Avant que j'oublie

Gustav Leonhardt (1928-2012) – 'Zais' de J-P Rameau

2012-01-22T16:27:00.001-04:00

Gustav Leonhardt conducts La Petite Bande in Rameau's 1748 opera 'Zais'. This complete recording was made at the studios of the WDR in 1977 and is one of the few recordings by Leonhardt and this group that was not issued by Deutsche Harmonia Mundi. I bought a copy at the Paris Bastille FNAC in 1999 for a large number of French Francs. I vividly recall listening to it a few weeks later on a Sony Discman while wandering through Regents Park in London during a light rain. I'd been suffering from severe depression for some time. 'Zais' includes one of those inevitable 'hymns to the sun' which always pop up in Rameau. 'Terre, séjour delicieux ... ta beauté nouvelle est l'image des cieux ... O! Soleil ...' And suddenly the world did, indeed, seem a new and luminous place.

If forced, in a variant of the 'desert island' question, to select only one composer that I could 'keep', it would be Rameau, and my very favorite recordings of his music are those made in the 1970s by Leonhardt and Sigiswald Kuijken with La Petite Bande – 'Pygmalion', 'Zoroastre' and selections from 'Hippolyte et Aricie'. 'Zais' (not to be confused with the same composer's 'Nais'!) is one of the few operas of Rameau presently unavailable on compact disc or DVD (this recording is long out-of-print). I thought I would mark Mr. Leonhardt's passing by sharing it with you. Received opinion is that the only Rameau operas worth bothering with are 'Hippolyte et Aricie' and ' Castor et Pollux'. It is said that the others suffer from poor librettos and are not stage-worthy. The application of the dramaturgical standards of a Mozart or Verdi to French Baroque opera is anachronistic. 'Zais' is an entertainment, not a 'tragedy in music'. Rameau's stage works contain a seemingly inexhaustible wealth of musical invention, experimentation and beauty; if you have ignored them until now, here's another opportunity to discover and devour their riches.

I obtained this recording before I had developed the true collector's mentality and long ago lost the libretto, but have included scans of the portions of the packaging that remain.

As noted below, this blog has been retired – but I reserve the right to come out of retirement from time to time. I cannot, alas, reupload the other files on this site as they expire ....

ZAIS RAMEAU LEONHARDT FLAC + SCANS

Screen grabs from 'The Chronicle of Anna Magdalena Bach' by Danièlle Huillet and Jean-Marie Straub

Thanks and take care ...

2011-11-25T16:38:00.003-04:00

Thanks to everyone who visited Avant que j'oublie and my previous blog The High Pony Tail. And thanks to all who encouraged me and contributed materials (Boom, David G, Steve E., Jessica, Ragnar, Boris, 'Dany', Ockeghem, Jan Pieter Kunst, Caleb and many, many others.) I've moved on to other concerns now, but I appreciate the comments and knowledge you have shared. I will continue to leave both blogs up until they crumble away and can't entirely rule out an occasional return visit. A word of warning about the files: I am no longer a Rapidshare Pro member and receive daily notices that my files will be removed. They seem to be working now, but once they expire, I will not be re-uploading. At the High Pony Tail, I used Mediafire exclusively. While they are a friendlier bunch than Rapidshare, they have a poor track record keeping track of files. Alas, some of them have already disappeared; again I apologize, but I don't have the time to keep track of the missing links or replace them.

I hope that you will all continue to make use of the list of blogs running down the right side of the page. I must make special mention of two that are new to me: Wolf Fifth, which has stunningly transferred LPs of 20th-century classical music, and Laureate Conductors, which has, among other things, every piece of music Victor de Sabata ever conducted. Also, do not miss the current offering at 5 Against 4: the complete 'Nine Rivers' by James Dillon, with extensive notes and interactive scores.

Until we meet again, take care and thanks ......

UPDATE 22 JUNE 2011: AI WEIWEI RELEASED!!! Ai Weiwei arrested by Chinese Government /// Nelly Arcan R.I.P.

2011-04-04T14:26:00.033-03:00

UPDATE 22 JUNE 2011 --- AI WEIWEI RELEASED AFTER THREE MONTHS IN JAIL

"Rights. Of all the words in the dictionary, this word is the most disgraceful, and the word with the most unpleasant connotations. This world is always involved in tales about tragic figures, unfortunate events, gloomy places, and cruel history. It's a filthy word that should never be mentioned again. The unfortunate thing is, for a very long time in the future, we will continue to hear this most familiar of dirty words coming from completely unfamiliar places." --- Ai Weiwei, blog post of 20 August 2006 (translation: Lee Ambrozy)

The artist, architect and writer Ai Weiwei has been arrested by the Chinese government. His whereabouts are unknown. Since mid-February 2011, the Chinese goverment has dropped any pretence of allowing its lassiez-faire economic capitalism to generate a quasi-liberal public sphere. The events in Tunisia and Egypt have ramped up internet censorship and led to mass arrests. Ai Weiwei's art works have made a huge worldwide impression - he has made headlines with popular (and populist) works in Kassel, New York and London. Here is a video of Ai explaining his 'Sunflower Seeds' installation at London's Tate Gallery. His architectural 'firm' Fake Design was a high-profile consultant in the construction of the 'Bird's Nest', the Beijing Olympic Stadium. Ai's architectural practice might be most productively viewed as an ironic intervention in the building free-for-all that is transforming China.

I have quoted from Ai Weiwei's blog posts previously, taken from an advance copy of 'Ai Weiwei's Blog: Writings, Interviews, and Digital Rants 2006-2009'. This marvelous book has just been published by the MIT Press. As a social critic, Ai is in the tradition of both Guy Debord and Andy Warhol (only in the hideously distorted capitalism of 21st-century China could those two names be invoked in tandem.) His blog posts range from acerbic observations of daily life in China to sustained meditations on human dwelling-places as compelling as those of Heidegger and Bachelard. I hope that this compulsively readable collection is reviewed far and wide and becomes a bestseller.

*************

After learning of Ai Weiwei's dentention on Sunday, I have had several nights of troubled sleep. My insomnia was worsened by my belated discovery of the September 2009 suicide of the Quebecois author Nelly Arcan (born Isabelle Fortier). Nelly Arcan wrote four novels, published in France by Editions de Minuit. Only her first book, 'Putain', has been translated into English. Imagine a Thomas Bernhard whose sharp tongue and hallucinatory language was unleashed not by Austria, but by patriarchy. The 'whore' of the title is turning tricks to pay for college and her psychoanalysis. She is mercilessly funny about her peculiar situation: there is the rented room in which she receives her customers (older men --- six or seven sessions a day --- who enter to find a woman the age of their daughters waiting for them on the bed) and there is the analyst's office (where she is one of the six or seven daily analysands who this older man invites to lie down on his couch.) At work, it is the men who proffer her dirty 20 dollar bills in hope of some kind of solace; the direction of payment and demand is reversed at her analyst's office.

Like Bernhard, Nelly Arcan was diagnosed as an exaggerator and a hysteric. That's not surprising in a media environment that insists on an imagined 'evenhandedness'. Like Ai Weiwei, Arcan is incapable of being reasonable. As she tells it, women have little choice but to conform to the advertising-driven brand of feminine beauty and subservience, unless a life of invisibility is acceptable. A woman is expected to be both the good daughter of her father and the whore who looks like his daughter. Or to use Arcan's blunt terms: be a 'Smurfette', available 24/7 to be shared among the 'Smurfs'. Both in her books and life, Nelly Arcan (Isabelle Fortier) declared her intention of killing herself before her 30th birthday, her 'sell-by' date. The fact that she made it to the age of 35 can be taken as proof that she struggled and hoped.

*****************

UPDATE 22 JUNE 2011 --- AI WEIWEI RELEASED AFTER THREE MONTHS IN JAIL

Gustav Leonhardt plays Froberger (1970 RCA LP)

2011-02-03T16:22:00.006-04:00

Here's another selection of pieces by Johann Jakob Froberger (1616-1667). As I explained in an earlier post of Blandine Verlet's Valois Froberger LP, my acquaintance with this extraordinary composer is relatively recent. A reader of my blog, whom I shall refer to as my 'Paris Correspondent', is entirely responsible for righting this oversight of mine with his always-welcome emails (and the many fine recordings he has generously shared with me, and by extension, you.) This 1970 RCA LP is actually one that I found for myself, one of those dollar-bin discoveries that make record-hunting worthwhile.

I asked my 'Paris Correspondent' for some background information about this record and here is his response:

"The Froberger LP contains the first program Leonhardt dedicated to this composer who he admires so much and often includes in his recitals. The recording dates from 1962 and was originally released by (Deutsche) Harmonia Mundi. It is played on a 1640 Ruckers harpsichord housed in the Chateau de Velen in Germany. There are some very nice online photos of the instrument here. Leonhardt later recorded Froberger a number of times: a 1970 Das Alte Werk LP played on both organ and harpsichord; a 1990 CD for DHM that is probably my favorite, with an extraordinary 'Tombeau de Blancrocher' --- this has been reissued recently. Finally, in 1996, for Sony Vivarte, there is a CD that is half-Froberger, half-Weckmann ... (Unlike Blandine Verlet) Leonhardt prefers to play modern harpsichords, from which he is, nevertheless, capable of extracting incredible sounds ... "

This beautifully-recorded LP contains the Suites No 10, 1 and 15, three Toccatas and a Fantasy in e minor. It also includes one of Froberger's great Lamentations, this one 'Written on the painful occasion of the lamentable death of His Imperial Majesty Ferdinand III, to be played slowly and with discretion'. (The Suite No 20 opens with the Allemande subtitled 'Meditation on my future death, to be played slowly and with discretion, Memento Mori Froberger.)

Gustav Leonhardt plays Johann Jakob Froberger RCA LP transfer – FLAC and scans

Milton Babbitt 1916-2011 (Série Grande Diffusion No 4)

2011-02-03T15:01:00.009-04:00

"I'm not trying to sell you anything – I don't have to tell you that. I'm trying to explicate something. It's perfectly reasonable for a reasonably competent listener to say, 'Look, how in the devil can I take this in?' I'm not going to respond to that question because what we've been discussing is there in the first measure, and you will certainly eventually hear it. It is not going to be as clear on the records as it would be, of course, live, or as I would like it to be."

"There's a place in the piece where this theme is stated very high, transposed at the tritone. People who insist that music is satisfactory only if it has certain patterns of recurrence (what we call form in some circles) want to call that a recapitulation. Well, if you like recapitulations at the tritone without anything else being the same, call it a recapitulation, if it comforts you. But the truth of the matter is that this is very misleading because it's not so much a recapitulation at the tritone as a simple thematic recall at the tritone."

" ... the notion of a composer trying at any moment of his piece to use any significant segment both to recall and to predict, to be retrospective and predictive, to tell you where you've been as well as where you're going to be, is, of course, to many composers, crucial. And either you run the risk of being too retrospective (which means too obvious), or you run the other risk of being too predictive (and therefore being opaque or perhaps losing a reasonable listener.) I have to say reasonable listener although you know what kind of a cop-out that has to be ... I know it's very hard to hear these things, but you would be amazed (and I could demonstrate this if we had a few months) at the extent to which you will hear these things and hear associations even though you would imagine it impossible to identify the things as things themselves."

– Milton Babbitt, discussing Schoenberg's Fourth String Quartet, in his 'Words about music', the Madison Lectures, University of Wisconsin Press 1987

*****

I explained the rationale for the 'Série Grande Diffusion' in an earlier post on Stefan Wolpe. The idea is to bring together a segment of a 'modern' composer's work, either from a particular period or for a particular instrumental grouping. Milton Babbitt's five canonical string quartets (the composer withdrew his first quartet) have all received fine recordings. Unfortunately, these are by different ensembles and are scattered across a number of sometimes hard-to-find LPs and CDs. Rather than posting an entire commercial CD on the occasion of Mr. Babbitt's death, I have gathered together Quartets 2 – 6 in order of composition, along with a couple of other Babbitt works.

QUARTET NO 2 (1952) Composers Quartet, 1973 Nonesuch LP
(This is my own transfer from the LP; this performance has been transferred and reissued on Tzadik CD TZ7088 'Occasional Variations')

QUARTET NO 3 (1970) Fine Arts Quartet, Vox Turnabout LP No TV-S34515
(This is my own transfer from the LP; this performance was reissued on the O.O.P. Music & Arts CD 707)

QUARTET NO 4 (1970) Juilliard Quartet (Robert Mann & Joel Smirnoff, violins; Samuel Rhodes, viola; Joel Krosnick, cello) from CRI CD 587 (1990)

QUARTET NO 5 (1982) Composers Quartet (Matthew Raimondi & Anahis Ajemian, violins; Karl Bargen, viola; Mark Shuman, cello) from Music & Arts CD 606 'Three American String Quartets' (1990, with Carter and Powell) – Thanks to Steve E. for loaning me this recording.

QUARTET NO 6 (1993) Sherry Quartet (Harumi Rhodes & Aaron Boyd, violins; James Myer Hogg, viola; Katherine Cherbas, cello) from Tzakik CD TZ7088 'Occasional Variations' (2003)

To round out this retrospective, I have included two more pieces: 'Sextets' (1966) for violin and piano (Rolf Schulte and Alan Feinberg from a New World CD) and 'Correspondences' for string orchestra and synthesized tape (1967), James Levine conducting the Chicago Symphony Orchestra from a DG CD.

The Tzadik CD and a number of other Babbitt recordings can be ordered online from the usual vendors.

Milton Babbitt Quartets No 2, 3, 4 and 5 – FLAC

Milton Babbitt Quartet No 6 and two other works – FLAC

The score excerpts are from the last page of Babbitt's 'Post-partitions' for piano (1966)

Malcolm Bilson: Beethoven Piano sonatas Op 10, No 2 and Op 31, No 2 (Nonesuch LP)

2011-01-30T15:22:00.012-04:00

This 1981 Nonesuch 'Silver Series' LP finds Malcolm Bilson playing two Beethoven sonatas on a great-sounding 'period' piano. The liner notes by Mr. Bilson and Robert Winter go into great and interesting detail about the 'Tempest' sonata (Side 2 of this record), addressing the familiar vexing arguments about the pedal markings in the second movement. The Walter piano played by Mr. Bilson – very similar to the pianoforte Beethoven would have used at the time he composed the Op 31, No 2 sonata – certainly clears up that avant-la-lettre impressionist blur that has mucked up many a Steinway-bound performance.

I'm also very impressed with the sound of the period piano in the F-major Op 10, No 2 sonata. I can't think of a better example to play to a skeptic as demonstration of the dramatically different sound of the bass register of the late 18th century instrument. The sixteenth-note Alberti bass figure at measure 18 (shown above left) usually results in an indistinct rumble on modern pianos. Even more impressive is the gain in harmonic clarity in the left-hand part of the playful harmonic turnaround at measure 45 in the exposition (at right, above) --- just listen when it is repeated a fifth lower in the recapitulation (measure 178, at right, below.)

Taken on its own terms, these are wonderful performances of two of my favorite Beethoven sonatas, beautifully-produced by the pianist himself. This is my own transfer from the LP, one of many Nonesuch recordings from 1975 - 85 that didn't make it to CD.

Malcolm Bilson plays Beethoven on Nonesuch – FLAC and scans

Paul Zukofsky: Duos for violin and piano by Charles Wuorinen and Elliott Carter

2011-01-20T17:38:00.004-04:00

Time was, the great classical musicians cultivated a personal tone and style: a Jascha Heifetz or Johanna Martzy was as inimitable and instantly recognizable as a Lester Young or Dexter Gordon. The violinist Paul Zukofsky is one of the few living classical musicians I can spot right off the bat. He has a fantastic, if not universally-beloved sound (his Folkways recordings of the Ives Violin Sonatas, with Gilbert Kalish on piano, are an excellent showcase for his somewhat ornery fiddling.) That 'country' sound, and Zukofsky's fat intonation – almost, but not quite a 'wobble' – makes him both unique and a matter of taste.

