Bumping a post as a result of Margaret Hodge

After castigating Margaret Hodge, I though I would link back to an earlier post I made about a certain 18th Century composer who was black. Inclusive enough for you Madam?

The Proms

Margaret Hodge has made a speech in which she criticises the Proms for not being inclusive enough. Apart from the fact that her comments are a gift to the racist fringe of politics, they are utterly silly. The Promenade concerts are a celebration of music, music speaks to the soul man, it is one of the most inclusive activities you can be involved in. The last night celebration is as much a celebration of music as it is of national identity. The Proms are internationally recognised, people travel from all over the world to attend. The artists come from all backgrounds and all nations, the chief conductor at the moment is Czech. If you watch the Last night the flags are from all across the world not just the UK. This is a celebration of music, of course it is wrapped up in national identity but it is much more than that. It is nothing different to the New Years Concert from Vienna. In her intervention today, the Minister for Culture has shown that it is not just her constituency that is Barking!

Saturday Music Post - 01/03/2008

I thought I would stay away from my obsession with Classical Music today and instead write about my love of country music instead. I first got introduced to it when Shania Twain exploded onto the crossover scene, I liked her more pop style music but found that when the songs were more explicitly country that I liked them more. I think it was because she was more comfortable in the style or something. Songs I like of Shania’s are “Who’s bed have you boots been under?” and “Any man of mine”, which both have a linedance kind of feel. I then graduated to more traditional country of Johnny Cash who I think is a hero. As my interest deepened I found myself branching out into Alison Krauss who produces some amazing songs. I then found myself with Dolly Parton and three recent albums of hers that are absolutely awesome, Little Sparrow, The Grass is Blue and Halos and Horns. I still have a look out for anything interesting, and am aware that country music sales in this country are nothing like as big as in the US, but I certainly find the vibe of country music extremely pleasant.

I think the thing with country music is that it is often musical storytelling, there is a balladic meme that is often deployed in country music. There is also a hopefulness that gets used often but not always. I think some of my favourite country tunes are the depressing ones, because there is a deep sense of pathos in the way the song is constructed. Add to this the lively footstomping tunes and the country piano, banjos, fiddles and squeeze boxes and you have a recipe for some excellent tune-making. I have only dipped my toes into country music, but it is certainly a much more interesting genre of music than I would have thought before I got hooked!

Music for Tuesday

Firstly, I haven’t posted not because of internet but because I have been busy! I have been doing gardening and various bits and pieces that you have to do when you are a proud homeowner!!

I thought I’d skip the politics for today, and mention my other love Music! I have found that in terms of non-classical music I have various distinct tastes. I tend to go for foreign language pop, Celine in French, Juanes and the like in Spanish. If you don’t understand the words they don’t get in the way of the music! I like camp pop as well, think Scissor Sisters and Mika and the like! Often you will catch me listening to Country, where my distinct favourites are Alison Krauss and Dolly!! I also like my guitar based music in other ways such as U2, Queen, Radiohead, Starsailor, Keane, Travis and Snow Patrol to name but a few. Finally to cap it off I have a huge thing for 70’s disco and Abba. I think that qualifies as an eclectic taste!!

Saturday Music Post - 02/02/2008

I havent done one of my music posts in a while so I thought I’d reinstate it. I’m often asked who my favourite composer is, and as with anyone it is a difficult choice. I like different composers for different things and trying to decide who your favourite is nearly impossible. I often say Mozart if pushed, but recently I have been actively thinking about this again. It is easy as a classical music fan to jump to Mozart because the high Classical style is so easy on the ear. There is very little within Mozart that you can actively dislike or fail to appreciate. Mozart is an easy default answer. However I have come to realise that I listen to other comopsers far more than I do to Wolfgang Amadeus. So maybe one of the other composers is my favourite? I started to think.

Often I will turn to Handel, a Baroque composer who has a very good line in highly elaborate easy to listen to music. His signature stuff though is Baroque ceremonial, pompous and full to bursting with military trumpets, horns and timpani. Ceremonial Handel is extremely good for making yourself feel proud, confident and assertive. There is another Handel also, choral Handel, which is evident in his oratorios such as Messiah, Judas Maccabeus, Solomon and Saul. These were the West End shows of their age, and the construction of them is exquisite. Was Handel my favourite? I wasn’t sure.

