A Lark Ascending

I don't have an ounce of religion (or any other form of spirituality) in me and groan at the weight of commercial tack that gets directed our way from November onwards. And yet... I do like lots about this time of year. It's no accident that lots of cultures have festivals of light around this time of winter darkness. Though I don't go in for house decorations I do like to see the streets lit up; and in amidst the irritating Xmas-music-by-numbers stuff (yes Noddy, Sir Cliff and George, I mean you) there's some very beautiful stuff. As with life in general, it's pretty easy to sidestep the more tawdry commercial side of Xmas - avoid the malls (as we seem to have to call them now!) and city centres, turn off the TV and commercial radio. A certain amount seeps into a school but the kids are pretty good in their own way at subverting it. I just wish they'd move it to January 25th. Having to get through dreary January before the first signs of approaching spring is always a trial. Countries like your own have sense to have a carnival season in late-winter to look forward to. All we have is pancake day! Xmas Day on Jan 25th would leave just a couple of weeks before things started looking up.

Never known anything like the UK this November/December. It hasn't let up one bit. It was good to get away to Toulouse for a week with clear skies, warmer conditions, no rain and an extra hour or so of light. Getting back here was like returning to Mordor ! And yet after last night's storm it's a beautiful morning out there at the moment. And my pond is at least full and the newts are OK.. Strangely enough in just two hours the sky has totally cleared - almost cloudless blue! Don't trust it, though!

This was alluded to in another thread - the relative neglect of interest in contemporary 'classical' by contrast with the established repetoire. So...not what is important or significant or innovative or whatever...but what CDs/LPs/downloads/cylinder recordings of music written since 1960 (an arbitrary date so feel free to waver a bit) give you the same emotional punch as a Beethoven or Stravinsky or Sibelius favourite. Be nice if you could articulate why it moves you (I know that is very hard but it might provide a window...) Though I have recordings from this era I still feel largely at sea here. Looking for some pointers from people more in the know.

"Raining, raining, raining, always bloody well raining..." November was the wettest on record in the UK (with horrendous floods in Cumbria) - not bad for a country renowned for rain. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8389471.stm Today both ponds are as full as possible and the ground looks waterlogged. I've never suffered from flooding here but two years back the centre of the town was under water just a mile away. No danger that I know of at present, but there are an unusually large number of puddles in the gravel! The frogs must be loving it. Might start that ark.

It strikes me as a perfectly judged Xmas disc - evokes the season without being corny or sentimental. Just enough quirkiness to set it apart, without coming across as satire. And far from the sort of autopilot Xmas disc where you feel everyone is going through the motions. Lovely.

Where are those shots taken, Serioza? Spectacular!

Whenever I start feeling guilty I make sure I ask my (mainly female) work colleagues how many pairs of shoes they have. Or how much they spend when they go to the hairdressers. Cures me of any guilt.

Well yeah, but I've heard Boulez speak quite a few times and he is lucid and charming - really quite good with an audience. Yes, he seems to have mellowed since his days of wanting to burn down opera houses! I saw him conduct Mahler 3 back in 1974, my first classical concert at the RFH. I get the impression that the composer at the heart of series II and III of the German TV series "Heimat" might be partly modelled on Boulez. In series II he's the uncompromising avant-garde firebrand; by series III he's touring the world as an international celebrity playing the 'classics'.

Andre Previn was very good at this in the UK in the 70s - he did some BBC programmes that presented classical music as something anyone could enjoy. His easy-going approach (and classic Morcambe and Wise appearance) endeared him to many. Can't imagine Karajan or Boulez doing this: http://video.google.co.uk/videosearch?sour...119032886599958. Another vote for the Messiaen here! There was a marvellous set of programmes in the 80s by Bernstein about Mahler where he really stressed the Jewish elements of the music. I have a feeling he might have been over-egging it but I found it compelling. One I'd like to see was Simon Rattle's 'Leaving Home' series about 20thC music - missed it at the time. There's a British conductor/composer called Howard Goodall who does some very easy to follow programmes in a deliberately populist manner - almost MTVish in places. The ones I watched on the technical side of music - how chords work etc - were very engaging. And these radio programmes, available on 2 6CD sets, are very good at telling the tale in bite-sized chunks with musical examples: Original webpage here with details of each programme: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/makingofmusic/...c.shtml#episode

Yeah some truth in that! I suppose the main thing I dislike is the way that recent and contemporary music is downplayed in favour of endless core repertoire and as you say 'essential' versions (which are frequently just old favourites and don't seem to embody music as a living practice). I could go on... There's a potential thread in that - 'classical' music of the last 25 years* that might excite you. * Random number!