Here are the premiere recordings of two post-WWII duos for violin and piano. From the Acoustic Research/DGG LP shown above left is Charles Wuorinen's 1967 'Duo', with the composer at the piano. Alongside the 'String Trio', written in the same year, this piece kick-started a decade-long run of excellent – and too-little-known – works, a situation I hope to address in an upcoming post. (I have not included the flip side of this record – Robert Helps' recording of Sessions' Third Piano Sonata has been reissued on CD.)

From a 1974 Nonesuch LP is Elliott Carter's 1974 'Duo', written for Zukofsky and Kalish. Carter has nominated this as one of his favorites of his works. It's the piece that 'cracked Carter' for me. While it's been recorded several times since, this performance remains a classic – unfortunately, Nonesuch chose not to include it in their otherwise-welcome Carter Centenary box (presumably for reasons of space – instead, they licensed James Levine's recording of the composer's 'Variations' for orchestra from DGG. It's a great performance, but it still available from DG, both as a CD and a download.)

These are my own transfers from the LPs --- both records are in fair-to-middling condition, but I'm not an audiophile and I can't imagine being without them on my IPod.

Paul Zukofsky plays Wuorinen and Carter's Duo(s) for Violin and Piano – FLAC

The Seven Last Words of our Saviour on the Cross (Haydn – Kremer – Philips LP 1982)

2011-01-17T11:38:00.008-04:00

" ... before we inspect the further interpretative problems (if any) of the next masterpiece, a further word is needed on the omission, from this book, of The Seven Last Words of our Saviour on the Cross (op 51, 1-7), quite especially in view of the regrettable fact that many a pseudo-masterly string quartet has accorded the work a prominent place in the repertory; it goes without saying that it is, above all, the Haydn specialists who have turned The Seven Words into veritable stars amongst Haydn's master quartets.

The musical fact is, however, that these pieces cannot possibly be called string quartets: no reason has yet been advanced from any competent source why they should be. And apart from everything else, no natural musician will readily play seven successive slow instrumental movements (until the thunderstorm eventually ensues) if no extra-musical purpose is involved – and is there an instrumental combination which, at its greatest, is freer of extra-musical purposes than the string quartet? It cannot be too decidedly maintained that the passion certain ensembles show for the work is an indisputable sign that they have not even begun to understand the true nature of the string quartet and its texture."

– Hans Keller, 'The Great Haydn Quartets"

*******

Be that as it may, I very much enjoy this 1982 Philips LP of Haydn's Op 51. Gidon Kremer and Kathrin Rabus are the violinists, Gerard Caussé plays viola and Ko Iwasaki in the cellist. This is my own spruced-up needledrop, in FLAC, with scans.

HAYDN OP 51 KREMER, RABUS, CAUSSE AND IWASAKI

Trish Keenan (1968-2011)

2011-01-16T12:37:00.012-04:00

Trish Keenan of the Birmingham, England-based pop group Broadcast has died at the age of 42 from pneumonia. I discovered this last evening in the offices of the large newspaper where I work. I idly picked up the obituaries list for the coming week and saw her name on it. It's really hard to comprehend such a sudden death at such an early age. Apparently she contracted the swine flu virus while on tour and had been in intensive care since just after Christmas. Inevitably, I went online and found the announcement from her record company and countless comments and tributes. I telephoned my girlfriend who, in addition to being an illustrator and curator, works in a bookshop, she said 'I just saw her browsing in the store a few months ago and she was really nice --- she was wearing a great dress.'

With her partner James Cargill, Ms. Keenan released six albums as Broadcast. The music is astonishingly beautiful, funny and inventive: the musical influences range from Petula Clark and Joe Meek to Mauricio Kagel, the BBC Radiophonic Workshop and 'girl'-fronted 60s San Francisco psych bands like 'The United States of America' and '50-Foot Hose'. Broadcast's wider cultural references include Gertrude Stein, Penguin paperbacks, Czech cinema (especially Vera Chytilova), 'The Wicker Man' and Oulipo. Each of their albums is an adventure, expertly balancing acoustic and electronic sounds, experimentation and songcraft, sincerity and camp. The band's most recent release was a collaboration with the graphic designer Julian House a/k/a 'The Focus Group' and they had numerous projects in the works.

While tempests rage in teapots over the ultimate value of Arnold Schoenberg and John Adams, and cultural pessimists moan about the corrosive effects of popular culture on the 'western tradition', I have no doubt at all that the most important musical development of the 20th century was sound recording – a paradigm-shifter as profound as the inventions of musical notation, polyphony and tonality. From Louis Armstrong's 'Hot Five' recordings to Miles Davis's 'On the corner' ... and from AMM to Roxy Music to 'Voodoo Ray' and beyond – these are the 'works' that will 'endure' in the way that Beethoven's scores endure. While I trained as a composer, beginning with species counterpoint and moving on to harmony, ear-training and orchestration, listening to and playing rock music remains the most important and vital activity of my life. (Only the movies, the other great artistic invention of the last century, come close.) When asked for the name of the greatest living composer I am perfectly comfortable declaring a tie between Elliott Carter and Anthony Braxton. But the greatest and most typical musical works of the last half-century won't be found in manuscript and don't have a single author: they are recordings, more often than not collaborations, and very likely include an album or two by Broadcast.

The picture of Trish Keenan above is a frame grab from the video to 'Come on let's go', without question my favorite Broadcast song. This song and many others can, of course, be found on YouTube. I've gone against my usual posting principles and uploaded the album it comes from,'The Noise Made By People'. Please buy it if you enjoy it, and while you're at it, collect the rest of Broadcast's oeuvre: 'Work and Non Work', 'The Ha Ha Sound', 'Tender Buttons', 'The Future Crayon' and 'Broadcast and the Focus Group Investigate Witch Ghosts of the Radio Age.' For an endearing and illuminating print interview with Ms. Keenan and Mr. Cargill on the latter record and many other subjects, click HERE.

Trish Keenan (1968-2011) R.I.P.

Broadcast 'The noise made by people' CD – medium bit-rate MP3 for preview purposes only.

Blandine Verlet plays JS Bach: Toccatas (Philips LP X 2)

2010-12-31T16:54:00.008-04:00

Blandine Verlet again, this time playing JS Bach's Toccatas on two Philips LPs. I think I'll keep my mouth shut this time around and simply note that:

1) These 1973-74 recordings have, incredibly, not been reissued on CD

2) Ms. Verlet plays a 1754 Hemsch clavecin, restored in 1971 by C. Mercier-Ythier

3) Also included are the 'Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue' in a minor BWV 922 and the Prelude (Fantasy) in d minor BWV 903

The recorded sound is marvelous, the LP surfaces are absolutely clean and Blandine Verlet is at her very best – if you enjoyed her Froberger, then you will certainly find something to treasure in her recording of Bach's youthful and very Frobergian Toccatas.

Blandine VERLET plays Bach Toccatas VOLUME ONE: BWV 913 in d minor, BWV 915 in g minor, BWV 910 in f-sharp minor and BWV 911 in c minor (FLAC and scans)

Blandine VERLET plays Bach Toccatas VOLUME TWO: BWV 914 in e minor and BWV 916 in G major, and the Fantasie in a minor BWV 922 and the Chromatic Fantasy in Fugue in d minor BWV 903 (FLAC and scans)

The picture above is by Charlotte Salomon (1917-1943) from her book 'Life? or Theatre?'

Alain Bancquart (Série Grande Diffusion No 8)

2010-12-31T16:00:00.026-04:00

"I still remember the moment perfectly, it was summer and I thought, I'll disappear in the autumn. And that's what I did. I hatched my plan in secret ... For as long as I can remember I've felt hustled, and that feeling only grew worse after my decision. In the end it was very simple. On that autumn day I got up, had breakfast, left my house and my belongings. I walked to the central station, waited in line and bought the same ticket as the person in front of me. That's how I got here. That was it. I disappeared. I carried on living, but started anew.

I disappeared in illegality, though that's just a word. It feels more as though I've sacked myself. Sacked from the full-time job of having to coincide with myself in the eyes of others. I've burnt my passport. I can no longer prove that I'm myself ... I have a major problem with allegiance to things, persons and systems that I don't understand. Therefore I have a problem with the concept of citizenship. It's a worn-out format, not amenable to anything new, but organized precisely to keep anything new out. And that's how this story starts. It's a story against borders, against controls, against a life where everything is registered and directed. Resisting the idea that everything has to be open and transparent. That no secrets, no other realities could exist."

--- 'John'

*********

The eighth installment of 'Série Grande Diffusion' is devoted to Alain Bancquart (b. 1934). (I apologize in advance for any confusion; the 'SGD' series is coming online in a somewhat haphazard, non-sequential manner.) Listening to this 1978 LP on the Sapho label without advance knowledge of the composer led me to believe I was hearing an early document of Spectralism – and that seemed to be confirmed by the typewritten insert containing Mr. Bancquart's analysis of his works alongside an essay by Hugues Dufourt. But further research has been confusing. None of the materials I've consulted on the Spectral Skool have mentioned Bancquart's name. Neither is the 'S' word invoked by the composer, although the names of Antonin Artaud and painters as different as Georges Rouault and Nicolas de Staël are. Despite the presence of another card-carrying Spectralist on this recording (Tristan Murail plays the Ondes Martenot), Alain Bancquart seems to be a mystery man.

Don't let the lack of name-recognition keep you from investigating this very exciting recording. Side One contains two pieces played by the Trio à Cordes de Paris: 'Thrène I' (1967) and 'Thrène II' (1976). In the composer's own words, the earlier piece represents his first, mostly instinctual, incorporation of quarter-tones, while the second piece attempts to establish a 24-note micro-tonal row. Side 2 consists entirely of the 1978 work 'L'Amant Désérte' for pairs of electric guitars, Ondes Martenots and electronic keyboards and seems to me to be a fully-fledged psychedelic masterpiece. Anyone with an interest in the 'more reflective' moments in the music of Glenn Branca, Magma and 'Sister'-era Sonic Youth should immediately add this to their listening queue. (As should anyone who has enjoyed Grisey's 'Les Espaces Acoustiques' and Dufourt's recent series of Brueghel and Tiepelo-referencing orchestral works.) The LP surface is a bit scuffed, but I honestly don't notice at all once the guitars start popping off clouds of harmonics and the ring modulators are let loose. I have included the aforementioned essays (in French) – Dufourt's is something of a manifesto and is worth looking at.

I've also uploaded a now out-of-print 1991 CD on the ADDA label. Once again, the ensemble is the intrepid Ensemble 2E2M directed by Paul Méfano. From 1978: 'D'une Fougere Bleue les Veines' for cello and 25 instruments – 1987: 'Grande Mélodie' for solo flute (Pierre-Yves Artaud) – and 1986: 'Cinq dits de Jean-Claude Renard' for soprano, three clarinets and string trio (with Iréne Jasky, seen with the composer in the black-and-white photo above.)

Alain BANCQUART – Sapho LP – FLAC and scans

Alain BANCQUART – ADDA CD – FLAC and scans

There is a recent CD release of Bancquart's music on Mode that I am planning on investigating as soon as finances permit. Also, be sure and visit Alain Bancquart's own website.

Metalanguage LP 117: 'The Science Set' (1980)

2010-12-27T08:45:00.009-04:00

"Sayyida Nafisah met me at the airport, she'd driven while I'd taken the tube to Heathrow. After we'd both checked in, we went through passport control so that we could enjoy the hospitality of the duty-free pub. There, we drank rowdy toasts to tapsters, bezlors, carousers and wine-bibbers, bench-whistlers, lick-wimbles, down right drunkards, petty drunkards, bacchus boys, roaring boys, bacchanalians, tavern ancients, captains swaggers, foxcatchers, pot and half-pot men, privy drunkards, half-pot companions and other good fellows of our fraternity."

– "Come Before Christ and Murder Love', Stewart Home, pp. 105-106

******

Here's a nifty platter from 1980, Volume 2 of the Metalanguage Festival of Improvised Music: 'The Science Set". The eight shortish pieces are entertaining and memorable – the configurations range from duos to 'big band'. A perfect gift for the shy but improv-curious adventurer. The musicians are all men unfortunately, that was still relatively common as recently as the mid-90s. Not Eight Angry Men, thank the Goddess, but a Chex Mix of musos in a transatlantic super-session with a difference. Participants include the guitarists Derek Bailey and Henry Kaiser, three quarters of the Rova Saxophone Quartet and 'Everready' Evan Parker. This is my own transfer from a good copy of the vinyl – was it ever released on CD? (Note 28 Dec 2010: the answer to this rhetorical question can be found in the comments section.)

Metalanguage 117: "The Science Set" – 1980 LP – FLAC and scans

"Série Grande Diffusion No 2": Gilbert Amy (Avant Garde Project R.I.P.)

2010-12-26T15:17:00.035-04:00

When I began my first blog in early 2009, among the initial posts were a trio of 20th-century French composers whose music I love despite their relative obscurity: Jean Barraqué, Betsy Jolas and Gilbert Amy. While Barraqué's small but powerful oeuvre has become available on CD, that of Jolas and Amy remains almost entirely inaccessible. Gilbert Amy was a student of Darius Milhaud and a protegé of Pierre Boulez. When Boulez stepped down as music director of the Domaine Musical, Amy was his successor. While his music is rooted in the 1950s Darmstadt post-serial world, he very quickly discovered an original 'cantabile' style, more heterophonic than polyphonic – 'decorative' in the Boulezian sense but with a classicizing bent – lush, hedonist, sneaky and sublime.

'Tassilo', one of the first 'followers' of my previous blog, went to great lengths to help me organize a Gilbert Amy retrospective, tracking down recordings, doing research, even writing a short essay. In the end, I didn't follow through on this project and had to apologize to my friend. My central excuse was the wonderful job that had already been done for this composer by the Avant Garde Project. The AGP was a one-man labor of love, a repository of vinyl transfers, radio broadcasts and long-deleted CDs. It was the first online music resource I bookmarked. I owe the AGP my introduction to more composers than I can remember: Mauricio Kagel, Dieter Schnebel, Walter Zimmermann, Franco Donatoni, Aldo Clementi, Sylvano Bussotti, New Phonic Art – the list is endless. The AGP offered transfers of four major Amy works – to my mind his very greatest music: 'Strophe' (1965/67), 'Sonate Pian'e Forte' (1974), 'Trajectories' (1968) and 'Chant' (1967). Only two weeks ago, following my thousandth referral of an interested party to the AGP archives, I discovered they had discontinued operations. Somehow I believed that even in the ephemeral online world the Avant Garde Project would always be there. Fortunately, this was a voluntary decision on the part of the owner and there are rumors that the archives may find a new home elsewhere.

One of Amy's first recordings as leader of the Domaine Musical was an Adès LP of works by Amy – 'Diaphonies' (1962) and 'Inventions' (1961) – and Webern (Op 13, Op 10 and Op 24). For the 'Historical' section of this post, I have made a new transfer of this record and combined it with two late-60s 7-inch discs loaned to me by 'Tassilo'. I believe that their historical importance outweighs the dim sound: there is a short spoken introduction by the composer followed by selections from his then works-in-progress performed by Claude Hellfer and Pierre Boulez. (Helffer also plays a piece by an even more neglected post-war French serialist, Michel Philippot.) Included are complete scans of the printed materials, an archeological treasure-trove of listings and photos of the French new music scene in 1967 and 1968.

I've put together two additional Gilbert Amy programs:

1) Chamber music: from an out-of-print MFA CD, a selection of works performed by the estimable Ensemble 2E2M, including such important and characteristic pieces as 'Ecrits sur Toiles' (1983) and 'D'un désastre Obscur' (1971/76) and

2) Orchestral music: from two hard-to-find CDs, I have cherry-picked a couple of important orchestral works in superb performances. 'D'un espace déployé' (1972) for two orchestras is from a non-commercial Lyon Conservatoire CD; 'Orchestrahl' (1985/89) from an MFA CD. (Both CDs contain additional works, not included here; the Lyon CD may be requested from the conservatory – used copies of the the MFA CD, which also includes Amy's first string quartet, can sometimes be obtained from French online vendors. See also M. Amy's own website: the link is at the bottom of this post.)

