Benjamin Bagby

[Catherine Bott]

Good afternoon all,

I don't want to tread on the toes (fins?) of doversoul's excellent advance notices of programmes, and shan't make a habit of advertising programmes, but as I've posted my obligatory "looking forward to/very excited about/do try to catch" Tweet about tomorrow's Early Music Show, I'm afraid I can't resist sharing it with the R3 Forum. Leaving out the compulsory idents, my Tweet said "Ben Bagby in conversation, eloquent and intelligent, reminds me of why I went into radio".

Or I could have said "what I went into radio for" which might have been more Twitter-esque, but somewhere in the back of my mind is an English teacher talking about not ending sentences with preposition, yes, I'm that ancient. Still, you know what I mean. I only wish there'd been room for more of our conversation: but the music is fascinating too. Producer Rebecca Bean has edited the programme with taste and care.

The most heartwarming thing was the reaction of our Studio Manager: "I hadn't a clue what you were on about, but you both did, and it drew me in. Like Melvyn Bragg and In Our Time..."

Not sure why I'm going on like this, but this week of all weeks, I'm reminded that back in 2003 the Early Music Show began just before the Hutton Report was published, leading to the resignation of Greg Dyke as DG, and now here we are all over again - people are being led to think that the BBC is all about a)television and b)news. Well, to be fair, even radio arts broadcasting is getting a bit of a mention (re that thread "Classic FM attacks R3!", I couldn't possibly comment....)

Changing the subject, my first classical music podcast for the Barbican Centre is now available via www.barbican.org.uk - an interview with William Christie about Handel's Belshazzar. All my own work apart from the technical processing, which I put in the expert hands of Ben Eshmade. I interviewed William in his Parisian office, with some rather lively background noise, including an exceptionally well-timed burst of Gallic laughter which is worth listening out for.

Have a good weekend.

[Catherine Bott]

2nd para - or even "prepositions", sorry.

[Paul Sherratt]

The BBC does tv, too ?

[Richard Tarleton]

Great stuff Catherine, thank you.

Talking of the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, I greatly enjoyed your prog with Hopkinson Smith a while back, and Lucie's on the Schola itself. I first came across them/it around 1969 in a St J P in Oxford, cond. Wenzinger.

Long may the EMS continue untroubled by the events swirling around it!

[cloughie]

Great stuff Catherine, thank you.

Talking of the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, I greatly enjoyed your prog with Hopkinson Smith a while back, and Lucie's on the Schola itself. I first came across them/it around 1969 in a St J P in Oxford, cond. Wenzinger.

Long may the EMS continue untroubled by the events swirling around it!

Good to have direct contributions from presenters - I saw the heading and not having heard of Benjamin Bagby immediately thought of changing the words and gender of a well-known Beatles song!

[doversoul1]

Dear Catherine
You are more than welcome to tread on my fins or tail of whatever. I assure you that they are not in the least slippery (being rather on the ancient side).

I am very much looking forward to tomorrow’s programme. It’s good to get back to the calm world of the EMS after somewhat unexpected excitement over the heldencountertenor.

Do please go on about radio broadcast. It is very much on my mind lately and I’m sure on a lot of others’ too.

And I am looking forward to listening to your interview with William Christie. Can’t you have him on Early Music Show one day?

As Richard says
Long may the EMS continue untroubled by the events swirling around it!

[amateur51]

Changing the subject, my first classical music podcast for the Barbican Centre is now available via www.barbican.org.uk - an interview with William Christie about Handel's Belshazzar. All my own work apart from the technical processing, which I put in the expert hands of Ben Eshmade. I interviewed William in his Parisian office, with some rather lively background noise, including an exceptionally well-timed burst of Gallic laughter which is worth listening out for.

Have a good weekend.

Exemplifying the hand-in-glove nature of the relationship that this forum has with Ms Bott , here's a direct link to the Christie/Bott interview.

http://www.barbican.org.uk/music/event-detail.asp?id=13039&pg=4167

[ardcarp]

The official EMS website merely says:

Catherine Bott talks to vocalist, harpist and founder of Sequentia Benjamin Bagby.

[doversoul1]

The official EMS website merely says:

A bit more here.