I then saw my last.fm account and realised that it suggested that far and away my most listened to composer was Haydn. I thought well, yes, I do listen to Haydn quite a bit, but then the style is like Mozart so it is no surprise that I would listen to Haydn. I then thought Schubert gets quite a listening to, between the intimacy of his Piano sonatas and the sweep of his symphonies. I thought about it and came to the conclusion that Schubert whilst in the top ten was not my favourite composer. Vivaldi, Schumann, Bach, Tchaikovsky and numerous others were then struck off the list for various reasons, mainly that I just don’t listen to them enough! So who was my favourite in the end? Well I think the answer should have been obvious really.

Eventually after much thinking I realised my favourite composer is Beethoven. Music by this maestro is what I turn to when I need lifting up, when I need calming down, or at any other point really. Beethoven is unique in my esteem as he blends drama and pathos, intellect and emotion in such a way. For me Beethoven finds a musical language to describe things that words would be insufficient for, and does so with an intellectual and compositional rigour that leaves you breathless. Beethoven to me is not only my favourite composer but quite simply the best composer I have ever come across for breadth, range and style. Beethoven does something for me that I have not found anywhere else in classical or popular music.

Saturday Music Post - 08/12

As it is approaching Christmas I thought I would write about a popular piece of music that often gets performed in the run up. It is the most staggering work I have come across for balance, tunefulness, and sheer tear-jerking vocals. I am talking of Messiah by Handel. This is an oratorio, it was a popular entertainment form in the mid-eighteenth century. It would usually follow a biblical text or a philosophical work and would be a sung work without staging so all there was no scenery, costumes or acting unlike opera. This was supposed to be music stripped down. When Handel wrote Messiah, in a matter of weeks, he certainly did not conceive it as a religious work, this was an entertainment. That it is so often perceived nowadays as a deeply religious work is firstly a sign of progression of taste but also of the deeply moving nature of Handel’s music.

There are probably few people who have not heard the chorus Hallelujah, it is one of the most instantly recognisable tunes in all of music. In my opinion it is not the best tune in the whole work but it is well known because it is such a catchy tune, and also Handel employs his craft to stunning effect by writing it with a full complement of timpani and trumpets this chorus rams itself at you with full seventeenth century ceremonial pomp. In fact there is every conceivable type of sung piece in Messiah, the main types of piece used in seventeenth century opera and oratorio were recitative, aria and chorus. Handel tends to group things together so you get recitative, aria, chorus patterns throughout. The recitatives tend to be narrative, the arias are more substantive and he uses the chorus for something of impact. There are fugues, word-painting, soaring vocals and at the very end of the final part the kitchen sink gets thrown at the final choruses with powerful vocals, trumpets, drums and the works.

I would encourage anyone to hear this piece live, I have once, and it is incredible. Failing that definitely get a recording to listen to. I have two recordings in my collection and have heard several, each conductor brings something different to the piece. Of the two recordings I own one is by Malcolm Sargent and is a more usual rendition of the work, the other is a very different recording that I fell in love with due to the highly unusual nature. This recording is by the Academy of Ancient music and is notable because in the choir there are no women whatsoever. Every part is taken by a man, and the top soprano line is taken by boy choristers. The effect is stunning and to hear the counter-tenors singing is one of the most haunting experiences. I would definitely recommend it.

The highlights for me are some of the lesser known arias and choruses, of course I love Hallelujah simply because it is stunningly good but I think that the very last chorus, Amen, is a lot better. A few pieces to listen out for are as follows:-

Rejoice Greatly, O daughter of Zion
He Shall feed his flock like a shepherd
Glory to God in the Highest
I know that my Redeemer liveth
The Trumpet shall sound
Worthy is the Lamb that was Slain
Amen

Personally speaking though, listen to it all, everyone’s taste is different and so consequently people will like different aspects of it. Messiah though is one of the greatest pieces in musical history and if you listen to it you will see why.

