Our curation of music and opera reviews
A great song from Mr Earle’s terrific album Train A Coming which was also covered by Emmylou on Wrecking Ball. Here they are together performing Goodbye: UPDATE: This post is now, alas, dedicated to Julian FitzGerald, old friend from Trinity days and much missed by all who knew him.
Lucerne is a city with powerful musical associations, the most celebrated being Wagner’s living there for the six years between 1866 and 1872, the most tranquil of his life, in Haus Triebschen, now a magnificent Wagner museum. Lucerne is a city with powerful musical associations, the most celebrated being Wagner’s living there for the six years between 1866 and 1872, the most tranquil of his life, in Haus Triebschen, now a magnificent Wagner museum. But he had visited before, most notably in 1859, when he finished Tristan und Isolde in the Hotel Schweizerhof; but also in 1850, a visit recorded with surprising sympathy by Stravinsky, a late convert to Wagner,
Was there a golden age of English music a hundred years ago? From today’s vantage-point there probably was. Was there a golden age of English music a hundred years ago? From today’s vantage-point there probably was. The years 1910 and 1911 still excite the imagination as one contemplates the extraordinary richness of the new works that were being introduced to audiences in London and at festivals at that period. If you believed in the Zeitgeist, the spirit of the age, there was plenty to support you. The spirit was changing — ‘Rarely, rarely comest thou, spirit of delight’ was the ambiguous line by Shelley that Edward Elgar inscribed on the
Cold weather demands warm music. To which end I am delighted that Mojo, the monthly rock magazine for the more gnarled music fan, has chosen as its album of the year Queen of Denmark by John Grant. As we all know to our cost, albums adored by music magazines tend to be more rigorous and admirable than enjoyable, but this one is as warm and welcoming as a hot bath, a cup of mulled wine and an enormous cheque all rolled into one. Mr Grant, who is 41, gay, from Denver and very gloomy, is the former lead singer of a band called The Czars. You can tell how serious
In the first week of September, the Scottish composer James MacMillan sat in the ‘composition hut’ in the backyard of his Glasgow house, finishing the music he’d been commissioned to write for the Pope’s Mass at Westminster Cathedral. In the first week of September, the Scottish composer James MacMillan sat in the ‘composition hut’ in the backyard of his Glasgow house, finishing the music he’d been commissioned to write for the Pope’s Mass at Westminster Cathedral. ‘I’m enjoying it — oh, the triumphalism!’ he wrote on his blog. He wasn’t kidding. Two weeks later, as the small, frail figure of Benedict XVI processed into the cathedral, a fanfare sounded over
Sitting on my desk as I write are two objects of wonder and delight. They are a pair of box sets from the Deutsche Grammophon label celebrating the company’s 111 years of existence. An odd anniversary to celebrate, you might think, and I suspect the real reason is that the marketing men somehow forgot the centenary and are catching up late, with the rather lame excuse that the number 111 ‘enjoys a special kudos in musical circles’ because Op. 111 was Beethoven’s last piano sonata. The first box was released last year, and very quickly sold out. By the time I became aware of it, you could only lay your
Back after a rugby-related hiatus. Here’s Caitlin Rose with her Sinful Wishing Well…
I have never felt greatly inclined to grow a beard myself. (Not that I could ever manage the full naval Prince Michael of Kent. A rather precious goatee would probably be the limit of my facial hair-growing powers, and the contumely and derision it would surely attract from all right-thinking people obviously rule that out.) But pop music has recently entered one of its occasional beardie phases, as folk music not only gains new popularity, but also comes right back into fashion, on both sides of the Atlantic. In the US we have such bands as Midlake discarding the soft-rock stylings of their first album to go way down deep
The Church of England is not known for being tirelessly dogmatic in the face of shifting public opinion, just for being buffeted by it. One such shift in recent years has been how acceptable women are in the scheme of official worship. Clearly, the time of equal rights for women is upon us, yet the issue of female bishops drags on without resolution, much as the issue of female priests did before. There will eventually be a conclusion, and it will be an enlightened one, but for the moment tradition seems to be fighting yet another rearguard action. How is it so easily overlooked that the head of this Church
