A Lark Ascending

A jolly afternoon at the local cinema: Very good. I had intended to go to Stratford to see this but the tickets were eye-wateringly expensive (way more than I paid last year for Henry V...must be the superstar Lear). I enjoy the cinema experience just as much - but could do with subtitles with language this dense. A 21stC Edmund (now at war with Lady Macbeth). First four episodes - absolutely first rate television. Best not to watch it too close to a news bulletin. At the moment it's hard to know where fiction ends and reality starts.

Like others, I can't even begin to narrow down a top five. As 'for all time', well my centres of interest change every few days so 'for all time' is a fairly meaningless concept. But these are five albums I heard when I was looking beyond rock in the mid 70s for music of interest that made me want to go further: They (or in the case of the Ellington, that music on other discs) continue to bring great pleasure forty years on. They all opened doors into other gardens which themselves had doors to further gardens....

Op 127 of the Beety-boy. Disc 3 of the Nancarrow. No. 6. Another contemporary piece that could become more widely popular given a chance. Partly generated from RVW's 'Down Ampney', which makes a full appearance towards the end. The short 'scherzo' reminds me of the 'Purgatorio' movement in the Mahler 10 reconstruction. As a young lad Matthews (along with brother Colin) worked as assistants to Deryck Cooke on that. This morning:

HAYDN String Quartet in B flat Op.76 No.4 Sunrise RAVEL String Quartet in F Op.35 BEETHOVEN String Quartet in E flat Op.127 (Van Kuijk Quartet at Sheffield Crucible Studio) Nice mixture of (for me) the unfamiliar, the 'getting to know you' and the old favourite. I've heard a few of the Haydn quartets in concert (they often seem to open programmes here) and on record. Always enjoy them but have yet to get a real sense of any one of them as a piece I must return to (my lack of familiarity, not a criticism of the music). Been putting some time into the Beethoven quartets over the last year and it's starting to pay off. Love the wonderful rich chords in the first movement here; the slow variation movement a real beauty; a great moment in the coda of the scherzo where it sounds like the central fast section is going to get repeated before the movement gets swiftly dismissed; and there's something very unusual happening at the end of the last movement - a drift into some very strange places - that I need to listen again to to really get a grip. At this rate I should be able to do the 'Well, of course darlings, the only music I can bear to listen to are the late Beethoven quartets...' in about 20 years. The Ravel quartet is the old favourite - along with the Debussy and two Janaceks, the first 'chamber music' (what a prissy label that is...does anyone still have a chamber?) I got to enjoy. Not hard to hear why last night - the transparent colours and use of all manner of effects make it immediately more appealing to an unfamiliar listener (they're even using the fast movement on a TV add at present). Final movement is not a million miles from what Stravinsky would be doing very shortly. First violinist had a string snap with a loud bang three minutes in. All trooped off for a pit stop. Returned five minutes later quite unphased. They looked terribly young. Minus a star for not saying a word to the audience throughout.

No 2 off the Matthews. 12-15 off the 'adyn.

Not about iPhones or streaming but I had to smile at this story of advances in modern technology: English man spends 11 hours trying to make cup of tea with Wi-Fi kettle He'd have got his tea more quickly if he'd put a kettle on top of his Samsung Galaxy Note 7.

I frequently read about Bush - a devoted communist who got into regular hot water with the establishment (and who RVW made a stand for in 1941) - but have heard little of his music. Had this a few years and it's never made much of an impact - quite conventional music. However, enjoyed it more yesterday. David Matthews is a great favourite - prolific composer who very much ploughs his own furrow regardless of classical music fashion. He declares Beethoven as his prime inspiration in the quartets but you hear much 20thC music in them - Bartok, Britten, Tippett etc. Tonal, accessible but knotty and challenging. Listened to this twice. Watched this for a second time yesterday. Absolutely delightful staging from Paris - bright bold colours, imaginative representations of the animal characters. Elena Tsallagova is utterly bewitching as the vixen. My favourite Janacek opera - more earworm melodies than you can shake a conductor's baton at. And a wonderful running commentary on the foibles and vanities of humans running through the tale.

