Showing posts with label Classical Music. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Classical Music. Show all posts
Wednesday, 3 November 2010
A secret chord...
Tuesday, 17 August 2010
Priests just wanna have fun!
Filmed in Hungary and set to the very fine music of Blink 182 (explicit lyrics warning!) whose songs were featured in one of my fave TV series 'All the Small Things' as imaginative choral arrangements... h/t Andy Piercy
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Thursday, 8 July 2010
Jeff Buckley - BBC Soul Music Take 2
Sadly music mega-corp Sony has removed the YouTube video of Jeff Buckley I had included on my earlier post about the BBC Radio 4 series Soul Music. Checking the visitor stats for this Blog it is clear the post that featured anecdotes about Dido's Lament, including the legendary performance by Jeff Buckley, still has plenty of visits.
However, the really great news is the BBC has increased the duration of the archived pieces from Soul Music and have included this edition along with many others, link above.
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Sunday, 4 April 2010
Some of it's just transcendental...
A little Easter Sunday treat! The Peter Gabriel cover of Lou Reed's 'Power of the heart' from the 'Scratch my Back' album... enjoy!
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Monday, 29 March 2010
Peter Gabriel Scratch My Back with New Blood
An artist of the stature of Peter Gabriel is often caught between a rock and a hard place. Even his post Genesis solo repetoire extends back to the 70s with so many massively popular songs it is inevitable that when you try something new your stalwart fans may initially be a bit puzzled. Equally, just rolling out the back catalogue you run the risk being criticised for not offering something new! His latest venture combines the two in an inspired way and manages to deflect either opinion.
His latest 'Scratch my Back' project takes other artists songs (who will, in return, record their version of a PG song) arranged for a full 54 piece orchestra (no drums and guitars!) delivered in a format that is far more akin to a classical music recital than your usual stadium rock approach. The first half comprised ALL the tracks from the CD album in the same track running order whilst the post interval 2nd half saw the orchestra playing arrangements of PG's own songs.
The songs, or pieces, were all supported by simple yet stunning 'arty' graphics which included some video elements (on an array of LEDs rather than projection screens) the focus was clearly the music, with conductor Ben Foster at the helm, supporting vocals from Peter's daughter Melanie with a charismatic Norwegian lass, Ane Brun and a brilliant pianist Tom Cawley. The opening was David Bowies 'Heroes' which started with one of the LED screens obscuring the orchestra displaying very sparse graphics totally synchronised to the music which eventually raised to reveal the orchestra and PG himself stepping onto the front part of the stage.
As mentioned, the set list followed the running order of the Scratch my Back album, check out the player on my blog here. Highlights were the whole drama of the opening with 'Heroes', the starkness of 'Boy in the Bubble', 'The Power of the Heart' and 'Book of Love' which had a witty and self deprecating sequence on the displays killing off any thoughts of sentimentality! PG found his stride in 'The Power of the Heart' with a passionate and committed vocal performance that drew the most applause in part one. Gabriel fans are very respectful so although the response could not be called rapturous, it was polite even if sometimes puzzled.
For me personally I found it immensely stimulating and inspiring yet very much with the classical music concert similarity to the fore. Often attending classical recitals you are not as familiar with the material, so it is an adventure which may not always be delightful and can sometimes be quite arduous. The lack of familiarity, at times, didn't make for easy listening, not a bad thing in my book, regardless John Metcalfe's arrangements and orchestration throughout were brilliant! I would say the 'high brow' factor placed it somewhere twixt Classic FM and Radio 3 with PG's grace and gifts building an accessibility bridge to the essentially Radio 2 audience.
The genius was saving the familiar material, albeit with the previously unheard orchestral versions, as the whole of the second half. Again the arrangements were stunning and gave new textures to the Gabriel catalogue, with the extensive suite of texture and dynamics an orchestra can deliver new facets of PG's songs appeared. This time it was the audience who found their stride, clapping along, cheering, mimicking PG's gestures and even standing in appreciation!