Gilbert AMY– Historical recordings – 'Amy conducts Amy and Webern' and two 7-inch recordings – FLAC and scans

Gibert AMY– Chamber Works – ADDA CD – Ensemble 2E2M – FLAC and scans

Gilbert AMY– Orchestral music – 'D'un Espace deployé' and 'Orchestrahl' – FLAC and scans

********

Gilbert AMY's personal WEBSITE

'Romance on Wheels': Big Band Webern, Berg and Schoenberg

2010-12-26T14:18:00.017-04:00

"When normal London folk have gone home to bed the coffee-stalls come trundling out of the mysterious dark to stay at street corners and bridge-heads till the dawn. Ask you friends if they have ever sought refreshment at a coffee-stall. I wager that only the Bad Boy of the Family or Dance Club Jane have experienced the happiness of sausages at 3 AM in this temple of romance.

There was a mist around the coffee-stall when I found it: one of those strange, fugitive fogs that drift like ghosts at night in the hollows. In the mist the stall was a glow-worm, yellow and furry, warm and desirable, a home to wanderers and fly-by-nights, comforting with its smell of hot coffee and its pungent, inviting sizzle.

Six or seven people, black against the yellowness and the banked Woodbines and the tiers of depressing cakes, gazed round suspiciously as I came out of the incalculable dark, for after a certain time of morning every plain man may have the mark of the devil on him. Round the stall were the following people:

A young man with a silk hat on the back of his head and a white evening scarf hanging over a white shirt front.

A young girl with yellow, shingled hair and a pair of silver dance-shoes peeping out from under a moleskin cloak.

A very arch young woman, who was making hopeless eyes at the young man in the silk hat out of sheer enthusiasm, as she ground cigarette stump after cigarette stump into her saucer.

Three or four workmen from the neighboring road repairs.

Two men holding little black bags, who may have been telephone officials, burglars, printers, disguised peers, or returning prodigal sons, but mostly they looked like uncles from Balham."

********

I've never been crazy about the idea of chamber music being turned into orchestral works by conductors eager to expand their repertoire. This goes for Beethoven and Schubert quartets as much as the semi-above-board arrangements of Shostakovich by his friend, the late Rudolf Barshai. A friend once suggested I'd find Berg's 'Lyric Suite' more approachable in the composer's own arrangement of three movements for string orchestra. I prefer the nimble, wiry original. But I'll make an exception for this stunna of a CD from the former DDR. Peter Gülke conducts the Kammerorchester der Jungen Deutsche Philharmonie in Webern's 'Five pieces' Op 5, the 'Three pieces' from Berg's 'Lyric Suite' and Schoenberg's 2nd String Quartet. These youngsters are fierce, and Deutsche Harmonia Mundi's recorded sound is strikingly natural. This is from an out-of-print 1986 EMI CD repackaging of the DHM LP. Eva Csapó is the sensuous soprano in the third and fourth movements of the Schoenberg.

Music for string orchestra – Webern, Berg and Schoenberg – O.O.P. 1986 EMI CD – FLAC and scans

CPE Bach: Four sonatas played on piano by Nina Milkina

2010-12-26T13:25:00.018-04:00

"I have a late Rembrandt self-portrait and I keep looking at it all the time ... Did you ever think about what things are made of in paintings? I start imagining what would happen if you somehow made a little cut, a little trapdoor, on his head and you peeled if off. It would be so dense in there! It would be teeming with millions of thoughts. It's not bone. It's not flesh. It'd just be a teeming thing, like looking into a dream of some kind. You wouldn't know where the hell to begin. In other words, it's as if all of life is just concentrated in this, and how the hell did he do it? He didn't do it, he just was like that. He was Rembrandt, that's all. I was thinking, at the Met, if you look at that El Greco self-portrait they have, well, if you did the same thing there, if you opened up this little hole in that El Greco self-portrait, you wouldn't find the same thing. I don't know what you'd find. It'd be fibrous. There's be some fire going on there. Even the flesh doesn't stay still. It moves. One eye goes up, the other eye goes down. The bones are twisted. It's a different kind of inner life there."

"Why is it, at times you draw and you get bored very rapidly because you're just making lines and you see yourself? But there comes this moment when you don't even see yourself making lines, you know? It's as if you were somewhere else, where at least a dozen things are moving around at once ... I guess one of the problems of being an artist is what to do in between. That's really one of the great problems. Maybe that's what (Morton) Feldman meant by survival. Survival is: what the hell do you do with the time in between?"

--- Philip Guston

*******

Here's a transfer of a mono Westminster LP of Nina Milkina, about whom I know nothing, playing CPE Bach on the piano. Or 'KPE Bach' as it is spelled on the cover. I was playing this in the other room one day, not expecting much of anything from this particular bargain-bin platter and suddenly found myself dancing. She's got a real swinging feel going on, a beautiful touch, and these four sonatas (only one of which is duplicated on my previous Arthur Balsam post) are among Carl Philip Emannuel's wackiest. Skeptical? Well it wouldn't be the first time I'd been overly enthusiastic. But don't throw the files in the trash before you've heard the a-minor sonata ...

Nina Milkina plays KPE Bach – LP transfer – FLAC and scans

Blandine Verlet plays Johann Jakob Froberger

2010-12-21T13:58:00.020-04:00

"Doors are a thing of the past, even if back doors are still said to crop up at architectural competitions.'
– Robert Musil

"Cities must provide possibilities for individual survival and should include personalized elements, for example people who sell DVDs, raise animals or deliver takeout. If the basic living costs in a city are too high, small stores with low profit margins cannot exist, and then all that's left is haute couture. That is true misery; there's no street worse than one selling only designer labels ... To put any city to the test, examine a day in the life of one of its ordinary citizens. Follow him or her to work, observe the choice of transportation, travel routes, how long she or he waits for a car, and what kind of people he or she encounters. A good city will offer speed, convenience and comfort ... It is built for our desires. You wish that you could appear in a flash, or disappear immediately; at two in the morning, there is still somewhere to be, something to eat, you can sleep until you naturally wake up, spend some cash to make yourself happy, or work if you want to earn some money. If you can't make money, you can find other means ... but in a truly misfortunate city, you can't even steal.'

– Ai Weiwei, blog post of July 25, 2006 (translation: Lee Ambrozy)

******

As 2010 comes to a close and I reflect on the events of the year, one encounter stands out from all the others. 2010 was the year that I was befriended by my 'Paris Correspondent', who first left comments on my blog as 'Johann Jakob Froberger'. He has given me a first-rate education in the keyboard music of the 17th and 18th centuries – his knowledge and his generosity continue to astound me. This is the first of several posts in which I attempt to repay him in kind by passing along to others the gifts he has given me.

Blandine Verlet has made three recordings of the solo clavecin music of Johann Jacob Froberger (1616-1667.) The most recent, on the Naive label, is still available and I can't recommend it highly enough. Her first recording was a 1976 LP for Valois (pictured above) that has never appeared on CD. I have made a transfer from a very quiet, mint-condition copy. In 1989 she recorded an entirely different selection of pieces for Michel Bernstein's subsequent label Astrée. These two recordings were done on very different instruments – the 1976 release is played on a seventeenth-century clavecin known only by the initials 'D.F.' This beautiful instrument has a mellow lute-like sound that should win over even inveterate harpsichord-haters. For the 1989 program, Verlet chose a brighter but equally delicate-sounding instrument: a 1624 clavecin built by Hans Ruckers II, recorded at the Musée d'Unterlinden in Colmar. Both the 1976 and 1989 recordings use a system of mean-tone intonation established in 1619 by Johannes Kepler. Froberger's hair-trigger modulations and chromatic passing-tones still look shocking in the early 20th century - and sound even wilder 'compromised' by the piquant blur of the tuning.

If Ms. Verlet were a pianist I am willing to bet she would be 'legendary' among a bigger crowd than early-music enthusiasts. Her touch is immediately recognizable and her command of expressive rubato makes her more than a merely 're-creative' artist – I'd put her in the company of a Cortot or a Coltrane. I was completely unfamiliar with Froberger's melancholy art until this year. Froberger was the composer who established the French dance-suite sequence later used by JS Bach and many others. His free-associative style seems to anticipate the solo playing of Thelonious Monk and Paul Bley by several centuries; his pensive, somewhat hermetic 'first-person' voice recalls his French contemporaries Montaigne, Descartes and Pascal. I hope that you will enjoy these recordings as much as I have. Once again, all thanks are due to my 'Paris Correspondent' who sent me these rare recordings in September.

Blandine Verlet plays Froberger – 1976 VALOIS LP transfer – FLAC and scans

Blandine Verlet plays Froberger – 1989 ASTRÉE CD – FLAC and scans PART ONE
Blandine Verlet plays Froberger – 1989 ASTRÉE CD – FLAC and scans PART TWO

The picture above is by Charlotte Salomon (1917-1943) from her book 'Life? or Theatre?'

Jakob Lateiner (1928-2010) – The Carter Piano Concerto (first recording 1967)

2010-12-15T17:37:00.011-04:00

The pianist Jakob Lateiner died this week at the age of 82. He was a member of a youthful piano-playing cohort that rose to prominence in the early 1950s and also included Eugene Istomen, Gary Graffman and Leon Fleisher. They were dubbed the OYAPs by the American press – 'Outstanding Young American Pianists.' Or 'Leogene Graffteiner', if you prefer.

Lateiner recorded with Heifetz and Piatogorsky and concertized the 19th-century concerto warhorses expected of him. He also premiered two notable modern American pieces: Roger Sessions' Third Piano Sonata and Elliott Carter's Piano Concerto. Carter's concerto was the surprise winner of a contest sponsored by the Ford Foundation. The prize was a performance by Mr. Lateiner, with Erich Leinsdorf and the Boston Symphony Orchestra. RCA recorded the premiere for release in 1967. Leon Fleisher commented that Lateiner ' was a hand crusher. When he shook your hand, it appeared to be with intent to break it, and he went at the piano keyboard the same way.' That power is evident in the Carter Concerto, but he also provides real poetry and understanding in its quieter moments. The recording was patched together from two performances and has its occasional messy moments; there is also a bad tape splice in the first minute of the second movement. But overall it's an impressive achievement: Leinsdorf and the orchestra are game and the piano is very well-recorded. It deserves to be made available on CD.

This is my own needledrop. It was doctored and eq-ed by that Prince Among Men, Boom Boomsky, in late 2009. If anyone has a better-sounding source they want to share, please do! Somebody on Amazon is asking $99 for this – it's a pretty common find in the used record shops (I paid three dollars for mine.) The flip side of the record, Michael Colgrass's 'As Quiet As ... ', is not included here.

Elliott Carter: Piano concerto (1967) RCA LP – FLAC

The Composers Quartet plays Elliott Carter's Fourth String Quartet

2010-12-11T15:00:00.010-04:00

Today is Elliott Carter's 102nd birthday. Thanks to my generous friend Steve E., we can celebrate by listening to the composer's 1986 String Quartet No 4, played by the group who commissioned it, the Composers Quartet. This ensemble's recording of Carter's First and Second Quartets (on Nonesuch) has remained in print since it was issued and was many people's introduction to the composer – it was mine. They later recorded the Fourth Quartet for the Music and Arts label, with music by Milton Babbitt and Mel Powell. This CD has been out of print for some time. I've never heard it (or seen it!) Steve E. was lurking in the comments section of my previous Carter post and acted quickly to make the Carter portion of this disc available to us in FLAC. So thanks, Steve – and happy birthday, Mr. Carter!

Elliott Carter Fourth Quartet – Composers' Quartet – FLAC - with scans.

(The quartet is in four movements played without pause; as on the Etcetera recording by the Arditti Quartet, Music and Arts issued the recording as one track. The movements and their timings are as follows: 1. Appassionato 5.58 2. Scherzando 5:54 3. Lento 6:17 4. Presto 6:25.)

The Walden Quartet plays Elliott Carter's First String Quartet

2010-12-05T15:42:00.007-04:00

As a prelude to what I hope will be an unparalleled high level of activity at 'Avant que j'oublie' in December, here is the Walden Quartet's recording of Elliott Carter's first string quartet. The tale of this work has often been told: the composer spent a year in the Arizona desert composing without any restrictions whatever on the imagination. He assumed that a piece of such unprecedented length and metrical complexity would never be played but had to get it out of his system, so to speak. By force of practical habit, Carter sent the work to a number of young groups and entered it in some competitions. Much to his surprise, one piece of good news followed another: his first quartet took first prize in a Belgian contest – shortly thereafter he received notice that the Walden Quartet would be premiering the work at Columbia University in February 1953.

This mono Columbia LP is in very good condition. For their efforts, the Walden Quartet received the dedication in the published score. Today's specialist quartets can present smoother interpretations, but there is real excitement to be had in listening to this early foray into a terra that's still fairly incognita nearly 60 years on. And – dare I say it? – the Walden's swinging performance has got 'soul'. I've enjoyed listening to this as much (or more) than the best of the later recordings.

The Walden Quartet – Carter Quartet No 1 – FLAC and scans

Leonard Shure plays Schubert and Beethoven

2010-11-07T15:20:00.009-04:00

For some time I labored under the mistaken assumption that Leonard Shure was Leonard Stein (an associate of Schoenberg, and the pianist on the Robert Craft Columbia Webern box.)

In fact, Leonard Shure (1910-1995) was a student of Artur Schnabel's; he later became his assistant. He made a number of records for Epic and was a teacher of note – apparently Rudolf Serkin answered many requests for private lessons at Marlboro with a referral to Mr. Shure, which was how he became the teacher of Gilbert Kalish, Ursula Oppens, Jerome Rose and David del Tredici amongst others.

Shure's repertoire was as high-minded as his teacher Schnabel – he made this mono recording of Schubert's c-minor sonata D958 at a time when Schubert's piano works were still viewed as curiosities (check out the remarkable 'damned with faint praise' liner notes to get a sense of the special pleading still required in the late 50s.) He recorded Beethoven's 'Diabelli Variations' three times – late in life, Shure was cajoled out of semi-retirement and made a number of CDs for the AudioFon label. These Epic recordings are in more or less the kind of condition you'd expect for LPs of their vintage – in fact, they are better-preserved than usual. However, I had to do quite a bit of manual declicking to make them listenable. So, fair warning. But I don't recall hearing another D958 nearly as exciting as this one – the 'Diabellis' don't really catch fire until the 8th or 9th variation (but that's how I've always felt about the Diabellis ... ) On the flip side of the Schubert c-minor sonata are the 'Moments Musicaux.'

Leonard Shure plays Schubert D958 and D740 – Epic mono LP with scans

Leonard Shure plays Beethoven Op 120 – Epic mono LP with scans

Daan Manneke: 'Signalen' (Attacca LP 1982)

2010-11-07T14:42:00.008-04:00

What is it about Dutch minimalism that makes it both sensuous and intellectually rewarding? And why, even as it has gone 'mainstream', does it retain the edge that American minimalism lost decades ago? As I've speculated before, I suspect that the cross-pollination of the post-WW II Dutch avant-garde with the late 60s early music, improvisation and political movements kept it historically-grounded; you'd certainly never mistake Louis Andriessen or Roderik De Man for new age music (and if you did put it on in your ashram or bank lobby, it would indeed be a mistake.)

From a very well-preserved Attacca LP, here is the Delta Ensemble playing Daan Manneke's 'Signalen', a kind of Dutch minimalist 'Agon'. Beginning and ending with an excellent snippet of Andriessen-style 'Hoketus', these short pieces for eight instruments are a pocket history of music, from modal monody and Flemish isorhythm to Stravinskyesque chords and Kagelesque discords.

Daan Manneke: 'Signalen' lp transfer FLAC with SCANS (liner notes in Dutch only)

In memoriam: Ari Up (1962-2010)

2010-10-23T11:31:00.012-03:00

Arianna Forster AKA Ari Up, the singer for the Slits, has died at the age of 48. She was only 14 years old when she formed the 'all-girl' punky-reggae band with co-conspirators Palmolive, Tessa Pollitt and Viv Albertine. Only two days ago I spent a pleasant hour listening (three times!) to 'Cut', the Slits' 1979 debut, a cool, short and hardly-sweet song cycle and a dub masterpiece. This morning, as I read Jon Savage's appreciation in the Guardian, Susan put on Emil Gilels playing Scarlatti. This live recording of seven sonatas played very quietly and slowly was combined with an additional six played by Youri Egorov in a post I did on the High Pony Tail last year ... Emil Gilels, Youri Egorov and Ari Up, three gifted characters who died too young.

