A Lark Ascending

I like Simpson's way of writing, Larry. I haven't a clue what the other bloke is on about! I think I'm reacting against this sentence of yours - 'Much of the American subscription-concert public tends, I believe, to listen in a "choice moments" manner.' Probably not your intention, but it comes across as rather dismissive of the ordinary listener. Classical music (music in general) can be listened to in all sorts of ways - it can be closely analysed by those with a deep understanding of musical theory; or accessed by the listener who is just moved by music without really understanding the technicalities of how it works. I suspect that most listeners to concerts and records fall into 'the listener who is just moved by music without really understanding the technicalities of how it works' category - I know I do. I've a rough idea about basic forms, can hear key changes without being able to name them but my technical understanding does not go much further. So although I would not recognise the "long-range, storytelling harmonic tension/conflict" consciously (although I do recall reading sleeve notes about Nielsen's 'progressive tonality' many years ago), I suspect my brain picks up on the effects Nielsen intended that to have subconsciously. I'd imagine the same is true of a general European audience and I'd be most surprised if an American non-expert but inquisitive audience did not do the same. I'm not dismissing the work of the academic musical analyst - the work they do is vital to aid general understanding, the development of future musicians and composers and - when written with the clarity of your Simpson example - can be illuminating to the main body of listeners. I just think that often in their judgements (rather than in their technical analysis) they miss the wood for the trees, mistaking the technical innovations or complexities of the music for what really counts - the ability to express or represent something that can move the public. Which is one reason why there is such a gap between what musical academics say is worthwhile in music from the mid-20thC music onwards and that which communicates with the audience at large. The academic approach puts a premium on technical accomplishment, innovation; but when this is divorced from a language that the bulk of listeners can be moved by then you get this chasm. Which is not an argument against obscure, progressive, innovative avant-garde music. Merely that the criteria used to praise a great avant-gardist working for a minority academic audience just has no application in the wider arena, where other qualities are of far greater significance. Sibelius was my first classical love; I only heard Nielsen ten years later. I really enjoy them both, but Sibelius still means more. Is that because I'm failing to recognise Nielsen's "long-range, storytelling harmonic tension/conflict" or am not giving it its due? I don't think so - I think I just respond more to the melody and harmony of Sibelius, the way the music seems to grow organically without broadcasting its underlying form, the overall brooding nature of much of the music (maybe that's what you mean by 'choice moments'?). Nielsen, by contrast, seems more angular with a more overt sense of drama, sudden shifts that Sibelius would take longer to move towards. And I'd suggest that the non-expert listening public probably tends to prefer one type of music over another for their own reasons of personal taste rather than based on the ability or lack of ability to get beyond 'choice moments'. The ordinary listening public may not have developed musicological skills - but if a composer has done his job well, then a fair bit of what he wants to communicate will get through to a willing listener without those skills. The analogy I always use is Lincoln (or any other) Cathedral. If you have a knowledge of architecture, medieval history, the liturgy of the Catholic and Anglican Church then you can gain a lifetime's enjoyment and stimulation from that building. But a 9 year old kid can walk through the door and go 'wow!' and he's instantly connected with the major purpose of the building. Many will find visiting such buildings provide an interesting pastime for the future, generally reading up briefly about certain aspects that interest them - history or architecture or whatever. A handful - the expert - will come to know the building in all its constructional intricacy. But the success of the orginal architects, builders, craftsmen lie in the ability to communicate directly with the public. If they'd built something that could only get a reaction from other architechts then I'd say that limits their achievement. I have a disc by Robert Simpson - not abstract or atonal in any way and clearly extremely well crafted. And yet I recall it left no emotional resonance. Haven't listened to it in years - will have to try it again.

Great story Bev. I didn't get reprimanded (grammar school) for not doing my homework, either, and I didn't even have bird shit on my shoulder. It was, "I don't suppose YOU'VE done your homework, have you?" I just shook my head. Everyone knew I hated it. Ten years later, when I went back to see if I'd passed any O levels, one of the teachers actually remembered me, even though I'd only been in that school 15 months. MG My memory of grammar school in the late 60s was of being largely ignored for three years (except by a couple of wonderful history teachers!). My German teacher never twigged why I always got bad marks in verb tests. I only twigged much later - I used to learn them religiously, but no-one had ever taught me what first person singular or second person plural were. So I guessed! Ah, the golden days of the grammar. I was much happier when we moved into a brand new all-purpose comp in 1969!

