We’ll be posting the second part of Netty’s tour diary tomorrow, but in the meantime here are a selection of reviews from our trip across the pond.
Newspapers
New York Times on the period instrument movement
Blogs
The Boston Musical Intelligencer
Viola player Annette (known to many in the OAE as ‘Netty’) Isserlis made a diary of our recent tour to the US. Here’s days 1-3 with the rest following tomrorow. We hope to post some pics up soon too… A few additions from the blog editor in the brackets!
Mon Mar 14
Scene: Carluccio’s, outside Terminal 5, LHR.
Breakfast with husband Ken between red-eye flight in from Schipol (following 2 OAE concerts in Groningen and Nijmingen with Rachel Podger), and impending flight to USA: Ken to LA for solo concerts and Me to Boston with OAE and Sir Roger (Norrington), continuing the CPE Bachfest.
Dreadful news continuing to come through about the Japanese Disaster(s). Ken’s family all ok.
Painless flight to Boston followed by similarly painless Immigration, amazingly! It transpired that he chatty officer knew Yo-yo Ma personally….
Convivial dinner and bed not too early: it’s the only way to sleep through the 1st night, in my experience.
Tues Mar 15
A happy reunion with Sir Rog: a vision in pale pink, including his braces! He explained the apparent gloominess of the Harvard Sanders Theater (modelled on Oxford’s Sheldonian) as being fitting for a Memorial Hall. “Commencement” over here apparently kicks in when you die, according to Sir. There was indeed a lot of dark wood around, but at least the acoustic was helpful!
Kati (Debretzeni, OAE Leader) announced that she would be hosting a post-Birthday drink for us after the concert, which brought forth approving noises.
Delicious lunch at “Legal Seafood Restaurant” with a mutual friend of Ally, Hetty and myself (all OAE players), and then back to Boston, and a post-prandial waddle around the hotel neighbourhood, which bordered Chinatown. The higher-minded members of OAE visited museums and art-galleries.
Concert a lively affair, helped by Bob Levin in the audience, grinning like a Cheshire Cat from the middle of the 2nd row throughout, unobserved (fortunately) by Steve Devine, who performed wonderfully in the harpsichord concerto. Bob bounced backstage in the interval, telling us he’d just recently had a hip replacement, but it was hard to believe! Richard Lester gave his usual highly charismatic account of the cello concerto, and Sir Rog enjoyed spiralling round to the audience triumphantly at the end of each symphony.
The hotel bar was buzzing until late!
Wed Mar 16
Raining. A subdued start to the long bus journey ahead, but people gradually perked up. Coffee-stop in a service-station that seemed solely geared to the needs of truckers, including a viagra-related section of mind-boggling variety.
Eventually the welcome sight of Manhattan hove into view, and in due course we streamed into the impressive foyer of the Empire Hotel, known to us as ” The Vampire” from days of yore. Sadly, the foyer is the most impressive thing about the hotel, as a lot of the rooms are tiny and dark, but at least no cockroaches or bedbugs this time, in spite of dark forecasts from our more pessimistic colleagues!
Lest this all sounds somewhat churlish, the ultra-positive thing about the Vampire is that it is on Broadway, bang next to the Lincoln Center, so extremely central, and very close to Central Park. The sun started shining as soon as we alighted from the bus, and I scuttled up to “Willow”, a boutique on Amsterdam, so beloved of OAE ladies that it ought to have a charter by special appointment to OAE! My mission was to find a coloured shirt for the 2nd concert on the 18th, about which more later.
It was Sir Roger’s Birthday, so we launched into a rendering of an apposite tune, to which he responded by asking for more vibrato! At the end of the rehearsal, following presentation of a card, 2 cakes (for general consumption) and something bottle-shaped, by Stephen Carpenter (OAE Chief Executive), a more doleful speech was forthcoming, on the occasion of Richard Lester’s last concert with us as a named principal. On top of his other commitments, he has a new baby. However, happily clutching his bottle (Richard) he promised he would be available for future guest appearances.
The sold-out concert appeared to be a barn-storming success with the highly vocal audience! A great experience for us all, in spite of the somewhat overbearing backstage staff, who continued bossing us up to the moment we paraded out on stage. Not very conducive to Artistic Expression…
Afterwards, we were invited to a drinks reception, where we encountered, amongst other luminaries, Chris Hogwood and Alina Ibragamova.
Annette Isserlis, OAE Viola
David Gilmour and Roger Waters buried the hatchet and performed together in 2010!
