Magic Flute and Figaro would make a good beginning for someone wanting to explore.

If sufficient interest is aroused, then perhaps the delightful Flute and Harp concerto, and the Sinfonia Concertante for Violin  and Viola could be attempted. After that the piano concerti, starting with No.14.

For an absolute beginner, what better way to dip ones fingers in than with Eine Kleine Nachmusik. Go on, give it a try, its a lot easier to listen to than to pronounce.

The charms of Mozart

I returned from a performance by the Symphony Orchestra of Sri Lanka that included Mozart's last symphony. I thought the SOSL did rather a good job, holding together a rather unwieldy symphony.

Chatting to a friend after the concert, she confessed that she did not like Mozart. A friend who performed in some chamber concerts with her stated much the same thing: while they liked the big romantic works, Mozart was sneered at.

Sometimes this sentiment is not difficult to understand. Even his worst critics will usually admit that music is pretty; I think what happens is that the ease of accessibility is assumed to mean that the work is shallow and superficial.

Although the scale of the orchestral forces used by Mozart is small (compared to that of the Romantics) the lack of scale should not be mistaken for lack of depth. His music is truly profound, it is just that it is not sketched on the same grand canvas as that of his later successors.

Musical taste is a constantly evolving phenomenon, sometimes it takes a while to grow into Mozart. I just hope that my love of Mozart is not indicative of the vast chasm that must be crossed to get through to the charming young lady who was so dismissive of the Master.
  

How Times Have Changed - Joseph Portelli's tribute to his father

The Australian-Maltese singer-songwriter Joseph Portelli has written a beautiful song, a touching tribute to his father who was suffering from Alzheimer's disease. Watch it here. And if you are as moved,  as I was, please think of other sufferers from this dreadful disease and donate to the Lanka Alzheimer's Foundation.

If you wish to buy the song (proceeds go to Alzheimer’s Disease International and national Alzheimer associations worldwide) you can do so here.

Telemann - Concerto for 4 solo guitars

Came across this quite by accident. The transcriptions works surprisingly well, I assumed it must originally have been written for lute, but apparently it was for the violin. Makes for very interesting listening, the ear being constantly teased by the contrapuntal textures, try it on Youtube.

DFD, no more.

The great baritone,  Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau died last week. I have been out of touch with matters musical for some time so it was quite by accident that I discovered the fact. 

 

Listen to him in Schubert's lovely Im Fruhling, accompanied by Richter, here.  A recording of a rather humourous Schubert song, with Gerald Moore, the pianist he was most associated with, is here. The Economist has a nice obituary.

RIP

Glinka's Grand Sextet

Glinka was a Russian composer, best known for being a member of the The Five (also known as the Mighty Handful), a group that attempted to create a distinctly 'Russian' music, drawing on the folk traditions of Russia.

One of his early, and quite delightful, works is the Sextet in E flat, written in 1832. Its written for an unusual combination of instruments; two violins, viola, 'cello, double bass and piano. The double bass in not frequently used in chamber music.

I first encountered it in a rare recording by a group called Capricorn, its popularity seems to have increased, deservedly so. There are several recordings available now. Listen to it on Youtube. It tends to load slowly so its best to let it load first before listening.

The lure of the harpsichord

Like a lot of other people, I have tended to regard the harpsichord as an inferior instrument to the piano. The piano has a great deal of power and expressiveness that I thought was lacking in the harpsichord. I had never really listened to the instrument properly, I had heard the odd bit here and there and heard it mostly as the continuo in early opera and oratorio, where, to be honest it was more irritating than anything else. Looking back, that was probably the worst possible introduction to the instrument: accompanying long tracts of dialogue, without the benefit of seeing the actors or the drama; and all in a foreign language to boot!

One of the great advantages of the internet revolution is that there is a great variety of music readily accessible. I listened to some Bach and Handel played on the harpsichord and found it to be very agreeable. There seem to be a variety of instruments around with varying degrees of depth and tone, but on the whole, nice.

Listen to Keith Jarrett play Bach's F minor Prelude and Fugue here or Sophie Yates playing Handel's suite HWV 437.

I don't listen to much music now and what little I do listen to is frequently on Youtube, but you can bet that the harpsichord will feature a little more regularly.

The death of popular music

I have written before on the death of classical or serious music. The problem extends to popular music as well. A post by Cerebral Ramblings on the degeneration of music describes the problem.

Music of the 60's was simple and understandable, it was mostly about love. Modern music is quite incomprehensible. The problem is partly to do with the industry itself.

What is happening is that music is being made to formula. Music producers look around for what they think listeners like and then put together bands and songwriters to produce the required sound. The 'look' of the thing is often more important than how it sounds, which is why the music video is so important.

