A Lark Ascending

An assertion masquerading as fact. As so often.

Ave Maria

Especially as they've done the Eighth 6 times - that must be more expensive than any Bruckner symphony to put on. Though perhaps a surer box office success - choral pieces seem to be popular and you'll probably get a lot of the choirs family buying tickets. I'd imagine Bruckner stats would be much higher in the German speaking countries.

Ah, I see what you mean. Fascinating. I see I was at Bruckner 9 on: (1977) Prom 11 - Monday 1 August, 7.30pm

Apart from the music, that's a lovely cover. Very 50's.

The different revisions are puzzling (though a godsend to those who like squabbling about versions - you get to quibble about versions of versions). But I don't see how the size of the orchestration is a problem if you take the music on its own terms. I'd say Bruckner does a fine job balancing the passages where all is blazing, with beautifully delicate moments that can often be quite pastoral and serene. There's a lovely passage in the second movement of the Fifth where a flute picks up a theme from the first movement and just plays it achingly. And a recurring passage in the slow movement of the Eighth that sounds like Vaughan Williams! As for length, well I can see that as a problem for people who prefer shorter pieces. But people who like music that unfolds over a long period of time could do worse than persevere with Bruckner. I think the 4th gets played most but that might be because in the LP age it could fit on one LP. The 7th is very popular too and has some wonderful music. 5 + 8 are my favourites but both very long. I also really like the 9th - has that same feel of drifting off into the ether that Mahler 9 has. Bruckner never finished it so it ends on the slow movement (though Rattle has recently recorded a reconstruction of the 4th). 1, 2, 3 and 6 (and the two pre-symphonies) are probably best left until later.

There's an article in the recent BBC Music Magazine about a new opera house in Linz - seems to be lots of Bruckner around there: http://www.brucknerhaus.at/www1/de/programm/prog_kal.php?year=2013&month=9&lng=ger I once took a detour on a driving holiday in Austria to visit his grave! Not sure why. Less disastrous than my diversion a few days later down to Klagenfurt to see where Mahler composed some of his symphonies. I was so late I had to take the first camp site available. Only after the barrier came down behind me did I realise that no-one was wearing any clothes. That image haunts me whenever I hear Mahler 7.

http://www.airguitarworldchampionships.com/

It looks like it's just happened over the last week or so - the classical room was empty apart from step ladders and things. A few months back when HMV got 'saved' there was talk of it reorienting itself towards more specialised music. Haven't seen much evidence of that in the couple of provincial shops I've stepped into. Slim pickings in the jazz, classical etc area - still lots of space for T-shirts, mugs with your favourite album on etc! I suppose it takes time to turn an oil tanker round!

'Ashokan Farewell' - sounds like a trad tune but was written in the 1960s - lovely tune used in the series on The Civil War (US version). It seems to have picked up a lot of recordings since. I always find 'Midnight on the Water' very affecting - it's described as a Texas waltz though you can never be too sure where these things come from - early 15th C Worcestershire or the marketing department of a 1960s Taco merchant. I first heard it in a vocal arrangement (words by Ron Kavana) done by Waterson Carthy. Its one of those tunes that just comes in waves and you never want it to stop.

Spent a couple of days in London last weekend. Popped into two of the last remaining record shops from my traditional path a decade or more back. Rays at Foyles seemed to be holding its own though without the depth it once had. But HMV...oh dear! The big classical room had been cleared out and moved into the jazz room. The jazz was back in the main body of the shop. Could have been HMV Leicester from about 2006. Bought one CD from Foyles (Trio 3 + Jason Moran) where ten years ago I would have gone away on my annual trip with 20! Even then I got home to find it was available on Amazon as a download for less than £6 where I paid £13. Oh how the world has changed.

You won't be surprised that this made me smile. Heard on the radio a while back: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/10252469/Classical-singers-judged-by-actions-not-voice.html Apologies for using the Daily Telegraph - couldn't find another online source though I'm sure they'll follow.

One of those series where no-one is normal. Everyone seems to have disturbing pasts (and presents!). Reminds me of those films set in inaccessible communities in the Appalachians. Or Wales.

Intriguing thriller set in rural New Zealand with Elisabeth Moss from Mad Men in the main role, Very strange.

Dorset dialect! Fripp has a distinct West Country accent...a lovely burrrr! The locals in Oxfordshire have a milder form of it; it's very different to the accents of many of those who attend the university (who are mainly from very different circumstances than the locals). Probably harder to hear the difference in the US; like all US Northern accents sound the same to me. Much as I love KC these megalopoboxes seems way over the top.