Starting a band is something that I believe EVERY guitarist dreams of achieving. The excitement and energy of 4 or 5 individual musical craftsman, or craftswomen, coming together in a balance of rhythm and harmony are essential in making music an art-form. This creative mixture from coming together also begins the process where each of the individual voices join together and becomes one sonic stream or single unified voice.
On the flip side, sometimes the voices no longer align. When the magic is missing, things start to fall apart. Band break ups can be some of the most traumatic emotional experiences that a musician will go through, often filled with drama and aggravation that can turn lifelong friends into enemies. When you look at some of the greatest bands, like Pink Floyd for example, and then think about the depth of artistry they created together yet for reasons we will never truly know, it just didn’t work out for them at some point.
If the band should break up, it doesn’t have to mean the end of your musical career. Bouncing back into a stable creative mindset, you can really shape your own vision and go for it. But there are a few things to remember when breaking ties with your bros in the band. Here are a few tips to help you have a smooth break up:
Remember to stand up, dust yourself off and get ROCKIN’!
* * * * *
Scott “SVH” Von Heldt is a staff writer for SMG. Scott has worked with members of White Zombie, Cirque Du Soliel and many others. In late 2008 he released the first book of his Mystic Art of Self-Discovery series entitled Mind Over Metal: The Musician’s Guide to Mental Mastery. Email: SVH@sharemyguitar.com
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This topic came up earlier, in Jim's Tap The Knot post. I wanted to respond to it, but was very busy – luckily with a good thing – playing music.
T'any rate, I wanted to put in the good word for the so called "pre-composition". It is an integral part of my process in order to arrive at the final piece of music, so I must give it thumbs up. We have lost a commonality. To approach a new piece of music requires the jostling of many issues, at times conflicting. But I love the entire process of developing the sound of my new compositions and projects. It is there that we can play ideas of sound off ideas of philosophy – or choosing to make sonic relationships with other art objects, or natural subjects. It can intertwine with other performing, visual, or literary arts.
There are many things new in our time compared to "theirs". The full inclusion of all sounds, electronic processing, and highly developed tonal, rhythmic, and formal methods provide powerful new forces and sonic possibilities to the composer. But "pre-composition" is also deemed new. Well, it is true that composers of old had a more restricted palette shall we say. And because of this, we need to spend more time developing a musical syntax for our pieces – something that was already established, to a degree, for the composers of old. But, the system was very flexible, and large scale forms were realized that are hard to believe simply sprung off the pen. Even within the highly structured vocabulary functional tonality and traditional form, that Wagner did not "pre-compose" with the Ring, Bach with the Art of Fugue, Beethoven with the Pathetique Sonata, or Schubert with the Gmin Quartet.
Does the sculptor just sit down and start chipping at rocks? I suppose it is possible…but I would gather that paper sketches are the norm. Does the novelist just start writing? Or perhaps, do they develop characters and plot lines first? Don't you think it best that they develop the character, so the very first words about them come from a deep understanding of who they are, where they have been, and where they are going? Yes, the reader discovers the character, but should the author as well, at least to a degree. Can we not see the relation to this in music composition?
I would never say that pre-composition is a must do list. But under a certain kind of perspective, it is always there. The notes…the sounds come from their history.
Most often for myself, some kind of structural plan has been thought out – notated to a degree, but rarely complete – graphic at times, and others in words. Likely, some kind of pitch structure is established to form a basis – at times rigorous, others very loose. Orchestration is often mapped out, but, all relating to form. Form is key – it is the reason. Reason is key – it is the form.
There is also subjectivity and music. It can challenge parameters. Certain subjects need appropriate sounds and structures, and one bends or discovers new technique to realize it. The subjective impulse bears down on the objective realization, experimentation, trial and error. It takes study – comparative and contrasting.
This is a process I like to embrace, not be scared of. I find the western classical tradition is a powerful beacon through the murky waters. The richness and depth of it holds much to contemplate, and the ability to coordinate musicians by the score is if nothing else, fascinating. There are many exceptional figures in the cannon. The rigor it demands as a performer help increase facility and ear training. And yes, the functional tonal system is indeed, an incredibly potent development of the human conscious. There is much to learn from this system and how it was used, and how it has changed and evolved. I believe it's fundamental logic can reach to many people – it has a kind of universality in its expressiveness. Markets may not bear all this witness, but they show habits, not importance. And I also believe that the classical music traditions over the world provide great structures for musical learning and development – many rich traditions. There is so much to learn – again, not scary, but rather exhilarating.