The music video can no longer be funny, it must be seen to be very sophisticated because this is what carries the song, indeed many songs do not make sense unless one sees the video, so what we really have is incidental music to a video.

For example, Lady Ga Ga is marketed on her shock impact; her dress and attitude colouring everything. There is one nice song but that is all, strip away the video and the image and what have you left? Almost nothing. Compare her to the Material Girl of the 1980's Madonna - she was a little shocking too, but I don't think it was only hype and there was a lot more to her music than Lady G's.

The musical thing (it defies description) called Barbara Streisand is the perfect example of nothing packaged as something. It has a beat that can be danced to, a scrap of melody and nothing else.

How has this state of affairs arisen? Popular music in its modern form would not exist without broadcast radio and the record industry. Before the development of radio and recording a popular music did exist but it was mostly traditional folk music, jazz (which is traditional Afro-Caribbean music) or possibly dance music that was performed live. Music circulated in the form of printed sheet music.

Broadcast radio opened music upto a vast new audience, music could spread rapidly and people could listen to at home rather than have it performed live. The recording industry, which developed alongside radio, took this even further. People could listen to music whenever they wanted, rather than waiting to hear it broadcast.

The vast new audience wanted music and this drove the development of bands and music to meet the need. Where things started to go wrong badly was in the 1990's when producers tried to create music to fit what they thought was a need - the Spice Girls were an early attempt at this, their success lead producers further down the road until they have ended up in the dead end that is today's music.

Producers did try manufacture to formula even earlier, the Monkees, were created for television and when the producer Don Kirshner, found the real actors less than malleable, went a step further and created the cartoon band, the Archies. The difference was that in the producers still worked with musicians, rather than defining everything from end to end, which is what I think happens today.

If anyone wants to brighten their Monday after the World Cup hangover try listening to this 50's song, or feel the enthusiasm of the musicians in this 60's number.

William Smith of Durham

Wedding season will be upon us shortly, so here is a suggestion for those looking for some beautiful responses to a church service.

William Smith was a 16th century organist and composer whose Preces and Responses have become well known and widely used in the United Kingdom. Their popularity is well deserved and may be included in a service, provided the choral director is willing. Listen to it here, its the second item (starts at 4'10" and end at 5'10"). Very lovely.

Symphony Orchestra of Sri Lanka - New World Concert

I had been thinking about going to the SOSL concert, mainly to listen to Tharanga Goonetilleke, but had forgotten about it completely until a friend rang in the morning to offer me his tickets because he was unable to attend.

I did not know what the programme was, except for the fact that Tharanga was singing and she did sing very well, earning a standing ovation from the packed audience.

The opening piece of the concert was a flute concerto by a modern Brazilian composer, whose name I did not quite catch and whose identity remains unknown to me since all the programmes were sold out. It was an agreeable enough piece and reasonably short. I find the flute to be rather inexpressive instrument, so in my book concerti for the instrument should be kept fairly short if the listeners attention is to be held.

The real highlight of the day was however, the Dvořák ninth. It is a symphony I have heard several times (on recordings, not in a live concert) but I realised today that I had never listened to it closely enough. I have always heard the brass and strings (I used to think that symphony was actually dominated by these) but never paid enough attention to the woodwind passages, which are many and beautiful and which the SOSL played with great felicity. The brass played with great refinement and the string tone, warm and rich.

Although tempi were a little slow, the conductor used this to bring out the inner voices, especially in the woodwind parts. I would rank this particular performance by the SOSL the best I have ever heard, beating even the superb performance of the Dvořák eighth under James Ross a couple of years ago.

Julie Andrews to sing again

Julie Andrews lost her voice in a botched operation in 1997 to remove some non malignant nodules from her vocal chords.

She will sing again in May, although we have been forewarned that her voice will only remain a shadow of its former self.

It is hard to imagine a more untimely blow of fate. To an average person losing their singing voice is to say the least a very unhappy experience. For someone who had such a gorgeous voice and reveled in what she did, it must have been catastrophic. The only other personal disaster that I can think of this magnitude is Jonah Lomu's kidney disease which reduced one of the most devastating players on the rugger field to a cripple.

The only consolation is that the accident happened to Julie Andrews towards the end of her career although Lomu was not so fortunate.

Go for it Julie, we are all with you.

Listen to the 12 year old Julie Andrews sing God Save the King here.

The dead music of living composers

Just returned from the SOSL Young Performers concert and the opening piece, something by a local girl aged 22, set off a train of thought. It was quite a pleasant little overture but nothing particularly memorable about it.

This is the fundamental issue that I have with modern Classical (or 'Serious') music: the lack of melody. Melody was abandoned as being unnecessary somewhere in the early twentieth century and was replaced by the modern "musical idea" which is (s far as I can tell) a random collection of notes. It is quite possible to construct symphonies, sonatas and even operas on the basis of these musical ideas and this is precisely what the successors to the classical tradition went on to do. Not surprisingly, the resultant 'music' is quite incomprehensible to the average listener. It is not listened to, although endured occasionally in concerts while waiting for other, more approachable pieces to be played.