Sometime around 1997 I saw an Austrian youth Orchestra play Bruckner 8 in Innsbruck. If there had been a screen in front of the stage I'd have not have guessed they were a youth orchestra - very moving. I imagine many of those players are well settled within the worlds major orchestras by now. My own favourite is No. 5. For some bizarre reason Bruckner was one of the first classical composers I explored - coming from prog-rock I think I just wanted long pieces of music and boy did he fit the bill! He never seems to have caught on like Mahler - maybe because his music seems far more controlled and unified where Mahler's is quite kaleidoscopic and quixotic; or possibly because Mahler fits the Romantic hero struggling with his demons more with music that is full of non-musical references. I can't imagine Ken Russell making much of a shy, devout Catholic with an unfortunate habit of falling for girls much to young for him.

Laura Moody - seems an adventurous soul doing things like playing Stockhausen in helicopters! There's a website here: www.lauramoodymusic.com

Hard not to just gush about last night. Piano, voice/miniature percussion, violin, cello, viola. 2 completely improvised sets. The completely free has always sat at the edge of my listening - music that interests, makes me curious, often puzzles. But this evening I was as engaged as with anything I've ever heard - possibly more so because you just did not know where the music was going next. Music mainly of great delicacy but with passages of thrilling power. I don't know how musicians negotiate music like this - decide when to play, when to hold back - but tonight they did it in a masterful way. The string players were young but sounded like they had playing like this for years. I often read about musicians in music like this 'listening' to each other and that was so clear here. An egoless performance that will remain long in my memory. It also reminded me how important it is to see music like this live - the visual clues as each musician enters (or prepares to enter) adds so much to the pleasure; relying on just your ears is much harder. Great to at last get to the Vortex - completely functional as a building with virtually no compromises to decor! But what a wonderful policy towards promoting the music it does. Sorry - I gushed, but this one was special. Nice to meet Mark (mjazzg) however briefly and have a short conversation. My transport hunch worked out as planned, Mark!

Seemed full last night - I wasn't there on the first.

Be nice to say hello if you get there. Look out for a bewildered country mouse with grey hair, glasses and a blue rucksack.

Excellent night 2 of the Vortex residency. A thrilling free trio 50 minutes - lots of variety from full on to moments of lyricism. A tremendous young bassist called Tom Mccredie who can't have been much more than 20 yet spoke the language with flair. Keith doesn't seem to have recorded in trio format that much. Would love to see a record. Second set was totally different - one of the most arranged pieces I've heard him do. Clear themes and very tight part writing but with lots of solo space with very little free playing. A number of the dances had a distinct Irish feel - he told us he has an Irish side to his family. Even ended with a short arrangement of The Last Rose of Summer. The young band were outstanding - perfect intonation and good soloists. Yet another case of coming across astonishing musicians who I've never heard of before. Keith was as gracious as ever paying them tribute on two occasions. Hopefully Ogun are on the case.

Tippett got a brief mention earlier. Took me a long time to warm to him but once you get his sound world in your head, very rewarding. The 4th is the one I keep coming back to - there's a haunting melodic/harmonic passage at the start that seems to generate the piece - had it stuck in my head for days. The 3rd is a strange piece - direct quotes from Beethoven 9 and a long vocal 'blues' (the upper class British variant!) section at the end. A living composer I'm following with interest is David Matthews - 7 symphonies so far, 6 recorded (I believe the 7th is not far away). Tonal and conventional in many ways but quite astringent; warming up in the more recent symphonies with clear allusions to RVW and, especially, Sibelius (though I believe he's very Beethoven inspired). He's not avant garde in any sense but he's far from a rehasher. Worked alongside his brother David with Deryck Cooke on the reconstruction of Mahler 10 and also with the Britten estate. I've also been enjoying the Weinberg symphonies that both Chandos and Naxos have been releasing.

I bought a Wellesz box a few months back - only listened through once but enjoyed what I heard. Although it's not named a symphony I'd recommend Nicholas Maw's 'Odyssey' - orchestral music on a Mahlerian scale. Also interested (though again only superficially familiar) with the Henze and Hartmann symphonies. Is Martinu little known in the States? Although not likely to pack 'em in like Mahler or Shosty, he's pretty well known in Europe with several cycles of the symphonies available.

I liked Gangs of New York. Prior to that film I had only a dim idea of the Draft Riots or the depth of anti-Irish resentment. The Civil War era film scene that sticks on my mind is the opening of Cold Mountain when the mine is exploded and then the guns turned on the Union soldiers in the crater. I'd assumed it was fictional until reading about Petersburg last week.

I suppose what did surprise me was how similar it was to the traditional Hollywood historical bio-pic - feeling the need to make a grand moral statement. The bit at the start where the two black soldiers recite parts of the Gettysburg address seemed very much of that tradition. I wouldn't be too hard on it - it was mainstream popular entertainment, not a historical thesis and things always get telescoped, famous phrases cherry-picked etc in that sort of film. But I couldn't help feeling a little disappointed. How did it do in the cinemas? Its drama was very debate based rather than action focused. Could imagine a lot of UK audiences getting restless.