There is a short clip on Youtube of the Slits' automobile-bashing cameo in Derek Jarman's 'Jubilee' followed by a disastrous but entertaining 1978 performance of 'Newtown'. (Ideally, a viewing of this should be followed by a listen to the polished Dennis Bovell-mixed version as it appeared as the opener of Side 2 of 'Cut', with David Toop dropping spoons on a table and Ari's highest and coolest squeal at the fade.)

The Slits Y Records 'bootleg' at Lucky's.

Emil Gilels and Youri Egorov play Scarlatti MP3, no scans.

Company: 'Fables' 1980 Incus LP (Derek Bailey, George Lewis, Evan Parker, Dave Holland)

2010-10-22T18:44:00.004-03:00

If there is a 'classical' period of so-called European Free Improvisation, 'Fables' is surely an excellent example. 'Company' was the name the guitarist Derek Bailey used for an occasional series of concerts and recordings. Mr. Bailey's guiding principle for Company seems to have been 'cast the net wide, stand back and see what happens.' He put Americans with Europeans, jazz musicians with classical musicians, and especially enjoyed finding youngsters and throwing them together with established names. Given that modus operandi, this 1980 Company record is an anomaly. The musicians on this record had worked with each other extensively before and were all in the same musical ballpark. The result is uncommonly fluent music and a fantastic document – six medium-length pieces with the coherence and balance of composed music. Dave Holland (bass) and George Lewis (trombone) had spent the late 70s in Anthony Braxton's quartet – Bailey and Holland had made a duets album for ECM – Evan Parker (saxophone) and Bailey were the founders of the Incus record label. The unique 'feel' of this record is probably the result of many factors – the absence of percussion and Holland's straightforward harmonic language, for starters – but the determining factor is the overwhelmingly common purpose of the players.

This is my own transfer from a beautiful copy of the LP, including Jamie Muir's cover art. There is already at least one very good needledrop of this on the internet – if you haven't had a chance to hear this lovely record yet, here's another chance.

'Fables' by Company 1980 Incus LP FLAC and scans

Schubert – the 'Arpeggione' sonata. With Alfons Kontarsky on the hammerflügel and Klaus Storck on the arpeggione. Also Reger, Beethoven ...

2010-10-22T18:14:00.014-03:00

My Paris correspondent continues to shower me with gifts – the gift of his conversation, as well as a few treasures from his music collection. This sober, loving performance of Franz Schubert's 'Arpeggione' sonata D821 is played on the original instruments – the 'arpeggione' by Klaus Storck, with Alfons Kontarsky at the Hammerflügel. On the flip side are the Variations for flute and piano D802 (on 'Trockne Blumen' from 'Die Schöne Müllerin'). Hans-Martin Linde plays a wooden flute. (NOTE, 21 October – see the comments below for further details.) This stormy and somewhat disheveled music sounds convincingly crazed on these fragile instruments.

I have added a recording of Max Reger's implacably sublime Variations and Fugue on a theme of Mozart Op 132a, played by Alfons and Aloys Kontarsky (on modern pianos.) This is taken from a Musical Heritage Society LP of uncertain date and is my own transfer.

In the absence of an arpeggione, I prefer to hear the Schubert on viola rather than 'cello (the common alternative.) Gerard Caussé (viola) and François-René Duchable (piano) play both D821 and Beethoven's seldom-heard 'Notturno' in D-major Op 42 on an out-of-print 1994 EMI CD. (The disc also contains three 'Fantasiestücke' by Carl Reinecke, not included here.)

The Kontarsky brothers, Storck and Linde: Schubert and Reger FLAC and scans

Caussé and Duchable: Schubert and Beethoven FLAC and scans

Gérard Pesson: 'Le gel, par jeu' – Chamber music (Accord CD 1995)

2010-10-22T17:29:00.011-03:00

'The danse macabre is the only cheerful genre which is also profound.'

I am sitting on a small wooden box copying a few comments by the composer Gérard Pesson (b. 1958) from the booklet that came with this CD. There are eight short pieces – one of them is a string quartet called 'Respirez ne respirez pas'. What does the music sound like? Reserved, poised, quiet, funny, triste. Pianissimo, open fifths, barely-there, knocking at the door. Ghosts. Old photos. Autumn sunlight (bright without heat.) Afternoon hours.

Also from the CD booklet:

' "Non Sparemo mai di Questo Mi" for violin, flute and piano (1992) ... was part of a sort of little "garland for Julie" composed by the residents of the Villa Medici to celebrate the bicentennial of Mozart's death ... it was based on an imposed subject: the first theme of the Adagio from Mozart's String Quintet K 516. The theme is somewhat encoded, but it nevertheless appears note for note, at an octave or two distance and instrumentally diffracted in the final bars. The title – "We will never know anything about this 'E' " alludes to the unforgettable hilarity of an old Russian maestro who, as a member of a composition jury in Rome, had wondered about an 'E' in the score of one of the candidates – was it an E natural, sharp or flat? And, for this man withdrawn from the world, all the futility of things was in the irony of this sentence laughingly lisped four times: "non sapremo mai di questo mi". In Mozart's case, the "E" is unquestionably flatted.'

Pesson, still:

"Five poems by Sandro Penna" for baritone, bass clarinet, horn, violin and cello (1991-92). Penna dies, little-known, in 1977, in an apartment close to the San giovanni del Fiorentini, against the large loop of the Tiber. He wrote poetry of a 'scandalous sweetness.' The idea of adding a bit of music to his poetry came naturally to me ..... '

"The Light doesn't have arms to carry us" for amplified piano (1994) was written in memory of Dominique Troncin, shortly before his death towards the end of 1994. 'La Lumière n'a pas de bras pour nous porter' is a verse, a one-line poem by Pierre-Albert Jourdan, taken from 'Sandales de paille.' This volume was Dominique's bedside book, the last time I went to his apartment in the Rue Saint-Sébastian. The second part of the book consists of the diary of Jourdan's last year, written when he knew he was going to die. Only the piano's white keys are called for. A harmony in C floats, sometimes held by a danced refrain played at an implacable prestissimo. Pierre-Albert Jourdan, shortly before his death, ended his notebooks with these two sentences: 'Basically, we walked a great deal. Already happy not to have lost each other sooner."

As I copy the composer's words I am sitting on a small wooden box in the late-afternoon autumn light. The sun is bright.

These are very early works by Gérard Pesson – but even his most recent music is reticent and doubtful. Shy? Provisional? I previously posted Pesson's chamber opera 'Forever Valley', based on the novel by Marie Redonnet – there is a plot summary and more at the High Pony Tail. I've posted it again below, this time with scans.

Gérard Pesson: Chamber music Accord CD FLAC and scans

Gérard Pesson and Marie Redonnet: 'Forever Valley' CD FLAC and scans

Guillaume de Machaut et son Temps (1974 Adès LP)

2010-10-10T19:21:00.017-03:00

For me to improvise a little rundown of 15th-century music would be nearly as hazardous as my signing a short essay on Dubstep or Western Swing. The Ars Nova predates my area of musical semi-competence by about two centuries. On this LP you'll find a compact selection of ballads, motets and vierlai by Guillaume de Machaut and his contemporaries. I'll admit I picked it up primarily for the cover art and to strengthen my holdings of vintage Adès recordings. So rather than tell you how this stacks up to the competition, I'll restrain myself – let's just say that the performances are beautiful, the recorded sound and pressing are great and I like it very much.

The Ensemble Guillaume de Machaut de Paris perform four short works by Machaut, as well as pieces by les deux Jeans (Césaris and Carmen), Borlet, the well-known 'Anonymous' and three movements from a Mass by Thomas Tapissier. I've included scans of the front, back and inside of the jacket, including the sung texts.

Guillaume de Machaut et son temps – FLAC and scans

Morton Feldman: 'Untitled composition for cello and piano' (1981)

2010-10-07T23:18:00.017-03:00

Here is another gift from a generous music-lover. Olde Edo sent me a lossless copy of this extremely-rare compact disc – I thank him and, as I promised, I am passing it on to you.

Morton Feldman's 'Untitled composition for cello and piano' had an unusually-protracted genesis. Feldman normally had no problem with titles (although his publisher, Univeral Edition, sometimes had misgivings.) Until the early 1970s, Feldman was a master of the evocative title – 'I meet Heine in the Rue Fürstenberg', 'The Viola in my life', 'False relationships and the extended ending' are fine examples. At the beginning of that decade, Feldman's music changed somewhat drastically and the titles, or lack of them, reflected this. The pieces were now fully-notated in the traditional manner and started to become longer. The material became more dissonant and rhythmically unpredictable; the 'smooth surface' of his earlier music was replaced by agitation, indecision and sudden, extreme shifts in rhetorical tone. In his interviews and writings Feldman seems somewhat shaken, at times unsure of what was happening. This is reflected in the titles, or lack of them – simply the instrumentation: 'String Quartet and orchestra' (1973), 'Piano and orchestra' (1975), 'Voice, violin and piano' (1976) and – my own favorite – 'Orchestra' (1976).

'Untitled piece for cello and piano' was Feldman's original name for this 1981 piece and, as the 'untitled' indicates, it must have seemed to him that 'Cello and piano' (for instance) was somehow incomplete. Universal Edition had already made the parts available to musicians before Feldman changed his mind and decided to call it 'Patterns in a chromatic field.' Under the latter name, this is one of the composer's most-recorded works, one of his most fascinating and (to my mind) one of his greatest. René Berman and Kees Wieringa made the first recording for the Dutch label Attacca when it was still 'Untitled'. This is a superb performance, on the quick side. Like the recording on Tzadik by Charles Curtis and Aleck Karis it fits on one disc; the performances on Hat Hut and Aeon stretch to two. John Tilbury's brisk recordings of Feldman's piano music have convinced me that late Feldman IS more convincing at a quicker tempo – it certainly makes the structure clearer, the mood both stormier and funnier and, above all, wards off the common misunderstanding of Feldman's music as entirely quiet, slow and 'ineffable.'

Now that I've brought up John Tilbury, I'd like to mention a 2009 release that seems to have been overlooked. Matchless Recordings have issued the first volume of a three-part series of Feldman's chamber music for strings and piano. The recordings were made at the 2006 Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival. John Tilbury is the pianist; the Smith Quartet, both collectively and as soloists, play the string parts. It is being issued on DVD (audio-only) to allow the longer works to play uninterruptedly. Judging from the first volume ('For John Cage' for violin and piano and 'Piano and String Quartet') this should be a great series. ('Patterns in a chromatic field' will appear in Volume 2.) Matchless is not a widely distributed label, and the DVD format may put some people off, but I recommend this both for Tilbury's authoritative interpretation (nobody has worked on Feldman's music as long and as seriously as Tilbury) and for the contribution of the Smith Quartet, whose decision to use baroque bows for their lightness and flexibility gives the music an entirely new – and haunting – sound.

The Matchless recording is available directly from the label and, in the United States, from Erstwhile and the Jazz Loft. I have scanned the cover of Volume One and uploaded the first 20 minutes of the 70-minute 'Piano and String Quartet' in hopes of tempting some of you to buy it. And thanks again to Olde Edo for sending me the long out-of-print Attacca CD.

'Untitled Compostion for cello and piano' – Attacca CD – FLAC and scans

'Piano and String Quartet' (excerpt) – Matchless audio-only DVD – MP3 and scans

More music of Claude Ballif, an unjustly-neglected composer

2010-10-07T21:05:00.025-03:00

It's high time I passed along to you some of the gifts that visitors to my previous blog sent my way with the understanding that I would spread the wealth. Mr. Randolph Pitts of New York City responded to my post of an out-of-print Arion CD of chamber music by Claude Ballif (1924-2004) by sending me a companion disc on ADDA. Ballif claimed his music was equal parts Satie and Webern – as I said the first time around, I don't quite get his point, but I certainly love his music. So much so that I feel it's my duty to propagandize a bit and indulge in some idiotic canon-tweaking ... I'll go out on a limb and saw myself off and say that Ballif (pictured at left) is fully the equal of Jean Barraqué and Betsy Jolas in the pantheon of French modernists. Rather than wait and wait for another significant work from Mr. Boulez, why not dive in and enjoy Ballif's haunting and lyrical music? There is more to modern music than the stark non-choice between Boulez and John Adams – Claude Ballif is one of the many musicians who responded positively to the challenge of the Second Viennese School with complicated works of pure and simple beauty.

The ADDA CD contains 'A cor et a cri' (1962 - ONRF, Lukas Vis, conductor) – the Third String Quartet (1957 - with a very young Kronos Quartet) – 'Haut les rêves' (1984 - Clara Bonaldi, violin, with the Nouvel ONRF conducted by Michel Tabachnik) and the Sonata for flute and piano (1958 - Pierre-Yves Artaud and Christian Ivaldi.)

Ballif was an incredibly prolific composer. He wrote six piano sonatas as well as several collections of piano miniatures. A CD on the Grave label collects the complete 'Airs Comprimés', 'Bloc-Notes', 'Pieces Detachées' and 'Passe-temps' for piano (there is indeed a touch of Satie in Ballif's titles.) Philippe Keler is the pianist on this out-of-print collection.

I first heard Ballif thanks to the Avant Garde Project's Ballif program – in two parts! – which features the Mallarmé 'setting 'Un coup de dés' for five choirs, two double basses, two timpanists, two percussionists and tape. My own earlier post included sonatas for violin, cello and piano (the Fifth.) Thanks again to Randolph Pitts for his enthusiasm and generosity.

Claude Ballif – Four works on ADDA – FLAC and scans PART ONE PART TWO

Claude Ballif – Piano music on Grave – FLAC and scans

IMPORTANT NOTE: I uploaded the wrong booklet with the ADDA CD. Here is the CORRECT ONE.

Charles Rosen plays Haydn and Beethoven

2010-10-06T18:37:00.007-03:00

'Variation is imperative for repetition these days. It is expected of all performers.' – CPE Bach, 'Sonaten mit veränderten Reprisen'

It may come as a shock to some of you, but musically-literate friends of mine who are new to classical music are often astonished by the exposition repeats in sonata-form movements. Why on earth does a musician (or an entire orchestra) immediately repeat the first two or three minutes of a piece, note-for-note? A constant highbrow complaint regarding popular music is that it is mechanically repetitious, yet that apparent repetition always goes hand-in-hand with improvisation – in jazz, the extemporizing is so extensive it amounts to through-composed variation form ... in rock and soul music, it is more subtle: ornamentation would be the right word.

In his important book on the performance of Haydn's piano sonatas, László Somfai has this to say:

" ... even exaggerated or arbitrary ornamentation is more fitting than the mechanically exact repetition of an exposition. Great pianists of our age with perfect technical and artistic control are capable of playing precise repetitions of whole expositions or movements, and, unfortunately, they even seem to enjoy doing so ... For the star pianist, playing an exact repetition may be an easier feat than to perform two or more variants in an artistically convincing manner in each concert. Listeners may notice and find pleasure in performers' utmost command of the piece, in their ability to play it in exactly the same way. Such an approach seems senseless and impoverishing, If, in the interpreting artist's opinion, those sections of a sonata-form movement marked with a repeat sign can be performed in one single way only – either because its notation is so strictly fixed or because the pianist's ability at improvisation or memory cannot be depended on – the repeat might be better omitted altogether."

On this 1969 Vanguard LP, Charles Rosen takes the exposition repeats in Haydn's c-minor XVI:20 and A-flat major XVI:46 sonatas. He takes them and runs with them, adding ornaments and embellishments like a Bud Powell in a powdered wig. He doesn't do anything shocking or gratuitous – the shock comes from how unusual this kind of embellishment is, although 'historically-informed' performers do it more and more.