What more is there to say? Precious little. So here is Emmylou Harris with one of her great Gram-related songs Together Again, performed here at what must be thought one of the greatest ever Old Grey Whistle Test sessions:
When I told a young pianist that I was planning to write a piece about wrong notes he nearly tore my throat out. ‘I’d like to see you on stage in front of thousands of people trying to play Brahms’s Second Piano Concerto,’ he snapped. My friend hasn’t played the concerto yet and presumably he’s dreading it: even the most seasoned soloists describe its left-hand leaps as the equivalent of a motorcycle jump across the Grand Canyon. At any rate, he left me in no doubt that wrong notes are a seriously touchy subject for pianists. No other instrument commands such a thrilling emotional range — but its demands in
The 2010 Gramophone Awards took me by surprise the other day — quite possibly because I took no interest in the 2009 Awards and therefore may have missed out on a trend. The 2010 Gramophone Awards took me by surprise the other day — quite possibly because I took no interest in the 2009 Awards and therefore may have missed out on a trend. It was as if the recording equivalent of the Campaign for Real Ale had come along, swept away the Watney’s Red Barrel, Whitbread’s Trophy Bitter and Worthington ‘E’ of the classical music industry and replaced them with all those myriad micro-breweries with funny names and higher
The guitarist Keith Richards is perhaps most famous for having constructed a short and very simple rhythmic musical phrase, over the top of which his colleague Mick Jagger expressed an increasing irritation at being unable to acquire, in both general and specific terms, any kind of ‘satisfaction’ — despite, as he proceeded to explain, repeatedly attempting to do so. The guitarist Keith Richards is perhaps most famous for having constructed a short and very simple rhythmic musical phrase, over the top of which his colleague Mick Jagger expressed an increasing irritation at being unable to acquire, in both general and specific terms, any kind of ‘satisfaction’ — despite, as he
He’s been back with us for a while now after his troubles, but it’s still worth cherishing Steve Earle. And he should also be honoured for his work spreading the good word about Townes. Here he is with TVZ’s most famous song:
True, we’d have lost some nice songs. But we might also be free of a great deal of today’s fatuous pop-star posturing Had he been spared a madman’s bullet in December 1980, as he left his apartment in New York, John Lennon would have turned 70 last week, a hypothetical event that was celebrated at the weekend by balloons, concerts, congregations and homilies the world over. It was also marked by the unveiling of a ‘John Lennon Peace Monument’ in Liverpool and the presentation of the Lennon Ono Grant for Peace in Reykjavik. Lennon’s was a tragic death, to be sure, and it is perfectly reasonable to mark this sad anniversary
Townes van Zandt and Johnny Cash are dead but, man, I wanna see the Hagg play live before either of us dies. In the meantime the one fever it’s ok to have is that ol’ Ramblin’ Fever…
I had been waiting a while for it to happen, and happen it did last weekend. ‘Turn your music down,’ said my 11-year-old daughter from the next room. I had been waiting a while for it to happen, and happen it did last weekend. ‘Turn your music down,’ said my 11-year-old daughter from the next room. ‘I’m trying to think.’ At last the generation gap has asserted itself. She does like some of my music, although she increasingly leans towards showtunes and has far more interest in classical music than I had at that age. ‘It’s too loud,’ she clarified. I was playing the Pet Shop Boys’ latest album Yes
My word, that Ozark twang is something magnificent...Sweet is the Melody indeed. I’m inclined to think Iris could be Emmylou’s successor. If, that is, she wants or wanted to be. I hope she does.
Three months ago I wrote here about my chronic Amazon habit, in which I recklessly buy books, DVDs and CDs I will never have time to read, watch or listen to. It has been costing me as much as drink did when I was still a practising alcoholic. I made a firm decision in print to get the habit under control and spend no more than £75 a month. Recklessly, I said I would report here to let you know how I was getting along. Well, the news isn’t good. Looking back over my Amazon account — and the online mail-order supplier provides a scarily precise record of just what
Country music ain’t always about cowboys and outlaws; there’s the distaff side of strong and righteous ladies too. Notably, in this instance, Loretta Lynn and her warning that You Ain’t Woman Enough (To Take My Man)…