Catherine Bott talks to the vocalist, harpist and scholar, Benjamin Bagby, about his career that has spanned more than 30 years. He founded the ensemble Sequentia with the late Barbara Thornton in 1977, a versatile group specialising in the performance and recording of Western European music from the period before 1300. They discuss his many projects with the ensemble and play music from his recordings including Hildegard of Bingen, Philippe le Chancelier and the 'Lost Songs' project - a collection of anonymous Latin and German songs copied into a manuscript a thousand years ago

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01nwbtw

For that matter
Sunday
Lucie Skeaping explores the tender art of the lullaby, from ancient melody to Elizabethan song, and discovers how this most intimate of forms offers inspiration to the world of early music.
[…]
As well as featuring traditional music, and anonymous composers from around the world, the programme features pieces by English composers Anthony Holborne, William Byrd and John Bennet [R]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00n6ykm

Ah… Pity, this hadn’t been released.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXexUyozOqg

Thank you amateur51
This will get me there safely.

Exemplifying the hand-in-glove nature of the relationship that this forum has with Ms Bott , here's a direct link to the Christie/Bott interview.

http://www.barbican.org.uk/music/eve...=13039&pg=4167

[doversoul1]

The programme was absolutely fascinating. I find that there is something deeply philosophical about listening to performances of early, very early, music. Unlike restoring a painting or reconstructing a Roman water jug, there is no physical link between the original and what we have now. Yet we are hearing it literally breathing. Fascinating. And Benjamin Bagby’s talk was very interesting indeed. A superb programme.

FYI: Here are some of Sequentia’s redordings

http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/advsearch.php?composer=&work=&performer=Sequentia&medium=all&label=&cat=

[Richard Tarleton]

Perfectly put, dover, thank you. Revelatory for me. And I do enjoy listening to Catherine talking to friends and colleagues. I will give one of these recordings a punt.

[Gordon]

Marvellous programme, rivetting to hear enthusiatic musicians talking is so inspiring. This is real R3, not that vapid nonsense about tweeting.....Hans Keller, all is not lost.

BTW: whatever happpened to Christopher Page? Gothic Voices and all that?

[decantor]

The programme was absolutely fascinating. I find that there is something deeply philosophical about listening to performances of early, very early, music. Unlike restoring a painting or reconstructing a Roman water jug, there is no physical link between the original and what we have now. Yet we are hearing it literally breathing. Fascinating. And Benjamin Bagby’s talk was very interesting indeed. A superb programme.

Amen to all that. I always feel slightly - very slightly - cheated when the EMS focuses on the court of the Sun King or Handel's castrati. But today we had the real thing - EARLY music. For all its simplicity in terms of musical resources, it attains great beauty and freshness, as if there were more oxygen in the air in those far-off days. And it is indeed fascinating to hear directly the problems and insights of one who has done so much spade-work in the field. My thanks for an excellent broadcast.

[ardcarp]

We were listening to music as early as one is likely to hear. I found the extracts played almost hypnotic; and I enjoyed them and the programme very much. It is always in the back of my mind, however, that anything we hear beyond the monodic line that has come down to us...and sometimes even that....has been reconstructed. Bagby himself declared his interest in the realm of music that lies between the notated and non-notated. He also said there is next to nothing in the way of indications as to what instruments, if any, were used and how. So HIPP doesn't really come into it, just conjecture...but glorious conjecture.

[decantor]

We were listening to music as early as one is likely to hear. I found the extracts played almost hypnotic; and I enjoyed them and the programme very much. It is always in the back of my mind, however, that anything we hear beyond the monodic line that has come down to us...and sometimes even that....has been reconstructed. Bagby himself declared his interest in the realm of music that lies between the notated and non-notated. He also said there is next to nothing in the way of indications as to what instruments, if any, were used and how. So HIPP doesn't really come into it, just conjecture...but glorious conjecture.

ardcarp, you make a good point in reminding us of the conjectural nature of this music as we heard it performed. But, if conjecture is allowable, may I query your claim that "We were listening to music as early as one is likely to hear."? I have (somewhere!) a cassette tape purporting to represent the music of the ancient Greeks and Romans - I think the material may be available online as well. The conjectures are made merely on the basis of the shape of ancient instruments, their materials and proportions, coupled with a few literary references as to their effects and (Pythagorean?) science. The outcomes are far less ravishingly convincing than those presented by Ben Bagley, but they do make some sort of sense within the evidence available.

Perhaps there will be a glorious EMS day when they take us back that far. Could Miss Bott drop a hint to her producers?