Pre-composition is all of those stages that lead you to that note on the paper (dot on the screen). In the end, a choice must be made – but how was it made? To be a composer one is a composer. Ok, Jedi geek stuff, but, well, true. Embrace the journey to the composition. Love the work. Learn and explore in life and in music. "pre" Compose till your heart's content. Work out harmonic, melodic, rhythmic, formal structures etc – but always with a reason in mind, guiding the process. Lots of playing, singing, pacing, scribbling, walking, typing, doing. Work on ideas – develop or scrap them. Keep it flowing. The more you do, the better you get – it is essentially inevitable.
I have heard, in various incarnations, statements like "I think the problem with modern classical composers is they think too much".
Ummm…sorry…gotta go. Back to work.
Scott
Patrick Gazard has got in touch with us about an article he is writing for UK-based Classical Music magazine with regard to age limits on composition competitions and would love to hear people's thoughts about this topic, both composers and organisations who run competitions. Many competitions have an age-limit of 35 or 40. With composers like Elliot Carter still writing for 60+ years beyond that, is it really fair to limit competitions in this way?
Are you an organisation that runs a competition like this – if so what is the logic behind limiting the entries to a particular age? Are you a composer with experiences to tell, please give us your views. Please only post if you are happy for Patrick to quote you in the article. I will kick off with my own experiences in the comments section.
(comments for possible inclusion in Patrick's article need to be in by 21st June)
Earlier this month I spoke with British composer Ken Hesketh who has just finished a stint as Composer in the House with Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchesra.
Tell us something about your background.
I was born in Liverpool to a non-musical, but incredibly supportive, family. I joined Liverpool's Anglican Cathedral choir at eight. After my voice broke, I joined the Merseyside youth orchestra and then the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain. I was fortunate to have all my early orchestral music performed by these orchestras (a fond memory was working with the late Vernon Handley around this time, a thoroughly enjoyable if daunting experience). I continued my musical studies at St. Mary's music school in Edinburgh and a little later at the Royal College of music. After my first post-grad I attended the Tanglewood summer course in 1995 where Henri Dutilleux was in residence. The summer of '95 was certainly one of the most special years of my life for reasons both musical and personal. I stayed in the USA to pursue a Masters degree in Composition at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor and during this time I was awarded the Shakespeare Prize scholarship from the Toepfer Foundation in Hamburg which, on the completion of the degree, allowed me a stay of almost 2 years in Berlin. I returned to London in 1999 where I took up the Constant and Kit Lambert Fellowship at the RCM. After two years I began to teach at the RCM.
The first time I went to Italy I was staying out in the Tuscany countryside, and being interested in bird watching, was surprised by how quiet the Italian countryside is. In Britain we’re used to a constant background sound of birds, in town gardens as well as in the woods or by the sea. In Tuscany it was common to hear the sound of guns in the distance and the fruits of their labours turned up on the restaurant menus, though I never saw larks’ tongues or blackbird pie! But every year thousands of small brown birds are shot in Italy and Greece, many of them en route for northern Europe. To me, it seems barbaric and ignorant, and here, the shooting of eagles or birds of prey will find its way into the newspapers, as well as the theft of eggs. The RSPB has over a million members, and it seems obvious now to protect bird life and cherish it. Yes, there are still plenty of people who like to shoot birds here, but we have civilised laws that stop them from wiping out whole species as has happened before.
I was watching the TV the other night and hating that stupid Dove moisturiser ad ‘I’m a man!’ using the William Tell overture as music. Really, there is no way anyone can listen to the William Tell overture now and access what it was originally intended to say. I am old enough to still think of the Lone Ranger when I hear it, but it has officially become a joke piece. If you hear the whole overture you can still dimly perceive some unique meaning, but unless you care you’re unlikely to know that Rossini did a cutting edge thing – made a political statement even -by introducing Italian folk music into classical opera. There are quite a few pieces of classical music now that have more or less lost their depth of meaning – whole chunks of Carmen and Tchaikovsky, the Hallelujah chorus and Zadok the Priest, and most sadly, the tenor voice, which is drip drip drip being turned into a joke voice by the media and pop music. Viz the Go Compare ad. On telly at the moment you have The Queen of the Night aria advertising Haribo sweets, the humming chorus from Madame Butterfly for Asda (why??) and the Barber Adagio over or under a burnt Warburton’s loaf. More and more classical music is being seen as a virtually free resource in a costly industry. Want to have a poignant moment in a historical drama? Stick in Nimrod. Want a noble patriotic tune? Why not have the big tune from Holst’s Jupiter. Stick in a bit of classical music just to give something the aura of sophistication. Or, frighteningly, to make a joke of culture. The trouble is, this music may come free in financial terms, but the cost is enormous. A piece of classical music is not owned by anyone (however much they may try), but is a work of art for the individual to experience in their own way. By attaching it to an image, especially the trashy images of advertising, you devalue, even debase the vocabulary of the music, and make it virtually impossible for anyone to have an individual experience of it without the image of a loaf of bread or a chocolate bar popping up. The piece of music with all its unique meaning, is lost to that person, even to a generation. Like the bird world, there are always plenty of people happy to savage and despoil without thought, either from idiotic and meaningless self indulgence, or from simple greed. Like the birds, once you protect them, it seems an obvious thing to do, and impossible to live without.