'Solsbury Hill' was the clear 'clapometer' favourite and along with 'In your Eyes' plus the pre-encore set closer 'Don't Give Up' being my own personal 2nd half highlights. Selecting 'Don't Give Up' felt significant, whether by design or default I don't know. The whole of the 'Scratch My Back' CD is very much a Lament for the world (more on Steve Stockman's Blog here), where we have screwed up environmentally, ecologically, tribal / civic wars, corruption, terroism, ethnic cleansing, shock and awe etc. Therefore including 'Don't Give Up' so brilliantly gave hope and encouragement for the future.
To be nitpicky I cannot say it was all perfect. The orchestra was not tight, it did not groove and or have the feel that PG's band excels at, the sound was a bit harsh and sometimes some cues were missed. Equally these points are much more noticable in an orchestral format so overall it did not tarnish or diminish my enjoyment. I am so glad I was able to go and experience this firsthand, a very special and memorable eve. If you get the chance, there are not many dates left and only in North America, don't miss it!
Saturday, 20 March 2010
Jeff Buckley - BBC Soul Music
BBC Radio 4's recent edition of 'Soul Music' which featured Dido's Lament turned out to be really special! It always gives me enormous encouragement (and pleasant surprise!) to hear top notch classical maestros admitting truths that most of their colleagues would consider heresy.
The program moved from a fairly conventional start covering thoughts from the mezzo soprano Sarah Connolly and the view of the conductor of the band at the Cenotaph for Remembrance Day.
Jeremy Summerly, the big boss of the Royal Academy of Music and a renowned conductor, issued the first challenges to conventional thinking about the approach to singing the piece. He asked how would anyone know how 17th Century singers would sound and then introduced Alison Moyet's version, praising her approach, the clarity of her timbre and the fact that every word is intelligible. For someone of Jeremy's stature in the classical world to say this is really something, especially as he stated that Purcell's masterpiece is 'the great tune of the 17th Century'.
The closing section of the programme introduced Philip Sheppard, cellist and now composer. He spoke about how he was invited along to be part of the supporting orchestra for Elvis Costello's Meltdown Festival in 1995. One of the pieces was to be Dido's Lament which would be sung by charismatic rock singer Jeff Buckley. Although Philip had never heard of Jeff Buckley before once he heard him singing it had a most profound effect on him:
He seemed to screw every ounce of meaning out of the words and physically he looked like he was wracked with pain and anguish as he was singing it. But what was coming out was beyond ethereal his voice had this quality where it meant so much more than when I had ever heard it before.As a result Philip had to admit:
But then when he sang it it seemed to be a Lament so much more and it really went beyond what I would consider to be classical music...and to date it's actually probably the greatest musical
experience of my life, in as much as it turned my world inside out.
I know NOTHING about music - at all!
Up to that point I was a musican who played through study rather than a musician who played through feel and now I have to say I seek out people to work with who do not necessarily read music who have their first sense is one of 'ear' rather than of 'technique'...Philip then goes on to say how this became a pivotal moment in his career which helped him to become a composer, enabling him to move away from being 'a player who just repeated other people's music'.
Jeff Buckley died in a tragic accident just two years later in 1997, sunsequently his version of Leonard Cohen's 'Hallelujah' reached number one in the US Billboard charts and is considered by many to be the definitive version.
Now Philip thinks of Jeff nearly every day and is ever grateful for the effect of the encounter, even though he only met him for around half an hour...
Listening to this has changed me forever, too, thank you so much...
P
Thursday, 4 March 2010
Saturday, 13 February 2010
All the small things... really matter
This song is a choral version of American popular teen combo Blink 182, one of many excellent musical pieces on the DVD which should be watched by every church choir, pastor and congregation. The plot covers an comprehensive array of social, religious and family issues that touch the spirit deeply... it is a tragedy that plans for a new series have been dropped... buy this gem on DVD.
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Sunday, 10 January 2010
Art and Christianity Part Three - Music
This my third post on the Art and Christianity meme commenced by Jonathan Evens.
Artwork: Antony Gormley - 'Field for the British Isles'
Drama: Film 'Chariots of Fire' (1981)
Music: J S Bach - St Matthew Passion
Novel: Victoria Hislop - The Island
Poem: Wilfred Owen - The Parable of the Old Man and the Young
Music: J S Bach - St Matthew Passion. I remember filing in the Royal Festival Hall at 10:00am on a Good Friday to experience Bach's epic Passion and wondering what to expect having been told by my hosts that we would not be leaving until 3:00pm! On advice I had managed to obtain a choir score from Upminster library to help me navigate my way through Bach's interpretation of Matthew chapters 26 and 27. Now whilst I still don't read music I would say it was pretty essential to peruse the score to be able to greater appreciate the composer's genius in using motifs and phrasing to highlight activity and mood.