Just a few of the series running at present on UK TV. 'Victoria' - standard romantic royal history (with the occasional walk-on part for things of some significance) but I've enjoyed it despite setting out to sneer down my pinze-nez. 'Cold Feet' - Only saw the original episodes in the summer which I loved; wondered at first if this was going to work but I've been won round. Daft, unlikely scenarios but funny and warm with the characters facing issues of middle age (even Adam!). Last night's episode was very moving. 'Paranoid' - Over-the-top but watchable 'killer on the loose' police thing in rural England. 'National Treasure' - This one has been excellent - Robbie Coltrane as an ageing entertainer accused of historic child abuse. Powerful playing from Coltrane and Julie Walters though the compelling performance is by Andrea Riseborough as his damaged daughter. Last episode tonight with lots of questions hanging. All ITV/Channel 4 which is unusual for me - the endless repetition of the same adverts drives me nuts (I will never go compare, visit a cinema with a meercat or stir coconut in my stir-fry). I try to record so I can skip them but sometimes I can't resist watching when the programmes are screened. Nothing yet this season to match 'The Night Manager', 'London Spy', 'Peaky Blinders' or 'Happy Valley'.

Posthorn

No 1 of the Brahms. No 6. Sounds like Beethoven in the last movement! And a nice variation on Pachelbel's greatest hit in the third.

Whilst painting a ceiling (Adam's hand is proving especially tricky): The glorious Quintet off the latter. I love those Brahms serenades. Always make me want to buy lederhosen and go and hunt boar. SQ5 off Spotify. Don't know Rochberg at all. But there's a nice short article in the new Gramophone recommending American string quartets and this one gets a thumbs up. Quite late 19thC in feel initially though later you enter a world not unlike Schoenberg or Berg at their less severe. Early days but worth following up.

Disc 2 of the first. Way too complex to take in on one listen (or, I suspect, on several dozen listens) but the music has an immediately thrilling effect. The Johnston is equally compelling, utterly in its own world. Must get the discs of the other quartets. One of my favourite Mozarts - and one of the pieces that turned Mozart from someone I listened to every now and then because I thought I ought to to someone I genuinely enjoyed. 'Amadeus' was to blame! 4 has never been a favourite (1/5/7/8/9 are my frequent fliers) but yesterday afternoon this really clicked. This morning, more Mozart:

I really took to the Brahms Requiem a few years back - saw a good performance in Truro Cathedral whilst on holiday. I like the idea of a secular Requiem well before such things became common. Another cinema live event yesterday, this one from the Met: Tristan and Isolde - Dick Wagner Really enjoyed this - much, much better than the ENO version I saw back in July. Similarly eccentric production (Act I and II on a destroyer, Act III in a spare hospital cell) but far less distracting than the London production. Above all, a much better Isolde (Nina Stemme) both vocally and dramatically. Same Tristan as at ENO (Stuart Skelton). Some very effective visual effects - the high point was Brangane's soaring warning above the love duet in Act II with some beautiful filmed effects superimposed. Simon Rattle waved the stick - my he looks old now...and he's my age!!!! Only reservation was the sound quality - every five or six minutes a jolting click; and some serious distortion in voices and orchestra in peaks (of which there are a few!). Clearly the world wide web still has some technological issues to sort out. The Met are broadcasting a good few of these over the next year - mainly familiar fare (I suspect that's the nature of the Met) - but there's a Saariaho (L'Amour de loin) in December and I may well confront a few prejudices about Verdi and mid-19thC opera in general later in the season. Der Rosenkavalier at the end - hard to resist. Audience of 7 in the cinema. Worksop's not big on high culture! Though given the emptiness of the streets at 10.30 on leaving it's not that big on low culture either - everyone goes to Sheffield. [Production (not the singing or playing) gets a panning here: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/sep/27/tristan-und-isolde-met-opera-review]

On earlier jazz and aimed at the less experienced listener: 24 chapters covering the big names from the The ODJB to Roy Eldridge. Rather than generalising Lyttleton focuses on particular recordings, explaining why he thinks they are outstanding and how they fit into the development of jazz. Written in plain rather than technical language. Lyttleton was a player over many decades and an open-eared broadcaster about jazz (and other things) with that ability to write about jazz without pretension. I very much enjoyed the Alyn Shipton book mentioned earlier when I read it some years back.