Rosen's late Beethoven set for Columbia is rightfully well-known and easily found cheap. His recording of the 'middle' sonatas on Globe is unfortunately a lackluster affair, with uninspired playing and muted sound. In 1985, however, just before the CD era, Nonesuch let loose a single LP containing the Op 26 and Op 27 (Nos 1 and 2) sonatas, as well as the Op 119 Bagatelles. It's a very vivid recital and I hope you like it. I've transferred this and thrown in the F-sharp major Op 78 sonata from the Globe set – one of my favorite LVB sonatas and the jewel of that otherwise dull effort. Unfortunately, I was unable to include the third sonata on the Haydn LP – the end of Side 2 has a nasty gouge.

Charles Rosen plays Haydn on a 1969 Vanguard LP – FLAC and scans

Charles Rosen plays Beethoven on a 1985 Nonesuch LP – FLAC and scans

Works for two harpsichords – Ton Koopman and Anneke Uittenbosch

2010-10-01T09:15:00.015-03:00

From the liner notes:

"Isolated instances of keyboard music for four hands on one instrument already existed in the first half of the 17th century. Such pieces, for instance, by the English virginal players Nicholas Carleston and Thomas Tonkins, have come down to us. However, for all practical purpose they were not imitated, perhaps because the keyboard at that time was still of such minor range that for reasons of space it was highly uncomfortable – except for loving couples – for two people to sit at it. Even in the middle of the 18th century four-handed playing was still a rarity. Such awkward titles as that by Johann Christian Bach, 'Six Sonates ... a 4 mains et peut-être jouée par deux personnes sur la même clavecin' ... indicate the difficulty.'

The notes go on to explain that eventually somebody had the idea to wheel another harpsichord into the sitting room and 'voila!' - the keyboard duo repertoire took off.

Ton Koopman is a harpsichordist and conductor who probably needs no introduction. Anneke Uittenbosch was a member, with the violinist Jaap Schröder, of Ensemble Estro Armonico. Among her many solo recordings are WF Bach's harpsichord sonatas, which I've put on my to-hear list after the happy introduction that was this record.

By far the highlight of this program is the 'Allemande' by François Couperin. The silky texture of cascading thirds spread across four hands is an indescribable pleasure. Anneke Uittenbach goes it alone for the remainder of Ninth Order of the Second Book of pieces; Couperin's wonderfully libertine titles are a poetic delight in themselves: 'La rafraichissante', 'La princesse de sens', 'L'insinuante', 'La séduisante' and ... 'Le petit-deuil ou les trois veuves'.

The rest of the album is duo playing, beginning with the flashy antiphonal first movement of Pedro José Blanco's justly-forgotten G major 'Concerto de dos organos'. Side 2 is WF Bach's Sonata in F major and Soler's Concerto No 3 in G major. I hope you enjoy this record as much as I have. Information about the harpsichords on this record is in the scans --- my German is not good enough to guarantee a mistake-free translation.

Works for two harpsichords Das Alte Werke/Harlekijn LP – FLAC and scans

L'Octuor de Paris plays Xenakis, Prokofiev and Martinu

2010-10-01T09:04:00.011-03:00

Here's another nice mixed bag: a 1969 Musicdisc 2-LP chamber music program with L'Octuor de Paris. The recorded sound is excellent and benefits from a beautiful pressing (fourteen-minute sides make for very nice sound.)

There are two pieces by Iannis Xenakis. 'Anaktoria' (1969) has been recorded several times; here it is by the group it was written for. 'Anaktoria ... was a beautiful woman ... belle comme un palais. C'était une jeune femme tres belle de Lesbos dont Sapho était éprise.' On the flip side of the first is the lesser-known 'Morisima Amorsima' (1956-1962) for violin, cello, bass and piano. This is one of the composer's hard-core 'stochastic' works, as the gee-whiz liner notes have it " this piece was calculated by the electronic brain 7090 IBM in Paris.' Be advised that much of the string writing is in a very high register – those glissandi may make headphone listening an adventure.

The second LP consists of Prokofiev's Op 39 Quintet in g minor for oboe, clarinet, violin, viola and bass and Martinu's 'Nonetto' for violin, viola, cello, bass, flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon and horn.

The members of the Quatuor de Paris are Jean Leber and Jean Verdier (violins), Jean-Louis Bonafous (viola), Michel Renard (cello), Gabin Lauridon (bass), Guy Deplus (clarinet), Daniel Bourgue (horn) and Jean-Pierre Laroque (bassoon). The guests include the excellent Jacqueline Mefano on piano.

L'Octuor de Paris – Xenakis, Prokofiev, Martinu – Musicdisc LP FLAC and scans

Composers' Voice Special Number One

2010-10-01T08:42:00.033-03:00

To call the late 1960s and early 1970s a time of 'global revolution' is uncontroversial. In retrospect, that revolution was (in Europe and the U.S.) more cultural than political. The soundtrack of the hippie and black power movements were rock and soul and these popular forms dominate most cultural histories. But 'high' musical culture was just as firmly shaken. It was in the late 60s that the early music movement, free improvisation and post-serial modernism had their headiest moments, spawning magnificent musical monsters. While New York, London, Darmstadt and Paris were musical centers of one or two of these activities, only the Netherlands were pioneers in all three at the same time – and, arguably, from the 'nutcrackers' disrupting the Concertgebouw to musician-run labels and festivals to the three musical militants whose works are on this record --- the Dutch were the most demanding self-interrogating theorists of the social questions behind the cultural changes.

I found this invaluable document of the Dutch scene for a mere two dollars. It includes not only a recording, but a 24-page booklet with a manifesto and analysis by the composers AND the complete scores of the four works. The composers are Jan Vriend, Joep Straesser and Jos Kunst. Here are some extracts from their manifesto:

"People are all the time in contact with each other and with things around them, using all kinds of 'languages' ... speech, making love, movement, gestures, breeding cattle, being active in politics, painting, papering rooms, composing, eating ... Each time there is an interference in the situations which give concrete form to the contact between the individual and his surroundings, including his fellow human beings ... Music is a way of thinking about and dealing with a specific kind of reality: a reality providing potential alternatives ... music is thus analogous to any form of thought. And this very analogy lays the composer's responsibility at his door, rooted as it is in the unity of thought of every individual, whatever subject he may be dealing with. He tackles musical problems in the same way as he would, for example, political problems ... The composers of the works presented on this recording claim that their music, although it will easily be called 'difficult', is meant for everybody and not for a select audience. Is this music really so difficult? Music is as difficult, or as easy, as one wants it to be. In most cases 'difficult' does not mean anything else than acknowledging the possibility of simultaneousness in one phenomenon ... it is an unforgivable underestimation to assume that any individual or group of individuals is not capable of understanding. (The so-called) 'lower classes' should at least have the weapons at their disposal of which they are now deprived deliberately, instead of saddling them with products which are mere sops and which give the impression that those people are stupid and can only live with substitutes. They should, instead, seize the best things their oppressors have appropriated and they should get the opportunity to expose the abuse of these things. It is necessary that everybody should be armed and at the same time should learn to use his arms purposefully ... now is the time for establishing a permanent learning situation centered upon music as a tool. For that purpose, it is necessary to reveal (our) techniques, to indicate the effects aimed at and to create experimental situations with them. Therefore: text, score and record. No personality cult. Let us once and for all do away with the conception of the composer as possessor and guardian of his personal secret ... therefore no photographs of the composers, picturing them somewhere outdoors or busy at their magic drawing-tables, and no biographies, but their addresses:

– Jos Kunst, Nieuwezijds Voorburgwaal 322 Amsterdam

– Joep Straesser, Hollandstraat 19 Loenersloot

– Jan Vriend Het Laagt 129 Amsterdam."

And what about the music? 'Elements of Logic', by Jos Kunst and Jan Vriend, is a rare example of a co-composed piece of notated music. The compositional decisions were made collectively, but the result is seamless – to whom should we attribute the results? The loosely associative structure reminds me a little of Maderna's late orchestral works (Maderna was a frequent guest conductor of the Concertgebouw; had the 'nutcrackers' had their way, he might have become its music director.) Jan Vriend's 'Huantan', for wind ensemble and organ, is a magical Xenakis-like antiphonal contraption; Joep Stroesser's 'Ramasasiri', for mezzo-soprano, flute and percussion, receives the longest and most interesting analysis from its composer (I'm still working on fitting the words to what I hear.)

My immediate favorite is the contribution from Jos Kunst. 'No Time' is written for three clarinets, bass clarinet, piano and percussion. An attractively disjunct heterophonic line for clarinets comes unstuck following an ambush by woodblocks. In the wake of this catastrophe, bass clarinet and piano abandon the shaken group and strike out on their own, engaging in increasingly incompatible solo musics. The simple dramatic scenario is reminiscent of a direction pursued but abandoned by Stockhausen in his early chamber music ('Kreuzspiel', 'Kontrapunkte', 'Zeitmasse'.)

While I would have loved to scan all of the scores, I've restrained myself and included just the score to 'No Time' (along with the booklet and gatefold sleeve.) I have rarely encountered such accurate performances of post-WW II orchestral music. Ernest Bour and Hans Vonk conduct the Residentie Orkest and other groups; they obviously had a lot of rehearsal time.

To round things out to CD-length, I've included another Dutch work from a later Donemus Composers' Voice LP. Lucas Vis conducts Jan van Vlijmen's ravishing 'Quaterni' (1979). A plaintive falling semi-tone motif is obsessively reiterated in the winds; despite increasingly threatening orchestral weather it refuses to develop or bow down. Formally and emotionally, the result is something like both the great adagio from Mahler's 10th symphony and Boulez's 'Rituel'. (There is some surface noise on this record, but the impact of the music is unimpaired.)

You can find a more or less complete recorded overview of the Dutch improvisation scene at Lucky's ; the late William Breuker's label BVHAAST has issued hundreds of records documenting both improvised and composed music. Jos Kunst's complete 'No time' cycle is available from Donemus themselves in a performance by the Barton Workshop, as are a number of other works by Jan van Vlijmen.

Composer Voice LP DAVS 7475/3 Donemus-Amsterdam FLAC and scans

Jan Pieter Kunst maintains a website devoted to the music and writings of Jos Kunst.

Derek Bailey: 'Notes'

2010-09-30T23:20:00.017-03:00

From the first few notes, it's clear that something unusual is up. That's Derek Bailey on guitar alright but why do I suspect a ringer about four minutes into the first track?

The answer is right in front of my nose of course – this 1985 Incus LP is called 'Notes' for good reason. And in case Karen Brookman's cover collage isn't literal enough, there's even a one-liner clue of a liner note on the back:

'I put an E with a B and a G with a D and an A and an F. And a B with C and a G and an E and {SMALL VERSION OF COVER COLLAGE} and an F and an A. And a ........... J (S) DURANTE From: I'm the guy who found the lost chord.'

In fact, Bailey is playing notes, of all things, specifically the open strings of the standard-tuned six-string guitar --- and an 'F and an A' (and a C) just to thicken the plot.

The tracks are called 'K', 'Scaling', 'At fives and sixes', 'Notable', 'Noting', 'Speculations, old-style', '83, an update on 38' and 'Titular Exhaustion'. This is Derek Bailey's own 'Art de toucher le guitar'. A increasingly detailed examination of simple notes and simple and not-so-simple ways of playing them (not excluding the familiar method of tuning-up via harmonics and a nicely placed A major chord in track 7.) I can't imagine a less-mysterious program, or a less-mystifying modern musician.

This record was a pleasure to transfer --- it's in heart-tuggingly beautiful condition and reminded me once again that there is simply nothing like the magic of music exploding off of those spinning black frisbees, out through the stylus and into the air. I know it's unlikely (and scientifically impossible) that this small analog miracle will survive the transformation from 'E's and 'B's to '0's and '1's once I've slung it off at the internet, but with a little bit of imagination, maybe we can pretend.

This is Incus LP 48. After a few inactive years following Mr. Bailey's death, Incus is back in business. I don't think that this vinyl release was ever reformatted into a CD, but I could be wrong. In the United States, Incus CDs are available from the Downtown Music Gallery amongst other places.

Derek Bailey – 'Notes' – solo guitar improvisations – FLAC and scans.

Anthony Braxton: Seven compositions 1978 (Moers LP)

2010-09-30T10:29:00.021-03:00

Here's a somewhat overlooked item from a somewhat overlooked ensemble. In 1978 and 1979, the ever-practical Mr. Braxton, having given Arista a few straightforward quartet LPs and the 'Downbeat' poll-topping 'Creative Orchestra Music', moved quickly to alchemize Arista's largesse into much-needed finance for the recording of several ambitious notated works – Composition 82 for four orchestras, most famously. At the same time, he made a few quick small group LPs for independent European labels. Some of them were one-offs, but this group, with Ray Anderson (trombone), John Lindberg (bass) and Thurman Barker (drums), was his working band following the dissolution of the Braxton/Lewis/Holland/Altschul group. These guys have a very different 'vibe'. The Arista quartet were cool classicists working a muted palette – this group explodes in a Fauvist riot of color. They have a manic energy that occasionally threatens to fly off the rails (1978 was, of course – year 2 ((or 3)) – of punk, not that Mr. Braxton would have had the time or inclination to notice.) Ray Anderson has a much 'wider' trombone sound than George Lewis and also doubles on cornet and alto trombone; Thurman Barker brought his marimba. The bassist John Lindberg would continue to work with Braxton in exploratory 'non-jazz' sessions and was the initial linchpin (preceding Mark Dresser) in the mid-80s 'Forces in Motion' quartet.

This is a very strong program – strong like a triple shot of Parisian or Milanese espresso. The quartet barrels through seven pieces from the Composition 40 and 69 books. There are more exploratory performances of this music on several adjacent albums: 'Quintet (Basel)' and 'Performance (Quartet)' on Hat Hut ... 'Six Compositions (Quartet)' on Antilles ... and, most notably, the 1981 'Four Compositions' on Black Saint. The Moers LP is single-minded, focused, almost skeletal. The strategy is creative exposition rather than extensive development. In the 80s, Braxton would abandon the head-chorus-head structure entirely; his groups become omnivorous composition-crunching machines, using the composer's entire catalog to extrapolate evening-length collages on the fly. Like the Monk Blue Notes, 'Seven Compositions 1978' demonstrates the stand-alone strength of the formal building blocks of its composer's language.

This is my own transfer from Moers Music LP 0 1066. The record is in fine shape, although the original recorded sound is somewhat overdriven and distant (at the same time, if that makes any sense.) The Braxton discography at Restructures points out that the graphic titles for Compositions 40 I and 69 H are transposed on the LP sleeve. In a stroke of serendipity-do-dah, Riccardo at Inconstant Sol has just posted an April 1979 Milan concert by this lineup. I haven't heard it yet but I look forward to doing so.

Anthony Braxton – Seven compositions 1978 FLAC and scans

Arthur Balsam plays CPE Bach

2010-09-25T21:22:00.009-03:00

Many people have told me how much they admire Arthur Balsam's pioneering recordings of the Haydn piano sonatas. While I didn't pick up on what made them special right away, I trust my friends' taste. So I always make sure to check the used LP bins for the various pressings of Balsam's series, which is not available on CD. (As far as I know, that is. It really does get hard to keep up with these things what with labels like Brilliant Classics lobbing another megabox or two at you every 48 hours or so.)

Well, now I 'get it'. Arthur Balsam's Haydn, that is. While it's played on a Steinway rather than a period instrument, it is probably the best 'complete' set we have. And a large handful of the individual sonatas are the equal of the very best classic 'one-off' recordings by Richter, Weissenberg, Pogorelich et al. As a teaser and a taster for a complete-ish transfer of the Haydn (which I or someone else is probably working on), here is an equally-treasurable Musical Heritage Society LP of Balsam playing CPE Bach. It is frustrating that the information given is (as seen above) inadequate, at the level of a blithe 'Sonata in A major' --- it took me years to get Mozart and Bach and Schubert and Haydn straight (all of those 'K' and 'BWV' and 'D' and 'Hoboken' numbers.) I'm too old, grey and slow at this point to make any headway with the CPE Bach 'WQ' numbers. Any volunteers?

If you've played through any of CPE's piano music, you know that his harmonic and structural sense is audacious to say the least – this small program shows him at his funniest, wildest and most heartbreaking. And Mr. Balsam's playing is something else. I don't know why I couldn't hear that right away.

