Record Review 2/1/16

[Guest]

Listening to the programme right now. Is David Owen-Norris on steroids or is someone goosing him every few seconds? Ludicrously over-the-top discussion.
Quote from Spitting Image........."Jonathan Miller and Bernard Levin talk bollocks"

[LeMartinPecheur]

Listening to the programme right now. Is David Owen-Norris on steroids or is someone goosing him every few seconds? Ludicrously over-the-top discussion.
Quote from Spitting Image........."Jonathan Miller and Bernard Levin talk bollocks"

MVII: You cannot be serious!
DON is a breath, nay a blast, of fresh air

[Gordon]

I'm with LMP on this one, a fascinating section from RR with SMP showing that she has more to say than her presenting would suggest. She and DON were a good contrast and if AMG could keep out of it more could have developed into a very interesting discussion. Not being a trained musician I have struggled with some contemporary music but this discussion certainly helped. I find DON a very refreshing and enthusiastic presenter. Or maybe I am also talking bollocks....

[Padraig]

I've just finished a course of steroids so I had better say nothing further.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Quite surreal - DON talking about Brian Ferneyhough: a bit like Thora Hird explaining Quantum Mechanics on Songs of Praise! And then he had nice things to say about this Music - although it's a bit peculiar that a professional Record Reviewer hasn't encountered Walter Benjamin before! But, just as I was thinking that the second Lagavulin last night was a bad idea, he read the liner notes in what I presume he thought was a "comic" voice and then criticised Ferneyhough's precise prose for not being "clear enough" - McGonagall "criticising" Milton.

And just to correct one of his errors in his chat - at no point when I have heard her speak (nor in any of her writings that I know of) has Kaija Saariaho said that she "hated" studying with Ferneyhough - and, as she has recommended that some of her own students continue their studies with him, it is unlikely that she would ever do so, unless she has hidden sadistic tendencies. What I think DON has misunderstood is her comment that from her studies with him, KS realized that her composing preferences are very different from BF's - hers is a process of "adding sound to silence", whereas his is more akin to removing the unwanted sounds from a forest of sounds. (She works in clay; adding layers - he works with stone, chipping away the excess to reveal the form underneath.) All Ferneyhough's students say the same thing - he does not "teach" his "style" - he listens to their Music and what they have to say about it and then guides them towards their own greater self-awareness of what they want to do (with a couple of hints about how to achieve this when necessary).

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

... a fascinating section from RR with SMP showing that she has more to say than her presenting would suggest.

Well - her presenting on Hear & Now is always exemplary.

The conversation with Jurg Frey at last November's Huddersfield Festival that she mentioned was something I mentioned at the time on another Thread; the point that might have been missed is that whilst she was presenting some of the events for R3, that particular concert wasn't one of them (the interview was between Frey and Robert Warby) - she was there as a member of the audience; wanting to be there out of a genuine interest in the Music, not just as a "professional duty".


Stuart Maconie was also at the Festival, by the way.


And it was so poignant to hear SM-P talking with such affection for the Music (and the personality) of the late Steve Martland - one of the real losses of the Music world last year.

[Gordon]

Well - her presenting on Hear & Now is always exemplary.

I didn't say it wasn't - presenting is often reading a script or introducing items in a concert - this time she was speaking for herself.

As for Steve Martland I can't say that I find his music rivetting and the examples used to illustrate it this morning didn't get me any further along the road towards improving the situation. Undoubtedly my fault.

[ardcarp]

And it was so poignant to hear SM-P talking with such affection for the Music (and the personality) of the late Steve Martland - one of the real losses of the Music world last year.

Notwithtanding SM-P, I too regret the passing of Steve Martland, a contemporary composer (whatever that means) whose music could be listened to without preconception. Its immediate appeal IMV is because of its 'cross-over' element. I first became fascinated by his vocal piece 'Summer Rounds', which I was sorry not to hear on the programme.

