Pausing to listen, for the opportunity to hear

Yesterday, the Saturday before Easter Sunday, we took the time to listen to Bach's St. Matthew Passion. The recording dates from 1962, digitally remastered in 1989.

Time needed to be taken. The entire recording clocks in at just short of four hours! The conductor, Otto Klemperer, was known for slow tempi. He doesn't disappoint. This is not so much the performance of a piece of music as the taking of a spiritual journey.

The Philharmonia Orchestra and Chorus, in addition to the Boys of Hampstead Parish Church Choir, accompany him and the listeners on the journey.

Solo parts are performed by an astonishing array of talent: Peter Pears, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Christa Ludwig, Nicolai Gedda, and Walter Berry.

The pacing allowed a near-operatic performance to unfold. But then, is not the subject matter near-operatic in itself?

There are performances of this work that take less time, that may well be more...authentic...as in closer to what Bach may have had in mind.

But this is a performance that seeks to move, to engender reflection, to—perhaps—be an expression of a depth of spirituality that can only communicated this way.

I don't know the answer to that final "perhaps." But this was a work that rewarded the pause from the daily round, the time taken to sit with it, and through it.

Music, Maestro, please

This last Friday, the one just gone I mean, we attended an event for new subscribers to the Kansas City Symphony.

Finger food, a frozen Manhattan cocktail for me (who knew a slushie could pack such a punch?) and four members of the orchestra performing as a string quartet.

We were welcomed at the door by members of the board and thanked for our subscription. Goodie bags were also provided, thoughtfully filled with forms to sign should we wish to contribute above and beyond the cost of our subscriptions.

I'm looking forward to the upcoming season. The first concert we attend is in October, and six others follow it. Everyone spoke of the acoustics of the new hall. We go with open ears and open minds.

The latter because we've had many years of attending Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco. The SF Symphony under the baton of Michael Tilson Thomas will be a tough act to follow. We were fortunate to hear gorgeous music over the years, including new works by MTT himself.

I'm glad we're able to subscribe to the Symphony's season. We've grown very fond of live music over the years. Well, we were always fond of it but we've been able to indulge that fondness. It's good the indulgence can continue.

In addition to the forms we found in our goodie bags, there was a mug. So, the house now has two new mugs to add to the substantial number we have filling an entire cupboard.

Our cups runneth over?

Something I shall miss...

Chanticleer - the "Orchestra of Voices". We've had the good fortune of hearing them live in concert at least four times - Grace Cathedral in San Francisco, Mission Santa Clara in, well, Santa Clara, St. Joseph's Cathedral in San Jose and, today, Mission San Jose in Fremont. The photograph below is from this site.

It was their Mission Road tour which began Saturday evening at Mission Dolores in San Francisco. It was a marvelous lead into a Sunday evening. A mixture of plainchant and the works of two Mexican composers of the late 17th and early 18th centuries. The composers were Antonio de Salazar and Manuel de Sumaya (who had been a student of Salazar).

Chanticleer has to be heard, experienced, to be believed. Apart from bases, baritones and tenors, the ensemble boasts countertenors and male sopranos. The music they create is magical.

While they mightn't get to the Midwest with the frequency they may be heard in the Bay Area - they are based in San Francisco - we can take consolation in the fact that we own many of their CDs.

And, who knows, the new Performing Arts Center in Kansas City may tempt them.

Friends, Cello Music, and Poetry

We had dinner this evening with a great friend of ours, Va. Good food, good company. What's not to like - as the saying goes. At the end of the meal, we stepped outside for some moon-watching, on this eve when the moon appears larger than usual.

Va reads my blog and noted my fondness for the cello. This evening she brought with her a CD of improvisations on the cello as inspired by the Tao Te Ching. We listened to it when we arrived back home - you would swear, were you one to swear, there was a cello, cellist included, in the living room. The CD is wonderful.

The 14th track had/has a repeated phrase that caught my ear - and, clearly, started wheels turning.

When they'd finished, the following presented itself:


A voice cries...

What is this place?
Where is this place?
I strike the doors
     the walls
Nothing yields,
I've never seen this place.
Why am I here?

Someone tell me!
Won't someone tell me?

Another voice cries...

I've always been here.
Never able to leave.
I strike the doors
      the walls
Nothing yields.
I've never been elsewhere.
Why cannot I leave?