It was the Jochum versions of 5, 9 and the Te Deum that first hooked me on Bruckner. I spent my student holidays on a British military base in Germany. At the time the exchange rate was such that records in German shops were almost 50% more than in Britain. The only place I could spend the money I earned in my holiday job was in the NAAFI (military store) and they had a rather bizarre range of LPs - lots of top twenty, quite a bit of classical on DG but little of the rock that was my staple at the time. So I started picking up the DGs (which were much cheaper than in the UK) - Stravinsky, Sibelius, the Kubelik Mahler cycle and those Bruckners. I recall being told off by a more knowledgable classical friend for having all these DGs - 'it's not the only label, you know!' I sometimes think my interest in classical music began as a result of the chance of being stranded in Germany for two months at a time with more money than I usually had but none of the default outlets for it!

The desire to explore (and own) music has never left me since 1970. As others have said, they key is staying within your income/financial responsibilities. I was guilty of buying more than I could reasonably afford at one stage and a small overdraft built up which was just silly servicing. But in the last ten years, though I don't think I buy any less, I'm well inside the safety margins. Partly a result of having a moderately well paid job, partly the amazing collapse in the price of music in the last five years. Don't think of it as a compulsive disorder; just healthy curiosity. The buzz you get when something unknown explodes around you and opens up a whole new world of music is always worth it. Anyway, if you didn't spend on music you'd be buying wallpaper or motorbikes!

I'm fine with lists if they are open about their subjectivity. It's when they use terms like 'Essential' or '100 recordings you must hear before you die' that I get irritated. Smacks of the homogenisation of culture (small c), packaged up as a ready meal. There are other ways of presenting classical music in an accessible manner without having to suggest that there is a single package you can purchase that will allow you to tick the list before you move on to ceramics or ballet. 'Essential' is probably the most misused word today, other than 'awesome'!

Nothing - a favourite of mine. It's just that looking back I find it odd that I should have got curious about a relatively 'heavy' composer from the relatively slight coverage provided by a catch-all almanac like Pears. You found it where you could in those pre-internet days.

Is this any help? http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/c...Recordings.html Be sure to read 'The Classical Rules' at the bottom - a nice send up of the needless pomposity that often surrounds classical music collecting. When I first got interested in the mid-70s I recall reading the section in Pears Encyclopedia to get some sense of overview!!!!! Amazingly it convinced me to try Bruckner! You'd be as well to get a general history of music or the period that interests you most and work it out from there. It's very old now but way back then I found this very helpful with short bios: My version ends in the mid-20thC but I think it has been updated. Treat any 'best of list' with caution. They can be useful guides but the real fun comes from finding your own path rather than ticking the boxes on a list someone else asserts are essential. As with jazz, the best way is to tune in to a radio programme. BBC Radio 3 has a nice drive time programme where you get ambushed by a wide range of music - unlike Classic FM, it ranges far and wide and doesn't just stick to lollipops. I'm sure you'll have something similar where you live. The Saturday morning 'Building a Library' feature on Radio 3 can be good too - each week compares versions of a particular piece and suggests a 'best' version. Can be a bit hair-splitting and donnish but always interesting. And I'd stongly recommend a 5.00 pm Sunday programme called 'Discovering Music' - 90 minutes exploring a piece in a very approachable, non-academic way, usually with a complete performance of the piece. I recall having German classical radio on in the mid-70s (I spent some time there) and bumping into things. It was always a bit of a panic as the piece ended trying to work out what it was from the German (which I could not speak). But I heard some amazing things - Schoenberg's 'Pelleas and Melisande' especially sticks in my brain (early, pre-atonal Schoenberg). I've always found recording magazines like Gramophone and the BBC Music Magazine very helpful (every nation seems to have their own version). They may get sniffed at by arty-farty types but for the ordinary listener they're light and easy to understand. The BBC magazine carries a cover disc with complete works each month - you can get completely surprised by music you'd not otherwise think about. Nice features like the one where they take one classical piece you might know and suggest others from different composers that also might appeal.