I think it is time to list classical music in the same way that buildings are listed. I really believe that it should not be possible to use classical music for commercial purposes. I would make it (if I ruled the world) illegal to use listed music for ads, for films, for any kind of background or commercial music. I think it needs time to recover, and I think people need to see its value and that the classical music world values it. Of course, you can knock a building down and it is gone, and I remember the shock of seeing that happen in a way that it could not now happen. A piece of music cannot be knocked down in that way, but its possibilities, deep and unfathomable, can be taken away from you for your lifetime, for no more reason than that somebody wants to make more money from their product. As a child, I used to laugh with the rest of my family at the Hamlet cigar ads, which used, famously, the Air on a G string, by Bach. Even the title of the piece made us laugh. Now it makes me almost want to cry that I cannot listen to this music, this spiritual music, without thinking of those ads. Nobody can give me back the clear head space I need to hear this music in a fresh way. In some terrible way, the music has been murdered.
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Ok, we all need to wake up and take note of what may be coming our way. No one, surely, can have failed to notice that the UK University sector is about to take the biggest hit imaginable from the forthcoming cuts instigated by the current coalition government. According to Universities UK head, Professor Steve Smith, the Browne Review sets out figures that "confirm our worst fears” signaling a £3.2bn or 79% cut from teaching and £1bn from research in the immanent Spending Review, and according to Professor Smith, there “remains is a terrible danger of the valley of death becoming a reality for all institutions.”
What is less obvious is that arts and humanities are to endure the worst of this slaughter. If I am correct, it is evident that STEM subjects (Science, Technology, Engineering and mathematics) can tangibly demonstrate at least an 8-fold return on investment and so the terminally unimaginative amongst the ranks of our elders and betters will seize upon this as confirmation of their need to stem the tide of messy and pointless pursuits such as humanities and arts. The fallout from this could see an implosion of arts and humanities studies and research in HE, mass redundancies of academic staff, closures of arts departments and even of some whole universities.
The impact on us as composers could be catastrophic as we take hits from both sides: massive cuts in arts funding in general which will dry up commissions and projects, and then our possibilities for earning from teaching taken away by the Government's wholesale butchery of the university sector.
If anyone has any insights on how to offer a solid and convincing case for supporting and funding arts and humanities to the same extent as science, technology, engineering, mathematics and medicine, please do add your comments. It may be obvious to us that the destruction of these irreplaceable, precious resources is going to have horrendous consequences for the UK in decades to come, but it needs to be pointed out to those making the decisions now.
Below is a useful range of links on this:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-11550619
http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=413873&c=1
http://www.insidehighered.com/views/2010/10/14/edelstein
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/16/world/europe/16britain.html?_r=1&th&emc=th
http://www.socialtextjournal.org/periscope/2010/08/academic-free-fall.php
Odaline de la Martinez has been a force in the London contemporary music scene for many years, as composer, conductor and founder of the ensemble Lontano and the recording label Lorelt.
Busily preparing for the September 30th start of Lontano's Third Festival of American Music, a series of five concerts focusing on contemporary composers, Odaline stopped to talk a bit about her musical background, experience and inspiration.
Tell us something about your background.
I was born in Cuba. My sister and I were sent to the States when we were eleven and were brought up by my aunt and uncle in Tucson, Arizona. Then my mother and brother arrived and I left for New Orleans. I studied at Tulane University and upon graduation received several awards and scholarships that brought me to the UK. I studied at the Royal Academy of Music where I founded Lontano and at University of Surrey where I did a composition MMus with Reginald Smith Brindle.
