pink floyd to shostakovich
The ACO can make sampling seem natural in a venue like the Wigmore Hall and Mozart seem shocking to an audience saturated by polite playing. And if EMI or Universal don't get to them fast, Gap will.
-- The Independent Sunday (London, England; 10/28/2001)
The crowning note in today's matinee performance of "The Travellers", from the always-daring and musically versatile ACO (Australian Chamber Orchestra) -- the piece that made me buoyant, brain electric, shoulders tense as a violin string -- was Richard Tognetti's remarkable arrangement of Pink Floyd's "Shine On, You Crazy Diamond" for strings.
I once heard a live recording of Nigel Kennedy perform Hendrix's "Purple Haze" on the violin in concert, and it was great.
This was something more subtle and amazing than that. Tognetti, the ACO's artistic director and also lead violin, doesn't so much recreate the song as pulls it apart, stripping it into its barest elements -- and then reassembles the strands.
An almost oriental minimalism was a surprising byproduct of Pink Floyd's melodies being reproduced by layer upon layer of strings. (Just think Tan Dun's score for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.) Guest musicians Joseph and James Tawadros, playing the oud and Egyptian percussion, were by some magic incorporated into the interpretation with nary a blink. The result was both mesmeric and exciting; synesthetically akin to a hallucinogenic dream.
The rest of the programme was also highly enjoyable (and not a single blasphemous mobile ring tone!), most memorably the String Quartet No. 7 by Shostakovich, Ruth Crawford Seeger's Andante for Strings, and a modern arrangement of a traditional Sephardic "kantiga" or song, Yo era niña de casa alta.
The compositions for the oud and strings by Joseph Tawadros were an irresistable cultural mash-up. Tognetti's Guadagnini violin seemed to bleed the high-pitched single-line Arabic style melodies, and Joseph Tawadros' flair and skill in improvisation on the oud -- how the dancelike lyricism of the flamenco seemed an echo of the sounds coming from this Middle-Eastern lute -- reminded me of the strong connections that exist between Moorish and Spanish musical traditions (and hence Latin American also).
There were times though when I wanted to make James Tawadros eat his overly enthusiastic tambourine. As a matter of fact, let it be law:
All tambourines shall henceforth be outlawed.
Nobody we know. I was just looking outside during the interval.
Is the ground tilted or is it just me?
~~
so_spiffed, I saw Mrs. L and two other of our former teachers on the train south from Town Hall! They were going home from the same concert. We talked briefly, until I had to get off (with Maggie, etc.) at Hurstville.
-- The Independent Sunday (London, England; 10/28/2001)
The crowning note in today's matinee performance of "The Travellers", from the always-daring and musically versatile ACO (Australian Chamber Orchestra) -- the piece that made me buoyant, brain electric, shoulders tense as a violin string -- was Richard Tognetti's remarkable arrangement of Pink Floyd's "Shine On, You Crazy Diamond" for strings.
I once heard a live recording of Nigel Kennedy perform Hendrix's "Purple Haze" on the violin in concert, and it was great.
This was something more subtle and amazing than that. Tognetti, the ACO's artistic director and also lead violin, doesn't so much recreate the song as pulls it apart, stripping it into its barest elements -- and then reassembles the strands.
An almost oriental minimalism was a surprising byproduct of Pink Floyd's melodies being reproduced by layer upon layer of strings. (Just think Tan Dun's score for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.) Guest musicians Joseph and James Tawadros, playing the oud and Egyptian percussion, were by some magic incorporated into the interpretation with nary a blink. The result was both mesmeric and exciting; synesthetically akin to a hallucinogenic dream.
The rest of the programme was also highly enjoyable (and not a single blasphemous mobile ring tone!), most memorably the String Quartet No. 7 by Shostakovich, Ruth Crawford Seeger's Andante for Strings, and a modern arrangement of a traditional Sephardic "kantiga" or song, Yo era niña de casa alta.
The compositions for the oud and strings by Joseph Tawadros were an irresistable cultural mash-up. Tognetti's Guadagnini violin seemed to bleed the high-pitched single-line Arabic style melodies, and Joseph Tawadros' flair and skill in improvisation on the oud -- how the dancelike lyricism of the flamenco seemed an echo of the sounds coming from this Middle-Eastern lute -- reminded me of the strong connections that exist between Moorish and Spanish musical traditions (and hence Latin American also).
There were times though when I wanted to make James Tawadros eat his overly enthusiastic tambourine. As a matter of fact, let it be law:
All tambourines shall henceforth be outlawed.
Nobody we know. I was just looking outside during the interval.
Is the ground tilted or is it just me?
~~
so_spiffed, I saw Mrs. L and two other of our former teachers on the train south from Town Hall! They were going home from the same concert. We talked briefly, until I had to get off (with Maggie, etc.) at Hurstville.