I want to make it clear that I do NOT think that my students are "unintelligent." There are a lot of different kinds of genius, and since I've been teaching, I've been exposed to several kids who undoubtedly qualify as physical genuises or mechanical genuises, etc. What bugs me is the apparent lack of curiosity about the wider world. These kids know all about the ins and outs of surviving on the streets of Schenectady, New York. But they couldn't care less about what's happening in Washington, D.C. or in Iraq or Darfur, much less things that happened over a hundred years ago. I sometimes think that their brains have learned to reject all information that it regards as unessential. In fact, it may be a survival technique. No, your concern for them rings loud. I'm just dubious that a great deal has changed. Were their grandparents any more interested? I was involved in a discussion about racism in sport this morning with a mixed ability (and mixed race) group. The level of understanding and sensitvity was far higher than 30 years ago when I started teaching (you'd have hardly dared raise the subject!). Whether that is down to schooling, changes in the media, society etc, I don't know. Elements of all, I suspect. When I mentioned this to them there was much nodding of heads - they were pleased to have that quality acknowledged. **************** I don't know how many times I've heard the great and the good expressing outrage that 50% of British students do not achieve 5 GCSEs at grade C and above. I wonder what percentage gained 5 'O' Levels (the equivatent) in 1960. Of course, then the outrage changes - GCSEs have got easier! It's almost as if these people have some sort of an inner need to believe that young people are not as good as they were.

In my first year of teaching I had a lad escape out a first floor window and down a drainpipe. The following year he was in a colleague's class and sat for a whole lesson one day with a bird of prey perched on his shoulder (you will not be surprised to hear tht he did not get reprimanded for not doing his homework!!!). Last thing I heard he was in Lincoln (prison). The lad. Not the bird of prey. And that was a comp!

The idea that TV and popular culture are destroying the brains of young people goes back to the 50s (much earlier I suspect re: popular culture). In which case, most of us here are actually products of that impoverishment of culture. Most criticism of contemporary schooling in the UK comes from those who attended privileged schools (the public schools or grammar schools) at a time when a significant proportion of the population were packed off to secondary moderns where they wouldn't get in the way until they could go out and do manual work; they then compare their experiences with contemporary schools where you'll often find the full ability range in the same classroom. It's also worth noting that what children learn today is quite different from what they learned in a 50s privileged school. You are rarely comparing like with like. Children certainly read less books; but they have amazing skills at selecting, manipulating and using data from computers (much of which they don't learn in school in the same way that many of us developed much of our our reading or musical appreciation outside of the curriculum) I actually think that the old have a vested interest in believing the young are less intelligent/educated/cultured/independently minded than they are. When you think about it, that's quite sad.

Nielsen (especially the 4th and 5th) is regularly programmed in the UK both in concerts and broadcasting; there are several cycles of the symphonies available and plenty of this other music. He seems to have little trouble attracting we superficial listeners and is far from the exclusive preserve of the intelligensia. The third symphony is every bit as bucolic as any contemporary piece of musical pastoralism.

I recall hearing Turangalila for the first time in a Prom concert way back in 1976 or 77, sat behind the orchestra with all the percussion in front of my nose. It was thrilling and I still really like the piece. I got curious about Messiaen after hearing his name dropped - and then hearing a fair bit of his style cannibalised - by the avant-rock band Henry Cow. Anyone familiar with 'In Praise of Learning' will recognise his fingerprints in the organ sections of 'Living in the Heart of the Beast'. More recently, this British jazz band have overtly incorporated references to his music in one of their compositions:

I really like Messiaen; there's a lot I don't understand - passages where my mind drifts, whole pieces where I end up wondering what it was all about. But I do like the colours he employs. Apart from what has been mentioned above I really love 'La Nativite du Seigneur'. As for his dubious taste...well, most of the 20thC classical music I enjoy has been condemned as being in dubious taste by some expert somewhere. Vaughan Williams, Sibelius, Britten, Malcolm Arnold and the like have all been pilloried at some point for their 'vulgarity'. I'm not remotely religious (although I was raised a Catholic) so the music doesn't send me into spiritual ecstasies. I just like the way it sounds (I can say the same about Bruckner). Currently listening to: Not recommended to Turangalila-a-phobes!

Whilst having unfettered access to music may not be a fundamental human right, I'd have thought being able to purchase legitimately historically significant music might be considered in the public interest. If Universal, for example choose to sit on what is in their vaults, they might not be denying people their rights - but they are certainly closing something of value for their own motives. With some creativity, the big companies really could do something about this. Take the RCA Ellington Centennial. I'm lucky, I've got it. But there are plenty of people coming to jazz and to Ellington in particular who weren't around when it was available. The music must exist in digital form in their vaults from the 2000 release. So why not make it available for sale digitally, permanently? This could be done in a number of options: a) Down load the lot! b) Download each individual disc. c) Download specific tracks (I've no problem them charging a bit more there to encourage buying a full disc or a full set). Even more creatively, they could set up a number of 'best of' download options for those not requiring everything but wanting something representative. This might not stop the general unknowing public from buying a cheapo compilation - but it would be a first choice for people with a real interest in jazz. And with a bit of canny marketing, accompanying downloadable notes, photos etc it would become a first choice to all but those who just want the cheapest version available. I can understand that many companies won't want to invest the work in such a deal - well, maybe this is the way for a dedicated operation like Mosaic to move into in the future. But it will take a change in outlook from the companies who still continue to see what is in their vaults as a potential financial asset in the right circumstances rather than a set of treasures that should be available to the public at a fair cost. I know this bears no relation to how capitalism works!

