not the most glamorous of locations perhaps, but when soundtracked by bj nilsen's 'invisible cities', well, it's a different place altogether. thanks hannes!
pleiades house and car park
not the most glamorous of locations perhaps, but when soundtracked by bj nilsen's 'invisible cities', well, it's a different place altogether. thanks hannes!
so goodbye 2009
good things in 2009
fennesz, dafeledecker, brandlmayr on cd/the unthanks at brighton komedia/watson, marsh and may at scaledown/lucy jane generally/clang sayne cd/clang sayne cd launch at cafe oto (ist half)/bj nilsen/sonnamble/flight of the conchords series 2/let the right one in/schnittke at the qeh/sonnamble and platform and watson at the fleapit/the necks at the union chapel/the bleedin' internet/playing with paul may. a lot./the neat at reading festival/peter broderick at the union chapel/bbc four/rick jensen trio at macondo/clang sayne at the slaughtered lamb
bevan, lash, marks, obermayer at cafe oto/cafe oto/oasis splitting up/the rest is noise
not so good things in 2009
john martyn r.i.p./bat for lashes at the roundhouse/no red rose or anything to replace it. flim flam in trouble/bbc three/clang sayne cd launch at cafe oto (2nd half)/animal collective/
fennesz, dafeledecker, brandlmayr on cd/the unthanks at brighton komedia/watson, marsh and may at scaledown/lucy jane generally/clang sayne cd/clang sayne cd launch at cafe oto (ist half)/bj nilsen/sonnamble/flight of the conchords series 2/let the right one in/schnittke at the qeh/sonnamble and platform and watson at the fleapit/the necks at the union chapel/the bleedin' internet/playing with paul may. a lot./the neat at reading festival/peter broderick at the union chapel/bbc four/rick jensen trio at macondo/clang sayne at the slaughtered lamb
bevan, lash, marks, obermayer at cafe oto/cafe oto/oasis splitting up/the rest is noise
not so good things in 2009
john martyn r.i.p./bat for lashes at the roundhouse/no red rose or anything to replace it. flim flam in trouble/bbc three/clang sayne cd launch at cafe oto (2nd half)/animal collective/
the bleedin' internet/led bib/festivals/the prospect of oasis related solo albums
watson marsh and may - scaledown 51
here's our set from scaledown a few months back for your listening pleasure.
ian r watson - trumpet
peter marsh - bass
paul may - percussion
thanks to andy coules, shaun hendry and mark braby for putting us on and recording it.
download (23.8mb)
ian r watson - trumpet
peter marsh - bass
paul may - percussion
thanks to andy coules, shaun hendry and mark braby for putting us on and recording it.
download (23.8mb)
when the schnittke hits the fan
a year or two back my friend matthew gave me some alfred schnittke to listen to, specifically his concerto grosso no 1 for prepared piano, harpsichord, two violins and strings. i'm a little intimidated by most contemporary classical music, or more to the point i'm intimidated by the stuff that goes with it; the analysis of structure and form and all that. i probably know just enough about it to make a complete arse of myself should i ever end up talking about it. so my usual approach is to ignore all that and just attempt to engage with the music in an instinctive way. the concerto grosso is a beautiful piece and so it's easy to engage with it on that level.
so a week or so back i ended up at the QEH with matthew to see it performed live. it was great, it must be said, as was the monologue for viola and strings, which had some incredible textures, where all the strings were playing so softly that the notes were barely audible; i have rarerly heard anything so gorgeous. plus i like the viola a lot. matthew had written his dissertation on schnittke so when he said that he felt that the piece lacked a convincing structure i think he's probably right, but structure's never been my strong point.
matthew also pointed out (though i don't think this was a criticism) that the concerto grosso was taken at a fair old lick. i hadn't clocked that, but again i think he was right and a listen to it on the tube journey home proved it. of course performances of such music are all about interpretation, and for those in the audience familiar wirh the works this can be a bit of an issue. it's even an issue for rock fans, who generally want to hear the music played just like it sounds on the cd. but of course the classical model is way more complex. i remember when i was a kid my mum had a boxed set of classical 'greatest hits' on ronco records or something like that. it featured the usual stuff; the overture to william tell, 'morning' from peer gynt, the ride of the valkyries etc. a gymnopedie or two. what really floated my boat was a rendition of the second movement of mahler's 5th symphony (as used in 'death in venice'). now these weren't definitive versions - no barbirolli or haitink or boult, just probably some obscure romanian orchestra with the orchestra leader conducting (this was ronco records, not deutsche grammofon). however, that version of the seconf movement remains the best i've heard. i'm sure someone with a greater knowledge of mahler would have ointed out that it was too slow, the acoustic was too reverberant and the timing was sloppy etc etc. and they'd probably be right. maybe it was because it was the first recording i'd come across and that i was a particularly impressionable age, i don't know. but it shows how complex and subtle the issue of interpretation it is.
for years i'd assumed that classical concerts were a waste of time - dead music played by a bunch of highly skilled workmen responding to the will of an autocrat (ie the conductor). it was everything i didn't want music (or life in general) to be about. while i haven't exactly had a road to damascus experience that's overturned that view entirely, at least i've started to get that it's a lot more complex than that...
so a week or so back i ended up at the QEH with matthew to see it performed live. it was great, it must be said, as was the monologue for viola and strings, which had some incredible textures, where all the strings were playing so softly that the notes were barely audible; i have rarerly heard anything so gorgeous. plus i like the viola a lot. matthew had written his dissertation on schnittke so when he said that he felt that the piece lacked a convincing structure i think he's probably right, but structure's never been my strong point.
matthew also pointed out (though i don't think this was a criticism) that the concerto grosso was taken at a fair old lick. i hadn't clocked that, but again i think he was right and a listen to it on the tube journey home proved it. of course performances of such music are all about interpretation, and for those in the audience familiar wirh the works this can be a bit of an issue. it's even an issue for rock fans, who generally want to hear the music played just like it sounds on the cd. but of course the classical model is way more complex. i remember when i was a kid my mum had a boxed set of classical 'greatest hits' on ronco records or something like that. it featured the usual stuff; the overture to william tell, 'morning' from peer gynt, the ride of the valkyries etc. a gymnopedie or two. what really floated my boat was a rendition of the second movement of mahler's 5th symphony (as used in 'death in venice'). now these weren't definitive versions - no barbirolli or haitink or boult, just probably some obscure romanian orchestra with the orchestra leader conducting (this was ronco records, not deutsche grammofon). however, that version of the seconf movement remains the best i've heard. i'm sure someone with a greater knowledge of mahler would have ointed out that it was too slow, the acoustic was too reverberant and the timing was sloppy etc etc. and they'd probably be right. maybe it was because it was the first recording i'd come across and that i was a particularly impressionable age, i don't know. but it shows how complex and subtle the issue of interpretation it is.
for years i'd assumed that classical concerts were a waste of time - dead music played by a bunch of highly skilled workmen responding to the will of an autocrat (ie the conductor). it was everything i didn't want music (or life in general) to be about. while i haven't exactly had a road to damascus experience that's overturned that view entirely, at least i've started to get that it's a lot more complex than that...