Saturday Music Post - 01/12

What better piece to choose on the first day of Advent, the start of the season of goodwill, a piece of music that includes a section with a lyric of ‘all men will become brothers’. I of course refer to the epic ninth symphony of Ludwig van Beethoven, the Choral symphony commonly referred to by the poem that is set to music in the final movement - Ode to Joy.

Beethoven tends to be a very single minded composer, once he settles on an idea he pursues it relentlessly this was certainly true in his third symphony which revolves around the theme of the Hero. I will probably post on that symphony at a later date, so won’t go any further on that. However it is instructive to note this Beethovenian relentlessness and single-mindedness because he exploits it to major effect in his final D-minor symphony. In many ways the whole symphony is revolves around the theme of joy and the different manifestations thereof. It is this pursuit of theme that makes Beethoven such a weighty composer in many ways.

The first movement of the symphony is probably one of the most remarkable and weird openings in all of recorded music. The music bubbles up in a very subdued manner, almost like life bubbling up in the primordial soup, it almost feels at the very beginning like the movement starts out from the orchestral tuning up. The start is thin sketchy and disjointed like that orchestra tuning up and then explodes in a sedate yet dark theme, the music working on multiple levels with all the experience and genius at Beethoven’s command. It creates a movement that seems in many ways to reflect on one aspect of Joy, the movement coming as it does, like life, almost out of thin air reflects on that natal joy, the underpinning joy, the joy of mere existence. That is the first movement, dark and brooding certainly, it is Beethoven and it is D minor but simultaneously philosophical, reflective and as deep as the Marianas Trench this is the first part of Professor Beethoven’s thesis on Joy.

The second movement is the scherzo movement, it is quite fast and has an accentuated staccato feel to it. However as the movement progresses the listener can begin to see what the maestro is aiming at with this movement. It is another aspect of Joy, this movement is manufactured joy the joy of the moment. The main scherzo them therefore feels almost like a pastoral dance, albeit slightly weightier and heavily overladen with drums. This movement always puts me in mind of a carnival, with merry-go-rounds and candy-floss stalls and the laughter of fun and happiness. This is late Beethoven though so the music is trying to paint mood and depth hence the slightly darker tone and the ever so slight disjointedness. The contrasting trio in this movement is serene and again is the joy of the moment, the joy being somewhat calmer and more like that family picnic in the meadow by a meandering river. Beethoven then compares and contrasts the all the fun of the fair and picnic scenes in an almost miniature essay within the broader Joy theme.

The third movement is where Beethoven shows his full genius, in that the way the music is written, softly, slowly and with immense pathos. This is music that takes you to paradise, stops time and lets you wallow in the joy of absolute enlightenment. There it is again, Beethoven exploring joy yet again, this is the joy that brings tears as the only reaction. This is eternal joy, and the movement proceeds with stateliness, and solemnity that not even the full orchestral chords towards the end can break. This is in my estimation some of the best music in all of Beethoven, it is the music that flows from a Beethoven who is fully exploring every facet of his theme and coming up with the sublime. This is a symphonic essay on Joy and this movement is the perfect joy of the truly beautiful.

Then we come to the fourth movement, the one that almost everyone knows because it is the choral part of this symphony. This is the movement set to Schillers Ode an die Freude and Beethoven pulls out all the stops, he even puts in a few more just to be able to pull them out. This piece is the apex of Beethoven’s symphonic career. It starts by referencing the very start, it returns us to that natal joy of existence, but filtered through the other types of joy explored in the two other movements, as it moves towards the orchestral exposition of the famous Ode to Joy theme. The orchestra then gets a treatment of the main Ode theme, in the tonic major rather than the minor key, this joy deserves to be light and triumphant. At the end of the orchestral ode theme, Beethoven drags us right back to minor and that natal joy of the start, he does this for a purpose. The purpose is to bring in the vocalists, but it is also to highlight something, Beethoven is an artist, he is putting something dark to accentuate the lightness of what is next. The first sung words in this movement are ‘O Freunde‘,’Oh Friend’ in English, Beethoven I think does this deliberately, because this is slightly before the opening of Shillers poem words, which start with ‘Freude‘ German for Joy. Beethoven is very cleverly highlighting the phonetic similarities between Friend and Joy in German; Freunde/Freude. He is in a few musical sentences almost saying friends are the true joy of life. Beethoven then proceeds to set Shiller’s massive Ode to Joy poem to music that is not only equally massive but presents the poem as a harmonised homily of hope. It shows off Beethoven’s supreme talent for musical expression, it makes more of the words if that is possible, and it makes for a piece of music that draws tears from even the hardest man. Beethoven’s final Joy, his Ode to Joy finale is musically the Joy of hope.

