We’re enjoying a spell of perfect weather at the moment, so I’m going to be out most of the afternoon enjoying the flowers and trees in Bute Park. I assume I’m not in danger of being run over by a lorry speeding along the paths, since I don’t think they work on Sundays. Anyway, BBC Radio 3 is devoting the period until the end of March to a “Spirit of Schubert” festival, so I thought I’d join in by posting an appropriately seasonal ditty. This is Im Frühling (D. 882) (“In Spring”), sung by Peter Pears with piano accompaniment by Benjamin Britten way back in 1950. Gives me a lovely glow inside listening to this. I hope you feel the same..
Follow @telescoperArchive for the Music Category
Im Frühling
Posted in Music with tags Benjamin Britten, Franz Schubert, Peter Pears on March 25, 2012 by telescoperNora the Piano Cat
Posted in Music with tags cats, Mindaugas Piecaitis, Nora the Piano Cat, Piano on March 19, 2012 by telescoperA busy day, filled with meetings meetings and more meetings. Time to relax with some music. This is a complete performance of a work by Mindaugas Piecaitis, featuring Nora the Piano Cat….
Follow @telescoper
Remembering Bird
Posted in Jazz with tags bebop, Charlie Parker, Jazz, Kim, Rhythm Changes on March 18, 2012 by telescoperLast week saw the 57th anniversary of the death of Charlie Parker, aka Bird, a musical genius on the saxophone whose influence not only on jazz but on twentieth century music is incalculable. I’ve posted quite a few tracks by Bird over the years and one thing I’ve learned from doing that is that he’s by no means everyone’s cup of tea. I can’t do anything about that, of course, but I can at least point out the existence of his wonderful legacy to those (regrettably many) people who’ve never heard of him or his musicI still remember the mixture of astonishment and exhilaration I felt when I first heard him on record and if I can give that sense of joy to just one person via the blogosphere then it’s worth a hundred posts.
Here’s Kim, another one of Bird’s tunes based on the rhythm changes, with an alto sax solo improvised at breakneck speed and with incredible virtuosity. The other day I was talking to a friend of mine who only has a passing interest in jazz and he asked me whether Charlie Parker really was that good. Well, if you’re asking that question to yourself, listen to this and then you’ll have the answer. As far as I’m concerned this is three minutes of pure awesome….
Follow @telescoperVolumina
Posted in Music, The Universe and Stuff with tags Big Bang, George Ligeti, Volumina on March 15, 2012 by telescoperI forgot to mention that, at the end of my talk on Monday evening, a gentleman in the audience who is apparently a regular reader of this blog asked if I was aware of that composer György Ligeti had written a piece of music called Volumina inspired by the Big Bang. I was indeed aware of this piece, and have a recording of it, but his question gives me the excuse to post a version here. I’m sure at least some of you will have heard some of it before, in fact, as an excerpt featured in the original radio series of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy which I listened to on the wireless many moons ago.
You might find Volumina a bit perplexing, but I can tell you that in surround sound with the volume up it’s absolutely amazing. My neighbours clearly agree, and were banging on the wall last night to show their appreciation.
Follow @telescoperHelle Nacht – Per Nørgård
Posted in Music with tags Helle Nacht, Per Nørgård, Violin Concerto No. 1 on March 11, 2012 by telescoperAnd now for something completely different. I was listening to CD Review on Radio 3 yesterday morning and in the course of a fascinating section about new modern classical works, I heard some wonderful music by a Danish composer called Per Nørgård, whose name (pronounced in Danish something like nur-gaw) was quite new to me until then. I’ve spent most of this morning downloading various collections of his music and am now in danger of becoming a Nørgård bore.
Much of Nørgård’s music is based on ideas inspired by fractal geometry and exploits the so-called infinity series, representing a kind of extension of the serial techniques pioneered by such composers as Arnold Schoenberg. One of the great things about Nørgård, however, is that you really don’t need to know about that, or indeed that the following piece was inspired by the Aurora Borealis, in order to enjoy it. This is Nørgård’s Violin Concerto No. 1 Helle Nacht.
Waltz of the Demons
Posted in Jazz with tags Booker Little, Frank Strozier, Waltz of the Demons on March 3, 2012 by telescoperI stumbled across this on Youtube; it’s in 3/4 time and I’ve never been very good at waltzing. I thought I’d post it on here because it features Booker Little, fabulous trumpet player who sadly died very young (at the age of 23) in 1961. He was an inspired improviser with a highly individual sense of phrasing, and an amazing ability to articulate complex ideas at fast tempi. Listening to him playing makes you wonder into what new directions he might have taken jazz had he lived even just a few years longer.
The band was led by alto saxophonist Frank Strozier, and the excellent rhythm section of Wynton Kelly (piano), Paul Chambers (bass) and Jimmy Cobb (drums) will be familiar to fans of Miles Davis. This track is called Waltz of the Demons..
Follow @telescoperA Little Respect
Posted in Biographical, Music with tags A Little Respect, Erasure on February 25, 2012 by telescoperAnd if I should falter
Would you open your arms out to me?
Wee
Posted in Jazz with tags Denzil Best, Lou Donaldson, Rhythm Changes, Tete Monoliiu, Wee on February 20, 2012 by telescoperHere’s an exhilarating little duo featuring alto saxophonist Lou Donaldson and the extraordinarily brilliant pianist Tete Montoliu. Lou Donaldson at times sounds more like Charlie Parker than Charlie Parker ever did, but if you’re going to play bebop there’s no better example to follow. Tete Montoliu on the other hand never sounded like anyone other than himself. He was from Barcelona, by the way, and was born completely blind. The tune, written by drummer Denzil Best, is called Wee although it does have an alternative title, Allen’s Alley; it’s yet another one built around the chord changes of Gershwin’s I Got Rhythm. Anyway, it’s a typically intricate and edgy tune that finds these great musicians at their playful best.
Follow @telescoperMy Funny Valentines
Posted in Jazz with tags Bill Evans, Herbie Hancock, Jim Hall, Julie London, Miles Davis, My Funny Valentine, Ron Carter, Tony Williams, Wayne Shorter on February 14, 2012 by telescoperI’m not really into all this St Valentine’s Day nonsense (meaning: “I never get any cards”), but at least it provides me with an excuse to post three versions of the great Rogers & Hart ballad My Funny Valentine.
The first is by the great Miles Davis Quintet featuring Miles Davis on trumpet, Wayne Shorter on tenor sax, Herbie Hancock on piano, Ron Carter bass and Tony Williams on drums. This was recorded live in Milan on October 11th 1964. There’s a slight distortion in the sound in the form of a pre-echo, which is a bit eery, but I still think it’s a marvellous performance.
And if Miles Davis isn’t your cup of tea, here is something completely different. It’s by Julie London, but very late in her career in 1981 when she was 55. Her voice was much smoother in her heyday in the 1960s, but I love the smokey sound of this very characterful rendition. By ear I’d say the bass player on this is Ray Brown and the guitar is Barney Kessel, both of whom (like Julie London herself) are no longer with us.
Last one up is a miracle of joint improvisation between the great Bill Evans on piano and Jim Hall on guitar, the sort of music that mere mortals can only dream of…
Follow @telescoper
In the Dark 