Arthur Balsam plays CPE Bach – FLAC and scans

(NOTE: if you got to this within two hours of my first posting it, please note that the link above was to an incorrect file – I have fixed it now.)

Stefan Wolpe (Série Grande Diffusion No 1)

2010-09-25T11:32:00.030-03:00

Thanks to Columbia Masterworks, who took Stravinsky's advice and bankrolled Robert Craft's 1957 box of Anton Webern's Op 1-31 (and Boulez's stereo 'remake'), several generations of listeners have had the luxury of holding tout Webern in their hands – in good performances and in order of composition – thereby making it possible to 'hold' tout Webern in their heads. In an alternate universe, we'd make do with getting to know Webern in piecemeal fashion – a string quartet here and an orchestral work there; the lieder and gesänge for low voice on a Second Vienna School compilation on EMI, the gesänge and lieder for high voice coupled with Zemlinksy and Strauss songs on Orfeo. And how familiar would the sublime 'Quartet with tenor saxophone' be if the only source were an out-of-print Hungaroton LP?

This is roughly the situation with a slew of post-World War II composers – the craftsmen and women who worked in what I like to call common-practice post-tonal music. It takes patient detective work and a bit of cash to acquire even barely-adequate overviews of Luigi Dallapiccola, Elisabeth Lutyens, Milton Babbitt, Claudio Spies, Betsy Jolas etcetera. In some cases – Claude Ballif or Gilbert Amy, for instance – the recordings are long out-of-print. Stefan Wolpe's situation is more typical. There have been numerous Wolpe recordings, and many are easily available. But their contents can be frustratingly willy-nilly and downright obfuscating – for example, a piano disc of mostly minor works in very different styles from either end of Wolpe's career that includes none of the multi-piano works (arguably his most important achievement.)

Perhaps we'll see a chronological Dallapiccola Edition one day, but I'm not holding my breath. In the meantime, I've been cherry-picking pieces from here and there to make my own IPOD playlists. Rather than add to the glut of 'entire CD' offerings on the internet, I thought I'd share some of these with you. The first installment in this series is devoted to Stefan Wolpe's chamber music from 1961 onwards. From two LPs and eight CDs (all but two out-of-print) I put together this program:

Piece in three parts (1961) – Piece in two parts for six players (1962) – Piece for two instrumental units (1963) – Trio in two parts (1963-64) – String Quartet (1969) – Form IV: Broken Sequences (1969) – From here on farther (1969) – Piece for trumpet and seven instruments (1971).

The performers include Ensemble Recherche, Musikfabrik, Peter Serkin, the Juilliard Quartet, Frederik Prausnitz, Katharina Wolpe and others. (Complete information is provided in the enclosed text document.)

Listening to a solid 90 minutes of Stefan Wolpe's late work is a great pleasure. What I hear is supremely modest, fantastically fluent music, the closest we're likely to get to post-tonal Mozart. This has become one of my favorite A.M. listening experiences; for me, Wolpe is music for cool, sunny autumn mornings. If that sounds interesting to you, skip to the bottom for the links. You can scroll back up here while it's downloading and read the following testimonials from a few of Wolpe's students and colleagues ...

Claude Ballif:

'I met Wolpe in Darmstadt, where I went from 1956 to 1959. Wolpe was the first musician I’ve met who spoke really like an artist about music. Wolpe considered music like a physical thing. He opened my mind about the idea of register. It was really interesting for me, because, before Xenakis, Wolpe was very concerned with this idea of register and pitch. When you fix the register, you fix also the scale-harmony. Wolpe said, “one should know about all the structures of fantasy and all the fantasies of structure.” He is for me the example of freedom of structure and not mathematics, how to bring the human, physical impulse into a real composition, with the brain, with intelligence, and with the ear.

In Wolpe’s Violin Sonata what interested me was the freedom of the relation between the violin and the piano, the fresh, open feeling in the treatment, and no pretension to do a classical Beethoven violin and piano. It was the goal of Wolpe to give an impression of improvisation.

Morton Feldman:

'Wolpe was the kind of man who used all eighty-eight notes of his personality. He loved what was on the opposite side of the coin. When I first went to study with Wolpe soon after finishing high school, I was just another smart kid who thought that writing music was some clever way of pushing notes around. I soon learned differently. The rules of the game were clear enough, but how to jump the hurdles were not. I learned it was a lie, that old dictum, “Rules are made to be broken.” They were, in fact, obstacles to be jumped--that our musical history and the realities of note-pushing into shapes and forms was a treacherous steeplechase. You get a clear sense of this in his own music. It never settles, though organically its initial assumptions have nothing to worry about. Logic is more than walking a straight line, especially if there is an obstacle in front of you. Wolpe used these obstacles as part and parcel of his musical language. Though, as I have just remarked, they were referred to as opposites.'

Katharina Wolpe:

'Stefan wasn’t an intellectual composer, but he was a man of infinite variety, and his music shows this. Therefore, you can’t at first identify a Wolpe phrase just like that. One can recognize Stravinsky through five closed doors, but it’s not so easy to do this with Wolpe. Speaking as a performer, one’s got to remember that although it may be difficult, and very concentrated, his music is above all beautiful.

I think the most significant contribution of the avant-garde music of the second half of the century is its rhythmical liberation, but being liberated isn’t necessarily a piece of cake. Stefan has an enormously close relationship with this rhythmical liberation, where rhythm at one fraction of a second expresses exactly this and nothing else, and at the next exactly something else. The idea of things happening simultaneously that are exactly opposite is deeply interesting in Stefan’s music.'

Charles Wuorinen:

'... in the 1950s, we were all receiving the latest masterpieces from the post-war European avant garde. I always had a good deal of trouble with that music. What struck me about most of these composers was that they didn’t seem to know what to do with notes ... I think they lost their ears in a fundamental way and really couldn’t tell the difference between a good note and a bad one.

Take the Boulez Sonatine and the Wolpe Piece in Two Parts for Flute and Piano. My attitudes along these lines were not made more positive when we played (the Sonatine) once for Boulez, who said that it didn’t really matter if we got a sixteenth or so off in some of the fast places. I had busted my behind to learn the stupid thing as well as I could, and I was now being told that it didn’t matter whether I played it right or not. Now the second movement of the Wolpe piece also has some really impossible things in it. But that is a piece whose mission it is to make music. Like all his work, it embodies very high artistic aspirations without an extra-musical agenda. If I had to make a comparative judgment of the two pieces, there would be no question of superiority of the Wolpe: it is infinitely superior in every way.

There really is no special reason except for very general statistical ones why any of the notes in the Boulez have to be what they are. There are the characteristic tritone predominance, and fourth plus tritone sonorities, which I think of as characteristically French, but that’s about it. But I would never dignify pitch relations there or indeed in any of his music for that matter with a phrase like “structural harmony.” But in the Wolpe Flute Piece you get right away at the beginning an absolutely clear statement of the tetrachord that’s going to govern the whole work. When the second tetrachord is introduced, you get a very simple statement of that. All that pitch-relational parsimony, especially at the beginning, is balanced with an extremely fluid and flexible rhythmic, articulative, and registral behavior that makes a perfect balance. In other words, the complexity of the registral scatter and the rhythmic physiognomy of those opening pages is a perfect complement to the restricted pitch-class content. That’s very classic and very traditional at the same time as being new to the time when the piece was composed. That is the kind of progressivism or avant gardism that I have always admired in music, not the kind that says we have to invent music again every time we write a new piece.'

***

The quotes above are taken from the webstite of the Stefan Wolpe Society. A terrific program of Wolpe LP transfers is available at the Avant Garde Project, including the 'Chamber Pieces' No 1 and No 2, from 1964 and 1965 respectively, which helpfully bridge a gap in the 1960s selection I've posted here.

Stefan Wolpe - Chamber music of the 60s and 70s (Série Grande Diffusion No 1) PART ONE

Stefan Wolpe - Chamber music of the 60s and 70s (Série Grande Diffusion No 1) PART TWO

John Ogdon plays Messiaen

2010-09-20T13:31:00.019-03:00

Notwithstanding my admiration for Olivier Messiaen as a teacher, thinker and snappy dresser, I can only take so much of his music. There's a lot of it, too – a lot of pieces, many of them very long and, after a certain point, hard to distinguish from all the other very long, very loud expressions of Messiaen's heterodox Catholic mysticism. Morton Feldman's criticism is pertinent: ('that's not orchestration ... I don't know what the hell it is! It's Walt Disney ... it's Technicolor!') And a discreet (and personal) value judgment can be deduced from the long list of Messiaen pieces that Pierre Boulez, a former student, has chosen not to conduct.

But I am always susceptible to enthusiasm – for instance, Edward Said wrote an engaging defense of 'Saint François d'Assise' that sent me back to the recording with good results. Thanks to the committed advocacy of Peter Serkin and Reinbert de Leeuw, a New York concert of 'Des Canyons aux Etoiles' was absolutely convincing and unforgettable. ('Des Canyons aux Etoiles' is Messiaen's 2-hours-plus U.S. Bicentennial blockbuster with solo piano obligato, walk-on parts for every bird in Utah and Nevada and a wind machine cadenza in all three of its subsections and its twelve movements.)

(You can't talk about Messiaen without mentioning birds and I want to insert a paragraph here thanking the composer for changing forever the way I hear birdsong. As a kid, I had my bird-watching phase. ((Stamp-collecting, amateur botany and model-rocketry were my other childish hobbies until I seized on music, which, despite my father's prediction that it was another piece of childish dilettantism, followed me out of my childhood and became my full-time foolish adult dilettantism.)) My big bird-watching break was spotting a rare pileated woodpecker in our backyard in Atlanta. The teenage discovery of the 'Quatuor pour la fin du temps' made me madly enthusiastic about Messiaen and his bird-transcribing. It's a fact that can't be repeated too often: birds were the inventors of music. They invented it long before people did and have passed it down unbrokenly to this day, while the tens of centuries of human musical endeavor before the advent of notation and sound recording is lost for good.)

John Ogdon's Messiaen is another piece of effective advocacy. Much of Ogdon's recorded repertoire is not to my taste. And at times he seems to have coasted on his transcendental sight-reading ability to make dazzling but incoherent recordings. Ogdon's 1969 'Vingt Regards' for Argo is an undeniable miracle, the best of Messiaen and the best of Ogdon. It is an extreme performance: much much slower than Yvonne Loriod's classic mono recording – with nearly superhuman delineation of Messiaen's superimposed rhythmic layers. The recorded dynamic range is also extreme. Unfortunately, Argo's pressings were often not very good, and this one, with side lengths averaging 32 minutes, is just about untameable. I spent months trying. I used every trick in the book, both physical (scrubbing, scraping, stroking the surfaces) and digital (from manual declicking to equalization.) I'd nearly given up for good when I found another copy – sealed and pristine – at the used rock and roll emporium. I made a just-about-passable transfer and would have settled for that, but before I could post it, God placed at my disposal this now-discontinued Decca CD reissue.

Although this is taken from the CD, I have included scans from the Argo LP along with the front and back covers of Decca's out-of-print reissue (the liner notes are the same in both editions.) On a semi-related note, if anyone has made a transfer of John Ogdon's RCA LP recording of Beethoven's Op 106, I'd love to hear it. Otherwise, I may be forced to share my own needledrop from a badly-nicked copy (it's a very good 'Hammerklavier'.) This just in: Fred at Random Classics has posted his transfer of Ogdon's RCA LP of Carl Nielsen's piano music.

John Ogdon – Messiaen: 'Vingt regards sur l'Enfant Jesus' SIDES ONE AND TWO

John Ogdon – Messiaen: 'Vingt regards sur l'Enfant Jesus' SIDES THREE AND FOUR

Ornette Coleman and Charlie Haden: 'Soapsuds, Soapsuds' (1978 Artists House LP)

2010-09-20T12:02:00.017-03:00

Ornette Coleman's first two electric albums ('Body Meta' and 'Dancing in your head') were followed by these acoustic duets with Charlie Haden, the bassist in his 'classic quartet'. I can only take Mr. Coleman at his word that 'there is a singer named Allison Mills who makes her own soap suds'. 'Soapsuds, Soapsuds' opens with the theme from 'Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman', one of Coleman's rare non-originals. Louise Lasser starred as the pigtailed and depressed housewife 'Mary Hartman' in Norman Lear's 'controversial' soap opera spoof. It was on TV every weekday before the evening news. The gloopy title music is a parody of standard telenovela schmaltz and has been lodged in my head now for more than three decades. In any case, it's a nice tune; Coleman and Haden play it mostly straight (although Haden's solo spot begins with a harmolodic trash compaction of his plummy open-sixth accompaniment into sarcastic double-stopped minor seconds.) 'Mary Hartman' segues into four originals, including the first appearance of 'Sex Spy' – one of my favorite of Coleman's occasionally kinky song titles.

Ornette Coleman is on tenor saxophone and trumpet; Charlie Haden is on bass. (I posted Haden's earlier duets album 'The Golden Number' on the High Pony Tail.) This is a vinyl rip with some light ClickRepair work. The surface noise at the beginning of Side One quickly improves. I have included a PDF of the booklet that came with the Artists House LP. It contains transcriptions of the music, as well as discographies for both Coleman and Haden, current as of 1978.

Ornette Coleman and Charlie Haden: 'Soapsuds, Soapsuds' – FLAC and scans

Valery Afanassiev plays late Brahms

2010-09-17T06:22:00.024-03:00

The pianist Valery Afanssiev's legendary – perhaps notorious – recordings for Japanese Denon have inspired both cultish adulation and downright derision. The very deliberate tempos are always mentioned and debated, but it is his insistence on being recognized as not just a piano virtuoso but a literary genius that seems to rankle the most. (Afanassiev is also a novelist and playwright and includes excerpts in the booklets of his CDs) Further research into this reaction would undoubtedly make a considerable contribution to the sociology of the classical music-lover.

I am proud to be an Afanassiev-worshiper, but am not foolish enough to love his recordings equally. When he is good he is very, very good and when he is bad he is rotten. His Well-Tempered Clavier and Beethoven sonatas and concertos are the work of a dutiful citizen of dullsville. On the other hand, I am an unreasonable admirer of his DG Schubert and Brahms (violin sonatas with Gidon Kremer) and of the best of the Denons – the Beethoven b agatelles, the 'Diabellis' and 'Kreisleriana' and above all his absolutely bizarre late Schubert. (While the Denon late sonata recordings are well known, I am equally devoted to a little-noticed Forlane CD of the 'Schwanengesang' with José Van Dam.)

Afanassiev's Brahms CD is one of his best (and the tempos are among his slowest!) These late works of Brahms are already known for their unbearable melancholy and an uncanny resistance to analysis. Viewed under this pianist's special microscope, the strange case of the Brahms Klavierstücke just gets curiouser and curiouser. The level of detail in Afanassiev's 'blow-ups' leads to vertigo: unlike the pixelated zoom of Google Earth, the expected distortion never sets in – yet no hidden layers or secret passageways are revealed. There is nothing to hold on to in the space between these notes. I would not recommend using LSD while listening, although hallucinations may occur even without chemical assistance.

Pretentious liner notes are not a distraction in this case (not for me, anyhow, since I don't read Japanese – or for you, as I haven't scanned them. As for my own overwrought misuse of the English language on this blog: I'm trying to tone it down a little bit, but keep getting carried away.)

Valery Afanassiev – Brahms: 3 Intermezzi Op 117, 6 Klavierstücke Op 118 and 4 Klavierstücke Op 119 – FLAC and cover scans

Milko Kelemen: FIve works (Philips LP 1969)

2010-09-16T12:39:00.021-03:00

In the near future, petroleum is no longer available for computer chips and the digital revolution is over – internet access is once again for military and industrial strategists only – CDs and digital music are unthinkable luxuries – catastrophic climate change leads to the the Paul Sacher Stiftung being invaded by hungry rats – the scores and sketches which remain uneaten are abandoned to fire and flood. In this dark future, an intrepid musicologist with time on his hands, an old turntable and a copy of this 1969 Philips LP might begin to reconstruct the forgotten styles and performers of post-World War II European classical music.

