For all the Fitkin fans amongst us, there’s a veritable Fitkin-fest on Radio 3 this week.
From Monday, and on iPlayer until next Monday, there’s the chance to hear the London premiere of L, written as a present for and here also performed by cellist Yo-Yo Ma.
Then from Tuesday (also on iPlayer for a week here), there’s an interview with Fitkin himself on ‘In Tune,’ together with the composer playing three short piano pieces live in the studio, and a broadcast of ‘Metal’ and an extract from ‘Circuit.’
From tonight, there will be the chance to hear the Prom premiere of his Cello Concerto, also written for Yo-Yo Ma, after which is a broadcast of some of his chamber works performed by the London Sinfonietta Academy Ensemble, from the ‘Proms Composer Portraits,’ where Fitkin will be in conversation with Tom Service, and presenting his ‘Sciosophy,’ ‘Hurl,’ and ‘Sinew.’
A previous post about Fitkin, including the chance to listen to some of his pieces, appeared on here back in February.
A Fervent Feast from Radio 3: don’t miss.
And here’s part of ‘Loud’ from earlier this year at London’s King’s Place:
There is something almost unbearably melancholic about Satie’s elegaic song, ‘Je te veux,’ especially in this beautifully nuanced performance by Jessye Norman.
The first phrase yearns upwards, starting on the mediant and moving E – G – D ; there’s no tonic in this first gesture, instead the phrase reaches beyond it to land on the ‘D’ before falling back to ‘C,’ although not for long: the phrase then descends D – C – B – A, with a brief trip to E before the B (the sweeping melody rising from the bass-clef beginning in bar 5). In fact, on closer inspection, the melody only articulates a ‘C’ once in its whole sixteen-bar duration; the leading-note, B natural, appears to have a greater significance, as though the melody is aspiring to, but canever quite attain, the tonic.
That initial gesture is the key to the whole piece – a yearning, a reaching for something (or someone), with the arch-shape of the melody going beyond the tonic and and moving over it. without staying on it for any significant length. The fact that the melodic line doesn’t dwell on the tonic gives the piece its rootless, moving quality. The only time we really feel at ease is at the end of the verse (and its subsequent reprises), when the line finally descends onto, and remains on, C, a fact Satie emphasises at the eventual end of the piece when the melody ends with those final three descending notes (E to C) transposed up an octave.
(You can see a copy of the score for solo piano here.)
Satie published it in several incarnations – piano and voice (1903), orchestra, brass and piano solo. For all his riotous tricks in the later ballet scores Parade and Relache, the quirky titles and in-score annotations for the performer to read in piano works such as the Sonatine bureacratique, Je te veux is perhaps a rare moment of Satie wearing his heart on his sleeve. It’s a short, lyrical, and somehow achingly sad moment amongst the rest of Satie’s challenging output.
It’s 9am, and the doors have just opened to this year’s University Open Day; we’ve been here since 8.15 setting up, and the ‘Making Music at Kent’ stand is bursting with colour in the display of posters and photographs from recent years’ events. (If we can, I’ll get a photo uploaded to show
In-spiring future students...
you!).
The Director of Music arrived with bags of sweets to sustain us throughout the day, and has already had her first cup of coffee; it’s always important to know when the tea-booth has opened. We’re looking forward to a stream of visitors interested in making music and the Music Scholarships.
We’ll keep you posted throughout the day as to how it’s going, thanks to wireless technology here in the Sports Hall.
10am: an hour in, and we’ve seen ten visitors and their families, coming from Norfolk, Surrey and elsewhere: the prize for the visitor who’s travelled the farthest is currently held by someone from Swansea. The Director of Music is celebrating a short lull by cracking open the ‘Revels’ as I type, and I’m going to grab my first cup of tea – I wonder if there’s any Earl Gray ?
11.45am: I’ve only just managed to get the tea (no Earl Gray, alas) as suddenly there was a swathe of visitors from especially far-flung corners of the globe: the number of people arriving at the stand has now risen to thirty three, with a particularly international appeal: the record for Visitor From The Farthest Place has now been smashed by someone from Hong Kong, although there’s competition from people from America and Italy. And I thought Kent was the UK’s European university ?!
1pm: four hours in, and we’ve now seen forty five visitors: that’s roughly ten an hour, one every six minutes: the interest is coming now from Devon, Essex and Oxford, with lots of singers, saxophonists, flautists and brass players. I nabbed a suitably toothsome-looking sandwich from the tea-booth back at 12pm, and it’s been sitting here ever since waiting to be consumed. There might be a slight lull now it’s lunchtime: let’s see…
1.40pm: good and bad news; we’ve managed to fit in lunch, but have eaten all the ‘Revels.’ Woe indeed…
2.15pm: visitor numbers have now reached over sixty, coming from Bucks, Berks, Harrogate, Leicester and Hampshire. With only forty-five minutes left, the end is in sight; our voices are starting to tire, but morale is boosted by the chocolate biscuits the Director of Music is about to open… There’s a definite sense that music is becoming an increasingly attractive provision for students making their university choices, wanting to continue with making music and taking instrumental or singing lessons alongside their formal degree programmes; with the new music building set to open its doors shortly before these visitors would arrive as first-year students, they’re in for a fantastic time.
3pm: and that’s it. Final count 67 visitors, including several more from Oxford, Windsor, Kent, and one from Sweden competing for the Farthest Distance Travelled. The winner must be the one who came from Hong Kong, surely ? Thanks to everyone who came to the music stand today, we’ve met a great many interesting and talented musicians: safe journeys home to all. We’re signing off: see you all again.