Disc 1 of the first. Nancarrow is relatively new to me - starts with pieces that sound like upended boogie-woogie, in places rather Latin and then onto later more abstract things. You're inclined to think this music was an inspiration for free jazz piano but it only seems to have become widely know after that was well established. Exciting, original stuff. No. 8

On today's Guardian Website: The new cool: how Kamasi, Kendrick and co gave jazz a new groove I like this bit from Shabaka Hutchings: “What I always find frustrating is that so many jazz musicians have forgotten how to write decent melodies. They are often so keen to show off their chops and their harmonic knowledge that they forget how to connect to an audience. That’s something that pisses me off. In fact, it was working with the Ethiopian musician Mulatu Astatke that really gave me the confidence to play simple, strong melodies – drawing from folkloric music. That’s something that all jazz musicians can benefit from.” I saw Astatke earlier in the year. Nothing remotely 'trendy' about the music but it did have those folkish, melodic hooks Hutchings alludes to (as well as being highly rhythmic) - played to a packed house (much more mixed age-wise than I usually see...lots of those mythical 'young people') going bonkers with excitement. In the band were hardcore improvisors like Alex Hawkins and John Edwards clearly having a ball. Fear of melody* seems to a general issue with musical modernism. Even though much classical music moved back from the frontiers of atonality a long while back there still seems to be a reluctance to employ a good tune. (* Using the word as the general public understand it - something singable that sticks in your head [as opposed to 'a note row with the potential for variation and development']).

The Bach was perfect to listen to whilst the evening descended. Excellent notes from Hewitt herself to guide you through this collection of shorter pieces. The following morning: Th'arp off latter.

'Cool' is best left to teenagers and lifestyle colour supplements (or whatever the cyber equivalent is). What I do find interesting is how jazz, despite ceasing to be a 'popular' music in the late 50s/early 60s, still enjoys occasional periods of wider notice. Like mini-skirts and the Rubik's Cube every now and then it is declared to be 'back'. Even more interesting is the growing difference between performer(s) and audience. Most of the concerts I go to are performed by people in their 20s/30s/40s. Most of the audience are 50s and beyond. Equally true of folk and classical music. So there's a steady stream of young people interested in jazz wanting to play it professionally; but that doesn't seem reflected in the audience. Maybe it's just down to the fact that only the baby boomers, who lived through times when we could afford to save up and have benefited from fair pensions, can afford the tickets (or the time to attend).

Two books about egocentric young men causing havoc and not giving a damn about the impact on those around them: The Led Zeppelin is a fairly standard rock bio. Tells the tale of the music reasonably well, documents their rise to success (and their very rapid fall) and all the bad behaviour that is well known. Most shocking revelation was Plant announcing to a concert audience that they were off into tax exile and that the Chancellor of the Exchequer could stuff it (or maybe Page saying he intended to vote for Thatcher in 1979 and had voted Tory last time). Not sure why I should be surprised that rock stars vote Tory. Saddest part was watching Page's demise into addiction and then endlessly waiting for a Led Zeppelin revival. Written in 2009 so before he carried out yet another recycling of the catalogue. 'The Plantagenets' is a very enjoyable dash through 300 years of history in 600 pages. Studied quite a lot of this in some detail 40 years ago at uni but it's an area of history that only get covered in bite-sized chunks in schools - 1066, Castles, Bad/Good King John, Black Death etc - so it was good to reacquaint, especially in the area in which I was fuzziest - Henry III, Edward III in particular. An old fashioned 'men fighting battles and making laws' type history but a strong, driving sense of narrative. He tends to start each chapter imaging a scenario - Richard I standing over Henry II's corpse and imagining , for example - standard school teacher starter stuff but a bit unsettling in a book. How does he know Richard thought that? No referencing so it's hard to tell how much is sourced and how much imagined (the latter I expect). Battle scenes are somewhat hackneyed - lots of standard blood and guts description. Most shocking part - a description of Edward III launching his invasion of France and riding through Normandy murdering and burning indiscriminately. Why? Because he wanted to be king of France as well. Recommended if you want a strong narrative tale of this part of the Middle Ages (though there are a fair few individual bios by the likes of Marc Morris and Ian Mortimer that I suspect will be broader). I'll certainly read his follow up on the 15thC ('The Hollow Crown'). Now onto something calmer:

9-12; Symphony A/B (Partita) in B flat major (snappy little titles!). The latter whilst making a fruit cake, as Bach intended. First three pieces in order to try and make more sense of what I heard Hewitt play t'other night. The above guide book proved very helpful (not recommended to 'the connoisseur'). I find the idea of two hands playing three lines of music very hard to get my head round. I'm not really able to hear all three at once - when I've focused on the lower line I miss the other two and have to redirect my ears. The complexity of this music is staggering (and the inventions were apparently teaching tools!) and I've only got a bare grasp of it. However, I was completely floored by the Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue. Music I've played many times but I think I only heard it yesterday. This morning:

Listen to 'Moonchild' on the first King Crimson album. I'm convinced Robert Fripp was channelling Hall from his period with Giuffre. Not the first place you'd expect to find his influence.

J.S. Bach - Fantasia in C minor BWV 906; Aria Variata 'alla Maniera Italiana' BWV 989; Fifteen Two-part Inventions BWV 772-786; Fifteen Three-part Sinfonias (Inventions) BWV 787-801; Capriccio on the Departure of his Beloved Brother BWV 992; Capriccio in E BWV 993; Fantasia and Fugue in A minor BWV 904 Angela Hewitt - piano @ Sheffield Crucible Theatre Studio Like zillions of others I play Bach records rather a lot. But even more than other favourites I'm always aware that I'm only really taking in a fraction of what is there. This programme was perfect - short to medium length pieces allowing you to concentrate without losing the threads (as I often find with records of the longer pieces). Had me wanting to get back to the records paying more attention to Hewitt's liner notes - she's very through in that respect. Did an encore of the Aria from the Goldberg Variations (reassuring us after two hours that it would be only the Aria!). Somewhat overdressed for the venue - the Studio is a superb place to hear small scale classical/folk/jazz but it does resemble the place I take my car to be serviced in appearance - all exposed girders and brutalist functionality. Instead of a printed score she used a computer tablet. I think she turned the pages via a foot mechanism. Never seen that before. Mass redundancies amongst page turners.

The Higdon off the first. Yet to really connect to either of these records. Very enjoyable collection of varied pieces from the first forty years of the 20thC. Brahms, Ireland, Bridge come to mind....even Stravinsky in the later pieces. Despite writing only a small body of work she seems to have quite a following - I notice two new releases of largely the same music in 2016 alone. Another listen. The Cello concerto is especially beautiful. Would love to hear it live. Just started Bostridge's recent book 'Winter Journey' which examines 'Winterreise' with a chapter to each song, exploring the songs and poems but venturing much more widely. Very impressed so far - he admits to having never studied music so approaches it more as a cultural historian (his degree was in history). Nicely down to earth and unpretentious yet displaying an incredibly wide knowledge of music, history, literature etc. Prior to seeing a performance of 'Winterreise' in Sheffield next month (by someone else).

Marvellous music and Casper David Friedrich covers to boot.

Especially liked 'Star-Child' off the Crumb. An eerie, static, atmospheric theme (not unlike the quiet part of 'Central Park in the Dark') threads through the whole piece, interrupted by vigorous choral and fanfare sections (not unlike Britten of all people!). I was really struck by the third Nancarrow quartet in a live performance earlier in the year. The quiet parts are utterly beautiful. First time hearing the other pieces on the disc. A couple of his player piano pieces were on the radio a few days back. One had me spellbound - one 'hand' playing slow, the other impossibly fast (nor real hands); then gradually the slow one sped up and the fast one slowed down and they crossed over. Seems like a simple thing but it was gripping.