The complete symphony, the joy symphony, takes us through four types of joy. Existential joy, the joy of the moment, eternal joy, and the joy of hope. It carves out a place in our minds and in a very brief passage in the final movement paints an image that the big joy, is the joy of friends. This is music on a monstrous scale, this is thematic music, this is genius music. No wonder that nearly 200 years after it first saw the light of day this is still one of the most popular epic works in all of classical music. It is the epitome of Joy.

Joseph Boulogne: A tragically unknown composer

I have made it a rule to pepper posts of music into my more political observations. I shall continue to do so as music is an enormous passion of mine. I want today to write about a virtually unknown composer, Joesph Boulogne sometimes referred to as Chevalier de Saint-Georges. There is a reason he is unknown which I shall get to in a little. Boulogne was a contemporary of Mozart and wrote many fine Concerti for violin, he wrote opera and symphonies as well. That was not the limit of his talent, he was music teacher to the Queen of France, conductor, a military man and a master of fencing. He was also a bit of a ladies man which got him in a little trouble throughout his life. However the extraordinary thing about Joseph Boulogne is not the compass of his talents but that he ever got as far as he did.

Jospeh Boulogne was born in 1745 in Guadeloupe, the bastard son of a former slave and a sugar plantation owner. Joseph was black, it doesn’t need emphasising that Britain didn’t abolish slavery until 1807 and that attitudes to non-white people were filtered through the prism of the slave trade. So for a black man to become a conductor, to school Marie-Antoinette and to be both a composer of prodigious talent and a highly skilled swordsman was a feat of almost super-human accomplishment. Even today in the more enlightened 21st Century non-white people face barriers to success and achievement, but in the heady days of the mid 18th century the barriers were usually a literal chain to subservience.

I listen a lot to a Boulogne’s Violin concerto’s, they are exquisite pieces in their own right. I once had them playing and a friend was convinced that they were Mozart. No wonder that one of the epithet’s attached to Boulogne is ‘Le Mozart Noir‘, Boulogne is stylistically similar to Mozart, but then in any period the prevailing trend usually leads to the use of similar techniques and motifs within music. However that is not to diminish the intense beauty of the pieces that Boulogne presents, they are in a league of their own. I have often listened to them and thought that they are in many respects better than Mozart’s Violin Concerto’s. I think it is high time that Boulogne’s music was more widely available, I have struggled to find more than a handful of recordings.

I also think that for everyone to see that here was a truly remarkable composer in the middle of a time where racism was de rigeur, where the transatlantic slave trade was in full swing, who despite the major disadvantage of his colour achieved more success than many of his white contemporaries would be both inspirational and instructive. The achievements of this man should go unrecognised no more.

Saturday Music Post - 27/10

Well I was listening to some Schubert the other day, and I think he is slightly underrated as a composer. He is a symphonist of the highest calibre, and his song cycles are gorgeous too. He has a pretty impressive repertoire of piano music to his name as well. What is missing is a piano concerto, I think that it is a shame that one doesn’t exist as his orchestration and aptitude for piano composition would have shone through and I am convinced that a Schubert piano concerto would have been both musically challenging and also eminently popular.

It is not only the absence of a piano concerto that I think is a shame, by far and away the two movements of Schubert’s Unfinished symphony are among his best symphonic work. The second slower movement is hauntingly beautiful in a way that most other composers could only dream of. I regret that Schubert left this earth without ever finding the inspiration to complete that work, I think had he done so it would have been an outstanding complete symphony.