There's something very interesting in that. Music tends to get assessed according to its absolute value. 'X' or 'Y' are the greatest recordings of this performer or that label. What that misses is how differently we hear things, depending on our context. I had my major immersion in ECM in the 70s/early 80s and tend to have my favourites there - I like lots of the more recent records but they've not had the same impact, partly because they've moved on and don't inhabit the same atmosphere of the earlier ones. I suspect it's as much to do with the fact that I was listening on a limited budget then and so every record got played again and again; more recent records are quickly superseded on the turntable by newer acquisitions coming thicker and faster. Someone engaging with more recent releases as a first point of entry will hear things there that I don't. I notice this especially with Carla Bley - real, genuine enthusiasm for her recent music from people relatively new to her; yet I'm normally disappointed by the recent stuff. If you've never heard the earlier stuff then the late music will sound completely distinctive; maybe the older material will sound a bit ramshackle. But coming from the other direction you get a quite different perspective. Must be really annoying for performers to have their music criticised as 'not as good as' the early stuff when it probably is as good as the early stuff; all that's happened is they've continued to express their character in the music and long-standing listeners only notice the similarity rather than the differences within the style. In Carla's defence, I'm just listening to the Christmas disc and think it's lovely. More of a Phillip Jones Brass Ensemble Xmas than a Lotte Lenya Xmas, but delightful.

I'd not thought of the Watt releases. 'Escalator Over the Hill', 'Tropic Appetites', 'Social Studies' and 'European Tour '77' would all join my list from there.

That was fun wasn't it? I recall going from A Silent Way, 'Round Midnight, Blackhawk 2 to Big Fun in the early going. I took me awhile to buy OJC's as I thought "Original Jazz Classics" sounded too much like K-TEL or those other "only on TV" music labels. I started with Bitches Brew...which I found very dull so I instantly gave up on electric Miles. Pinballed around 'Kind of Blue' and the Columbias of that time and the Prestige twofers of the 50s material. One of the additional problems in the UK was that most of the 60s material was not available domestically in the late 70s/early 80s. I had import versions of 'My Funny Valentine' and 'Miles Smiles' and bought the Blackhawk double LP on a trip to Brussels! It wasn't until the early 90s that I got round to Filles and In a Silent Way - at which point I started pinballing round the 60s Quintet and electric Miles. Came to adore Bitches Brew at that time.

On the 'Who to look out for in 2010' page in this month's Jazzwise, four different reviewers mention Alexander Hawkins - John Fordham, BBC Jazz on 3, Duncan Heining, Oliver Weindling. In each case they don't mention anyone else. (26 critics asked in all). Well done, Alex!