Someone tell me!
Won't someone tell me?

Both voices - mine.

Z: Music from a Zen Garden

And there I was, wondering what I was going to write for 'Z'. Oh me of little faith.

When I need to pause, not stop as such, just pause - this is the music that can help with that.

A Japanese bamboo flute and Japanese zither played with art and grace. There's little more than can be asked - or said.

Music to sit with. Sanctuary - Music from a Zen Garden.

Y: Yo-Yo Ma

It was inevitable. This choice for "Y", I mean. I'm very fond of the cello as an instrument. The baritone...tenor of the instrument is very appealing.

Then, of course, there's so much Bach for the cello, including the cello suites - unaccompanied, so the virtuosity of the composer, the instrument and the performer are all on display. And I am very fond of Bach.

Then, there's Yo-Yo Ma. a man for whom everything seems to be music, no music seems to be off limits and there also seems to be no music style beyond his ability.

I could fill this entry with images of Mr. Ma's discography - but I will content myself with two.

Yo-Yo Ma Plays Ennio Morricone and Simply Baroque.

Enjoy.

W: Remembering Kate Wolf

Kate Wolf, a singer/songwriter, died of leukemia far too early. The songs on this album are all hers, sung by a range artists, many of them her friends. The songs are gorgeous. The singing beautiful. The emotion and heart in the lyrics are brought to the fore by the performances.

A personal favorite is "Here in California". The song contains the line: "And the hills go brown in the Summertime". And, in the Summer as I drive around, that song comes strongly to mind as I look at the sun-burnt hills around the Bay Area.

Truly, treasures left behind.

I had thought to make W refer to the Windham Hill "A Winter's Solstice" series. We have all of them, I believe. Good music, well performed. But, the above is quite special.

U: U2

U2's Rattle And Hum album is a mix of studio and live performances, from a tour of the US. This is another CD that I find difficult to simply sit and listen to. It's the kind of music that makes you (or me) want to dance.

The largest problem? I can't. Dance, that is. Not to save my life. My Mother was most disappointed.

But I can sing - and I do.

The music, let alone the performances, is a mixture. "When Love Comes To Town" is sung with B.B. King. If you like blues - and how could you not? - this is a song you'll enjoy.

 The funny thing is, this is a song written by an Irish rock band. And it's a B.B. King song.

"I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" was on a previous album. But it was picked up by a Gospel Choir in Harlem - and what unfolds is pure magic. It doesn't hurt that I love gospel.

See here: What you're looking for.

T: Tall and Tan...

...and young and...

And if you're not humming already...but you are, aren't you?

The CD, Getz/Gilberto, is a feast for the senses. The song "The Girl From Ipanema" is only one of the delights. The performers include Stan Getz on saxophone, João Gilberto on guitar, Antonio Carlos Jobim on piano. These last two are credited with being among those who created Bossa Nova.

The song mentioned above is performed on the album by Astrud Gilberto, João Gilberto's wife.

With Fado, I wrote of Portuguese music. Now, to the Portuguese language, we add Brazilian rhythm.  Nothing finer.

S: Sugarland

Reading a Sunday paper, some time ago, I came upon a set of brief interviews with artists who felt their music video added to the song being performed. I was curious and turned to my computer, invoked the Google, cranked up the iTunes, and went searching.

Three of the videos I watched were complex, highly-produced affairs. Short-short movies, in effect. In truth, it was difficult to remember the song, given the complexity of the video.

And then there was "Stay". Jennifer Nettles said in the interview, if I remember rightly, that her Gran doesn't like to watch the video. She doesn't  like to see her granddaughter cry. It seems in the performance, while it is a performance, Ms. Nettles tapped into real emotion, and it spilled over (so to speak).

The video structure is very simple, just the two performers, but it packs a punch that...um...stays with you.

The other songs on the album aren't so emotional, least not in that way. But an enjoyable CD nonetheless.

Q: Queen

Well, what else could it have been?

One of the classic rock bands, with one of the finer guitarists, Brian May, and one of the best front-men in the business, Freddie Mercury. The CD, Queen - Greatest Hits II is wonderful, full of the energy the band had.

Hearing Freddie Mercury sing "Who wants to live forever" is always tinged with melancholy for me, because he didn't. The song is also featured on the soundtrack of the movie, "Highlander". It fit well there too. And, the film echoes in the words to the song "It's a Kind of Magic" also - I mean, there can be only one, yes?