Schubert died tragically young at the age of 31, even so he left a sizable volume of work some of it such as the Trout Quintet is enduringly popular other works are less well known. I am firmly of the opinion that had he lived for even a fraction longer he would be a much bigger name than he is. I am firmly of the belief that his early death robbed music of one of its brightest stars.

Saturday Music Post - 13/10

I have a huge passion for music so I thought that at least once a week I would post something about it! I have previously written about a couple of Beethoven pieces that I like, today I am going to write about a piece of Mozart. Mozart is undeniably a genius composer, his skill is not what he does on the surface of the piece, it is often buried deep within. The odd note that pushes the tonality off just a little to hint at something a little darker lurking in the shadows. It is always very subtle, and it always works perfectly. Today though I want to look at a piece that I think more than anything is a masterpiece, it is a Piano Concerto and it is a stonker. Mozart’s Piano Concerto number 20 in D minor is for me one of the best that Mozart wrote.

The first movement of the piece is in the home key of D Minor and is pretty weird, having not a lot of tune to be found. The opening orchestral section is built up of layers of interwoven harmony that suggests a perfect space for a tune to go. It does so with a brooding melancholia, which is more wistfulness than morbidity. It climaxes with a dotted chord and full orchestration underpinned by timpani and after that there is this unwinding highly lyrical section anticipating the entry of the piano. The piano arrives not in a flourish as in many Piano Concerti, but seamlessly weaving itself into the lyrical passage that precedes it, after a short solo passage announcing it’s arrival the piano picks up the orchestra. The orchestra returns to the opening thematic material and the picture is now complete. The space Mozart created is filled with the tune of the piano. There proceeds passages highlighting the dexterity and prowess of the pianist, and because of the tonal quality of the piano, the movement is lighter than you would expect for a minor key piece. The piece moves to the cadenza where the pianist shows off his wares unaccompanied by the orchestra. When the orchestra returns there isn’t the usual style of rounding off, normally a movement rounds off on a brash high, Mozart doesn’t do this, the orchestra fades out, slowly and just disappears. It is the most emotional of endings.

The second movement is a corker too, it starts at a medium pace but with what can only be described as a kind of jewellery box theme. It proceeds for several minutes, suggesting childlike innocence and playfulness in a way only Mozart can really do. The theme is so beautiful and innocent that the contrast when it comes would be shocking in the hands of a less skilled composer. The middle section of this piece is a bit maniac, it is extremely busy with an arpeggiated motif which gives it almost demonic qualities. If the prior theme is a happy child playing with a jewellery box, this is the tantrum when the jewellery box is taken away from them. This continues and then calms down slowly and back into the initial childlike jewellery box theme. The child is happy again with its ‘toy’. The music fades out and we are left with balance restored in the nursery.

The finale takes up the arpeggiation of the middle of the second movement but in the home key and creates a series of quick fire notes climbing up to the climax. The orchestra is busy and there are bubbling menacing strings, descending scales and the effect is suggestive of hyperactivity. The piano enters after the orchestral exposition in an almost identical fashion to the first movement thus linking the whole structure together in the neatest and most intelligent fashion. The third movement proceeds in a blaze of hyperactivity. The pianist and orchestra almost competing for the laurels in a kind of teenage game of one upmanship. The cadenza comes and is a final opportunity for the pianist to show off and prove he is better than the orchestra. However Mozart has so utterly anticipated this that he pulls a trick on the pianist and the audience by scoring the final teenage point with the orchestra in the final bars. After the cadenza Mozart doesn’t return to D minor for a brash and final explosion of orchestral prowess, oh no he is much cleverer than that. Mozart moves the tonality to D major which is a much more regal and ceremonial key, and having done that and modulating the tunes to that key he throws one final element into it. There is a trumpet in the finale unobtrusive in the rest of the piece but elevated in the final bars to counterpoint the finale. It is the most silly yet genius thing in the piece, it is the orchestra getting one over on the pianist in a playful way. It ends the piece in a joyfully juvenile way and it shows Mozart’s irascible sense of humour, this is a serious piece of music but the joke is the final genius. It is Mozart saying we can have fun with our seriousness.