We are now almost at the close of the opening decade of the twenty-first century and looking back to the last century, can we name the great composers of the previous century? A handful of names comes to mind : Prokofiev, Britten, Strauss, Rachmaninov and others of their age, almost none from the second half of the century.

What of Glass, Stockhausen, Antheil, McCabe or Lloyd? Most would hardly have heard of them, and those that do, would probably recall any encounter with their music with a shudder.

The criticism of the lack of melody is not new, Thomas Beecham regularly railed against it, famously noting that if an opera cannot be played by an organ grinder, it's not going to achieve immortality. He also suggested that composers should write tunes that chauffeurs and errand boys can whistle.

The musical establishment chose to ignore the advice and pursue its sterile experiments in music minus melody with the result that modern music has lost its audience completely. It survives as an academic exercise, with learned professors, fellow composers and other musicians weighing in on its merits and demerits while the public continues to clamour for the music of the Old Masters; the still-living music of long dead composers while conspicuously ignoring the dead music of their living peers.

Música de España

Stumbled across some nice music, quite by accident.

There is a Spanish band called Los Manolos that plays some nice music including cover versions of some well known songs. Unlike other cover bands they do not simply play the music straight but instead infuse it with all the rhythms of Spain and the result is quite exhilerating.

Amigos para siempre is rather bad song by Andrew Lloyd Webber but in the hands of Los Manolos it is elevated to this.

Maybe its just the rhythms that are getting to me but when they turn their hands to the Beatles classic All My Loving it just blows me away. It is also rather amusing to hear the song sung with a Spanish accent.

This is something else by the same group, rather different in spirit but still nice.

Since I was on the subject of Spanish music, Volare is another classic by the Gypsy Kings. Have heard the song before but never listened to it properly before or knew who sang it. Seeing it being performed is an eye-opener.

Peter, Paul & Mary

Just stumbled on these guys, purely by accident. Nice sixties music. Just try:

Early In the Morning

If I had a Hammer

The Marvelous Toy


I had heard a couple of the songs before but never knew who sang them.

Absence makes the heart grow fonder

This post is about a strange addiction to classical or serious music. I was hooked on it through my uncle, who used to keep records playing in his house all the time. We used to hate it when we were children, but repeated, passive listening (we could not help but hear it when passing) over many years lead to a gradual understanding.

My uncle himself had stumbled upon it in a rather strange way, and that too as an adult. He visited a friend one day and heard something playing on the gramophone and liked it. He would then ask for that particular record to be played whenever he visited.

Once of the pieces that held him spellbound was the Leclair Sonata No. 3, played by David Oistrakh. I am listening to that same piece (played by Szerying) and I realise what must have captured my Uncle's imagination so long ago.

It has been quite a while since I listened to classical music, chiefly because I have limited access to it now and perhaps my new found wonder in what I previously thought was a fairly nice piece may have something to do with a period of absence.

I'm also listening, with growing amazement at the beauty of Szerying's tone. Never quite appreciated the skill of a violinist before, but this has been an eye opener.
Kreisler's Tempo di Menuetto (listen from 3.15 for this piece), which he also plays on the album that I copied which is also nice.

In fact I'm listening to music almost with new ears, yes indeed absence does make the heart grow fonder.

Wagnerian or Operatic Rock

This was the term used by a group of musicians who attempted bring in elements of opera, particularly Wagnerian opera into Rock music. They seemed to have been active in the 1980's but it apparently never had much commercial success. Rather a pity because one of the two songs released by Fire Inc. is a classic. Never heard of them? well listen to this.

The recording does not do it justice but that is the best available. Their other song is worth listening to as well.

Of course there were other musicians like Meatloaf and Queen who were influenced by opera, whether they fall into this school I do not know.

These are some of my favourites:

I'd do anything for love

Rock´N´Roll Dreams Come Through



ps. There is another oldie that is rather good, its not operatic rock but the song is good. Albert Hammond's The Free Electric Band

Odds and ends

I have been gathering my scattered thoughts and catching up with a little bit of reading over the holidays.

I had begun to regard global warming as a problem - but one that will make its effects felt in the very long term, maybe 30 to 50 years at least. What I did not realise was the extent of the impact of global warming on the sea. This article made me sit up and take notice.

Did you know that a meltwater lake on the Greenland ice sheet covering six square kilometres drained away in 24 hours in 2006? That sound pretty dangerous to me.

The most serious impact, the higher levels of carbon dioxide affect the salinity of the seas surface making life difficult, if not impossible, for marine organisms with calcium-carbonate shells or skeletons. This means that larger fish, which feed on these smaller organisms may in turn cease to exist in a fairly short period, which means no seafood for you and me.