All five works are from the same pen – that of Milko Kelemen (b. 1924), a Croatian-born composer who had some international success during the late 1960s. Until now, all I knew of Kelemen was his anodyne 'Etudes contrapuntiques' for winds. Originality is somewhat overrated; now that we are well into the 21st century there is much enjoyable research to be done on the composers who worked in the shadows of the Big Names. Milko Kelemen's music is well-crafted and constantly stimulating. His self-deprecating program notes provide an excellent precis of his modest intentions. An exclusive diet of Approved Masterpieces ('Eroica' – 'Gruppen' – 'Pli selon pli') is a distortion of musical history. It's like listening only to the Beatles and the Stones while ignoring the Pretty Things, Love and the Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band.

Alfons and Aloys Kontarsky are impressive in the highly-caffeineted 'Composé' for two pianos and orchestra (imagine the bonkers double piano concerto Xenakis never wrote) – Siegfried Palm and Saschko Gawriloff are eloquent soloists in 'Changeant', a kissing cousin to the lyrical concertos of Maderna and BA Zimmermann. 'Floréal' and 'Surprise' could be taken for one of Ligeti or Penderecki's greatest hits in a blindfold test. Mention should also be made of the phenomenal German radio orchestras whose commissions and tireless rehearsal schedules made so many gigantic post-war orchestral pieces possible (and not just for German composers): the SWF, NDR and WDR orchestras are all here, led by Ernest Bour, Christoph von Dohnányi and the composer himself.

In addition to my transfer of this LP, I have thrown in a quick needledrop of the 'Etudes Contrapuntiques', which should reappear soon as part of Wergo's ongoing first CD issue of Earle Brown's Contemporary Sounds Series – the Time/Mainstream LPs that remain primary documents of later 20th-century classical music. Squirrel has recently transferred an excellent Vanguard LP by Antonio Janigro and his Solisti de Zagreb which includes a folkloric piece for strings by Kelemen (as well as magnificent recordings of Webern's Op 5 and Hindemith's 'Trauermusik'.)

The larger photo above does not show Milko Kelemen – it's the artist Dieter Roth (1930-1998), a prolific creator of handmade limited-edition LPs. Dieter Roth does not appear on the Milko Kelemen record I've been speaking of.

Milko Kelemen – Five works Philips LP 6500 314 – FLAC with scans

'I tell you that's IRMA herself'

2010-09-15T17:04:00.027-03:00

Tom Phillips is best known for his 'half-a-life's work' 'A Humument', described as 'a treated Victorian novel.' He has been painting and drawing on the pages of W.H. Mallock's 1892 novel 'A Human Document' since 1965, an activity resulting in texts, paintings and the book itself (now in its fourth edition). The results are hard to describe, although once seen are hard to forget. Phillips also mined 'A Humument' for the libretto and score of his opera 'IRMA' (the characters Grenville and Irma come from 'A Human Document', although according to Phillips, the main character of 'A Humument' has, over time, turned out to be one Bill Toge.)

Here is Phillips' description of his opera:

'The score takes the form of a large sheet with prose directions (each a treated fragment of the novel) for the libretto, the mise en scéne and the sound vocabulary of the piece, together with instructions, performance suggestions and a group of melodies. It is to be thought of as the surviving elements of a lost work whose performance tradition is unknown. Realisation of the opera involves the ordering and piecing together of these fragments into a performable work; as an archeologist might reconstruct a possible coherent pot from shattered shards."

The two recordings of 'IRMA' posted here represent two possible outcomes and occasioned a minor dispute between the parties involved in their making. Gavin Bryars' 1977 recording for Brian Eno's short-lived Obscure Records is described as 'An Opera by Tom Phillips – Music by Gavin Bryars – Libretto by Fred Orton'. The style is very similar to Bryars' well-known works 'The Sinking of the Titanic' and 'Jesus' Blood' (recorded around the same time for the same label.) The roles are sung in pointedly non-operatic style: Grenville by the composer Howard Skempton and Irma by Lucy Skeaping. High-cultural references to Wagner and Brahms are coyly smuggled into Bryars' faux-naive diatonic minimalism. Originally released on LP, this 'IRMA' makes good use of the 'two-act' A-side/B-side division – an important structural device of the classic pop records of the long-playing era. (Side One is all sea and glockenspiels; Side Two somewhat darker with strings and foam.) This not-so-simple song cycle should have 'crossover' appeal for fans of Brian Eno's 'Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy)' and the Beach Boys. It's a peculiarly moving experience and as a document of early-70s art-pop production alone it is essential.

The 1988 recording on Matchless by the improvising group AMM is entirely different. AMM normally work without written music, although they do have a repertory of graphic and instruction scores (Cardew's 'Treatise', of course, but also works by Cage and Wolff.) The AMM approach to 'IRMA' eschews the intermediary of a 'realisation'. Those familiar with the group's music will recognize it here – free-floating shards of sound that bear little resemblance to improvisation in the jazz sense. The only reference to song form is an unforgettable moment when Keith Rowe's transistor radio picks up several seconds of the Neil Diamond hit 'Song Sung Blue'. Phil Minton and Elise Lorraine sing in quasi-operatic style. Rather than resulting in a setting of Phillips' text, the worlds of 'IRMA' and 'AMM' go their separate ways, trailing behind them a human document that sounds remarkably like a 40s Hollywood melodrama overheard from the television in the other room.

Although Tom Phillips appears on both recordings, he considers the AMM recording to be the 'definitive' version. Here is his oddly-worded statement:

'Although there are some haunting moments in the (Obscure Records) performance, the music seems to have lost some of its character, smoothed out as it is to fit the Bryars aesthetic. The slightly patronizing tone of the sleeve note and the fact that Bryars billed himself ... as 'the composer' did not help me to avoid the impression that this 'IRMA' ... was somehow 'inauthentic'. Since it followed the general rules of the score this recording (for all that I participated in it and despite its featuring musicians as distinguished as Howard Skempton) led me to the regretful conclusion that, among the infinitude of feasible 'IRMA's, versions might occur which were simultaneously correct and unfaithful.'

I recently stumbled upon a CD-R copy of the Obscure 'IRMA' and was smitten like a kitten; I lost no time in tracking down the AMM recording. As I don't have a personal quarrel with any of the participants, I have no plans to give up either disc. The two 'IRMA's could be seen as exemplifying incompatible strains of English experimental music (the ultimately conservative minimalism formulated in Michael Nyman's book 'Experimental Music' / the formal and political radicalism of Cardew, the Scratch Orchestra and non-idiomatic improvisation.) Looking back from the year 2010, I'm not sure that the differences amount to all that much.

I have posted the Obscure CD in FLAC but am sharing the AMM CD as a 320 MP3 – while the latter disc is hard to find at the moment, it is sure to be available again from Eddie Prevost's artist-run Matchless label. Matchless CDs are available in the United States from Erstwhile (first choice) and Forced Exposure (second.)

IRMA by Tom Phillips – Obscure Records CD-R – FLAC with scans.

IRMA by Tom Phillips – Matchless CD – MP3 320 with scans.

Paul Badura-Skoda plays 13 early Piano Sonatas of Schubert on RCA

2010-09-12T21:49:00.012-03:00

This is the sequel to an earlier post highlighting a pioneering edition of 'complete' Schubert sonatas. As with Noël Lee's Valois recordings, I have included the so-called early sonatas only. Paul Badura-Skoda's set for RCA, made in the early 70s, is another 'missing-in-action' item from that once-great record company's archives. I've had copies of the four volumes for many years, but any serious attempts at listening to them were compromised by the legendarily horrific 'Dynaflex' pressings. I recently found a much better set, made transfers, applied some rudimentary ClickRepair: the results are quite listenable. Be warned however that the quality of the pressings vary dramatically from side to side. (I may be exaggerating – I've put these unadorned transfers on the stereo during dinner time and nobody has run from the room screaming.)

The transfer consists of Volumes 2 and 3 only (volumes 1 and 4 contain the later sonatas.)
* Volume 2: D157, D279/346, D459, D537, D557, D566/506 and D568.
* Volume 3: D517/604, D575, D613/612, D625/505, D664 and D784.

I was immediately captivated by Mr. Badura-Skoda's playing of these pieces. It is different than any other recordings I know and very different from the somewhat plain classical style of his later recordings for Astrée and Arcana on historic pianofortes. Not only is Badura-Skoda a wonderful pianist, he is an expert on the music – he edited the Henle edition of these sonatas (the excerpt above is from the ravishing slow movement of the C-major sonata D279.) The instrument is a mellow Bösendorfer and the piano is beautifully recorded. I am perhaps overly familiar with these pieces and tend to take them for granted, but I am not hyperbolizing when I say that I have listened to these very elegant interpretations dozens of times now and have always heard something new. It really is too bad that these can't be remastered from scratch. Coming soon: more early Schubert (with a special twist) from another stereo 'complete edition' – Gilbert Schuchter (on German RCA LP and Tudor CD.)

Paul Badura-Skoda Schubert Volume 2 (FLAC and scans) SIDES 1-3 SIDES 4-6

Paul Badura-Skoda Schubert Volume 3 (FLAC and scans) SIDES 1-3 SIDES 4-6

********

NOTE 17 SEPTEMBER 2010 – I have reupped the link for Volume 2, Sides 4-6 to correct a number of bad files. If you previously downloaded it, please try again.

(I have replaced Tracks 2-07, 2-08, 2-09 and 2-10 – the e-minor sonata on Side 5. The opening movement appeared twice, the Allegretto was missing – and I included a rejected take of the Finale with a repeating skip at the end. Please accept my apologies. And let me know if you notice additional problems.)

Spahlinger: 'Extension' for violin and piano

2010-09-12T19:04:00.012-03:00

'The contrast between the violin and the piano, both stringed instruments, is fundamentally a gestural one – between stroking and striking. Using a great variety of bow strokes, the violin can be made to produce many different types of attack; it can also prolong its sounds and give them a variety of tone colors and inflections, such as swelling or fading or becoming more, or less, intense. On the other hand, the finger of the pianist strikes a key that catapults a felt-covered hammer up to the string more or less suddenly and forcefully, depending on how the key is struck. Once the hammer has started the string vibrating, the player has no further control over the sound – which immediately begins to die away – except that it can cut short this decay by raising the finger from the key, activating a damper. The piano has 88 notes (usually) and can play very loudly and very softly; the violin covers only about the upper 53 notes of the piano's range and can be overwhelmed by the piano even when playing its loudest.'

– Elliott Carter, on the subject of his 'Duo for Violin and Piano'

Earlier this year I realized I had been listening with great intensity to a lot of classical music for violin and piano ... Mozart's late sonatas, Brahms' G-Major sonata, Schoenberg's 'Phantasy' Op 47 ... Schubert, Bartók, Webern and Janacek ... Carter's 'Duo', Holliger's 'Lieder ohne Wörte', 'Dikhtas' by Xenakis, James Dillon's 'Traumwerk' ... a lot of terrific music for a supposedly 'bad combination' that has always been specified with sneaky ambivalence (Mozart and Beethoven didn't write violin sonatas but sonatas for piano, with violin obligato.)

I might go further and claim that the violin/piano repertoire has a certain philosophical quality. Unlike the famed 'discussion between four equals' of the string quartet, the dialogue of the violin and piano is by nature unequal. As in the dialogues of Plato, Diderot and Pavese, the two talk at, past and around one another. Philosophy comes into being from the mismatch of unlike minds – truths being produced by confrontations – and the music we hear is the result of temporary alliances and accommodations between Elliott Carter's 'opposing members of a pair.'

Mathias Spahlinger's 53-minute 'Extension' (1979/80) for violin and piano seems to want to have the last word on its instrumentation. The piece, in one uninterrupted movement, is both an inventory of and commentary on the classical repertoire for piano and violin. The mode is comic; the mood is reflective and apocalyptic: 'endgame', as in Beckett. Spahlinger, born in 1944, is usually mentioned as a follower of Helmut Lachenmann, although he didn't study with him. Maybe his early apprenticeship as a typesetter should be looked into further.

'Extension' is an extraordinarily beautiful piece that includes some very ugly noises. I've been wondering why this particular piece, one of many, many artworks 'about' the impossibility (at best) or immorality (at least) of high culture since World War II, has such an emotional impact. Why does its presence seem so physical given its explicit intellectual ambitions? Perhaps it is in the length – or rather the way that episodes or events seem to appear during this length, like buildings and groups of actors before a movie camera. Rather than sections or movements, one could say that Spahlinger works with 'shots' – specifically the medium-length 'sequence shot', as in Dreyer and Mizoguchi. In fact, the experience of Matthias Spahlinger's 'Extension' is so much like the experience of a movie that if I continue to describe what happens in it I may have to use the phrase 'spoiler alert.'

Hildegard Kleeb is the pianist and Dimitris Polisoidis plays violin on this limited-edition Hat Hut CD from 1992. The accompanying text, by Peter Niklas Wilson, struck me as very odd at first. I realized that, unlike many words about recent music, his essay is direct and jargon-free. Like 'Extension' itself, which speaks clearly about difficult matters.

Spahlinger: 'Extension' for violin and piano FLAC and scans.

Terje Rypdal: 'Rolling stone'

2010-09-12T14:59:00.013-03:00

In 1974 I was fourteen years old and already wild about music. I had opted in 1972 to sign up for Music (i.e marching band) rather than French or German, and my childhood enthusiasm for the Beatles and all that followed them was transformed by learning to read music. I experimented with the 'classics' and 'jazz', free from the Temple Terrace Public Library, but my grand passion was for what was called 'progressive rock.'

My weekly allowance from my parents was set at $2.25, which meant that every other Friday I had five bucks for a new record. Of special interest was the 'import' section at Schoolkids records full of treasures from overseas, some of which I'd read about in the English music magazines Melody Maker and New Musical Express, which my mother bought for me at a periodicals store in downtown Tampa every weekend when she picked up the Sunday New York Times. The imports took up two racks at Schoolkids, separate from the regular stock, just next to the live bootlegs with their xeroxed covers. Unlike regular records, the imports were loosely wrapped, not shrink-wrapped – sometimes they weren't wrapped at all! The covers weren't made of cardboard, but of a more delicate, even flimsy stock. Many of the bands and labels were absolutely unknown to me, even from the music press, although I was always particularly fascinated by the 'import versions' of albums by European groups that were available in the United States in different packages and sometimes with different track listings.

As I developed my taste for imports, I had to forgo my biweekly purchases; the much more desirable foreign discs on Virgin, Brain, ECM (and later Rough Trade and Factory) began at $7.50. I don't remember the first import LP I bought, although I think it might have been Robert Wyatt's 'Ruth is Stranger than Richard' which came out (I think) in 1974. The ECM label (not yet distributed in the States) made for dangerous but irresistible purchases. For every 'Colours of Chloé' by Eberhard Weber there were others that, despite the beautiful jackets, left me in an all-too familiar, absolutely devastating depression – I could have bought 'Angel's Egg' by Gong or Gentle Giant's 'In a Glass House'! Some of these disappointments were prime examples of the kind of tastefully arid product that ECM is unfairly identified with. Others were just too 'advanced' for me – although I would catch up in a year or two: the Music Improvisation Company LP (bought because of the percussionist Jamie Muir, for a short while a member of my then-obsession, King Crimson) – Marion Brown's 'Afternoon of a Georgia Faun' (My first 'free jazz' record? Unless pre-'Ascension' Coltrane counts.)

Terje Rypdal's 1975 album 'Odyssey' was not only an ECM import – it was a double LP. The moment I saw it, I knew I had to have it. After a month of record-buying abstinence I had the necessary ten dollars. It was a bit of a letdown. Despite the side-long tracks, the 'string ensemble' (i.e. synthesiser) and the black and white pictures on gatefold sleeve which I must have stared at for two or three years (the musicians and instruments posed with the touring van in the bleakest weather this side of 'Satantango'). There was, however, one side-long track, that, whatever its intrinsic merits, was crucial for my musical development, above all for the questions it posed and failed to answer.