They've always had an obsession with Oasis too! Yes, the constant Beatles issues are tiresome...but you have to sell copy. And look how much excitement the recent remasters caused in even distant outposts like this site! To be honest, I buy it to find out what's being reissued and for the walks down memory lane. The introduction before the album survey emphasises how Eicher deliberately set out to provide something different to the main jazz tradition - one more in keeping with his liking for chamber music. If you grew into music beyond rock with ECM then it all sounds quite natural. If I'm honest, ECM was my jazz mainstream in the mid to late 70s. I don't think I owned a Blue Note record until the early 80s and was very slow to start to explore there because, from my listening perspective at the time, they 'all sounded the same'. ECM had a much more powerful punch to a listener besotted with Sibelius at the time! Did a quick check to discover I had 288 ECMs!!!!! At a glance I'd say these are the ones that I return to again and again: Abercrombie John November Azimuth Azimuth Bley Paul Open, to Love Bley Paul/Parker/Phillips Sankt Gerold Burton Gary Passengers Burton Gary Ring Giuffre Jimmy Fusion/Thesis (not real an ECM but on ECM) Haden Charlie The Ballad of the Fallen Jarrett Keith Facing You Jarrett Keith Solo Concerts Jarrett Keith Survivors Suite Jarrett Keith My Song Metheny Pat 80/81 Metheny Pat Watercolours Old and New Dreams Old and New Dreams Orchestra National de Jazz Charmediterranean Stanko Tomasz Litania Surman John Stranger than Fiction Towner Ralph Solstice Vituous Miroslav Journey's End Weber Eberhard Yellow Fields Weber Eberhard Little Movements Weber Eberhard Silent Feet Wheeler Kenny Music for Large and Small Ensembles Wheeler Kenny Double, Double You Wheeler Kenny The Widow in the Window Winstone/Taylor Somewhere called Home

I'm sure I would have liked that too at the time. And I certainly don't begrudge the set to those who are getting this music for the first time now. But I'm actually glad I was able to pick up the various records the way I did (in isolated purchases from 1976 through to 2009, in a completely bizarre order!). There's always a certain thrill at going out (or online!) to purchase a specific album. With this you get that thrill once! Irrelevant to the music, of course. But there are all sorts of extraneous factors that affect our enjoyment of music. [i've just downloaded a few Sun Ra albums to supplement the dozen or so I already have. Would I bite on a 'Complete Evidence' Sun Ra with glossy box and packaging? I don't think I would. I prefer the slower route. I'm much the same with these gargantuan classical boxes - the complete Bach cantatas for example. Pick them off slowly is my preference. I'm guilty of buying more recordings than I can realistically process (like most of us here, I suspect) - but the megalopabox just seems a step too far for me].

Box sets that put together a bunch of albums can be great if you are late to the party. They'll never replace the thrill of exploring the individual albums one by one as they were released (not an option anymore!!!) or even piecing them together as individual records in retrospect. Sometimes (as with Mosaics) it's the only way to acquire the music. It's the sheer scale of this behemoth that puzzles me. A very inexpensive way for someone new to Miles to get a great chunk of his most significant music in one go. But I'm not convinced it's the best way to do it. I liked the way Columbia put out those themed boxes - Silent Way, Bitches Brew etc. Would have suited me to have kept them in circulation and maybe tidied up the missing recordings in a few similar smaller boxes. Just when I got curious about the complete 'On the Corner' it vanished! This strikes me as something of an exercise in packaging; from the comments above, not a very successful one. Personally, I'd be happier to just see it all available to download (the 'complete' boxes + the other material, that is).

Yes, utterly meaningless but interesting to see how things fall out in one poll. Mojo is a UK rock mag that has a broader reach than most into jazz, blues, folk etc - aimed at greyhairs like me, though even I find most of the bands/performers it covers a mystery these days. 1. Keith Jarrett - The Koln Concert 2. Arvo Part - Alina 3. Jan Garbarek Bobo Stenson - Witchi-Tai-To 4. Kenny Wheeler - Music for Large and Small Ensembles 5. Dave Holland - Conference of the Birds 6. Valetin Silvestrom - Silent Songs 7. Anouar Brahem - Le Pas Du Chat Noir 8. Christian Wallumrod - A Year from Easter 9. Barre Phillips - Mountainscapes 10. David Torn - Prezens I suspect only the Kenny Wheeler would make it into my list of favourites/most played. Don't know the Part, Silvestrom or Torn; and am left totally cold by Wallumrod. Which probably goes to show just how broad the label is, how varied the range of listeners who latch on to it in some way or another. Right, how many posts before some one feels the need to remind the world of their disdain for ECM (an affliction now medically recognised as Internet-Reflex-Marsalis-Syndrome)?

36/38 - wasted time trying different spellings of John McLaughlin. Didn't know Michael Brecker.

typing on an unfamiliar, ancient computer. typos galore.