A Lark Ascending

I prefer to think of it as a different flavour rather than a phase. The problem in the mid to late-20thC was that it was often presented as 'the future'. Understandable in the historic circumstances. The quote comes from this book: A collection of essays about various aspects of his work and life. I've long enjoyed his orchestral, choral chamber and piano music. What makes him especially distinctive is his relative lack of interest in folk music. Gives his music a different flavour to many English contemporaries. I read a bio about 25 years back. What was not mentioned there was his fascination with choirboys. More than a little disturbing to read justifications of this interest based on the ancient Greeks. No suggestion from what I've read so far that the infatuations ever led to anything physical. Certainly gives a different perspective to 'The Holy Boy'.

Ah! Explanation at last. So this is "The Northern Powerhouse." I've been quite at a loss.

I last drank milk straight around 1959. Developed a repulsion for milk, butter, cream etc around that time. No physical effects - just dislike the taste intensely. I obviously have it in other products so as long as I can't taste it I'm fine. I used to have watered down skimmed milk on cereal but have advance to just tap water in recent years. Oddly, I like melted butter on hot toast - as long as it is totally melted with no solid left. Expecting my bones to crumble any day now.

Don't worry. We all tie ourselves up with our speculations. After all, this is an informal bulletin board, not a place for academic rigour and compulsory peer review!

Correct on Boulez. The interviewee was John Ireland in his early 80s, just before he died. Part of an interesting interview from the very early 1960s - Ireland always comes across a bit fuddy-duddy (I once read a bio where it was said he used to post his laundry to someone to get it washed!). Given his music is from a completely different world from Boulez it was nice to see his openness (despite his admitted bewilderment). The piece was Improvisation sur Mallarme II.

I thought this was very good: Came out around the same time as the Harriott bio. I've always found Simon Spillett's liner notes to be very good - unpretentious and informative. I'm assuming he doesn't inform us on Tubby Hayes' part in the development of late-capitalism in the bio!!!!!!! (a snide aside at another book on British jazz from a few years back, for those who have not read it!)

From an interview with a composer: Who is the composer speaking; and who is the composer whose work is being discussed?

If you buy into the idea that all musicians must 'progress', 'challenge', 'push envelopes' then your analogy might hold true. But isn't there another way (aren't there many ways?)? Taking something that works and then concentrating on refining it or revisiting it from different angles. I've often had the 'oh, not another Standards Trio' feeling but when I've listened to the discs I've always found plenty to absorb me. I understand the appeal of perpetual change but this is really a very Western concept fuelled by the way our capitalist system (I'm not using that term in a derogatory way) works - the need to create rapid obsolescence. Jarrett's approach might well reflect other philosophical systems. Which is not to say that I wouldn't have preferred hearing him in some other contexts.

I did 'Of Human Bondage' back in 1972-3 for 'A' Level - had to read it three times!!!! Answer questions on it! I recall enjoying it even though we were doing that godawful 'literature' thing of 'dissecting' every sentence in the hope that we could find enough reasons to dislike it. Probably appealed to a 17 year old being very much a coming of age novel.

We could always reverse that. Introduce the 50 (or 70) year rule for property. You buy it, enjoy it for 50 (or 70) years and then it returns to the public domain. (Sorry - after last week's catastrophe I'm further into dreamland than ever)

Standard but very enjoyable Scandi-thriller. Occasionally you catch the translation. But I'll read the next in line (for some reason I've already read the third). About to start on:

A bit strange, actually. I looked online and the pub was demolished in 1969 - caused quite a fuss as it was a much loved piece of Victorian Gothic, replaced by a standard post-war Littlewoods. I can only think the name must have moved. The original was on Long Row on the Market Square; the place I used to go for jazz concerts was up one of the connecting streets towards the Theatre Royal. Ah, I'm not going mad:

Back in the 80s I saw HMP in the cellar of a Nottingham pub called The Black Boy. He referred throughout to how happy he was to be playing here in The White Boy. The pub no longer trades under that name. Great concert.