My early childhood is full of memories of Afro-Cuban drumming and dancing. They have always remained.
How did you start composing and conducting?
I've been composing since I was a young girl. I had pieces performed in high school in Tucson. I wanted to be a conductor since I can remember, but was told (not by my family) that women didn't conduct. It wasn't until I had been with Lontano for 5 or 6 years that I started conducting. Then I studied privately with Jan Harrington, who was conducting professor at Indiana University.
How did you come to settle in the UK?
I was brought here by a Marshall Scholarship from the British Government. Even before I left the Academy Lontano was already recording for the BBC, something quite unusual at the time. So as it happens I stayed.
Tell us something about Lontano and Lorelt.
You read already a little a about how Lontano started while we were students at the RAM, etc. At the time (1976) a lot of good composers like George Crumb, Rochberg and others were completely unknown over here. I also felt that there were many other British composers that were ignored as well. So we decided to concentrate on composers that I felt were original and good. We also began to incorporate the work of many women composers and Latin Americans as well. After all I thought, "I'm a woman, Latin American and a composer. I should be paying lots of attention to them."
Lorelt (Lontano Records Ltd) began in 1992 for similar reasons as Lontano. I saw really good pieces being recorded and deleted. This happened much too often. By then CDs had begun and it was no longer necessary to print thousands of LPs. You could start out with 1000 CDs and then reprint.
But the point of Lorelt was never to delete a CD and to concentrate on the three categories: contemporary and living composers, women composers and Latin American classical repertoire.
In 2006 when Lontano were 30 years old, we began to offer Digital Downloads on the Lorelt web site. We were also taken on worldwide by an excellent Digital Download Distributor. So we march on.
Which trends and ideas interest you as a composer, and as a conductor?
As a conductor I am open to all trends. I just like good pieces regardless of style. As a composer, I follow my own thing. I came to Europe and the UK looking for the Avant garde and discovered I was not an avant garde composer. Somehow a lot of my works have been written in search for Cuba. The memories of Afro-Cuban music and dancing are always there. And so they find their way into my music.
What is your musical philosophy, or your musical mission?
I don't have a philosophy as such. My mission: to try and do my bit to change the world by promoting music and composers that are in my opinion good and great but that have been neglected for whatever reasons.
Composing happens on its own – it's not attached to any philosophy or mission.
Tell us about the Festival of American Music: What are some of the Festival's themes and composer connections?
Some of the themes are Latin American composers living in the States, Connections with Pierrot Lunaire – a piece that has influenced many generations of composers, and American Voices – slightly opening the door to a myriad of choral music from the States. The festival begins with an "Open Recording" on 30th September with Lontano and the BBC Singers at St. Giles Cripplegate.
You can read more about the Festival and see the schedule and featured composers here:
http://www.lontano.co.uk/london_festival_of_american_music
What does the future hold for you?
I have no idea. I want to finish my opera trilogy and keep recording lots of CDs – I think recording is truly the future and I try to change the world in my own little way.
Links to Odaline de la Martinez and Lontano
Lontano Website: www.lontano.co.uk
Lontano on Twitter: http://twitter.com/LontanoUK
Lontano on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lontano-Ensemble-London-UK/133166410061576
Earlier this month I spoke with Marco Blaauw, trumpet-player with Cologne-based new music ensemble musikFabrik
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| Marco Blaauw |
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| musikFabrik |
Tell us something about your background.
My name is Marco Blaauw, I am a Dutch trumpeter. I started my professional career in 1991, originally as an all-around trumpeter, playing musical gigs, orchestra gigs, a lot of baroque music on the natural trumpet. In the fall of 1991, I met Peter Eötvös in a project with the Asko Ensemble. From that moment on, playing his music, playing Stockhausen's music, conducted by him, I knew that I wanted to specialize on contemporary music. From that moment on, I stopped all the other activities and concentrated just on contemporary music studying with Pierre Thibaud in Paris and with Markus Stockhausen in Cologne. I worked on a lot of solo repertoire, and I started working with composers of our time and that way generated a lot of solo pieces, chamber music pieces.
In 1993, I was firstly invited by musikFabrik to play with them. I played music by Birtwistle and there was a very good feeling with the group. I have been a member of the group since 1994. In 1998 we had a revolution in the musikFabrik. We as musicians had the opportunity to take the artistic leadership of the ensemble, which we started doing with a lot of passion. This democratic way of running the ensemble was a very slow learning process, but inspired most of us so much, that we started identifying with the ensemble more and more.