EMS 19 & 26 January

[Vile Consort]

I expect I would remember it in much the same way that I remember passing out in the dentist's chair in 1968 when he tried to do a filling without anaesthetising the tooth. And for much the same reasons.

[Old Grumpy]

I expect I would remember it in much the same way that I remember passing out in the dentist's chair in 1968 when he tried to do a filling without anaesthetising the tooth. And for much the same reasons.

I did realise at the time of posting that my sentence would be open to that interpretation - hence the asterisk for clarification.

[ardcarp]

Just heard this EMS. A great programme, Lucy. OK the sax was an interesting experiment which gave the Hilliards a bit of a boost at the time, and why not if it brought a new audience to the EM repertoire? I personally find the blue notes and other jazz inflections a bit OTT, but never mind.

More interesting is to do some things to a Perotin performance which one could conjecture may have been done at the time. The very long notes into which the plainsong is split up to provide a cantus firmus could easily have been sustained by organ notes (and we surmise that early organs had a few pipes, operated by levers) and maybe not sung at all, Conductus (as the name suggests) may have been used at ceremonial occasions, so why not some percussion? I've done Viderunt Omnes with a tiny Indian temple bell pinging at regular intervals during some of the sections. Still in the realm of conjecture, one cannot help but think the slightly 'rough' sound of Ensemble Organum might be nearer 13th century Paris than David Munrow's lovely (and iconic, if I can use the dreaded i-word) performance. Mind you, for sheer beauty of sound, I thought the Danish women's voices (dir. Bo Holton) hit the jackpot.

[CallMePaul]

Unfortunately I was not able to hear the programme because of family issues, but I may try to hear it on the i Player this week. However, reading between the lines of other comments, it seems that it was not a detailed look at Pérotin's life and times but simply playing music with the current R3 policy of minimal material. Once upon a time information sheets would have been available for the cost of postage (or in these times by email) whereas now we are told very little. The problem is that there is almost nothing available between the very basic and learned tomes requiring a doctorate in musicology. I agree with ardcarp about the Ensemble Organum - I have a number of its recordings and it is much my favourite interpretation of Machault's Mass, for example, and I love its approach to plainsong.

PS Why does your spellchecker prompt American spellings? - I expect that virtually all users of this site are British and resent Americanisms as much as I do!

[french frank]

PS Why does your spellchecker prompt American spellings? - I expect that virtually all users of this site are British and resent Americanisms as much as I do!

Our spellchecker? Nothing ever checks my spelng.

[ardcarp]

it seems that it was not a detailed look at Pérotin's life and times but simply playing music with the current R3 policy of minimal material

Hi CallMePaul. Good to hear from you. Unfortunately it is not possible to take a detailed look at Perotin's life as almost nothing is known about him! But that aside, it has always been the house-style of EMS to play longish extracts of music...and thank the Lord for that. The formula of short informative bits of script delivered in a non-heavy fashion by Lucy (and formerly by CB) with plenty of actual music is one that works for me. It is surely a strength of one of R3's few remaining 'decent' programmes? When the tweets start (OK, I know you weren't suggesting that!) I stop.