In addition to the CD, one of several I have, I also have the DVD of Queen's concert in Wembley Stadium in London. Thereon Freddie Mercury struts his stuff all over the stage. And could he ever strut! And did he ever have stuff to strut!

I may be a fan.

And then he sits at the piano for the opening of "Bohemian Rhapsody" and music pours forth. Such a talent.

N: Sean Nós - Nua

Sean Nós - song, sung in the "old style". It's a traditional form of singing from Ireland. A capalla, for sure, with much vocal decoration.

Nua, means new. And Sinéad O'Connor takes a new look at some traditional Irish songs, ballads. The result can't really be called "Sean Nós", for the songs are accompanied by music, played by some of the finest musicians to be found. Nor is the characteristic vocal athleticism demonstrated by traditional Sean Nós singers in evidence.

And yet, and yet... There's an old flavor to Sinéad O'Connor's interpretation of the songs, some of which I remember from my childhood ("I'll tell me Ma" and "Báidín Fheilimí" - I'm looking at you two). We'd sing them in the car as, as a family, we went on drives through the Wicklow countryside south of Dublin.

And so, a "new" take on the "old style". Sean Nós - Nua.

M: Mannekrianna

Back in the day, the day being sometime in 2003, we watched "Breakfast with the Arts", a show on A&E hosted, at that time, by Elliott Forrest, a very talented and knowledgeable presenter and interviewer.

He was present at a performance by Mannekrianna, an improvisational piano duo, Marianna Rosett and Ken Bichel. They asked for themes, a set of them, and they then wove a piece of four-handed music right there and right then.

Sometimes it was like ping pong or badminton, as they traded musical phrases back and forth from piano to piano. Other times - waltzing, but trading the leader's role back and forth. I'd never heard anything like it before. And haven't since.

We found a CD of theirs and I'm glad I bought it. It doesn't seem to be available any longer. There does seem to be a download of the music available here.

L: The Children of Lir

An old Irish story, in the vein of the "evil stepmother" - in this case doubling as an evil aunt. Lir had four children but his wife died. He then married her sister, who grew jealous of the love her husband had for the children of his first wife.

She cursed them, changing them to swans and they were to spend 900 years, 300 at a time, in three different locations. Versions of the story tell how the children, after the 900 years, were changed back into human form at the sound of a bell from a christian church.

The image to the right is of the statue in the Garden of Remembrance in Dublin. The link to information about the image is here.

The "Children of Lir" by Patrick Cassidy is an oratorio in the style of Handel, at least to my ear. Have a listen to the track samples - and then go buy the CD. You won't be sorry.

K: Kothbiro

It seems we're back to films. Soundtracks anyway.

I own the CD of the soundtrack to the film, "The Constant Gardner". The film itself hurts, but that's what a good story, well told, should do - reach in and touch you.

And it does. The story ends well, but not everyone gets out alive. And the audience feels right along with the main character. Of course, it never hurts to have your main character played by Ralph Fiennes. :) Rachel Weisz is no slouch either.

If you do visit the Amazon page for the soundtrack - play the piece of track 13, Kothbiro, found there. It's one of the more atmospheric and poignant melodies I've ever heard.

J: Jorane

Jorane - a French-Canadian singer/cellist/songwriter I heard on the radio some year back. To begin with, I'm very fond of the cello. There's something about the tone of the instrument.

Jorane, however, manages to push, or gently entice, the cello out of its comfort zone. The results are wondrous.

I have only one of Jorane's CDs - partly because I rarely see her in stores. It's entirely possible I'm looking in all the wrong places. Her music is difficult to classify.

The CD I own is "the You and the Now". It seems, on Amazon, it's temporarily out of stock. If you click on the link and go to Amazon - check out Track 5. Not your traditional cello.

I: Irish Music

Well, I could hardly not now, could I?

For I am a fan of the music of Ireland, folk, trad, the blend of the above, and rock, punk and much else. I even, though I shudder every time I think of it, had the temerity to sing in front of Larry Mullen, the drummer in U2. He wasn't there in his official capacity.

Speaking of the "Music of Ireland"...

In the Midwest, one Christmas, I ran across a pair of CDs, with accompanying DVDs. The DVDs were Parts One and Two of a Public Television special (which I'd missed) on, well, the music of Ireland. The CDs contain the music played and sung during the hour (one per DVD) of the show.