I was familiar with the beautiful hymn, 'O, Sacred Head! Sore wounded', (also known as the Passion Chorale) yet as soon as the double choir launched into their opening chorale I was transported heavenwards by the breathtaking and all enveloping wall of sound undergirded by the massive double orchestra and pipe organ. There appeared to be around 10 soloist parts and I came across the word Recitative for the first time... had already heard of Arias!
However, it is not an easy piece to listen to in its entirety and despite the sublime chorales the tension Bach creates musically is tangible. Nowadays we are so used to a high solo violin scraping away to semaphore impending doom in a film or tv drama but this would have been very early examples of this sort of technique. Whenever Jesus has narrative or 'speaks' there is a 'sound' Bach has scored a special full violin section sound to emphasise what we can consider to be Jesus' 'Spirit', the pre-Pentecost Holy Ghost. This musical effect, which is referred to as Jesus' 'halo', is conspicuously absent as Christ utters 'Eli, eli, lama sabachthani' and I found this deeply moving.
Here is the moment of utter desolation (and multiple Recitative performances) that narrates 'Now the Lord is brought to rest'. Then in the finale chorale, as per the youtube example above, the choirs can be heard 'answering' one another and the stereo effect of the double orchestra can clearly be heard... as the final chord resolved and faded I do not recall whether there was applause or not as I made my way out, I had been transported to another place, I do remember tactfully averting eye contact so folk around me would not spy my wet cheeks.
It took me until Sunday to recover physically. I ached from feeling the palpable tension, from concentrating on the passage, the sense of loss as the Passion unfolded (such a vital part of the Easter weekend) and I will never, ever forget...
P
Artwork: Antony Gormley - 'Field for the British Isles'
Drama: Film 'Chariots of Fire' (1981)
Music: J S Bach - St Matthew Passion
Novel: Victoria Hislop - The Island
Poem: Wilfred Owen - The Parable of the Old Man and the Young
Music: J S Bach - St Matthew Passion. I remember filing in the Royal Festival Hall at 10:00am on a Good Friday to experience Bach's epic Passion and wondering what to expect having been told by my hosts that we would not be leaving until 3:00pm! On advice I had managed to obtain a choir score from Upminster library to help me navigate my way through Bach's interpretation of Matthew chapters 26 and 27. Now whilst I still don't read music I would say it was pretty essential to peruse the score to be able to greater appreciate the composer's genius in using motifs and phrasing to highlight activity and mood.
I was familiar with the beautiful hymn, 'O, Sacred Head! Sore wounded', (also known as the Passion Chorale) yet as soon as the double choir launched into their opening chorale I was transported heavenwards by the breathtaking and all enveloping wall of sound undergirded by the massive double orchestra and pipe organ. There appeared to be around 10 soloist parts and I came across the word Recitative for the first time... had already heard of Arias!
However, it is not an easy piece to listen to in its entirety and despite the sublime chorales the tension Bach creates musically is tangible. Nowadays we are so used to a high solo violin scraping away to semaphore impending doom in a film or tv drama but this would have been very early examples of this sort of technique. Whenever Jesus has narrative or 'speaks' there is a 'sound' Bach has scored a special full violin section sound to emphasise what we can consider to be Jesus' 'Spirit', the pre-Pentecost Holy Ghost. This musical effect, which is referred to as Jesus' 'halo', is conspicuously absent as Christ utters 'Eli, eli, lama sabachthani' and I found this deeply moving.
Here is the moment of utter desolation (and multiple Recitative performances) that narrates 'Now the Lord is brought to rest'. Then in the finale chorale, as per the youtube example above, the choirs can be heard 'answering' one another and the stereo effect of the double orchestra can clearly be heard... as the final chord resolved and faded I do not recall whether there was applause or not as I made my way out, I had been transported to another place, I do remember tactfully averting eye contact so folk around me would not spy my wet cheeks.