Anyone who might be apprehensive at the future of jazz in Britain need only listen to last night’s broadcast of the ‘BBC Presents’ stage at this year’s Cheltenham Jazz Festival on Radio 3 to be reassured that the future looks bright.
The show presents two hours of live sets from earlier this year, and features the emerging talents Trish Clowes, Rachel Musson’s Skein, Saltwater Samurai, and Edinburgh-based The Discordian Trio.
Music ranges from the dextrous sax-playing of Trish Clowes, with her wonderfully agile group (including a cellist) – special mention to drummer James Maddren for his vibrant yet subtle drumming – to the deft, bright-sounding improvisations of Rachel Musson, the elctro-dance-infused Saltwater Samurai from South London, and the free-ranging explorations of The Discordian Trio.
The programme also includes interviews with some of the young players of today, who may well be the stars of tomorrow, if the quality of their music-making is anything to go by. Trish Clowes talks in particular about the benefits of studying at the Royal Academy, including working with luminary of the British saxophone world, Iain Ballamy, and about the challenge of being a working jazz artist. All the groups demonstrate an assurety and confidence in their playing that bodes well.
Check them out on iPlayer, and see photos from the event on the Jazz on 3 Flickr site here: the future of British jazz, in the hands of these young musicians, is very bright indeed.
With just over two weeks until Canterbury is bursting with contemporary music, cast your eye over the events listings for this year if you haven’t already done so. The festival celebrates the music of the Baltic, with compositions and performers from countries including Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania alongside a veritable banquet of contemporary works by other composers.
The Choir of King’s College, Cambridge will be giving the UK premiere of Arvo Pärt’s Adam’s Lament in a concert in the Cathedral on Friday 27; Pärt is this year’s Guest Composer, and the same concert also features his Cantus in Memoriam Benjamin Britten as well as Britten, Gorecki and Nicholas Maw.
Choral evensong earlier in the afternoon on the same day will include Pärt’s I Am The True Vine and Magnificat, with the Choir of Canterbury Cathedral directed by David Flood. Elsewhere during the festival season, there’s also a conference on Baltic music and musicologies, and papers on the music of Pärt in particular.
The BBC Big Band will be appearing in the Gulbenkian Theatre on Sunday 21 with Duke Ellington’s jazz-wise glance at Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker, whilst the New Perspective Ensemble on Friday 27 presents music by Magnus Lindberg and Oliver Knussen. There’s also a premiere by the festival director Paul Max Edlin, and music by Sofia Gubaidulina, Poul Ruders, Ligeti, Sørensen, Nørgård and others. Some of the festival will be broadcast on Radio 3’s ‘Hear and Now’ series, including Glass’s Symphony no.3 for strings and pieces by Terry Riley and Pärt on Thursday 26.
This year marks the launch of Sounds New Poetry, and includes the University’s very own Patricia Debney, Senior Lecture in Creative Writing, in a discussion about the relationship between words and music called ‘Roundtable’ on Tuesday 24 at 6pm.
I love music analysis. I love understanding how music works: what harmony is being employed, how the tonal scheme is operating across a piece, how a particular effect is created tonally or texturally, or what structural principles are being used.
I am aware, also, though, that analysis isn’t everything: sometimes, an emotional response can’t be reasoned in terms of tonality, of harmony, or of form. Ultimately, perhaps, defining one’s enjoyment of a piece is a question of balance, of perspective: perhaps a true appreciation of music involves some elements of both an analytical understanding as well as a pure visceral reaction.
And when it comes to perspective, P. G. Wodehouse’s marvellous comic creations, Jeeves and Wooster, are the yin and yang: Bertie’s pure enjoyment (unhindered by anything remotely akin to an intellectual understanding – one of his charms), and Jeeves’ clinical knowledge which admits of no emotional response at all (one of his).
Their exchange about ‘Minnie the Moocher’ epitomises these attitudes, which you can see here.
Priceless.
I suspect there’s a Jeeves and Wooster moment for everything in life…
This year, ArtsFest will be five days of arts events of every sort around the Canterbury Campus and beyond from Wednesday June 8 to Sunday June 12: music, drama, improvised comedy, poetry – and maybe something spontaneous!
If you or your student society would like to be involved, visit the ArtsFest homepage for further details and to download the relevant application form.
It’s still a ridiculously busy time for music at the University as the last three weeks of term draw on: Wednesday sees the Concert and Big Bands teaming up with St. Edmund’s School Big Band in a charity event, as they support the Lady Mayoress’ Charities this year, as written about in the previous post: additionally, on Friday, the University Cecilian Choir and Brass Ensemble perform ‘The Grand Tour,’ a sequence of music and readings celebrating the cultural odyssey around Europe, at St. Paul’s Church, Canterbury; the concert is in aid of St. Paul’s organ restoration fund (as blogged about on the choral blog, Cantus Firmus, here).
From Monday, and on iPlayer until next Monday, there’s the chance to hear the London premiere of L, written as a present for and here also performed by cellist Yo-Yo Ma.
And when it comes to perspective, P. G. Wodehouse’s marvellous comic creations, Jeeves and Wooster, are the yin and yang: Bertie’s pure enjoyment (unhindered by anything remotely akin to an intellectual understanding – one of his charms), and Jeeves’ clinical knowledge which admits of no emotional response at all (one of his).