The trio-logue was obviously pre-designed so that SM-P would represent the 'innocent ear' whilst DON (not on steroids, just being himself) represented the thinking musician whose reaction to new music is inevitably filtered through a lifetime's aural experience. Martland was maybe the only one who could appeal to both.

I did enjoy Robert Saxton's 'Masterclass' which followed at 1215. His first example was unexpectedly an excerpt from Taverenr's Western Wynde Mass. I do wish somehow he could have presented the programme, rather than having Sarah Walker as an (unnecessary?) intermediary.

[ardcarp]

Does anyone have views about JEG's latest B Minor Mass, of which the Credo was played at the end of the programme? It displayed the usual technical clarity from his players, but I will not be rushing out to buy it. The acoustic of the recording was quite 'dry' which meant that the exaggerated articulation of string playing (short and choppy) was not rounded off by any sort of natural bloom. The choir (deft and accurate as ever) sounded even stranger. The tenors were very straight (even a bit harsh-sounding at times) whilst the basses sang more soloistically making the blend , especially of the loud bits, rather odd. In general, the ensemble sounded very lovely in the slow and quiet sections, and while tempo and dynamic contrasts are very necessary in the Credo, Jeggers made some very over-hyped gestures. Our Lord was blasted off to the higher realms via a space-rocket at the 'et resurrexit', and if my words sound a tad blasphemous, the effect was too. Jeggers is usually a stickler for strict tempi but it was my impression that having started off the lovely, 'et in spiritum' at a fair old lick, he allowed it to slow down (to a more reasonable pace, IMO) as the bass soloist got going.

I do like proper choral versions of the B Minor...I was amused by JEG's reported comment that he did not like the 'B Minor Madgrigal' which results from OVPP performances.....but I'll stick with my Herreweghe one. (Can't remember which without going to look.)

[MickyD]

I too have noticed the very dry acoustic in recent JEG recordings - especially his Brandenburgs. However good the performances, I find I just can't take that sort of sound.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

The trio-logue was obviously pre-designed so that SM-P would represent the 'innocent ear' whilst DON (not on steroids, just being himself) represented the thinking musician whose reaction to new music is inevitably filtered through a lifetime's aural experience. Martland was maybe the only one who could appeal to both.

Ah - SM-P is so firmly fixed in my mind as an expert in and enthusiast of new Music that this "pre-design" (isn't that a tautology?) wasn't so "obvious" to me: her comments were those of someone who already knows and loves this repertoire, whilst DON's persona was that of a Musician genuinely interested in a Music he'd not encountered before - using the listening skills he's acquired from previous Musics (his emphasis on "narrative" in particular - the "lifetime's aural experience" you rightly mention, ardy) to find his way through pieces he didn't seem to have heard before. It was precisely Martland's Music - which doesn't "work" in this "narrative" way - that he disliked; it didn't appeal to him at all. SM-P, more used to the demands and expectations of the "Andriessen School", was the one who responded enthusiastically.

What was a teeny bit disappointing for me was that there was no mention/comparison of previous recordings of many of the works discussed: Feldman's works have each had at least three previous recordings, Ferneyhough's Opus Contra Naturam ("Work verses Nature", Mr McG!) has been recorded before - and by Nic Hodges, too - and his Lemma-Icon-Epigram (not discussed) receives its fifth recording on this set. Some mention of how the new ones compare would've been nice.

But away with such grumpy nitpicks! Ferneyhough and Feldman on Record Review and in an entertaining and informative manner for listeners unfamiliar with such wonderful Music: a cause for rejoicing - and optimistic hopes that it won't be another nine years before it's discussed again!

[BBMmk2]

Just up your street Ferney! :)

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Just up your street Ferney! :)

- it's got my name on it, Bbm!

[french frank]

Interesting the two mutually exclusive impressions: SMP the 'innocent ear' v. SMP the established enthusiast.

I suppose the most important point for a broadcast is that both established experts and intelligent generalists have a valuable dialogue, from which the listener can derive interest.

[BBMmk2]

- it's got my name on it, Bbm!

Ferney Street! :)