It took me until Sunday to recover physically. I ached from feeling the palpable tension, from concentrating on the passage, the sense of loss as the Passion unfolded (such a vital part of the Easter weekend) and I will never, ever forget...
P
Thursday, 7 January 2010
Art and Christianity Part Two - Drama
Artwork: Antony Gormley - 'Field for the British Isles'
Drama: Film 'Chariots of Fire' (1981)
Music: J S Bach - St Matthew Passion
Novel: Victoria Hislop - The Island
Poem: Wilfred Owen - The Parable of the Old Man and the Young
Drama: I have chosen the film Chariots of Fire - Pleased to say I saw it way before the Oscar nominations and other plaudits poured in, so I was an early 'adopter' of this great period piece set around the 1924 Olympics (so expect to see it on the box a few times over the next couple of years!).
There are many issues tackled in the film which revolves around the counterbalance of ambitious Englishman Harold Abrahams, who is Jewish, and Eric Liddell, an instinctive Scottish sprinter who, as a devout Christian, makes the wonderful statement 'I believe that God made me for a purpose (i.e. supporting his mission work) but He also made me fast, and when I run, I feel His pleasure.'
The story doesn't end with the film, Eric went on to become a respected missionary in China and despite his athletic physique still died at a young age during incarceration in the Japanese Weihsien Internment (read concentration) Camp from a brain tumour. However, it was the film that nudged my interest to read more about him and Sally Magnusson's excellent book, The Flying Scotsman, was where I turned first in those pre-web days.
This film has so many resonances for me and refreshed me when the church simply didn't or couldn't. Athletics was the sport I was best at plus I had a relatively strict upbringing which meant we kept the Sabbath (Sunday!) holy. Creatively I love the daring combination of a period drama with the symphonic and quirky synthesiser music soundtrack composed by Vangelis on devices I know my way around. However, it is the example of Jesus that Eric clearly was that is so moving and challenging that gets to me everytime.
He did not get out of China when he could because it would desert friends and family. For example he was able to support his exhausted brother in a rural mission station. He was also fiercly anti-class and to demonstrate the importance of equality shared out some extra food with everyone that had been bought by oil company inmates who'd bribed their guards.
His example was remarkable and sacrificial, despite much personal hardship he never stopped putting others first and whilst passionate about his faith he led by example rather than proselytisation or seeking any glory for himself. This was highlighted in a recent revelation that when he was offered, as a former high profile athlete, an opportunity to take part in a prisoner exchange he gave his place to a pregnant woman. During his time in the camp he even took part, as referee, in a football match on a Sunday to prevent the teams from fighting because he was trusted to be completely impartial...
Today I award the Tag to: MadPriest
Monday, 28 December 2009
O Magnum Mysterium...
P
Wednesday, 16 December 2009
In the air tonight... Advent 3
P
Monday, 7 December 2009
Congregational musicianship...
A great way of disposing of worship groups/bands, just give everyone a Ukulele instead!
The very wonderful Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain in full flow at this year's Proms. Suggestion inspired by the Ongoing Adventures of ASBO Jesus 768:
Tuesday, 1 December 2009
Tuesday, 17 November 2009
Memorable Musical Moments Meme...
Think of eight memorable musical moments, not necessarily all time favourites, but those when, for example, you felt compelled to wait in the car when listening to this amazing song on the radio because you just had to know who it was by. Or the piece you heard on the tv in a drama that drove you straight onto iTunes to download... (remember once we spent the princely sum of 6s 8d on a vinyl single?!). Optional details for each song give where, why and Spotify or youtube links...
I hereby tag: Maggi Dawn, +Nick Baines, Richard Hall, Jonathan Evens, Tim Chesterton
The Promise You Made – Cockrobin (view)
Inside of you - Alice Martineau (view)
Hide and Seek - Imogen Heap (wow!)
Quanta Qualia - Patrick Hawes (listen)
Mmmm, Mmmm, Mmmm - Crash Test Dummies (view)
Don't Give Up – Peter Gabriel and Paula Cole (view)
While You See a Chance – Steve Winwood (view)
Belief - John Mayer (listen)
Friday, 23 October 2009
Bright eyes... and one buttock playing!
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A truly wonderful 'sermon' on classical music in a week that has been quite bizarre...
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