There is a lot more, so read and heed.

Moving onto something else, got a new phone which has a music player installed. Have copied some playlists onto it so hopefully will have something to soothe my nerves in the office. I have not listened to much music over the last three years or so, chiefly because I had no access to it, except on the computer and that too at home because the office ones don't have speakers.

This brings me to the lesser known works of popular composers, Bruch for instance. He has written a rather nice piano trio (op.5) which is (as it so happens) coupled with equally rare and quite delightful trio music by Widor (he of the Organ Symphonies) and Hiller. This is the recording that I pinched, recommended to anyone looking for unfamiliar music in that genre.

Continuing on the subject of Bruch's other works (he is known mainly for the G Minor violin concerto and the Scotch Fantasy), the second and third violin concerti are well worth a hearing, I've heard this recording, which is good.

The real gem in Bruch's oeuvre is the double piano concerto. It is even more immediately attractive than the first violin concerto but is unfortunately a real rarity. It had a strange history, the original score did not come to light until quite recently, which is one reason why it remains largely unknown.

There is a recording by the Labèque sisters, which is not supposed to be very good (I never cared much for their playing anyway) and there are some other unknowns also listed on Amazon. The world premier recording by Martin Berkofsky & David Hagen with the Berlin Symphony Orchestra conducted by Lutz Herbig is the one I've heard and it is quite outstanding (just found it on Amazon look here). It was on recorded in the 1980's on the Turnabout label (the former Vox Turnabout) which I think is now defunct. It was remastered on CD in the 1990's, in a terrible transfer that robbed the sound of its bloom, the CD version sounds thin and narrow, like an old mono recording. If you can find the original recording somewhere, give it a go, otherwise try one of the others. There was a lousy recording on Youtube so leave that well alone.

There is also a fairly nice concerto for Clarinet and Viola by Bruch as well and some interesting prices for basset Horn and Clarinet by Mendelssohn. Have a look here.

As I said before, I have also been trying to catch up on some reading and about 300 ages into the book, Nehru has at last started to say something of interest in his autobiography. It is not that the man cannot write, he has an elegant turn of phrase, but it is that he very little to say. For the most part of the first 300 pages he comes across as idealistic and out of touch. This is a lot better than Gandhi, who looks to me like an out and out nutcase - sleeping naked with teenage girls must count for rather odd behaviour especially by a supposed living saint.

The only reason I got the book (I did not buy it but I did hint to someone that I was interested in it and I received it as a present) was because Lee Kuan Yew mentioned in his autobiography that Nehru was the man they looked to for ideas and intellectual leadership. This was not apparent in the first half of the book and I would have been very disappointed had I actually paid money for it, but it seems to have picked up a bit now. Need to look around for some of his later writing. I was an ardent fan of Lee Kuan Yew, ever since I read his well written Story of Singapore. I noticed when glancing through some of the chapters in volume 2 (From the Third World to the First) that my views on the press differ from his more markedly now. Perhaps it is the experience of living under tight censorship that makes me appreciate the need for a freer press but I think I need to revisit that book again.

In the meantime just started the Undercover Economist by Tim Harford which (halfway through the first chapter) looks very exciting. This shall be my bedtime reading for a while, shall return to the re-reading of Sophie's World when I finish (that, to my small mind is a rather profound book), need to take it in little bits to digest it properly.

Anyway, having fun playing around with odd ideas, mental masturbation if you like, good night out there, whatever you are.

Japanese pianist Masahiko Shinohara to play on September 28/29

Good news for music lovers, the pianist Masahiko Shinohara who gave an excellent recital in April this year is back.

He will be playing at the Russian Cultural Centre on the 28th and 29th of September 2008, the concert starst at 7.15pm. The music, an interesting selection, includes a world Première performance of a work called 'The Dawn of Kandula' by Stephen Allen and some Mozart: the overture to Lucio Silla (K.145), Symphony No.29 and Piano Concerto No.14. The orchestra is the Chamber Music Society of Colombo.

Although the programme is supposedly sponsored by Dilmah I have seen very little publicity, just a couple of newspaper write-ups as far as I recall and no details whatsoever on the Chamber Music Society website. Lets hope that the talented pianist does not find himself playing to another half-empty hall, so please pass the word around.

Tickets are available at the Russian Cultural Centre priced at a flat rate of Rs.500/- and proceeds are in aid of charity.

Classic children's songs

Here's the perfect tonic for anyone feeling depressed at work today.

Discovered some classic songs on Youtube just now. They are intended for children but can be enjoyed by all; catchy tunes and witty verses. They don't make them like that anymore.

Right Said Fred by Bernard Cribbins
and

My boomerang wont come back by Charlie Drake