Part One, in particular, delves into the roots of the revival of Irish music over the past 50 or so years. Marvelous interviews with those who played a huge part in that revival - some of whom now gone, but they'll never be forgotten.

I recall thinking, as I watched and listened, wishing I were able to capture the sense, the feeling, the flavor of their speech, of their ideas, of their way of being in my writing. Were I able to do that, they'rd be no telling what I could do.

H: Hammered Dulcimer

As I was going down...Grafton Street...

Not the title of the book by Oliver St. John Gogerty (he was going down Sackville Street, now O'Connell Street).

There's a song that goes "Grafton Street's a wonderland..." and so it is. A shopping street reserved for pedestrians in Dublin, Ireland and a street I've wandered down - and up - many a time. It's a favorite of buskers.

I've seen and heard several string quartets, in full recital dress, bagpipes and bagpipers, of the Scottish variety, a college student who would compose poetry on the spot, for a consideration, and, one day, I stopped by a young man as he sat in the sunshine playing an instrument I'd never seen, nor heard before.

I had to ask, curiosity getting the better of this particular cat. T'was, I was informed, a hammered dulcimer. The young man hailed from somewhere South in the US (it was a long time ago and my memory's not what it was once). I listened, and was enchanted.

While researching I've discovered that the hammered dulcimer is to be found across the world. Even so, it has remained for me, because of that fortuitous encounter in Dublin on a sunny morning, an American instrument.

So I was very pleased to run across a CD that contains music of Turlough O'Carolan (a blind, harpist and composer of the late 17th and early 18th century) transcribed for the hammered dulcimer. The performer is Joemy Wilson, who hails from New Haven, Connecticut.

The music moves very smoothly from the harp to the dulcimer.

Grafton runs from St. Stephen's Green down to Trinity College. At the end of the street there's a bronze statue, one of several works scattered about the city.

This one depicts Molly Malone. She's also known to Dubliners as "The Tart with the Cart." But, that's Dublin for you.

G: Give Up Yer Aul Sins

So there! Wha'?

Some years ago we were in Kansas City, MO, as we normally are for Christmas. And, as we do at Christmas, we were listening to the Christmas playlist on one of the iPods (an eclectic collection ranging from Medieval Christmas songs to A Winter Solstice - volumes I, II, III, IV, V and VI - we liked the first and...it happens).

I was listening, with half an ear, to a track on Loreena McKennitt's "Parallel Dreams" album, Dicken's Dublin. A sad tale of a young person, out on the streets on a cold Winter's eve. Interspersed with the lyrics is a recording of a young girl, clearly from Dublin given her accent, narrating the Christmas story.

My full attention was drawn when I heard her say "an' an angel disappeared to them..."

Dublin is a town of malapropisms - there's a history of them there, going back a long time. I went back over that part of the track time and time again. Sure enough, "...an angel disappeared to them..."

Some years later, my father sent us a DVD - "Give Up Yer Aul Sins". Recordings, with wonderful animation, of schoolchildren in the '60s in Ireland, narrating Bible stories. The recordings were made by a teacher, but had been lost. They were discovered in a rubbish bin. Two enterprising young men made an animation short - "Give Up Yer Aul Sins" (The story of John the Baptist) and this tiny film was nominated for an Academy Award.

The DVD contains seven of the stories and a documentary.

The funny thing was, my father hadn't heard the Loreena McKennitt song.

F: Fado, Fados

Fado, not "Fadó, fadó...", which in the language of the Irish (Gaelic) Storyteller means "Long, long ago..." or, more freely translated, "Once upon a time..."


No, Fado is a type or style of song from Portugal, and all parts of the world Portuguese. A style of which I have become fond. Well, there's a romantic element, a melancholy element. How could I not?

I first ran across the form in the film, Fados. A musical, of sorts. It's made up of a series of performances of Fado - including rap! The film is visually and musically stunning. And I became fascinated with the musical form.




A modern exemplar of it is Ana Moura. I missed her concert when she was here in San Francisco last year. But I do own the CD. And it makes for wonderful listening.





By the way, there's a belief that Fado, as a word, has something to do with Destiny - or Fate. And so, a tie-in with the A to Z "F" entry by Laura Eno - The Fates.