Knowing British audiences titter at the 'jokes'. I think it's a skill taught in finishing school. To be fair, I think the genuine laughs often come from the production. The Glyndebourne production of Purcell's 'The Fairy Queen' is absolutely hilarious - owes more to Benny Hill than High Culture: Go to 2 minutes

It's worth remembering he's 70. I'm ten years younger and will cease challenging myself professionally in a few months. Of course there are lots of people who keep going much longer (Elliott Carter springs to mind as someone who didn't just keep going but kept challenging himself). I'd love to hear Jarrett doing some new things. But equally I'd be happy to see him enjoy a well deserved retirement.

Don't forget: I've always wished he'd varied the last 30 years more - the two quartets of the 70s were thrilling. Be great to hear him again in a quartet or quintet, preferably with some newer musicians rather than one of those all-star juggernauts.

There's an article in the new BBC Music Magazine, including fragments from a tight-lipped interview with Jarrett. He says the Trio has now disbanded (I didn't know that) but he's unsure if just solo on its own can satisfy him so he has no live performance planned. He's pondering what to do next. Also very self-critical about his recordings - says he'd like to burn 'Koln' as there's too much fiddling about!!!!

Thread as requested in Post a Pic thread. Labels you find interesting, evocative, nostalgic, attractive etc. A few from my (over-active) nostalgia banks: Always liked that one much more than what they replaced it with... ...or... *********************** These two evoke my late-70s first steps into jazz: (n.b. I only ever owned one of those as LPs - but had plenty of LPs with those stickers).

Excellent book. An awful lot I never knew in there.

Sketches of VE Day

What about the moral duty of those who own the copyright of music to make it available to those who would like to hear it? You could make an argument that this is material of cultural interest to people as a whole. In this day and age the technology is there to make it available. But music often lies buried whilst the copyright owners wait for the right moment to 'realise their assets'. In other words working off a business model, not morality. I'm not arguing for a free for all. The 50 year rule always struck me as pretty fair. Time for the originator to make financial gain to reward their efforts and ingenuity. Any profit invested from those years could be passed on to descendants like other inheritance. But after 50 years the music going into the public domain seems pretty reasonable. Where companies infringe that 50 year rule they should be open to prosecution. The reason why copyright has been extended has little to do with compensating the makers of music (morality) and more to do with businesses wanting to secure profit from the more lucrative parts of back catalogue - the Beatles, Dead Maestros etc. It's a form of asset stripping - acquire the bulk, use the lucrative parts, let the rest rot if you can't sell it off to someone else. Of course this is currently all academic as technology allows the free distribution of virtually anything for those who know how to access it. We each make our own 'moral' decision on what to do when faced with an opportunity to acquire something that has not been authorised by the originator - a bootleg tape, illegal download, recording made supposedly legally in some dastardly foreign country, CD-r or mp3 of an OOP recording passed on by a friend, personal recording made of a library or otherways borrowed copy, tracks recorded on a PC recorder from a streaming service or radio broadcast etc. If the copyright laws were extended to 600 years or more to protect music, literature etc would it be 'morally' wrong to acquire an illegal copy of the Works of Shakespeare even though High Literature PLC had bought the rights to all the material? I'd say that morally the Works of Shakespeare need to be made available to all (as they are) as an important cultural body of work of interest to all. You then run back into the thorny issue of just how long is it right for material to lie within private ownership, when is is just (or morally right) to allow it into the public domain. The decision on that needs to be made (as it is) legally. Morality (more accurately, considering various interpretations of morality) might inform your judgment, but it is too slippery a concept to make an absolute decision on.

She was working on teleprinters, receiving and sending out signals. So there was every likelihood something would come in letting the cat out of the bag. Those in charge clearly didn't want to risk any blabbing.

My Mum worked at Bletchley Park (the place where they did the Enigma code-breaking amongst other things) as a typist. She could remember being called in by a senior officer on 7th to be told that Churchill would make an announcement of the end of the war the following day. She was then reminded that she was sworn to the Official Secrets Act and could say nothing when she went home. Think how tough that would have been.

What's the point of having a turntable if you can't fuss over balancing the cartridge? Half the fun is worrying yourself to death that you might not have it set right and it might be wrecking the grooves.