1) The bass player plays the same medium-tempo bass line with only minor variations for the entire 24-minute track. I had not yet heard Can or dub reggae or electric Miles and I played the bass in the high-school jazz big band. I was appalled at the very idea of playing the same bass line (and the same chord!) for that long.

2) The drummer, on the other hand, seemed incapable of playing a bar in straight time – the closest I'd heard to this before, in a rhythm-based song form, was on King Crimson's 'Lizard' album, which had flummoxed me at first although I came to love it.

3) The guitarist, Mr. Rypdal himself, made impressive sounds using all kinds of effects pedals, but he seemed to be soloing throughout the piece, without any apparent goal. I think what disturbed me the most were the blues-based nature of his 'licks' which left me feeling conflicted about whether he was a 'rock' or a 'progressive' musician.

4) The song was called 'Rolling Stone' – I was still confused at that age about the ubiquity of that term: 'The Rolling Stones' ... 'Rolling Stone' magazine ... 'Papa was a rolling stone' ... 'a rolling stone gathers no moss' ... 'Like a Rolling Stone' – I don't think I was familiar with Muddy Waters at the time.

5) And then there's the trombone, which leads the written part of the piece. I was immediately enthusiastic about the tune itself, played by the trombone is its upper register over thick, dissonant synthesizer chords. But it only occurs twice – five minutes into the side and, in a truncated version, four or five minutes before the end. What was the trombone player doing for the rest of the time? He doesn't take a solo. He is only there to play this melody. And at the end of each statement of that lyrical, poignant melody – three times in all – he makes what is, in context, one of the most disturbing and radical musical sounds I had heard at that time: a single fortissimo 'pedal tone' (a very low note on a brass instrument) so out of place that it shocked and chilled me.

I hadn't thought about this album for years (I lost it, and much of my teenage record collection in an apartment fire in 1981 – a disaster I was somewhat relieved by as I was by then both a 'serious' composition student and a punk-rock guitarist and thought of most of my LPs with the usual distaste of the 21-year old for his 15-year old self.) One day something reminded me of 'that song' – I remembered the album title 'Odyssey', but not the song itself. I became obsessed with hearing it again. This was in 2006 or so; I still hadn't gotten around to downloading music, but found a used copy online and ordered it. When it arrived, I listened, and, as always with LPs, films and books from my youth, was amazed both by how viscerally I remembered everything and how different it all sounded now – even though not a note had changed in 30 years. After the first two bleak soundscapes, I started getting restless (it was apparent to me that, this time anyway, my 15-year old self had made the right judgment about the more-or-less vapid nature of most of the record.) I decided to skip ahead to 'that song' – I couldn't remember its name – and became increasingly confused when I didn't find it.

As I would have known if I had bothered to read the reviews online, ECM had left what once was 'side four' – the song called 'Rolling Stone' – off of the CD for space reasons. I tracked down a vinyl copy and was gratified to find that this piece of music still thrills and confuses me for the same reasons it did when I was a kid. It's also got some great atonal fuzz organ work on it. Here it is for anyone else who can't find it on their own copy of the 'Odyssey' CD.

Terje Rypdal – 'Rolling Stone' – FLAC vinyl rip

Blandine Verlet plays Bach

2010-09-12T13:06:00.017-03:00

Having broken my 'silence before Bach' with the previous post, here is some more of his music, this time by a musician whom I have posted before. Blandine Verlet is responsible for completely overcoming my resistance to the sound of the solo harpsichord, although I have to give credit to the recordings of the late Scott Ross for first chipping away at my ignorance.

A very gracious 'lecteur de Paris' left a comment on the Scarlatti post the other day with the good news that Blandine Verlet is alive and well and the bad news that she is without a recording contract and that most of her recordings are out of print.

He writes:

'Blandine Verlet's recording contract with Astrée/Auvidis/Naïve ended nearly ten years ago; a recording of Bach's 'English Suites' that she had worked on for six months was shelved only a few days before the announced release date . She is now half-forgotten even in France. It's really very sad, as she is playing marvelously well these days. She has only given two concerts this year, at Tours and, just this past week, at the Festival Oude Muziek in Utrecht. I was at both concerts; in Utrecht she played another beautiful harpsichord built by Henry Hemsch, this one in 1751. She has no other concerts on her schedule at present and hasn't played a public concert in Paris for nearly five years.'

The mention of 'another' instrument by Henry Hemsch is a reference to a favorite harpsichord of Verlet's; she used a Hemsch on some of her early recordings for Valois and Philips (see his clarifications in the comments section of that Scarlatti post.) On this Philips LP of works by JS Bach, she plays a 1976 instrument by William Dowd based on an original by Nicolas & François Blanchet, 1730. Apparently, Philips has issued only one of Verlet's many Bach recordings on compact disc, the Bach Partitas. The LP at hand includes the b-minor 'Partita' (the 'Overture in the French Style', included on the Partitas CD), as well as the 'Italian Concerto'. In addition, and a highlight for me, there are the 'Four Duetti' BWV 802-805. I was completely unfamiliar with these two-part inventions until I heard this LP and am glad to have made their acquaintance.

The 'lecteur de Paris' notes that on the Amazon listing for Blandine Verlet's Paritas set, there is a negative remark about her playing of the Gigue from the first Partita: 'it sounds like a child practicing!' He comments 'Actually, it's just that Blandine Verlet chooses not to play the gigue in question as a virtuoso work but as a humorous piece of music.' Indeed, humour – and grace and puckish intelligence – is always in evidence in her playing. (As well as a fascinatingly personal use of ornamentation and notes inegáles.) I hope you enjoy this recording and I thank my Parisian correspondent for giving me an idea of just how many of Verlet's recordings I still haven't heard (Froberger, Dulphy, her Bach on Astrée ... )

Blandine Verlet plays Bach (Philips LP 9500 588) – FLAC and scans

The 'Goldberg' Variations on two cimbaloms

2010-09-12T10:45:00.011-03:00

Somehow I managed to post music at The High Pony Tail for more than a year without a single piece of music by JS Bach.

Rameau, yes; Brahms, yes; Haydn, yes. And Balbastre and Forqueray and Scarlatti and even CPE and JC and WF Bach. I won't attempt to excuse myself by claiming that Bach is a composer I don't enjoy very much (I might have argued – with absurd arrogance – that Bach is somehow hors concours. I might have claimed that the sublimity of Bach has always been betrayed by the recorded medium, that the subtlety of Bach can only be appreciated at home, by playing a fugue or two on one's own piano, however poorly played or ill-tuned the piano.) And in fact, having just now stated that I wasn't going to invoke the exception of Bach, I am going to go right ahead (on the public record!) and declare, not Bach's unique status as a kind of ur-composer, but rather the inadequacy of my own ears in the presence of this ideal composer, JS Bach – despite my dubious and undocumented claims to understand the most complicated of so-called modern music and my insistence that there is no genre of so-called musical expression that I am unable to gab about with (or even without) profit – and despite my being now, manifestly, an adult and in fact a middle-aged adult who can probably resign himself to not getting any smarter or more understanding in my remaining years, a middle-aged person who still experiences his encounters with Bach (whether on a phonograph record or in a score) as an occasion for intellectual humiliation, self-doubt, confusion and, ultimately, intellectual and aural paralysis.

Having proactively admitted my inadequacies as a guide to Bach's music, here is a delightful performance of the 'Goldberg' variations on two cimbaloms, played by Ágnes Szakály and Rósza Farkas (pictured above), from an out-of-print Hungaroton CD. I am a great lover of the cimbalom, a delightful instrument that sounds like a gently-muted and well-tempered steel drum band heard from a long distance. The division of the score into parts for two players makes the counterpoint 'spring out' with clarity, even as it makes it problematical to discuss this recording of these famous variations in the accustomed way of the record collector (the comparing and ranking of the 'genius' of a Gould or Leonhardt or Tureck.) While the cimbalom is somewhat ungainly – meaning that ornamentation is kept fairly simple – it has the advantage of being touch-sensitive, allowing the performers the expressiveness of the modern piano, but with a sound as intimate and private as a harpsichord. When I hear a cimbalom (and I hear the instrument fairly often, as I snap up all the recordings I can find, whatever the repertoire, even the 'Goldberg' variations!) I am happily transported to a brick-paved back street or alley in some central-European city – or perhaps to the labyrinth of old Trieste, since I've never been to central Europe.

The 'Goldberg' variations on two cimbalons – FLAC and scans

Sophie Podolski: 'Le pays où tout est permis'

2010-09-07T14:23:00.020-03:00

I first heard of Sophie Podolski's book when I was about twenty pages into 'The Savage Detectives', a novel by Roberto Bolaño. A teenage would-be poet recounts his memorable first glimpse of the 'Visceral Realists':

"Then I saw their faces emerge from the smoke. It was Ulises Lima and Arturo Belano."

The first thing we learn about the ringleaders of this early-70s Mexican avant-garde movement are the books they read:

"The books Arturo Belano was carrying were: Le parfait criminel, by Alain Jouffroy, Le Pays où tout est permis, by Sophie Podolski (and) Cent mille milliards de poèmes, by Raymond Queneau."

Several days later the narrator has been accepted into the group:

"We talked about poetry. No one has read any of my poems, and yet they all treat me like one of them! ... I asked where I could buy the books they'd had with them the other night. The answer came as no surprise: they steal them from the Librería Francesa in the Zona Rosa and from the Librería Baudelaire on Calle General Martínez ... I also asked about the authors, and one after another (what one Visceral Realist reads is soon read by the rest of the group) they filled me in on the life and works of Raymond Queneau, Sophie Podolski and Alain Jouffroy ... "

In a story translated as 'Vagabond in France and Belgium' (in the collection 'Last Evenings on Earth'), Roberto Bolaño writes about what appears to be his younger self – 'B.' – in the third person, present tense. In Paris in the 70s he wanders into a secondhand bookshop:

"B. discovers an old copy of the magazine 'Luna Park', number 2, a special issue on writing and graphics, with texts or drawings (the texts are drawings and vice versa) by Roberto Altmann, Fréderic Baal, Roland Barthes, Jacques Calonne, Carlfriedrich Claus, Mirtha Dermisache, Christian Dotrement, Pierre Guyotat, Brion Gysin, Henri Lefebvre and Sophie Podolski."

B. is obviously a connoisseur of experimental writing:

"Sophie Podolski was a poet whom he and his friend L. admired (adored even) back in Mexico, when they were little more than twenty years old."

In fact he recognizes all the contributors but one (oddly enough, the philosopher Henri Lefebvre – but as we soon find out, this is a different Lefebvre, a forgotten Belgian poet who died in 1973, a suicide.)

In Roberto Bolaño's story 'Dance Card' (in the same collection) we read:

"Once upon a time there was a Belgian poet called Sophie Podolski. She was born in 1953 and committed suicide in 1974. She published only one book, called Le Pays où tout est permis (The Country Where Everything is Allowed, Montfaucon Research Center, 1973, 280 facsimile pages)."

And in Bolaño's first novel 'Anvers', written in the mid-70s but only published posthumously (like much of his work) in 2010:

' ... and in the news Sophie Podolski is kaput in Belgium, the girl from the Montfaucon Research Center ... '

and later:

'The hell to come ... Sophie Podolski killed herself years ago ... She would've been twenty-seven now, like me ... a Belgian girl who wrote like a star ... '

A good portion of 'The Savage Detectives' is about poets who die young. Several pages after the first mention of Sophie Podolski, the poetess María Font tells the young hero that her sister Angelíca won the Laura Damián poetry prize at the age of sixteen:

"I asked who Laura Damián had been. Maria said:

'A poet who died young.'

'I already knew that. When she was twenty. But who was she? Why haven't I read anything by her?'

'Have you ever read Lautréamont, García Madero?' said María.

'No.'

'Well, then, it's no surprise that you've never heard of Laura Damían.'

'I'm sorry. I know I'm ignorant.'

'That's not what I said. All I meant was that you're very young. Anyway, Laura's only book, La Fuente de las musas, was privately published. It was a posthumous book subsidized by her parents, who loved her very much and were her first readers.' "

And so it goes in "The Savage Detectives", and in all of Bolaño's works – the writer is a detective, tracking down marginal writers whose vanishing was barely noticed and is never quite cleared up. Henri Lefebvre (a real name given a fictitious biography) – Laura Damían (as far as I can tell, both the name and the career are fictional) – and Sophie Podolski. She is real. She was, indeed, born in 1953 and died (a suicide) in 1974. She published one book. She appeared in Marc Dachy's journal Luna Park and in the somewhat better-known Tel Quel (No. 53, Spring 1973; No. 55, Autumn 1973; No. 74, Winter 1977.)

The Montfaucon Research Center is also real – the frontispiece of Podolski's book lists its accomplishments: two films by Joëlle de la Casinière and Carlos Ferraud and three books, 'Projets 69' by Alberto Tavares, 'The Yellow Book', by Olympia Hruska and 'Le Pays où tout est permis' by Sophie Podolski.

There is a very short Wikipedia entry for Sophie Podolski. If you read French, there is much more information at this web site on Philippe Sollers, the grand mandarin of French experimental letters and onetime editor of Tel Quel (Sollers also wrote the introduction to Podolski's book.)

Shortly after reading Bolaño, I found a copy of Sophie Podolski's book in a secondhand store. While it's very much 'of its time', Sophie Podolski's writing is funny, brave and slightly cuckoo. It is unparagraphed and refuses to cohere – she wrote in longhand and the text is forever teetering on the edge of meaning, dissolving into obsessive doodling and semi-visionary pictures. Certainly, drugs were behind much of what she wrote. It would be easy to dismiss the book as a period piece, as demented scribblings in quest of a utopia that we the later-living know doesn't exist.

In the 'Dictionnaire littéraire des femmes de langue française', Françoise Collin writes:

" ... this insolent aimlessness that one might want to reduce to the destructive effect of drugs or madness, is more correctly seen as obstinate resistance to destruction ... where 'health' in the Nietzschian sense battles sickness. (Podolski's) writing emerges from the empty page, from the void, as a force, as a triumph over material existence ... incessantly on guard against the muteness of death ... Drugs, often mentioned, are not a force for escape. She isn't on the prowl for new experiences or fascinating hallucinations, like a prudent intellectual testing her limits; drugs are simply her daily bread and, for wrong or for right, bring her closer to reality."

People take drugs for various reasons – after 30 years of the 'War on Drugs' and multinational capitalism, the idea of drugs as a visionary and liberating tool may seem quaint. Or even reprehensible. After all, the young woman killed herself. But neither you or I know why. All we have are her words. And while I wish that Sophie Podolski (and any number of my own friends) were still alive, I can't help but feel that in some way they were lucky to have lived in and left this world when it was still possible to disappear, to keep secrets, to drift away.

Like the character Soto in Bolaño's novel 'Distant Star', I tried (unsuccessfully!) to translate 'Le Pays où tout est permis' from the French. However, if you can read French (or just want to look at the pictures), I have scanned the book for anyone who is interested. As far as I know it has never been reprinted.

Le Pays où tout est permis – PDF

Cornelius Cardew: 'Bun No 1' at the Proms (and at Five against Four)

2010-08-27T22:55:00.025-03:00

As I get closer to launching this new and hopefully welcome blog, I thought I'd draw your attention to the recent goings-on over at the Five against Four blogspot --- this year's London Proms, with recordings, program notes and thoughtful reviews of all the premieres. Three unmissable items so far: James Dillon's 'La Navette' (UK Premiere), Morton Feldman's 'Piano and orchestra' (John Tilbury, soloist, London premiere) and, best of all, Cornelius Cardew's challenging and inscrutable 1965 'Bun No 1'. The latter is a fully-notated serial work for conventional orchestra and, to the best of my knowledge, has never been recorded commercially. (Isn't it about time for a disc of Cardew's pre-'Treatise' music?)

NOTE 6 OCTOBER 2010 – Somehow I missed out on the 2001 Matchless CD of Cardew's 'Chamber Music 1955-64' – it looks like the perfect accompaniment to this Proms broadcast. I plan on ordering it as soon as my bank balance permits!

AND I do hope to pick up soon where 'The High Pony Tail' left off, at the present address (while doing my best to maintain the Pony Archives as they stand.) Stay tuned for further signs of life ...