MG I'm not sure - though you might want to get a copy of the new issue: Should be in the shops any day now. I've not read the article yet (I have a subscription so mine appeared a couple of days back) but will do so a bit later today. fROOTS has people writing for it who are deeply into different musics from all over the world, including various parts of Africa. I find the editor somewhat abrasive and given to some peculiar viewpoints (he loses all sense of perspective when America is mentioned!!!!) but he's done an amazing job at keeping the magazine going, often against the commercial tide, for 30 odd years. It's coverage of African music is probably a bit too limited for someone with your depth of interest, but that has more to do with its brief to cover more wide ranging 'roots' music, including British folk. In fact it doesn't have a clear genre reference point - just a vague coverage of 'things we like' that are 'rooted in a local tradition'. I have my own scepticism about the use of the latter as a measure of quality but I can't fault the magazine for going where most magazines dare not go.

I'm but a dabbler in African music so can't comment on its place in the grand scheme of things, but I've greatly enjoyed it over the last few months. I think you can buy with confidence. fRoots - the main UK folk/world music magazine - had it as album of the year as voted by a large panel of people from the music business world. You can see the results here: http://www.frootsmag.com/content/critpoll/

Back in the 60s when rock music hit there was a period of 10-15 years where the record industry was caught on the back foot. Those running the big labels didn't understand it - and when some of them missed the Beatles they were ready to sign anything. You had a golden era when all sorts of oddness got signed; or young, inexperienced mavericks got a degree of control to release what they thought was good, based on the clueless ones conviction that this young hipster was more in tune. By the mid 70s the industry had caught up and had everything back under control. New off-the-radar movements - punk, grunge, hip-hop, rap - got controlled very quickly. The industry had learned. But I get the impression that they've been caught completely short again by these recent technological changes and are currently reeling! Which should, hopefully, usher in a period of anarchy where all sorts of strangeness can blossom. Eventually, the big corporations will find a way to take conrtol of the internet revolution. But they show no sign of really understanding it yet.

You must believe in spring: The Hodsock Priory snowdrops (and a few daffs) in full flood earlier this afternoon, a few miles up the road. [Excuse a Brit getting excited by spring - most countries see through this time of year with Carnival, Mardi Gras etc. We get Pancake Day! So a few days glorious weather and the first signs of colour can send us a bit odd!)

The rumour is that Branson had to get out from under a sinking ship, or its failure would cast a black mark over his other enterprises in the City. So, apparently, he had to throw £200 million worth of training into the package as a sweetener. MG So what did the £200 million train employees to do? How to stock only sure-fire winners?

Was the service charge related to the tax? There's a sign in the Post Office saying that a service charge will also be added in the event of tax being taken. Though last time I had tax to pay on an overseas package they did not mention or make me pay it. It all seems to be explained here: http://customs.hmrc.gov.uk/channelsPortalW...tyType=document

What's the service charge with DHL? I'm never in when they deliver and end up driving to their depot 30 minutes away. I've never been charged anything extra by DHL.

This has never made any sense to me. And the majors are sitting on treasure troves of "niche" material that a lot of people would love to be able to hear. An acquaintance of mine spent some time in the EMI Brasil vaults a number of years back, and was just stunned by all the top-notch material that deserves release, but has been more or less allowed to decay on the shelf. (I don't mean to imply that the originals are disintegrating; more like they've been ignored and forgotten and/or are perceived to be of little worth.) When I mentioned a Brazilian music blog where several highly respected artists have contributed rips (from vinyl) of extremely rare, o.p. material - one of the reasons they did that was to allow people to be able to hear some of the great (even unique) material that the majors in Brazil are refusing to reissue. These artists felt (in at least one case) that specific albums were/are hugely important - but that the music and its creators have been unjustly neglected due to label concern re. not being able to make any profits from potential reissue of this material. Good point. Though I doubt the majors would use an ethical argument - they'd stick with a cold, legal one. They only use the ethical one when it suits.

That's all I'm taking about. I don't have any illegal ones as far as I know and don't have any wish to find them. But I don't think the companies have any more hope in stopping file sharing between those who do want to do it than they had in stopping home taping in the 70s and 80s. I've no wish for any moral high ground. I have plenty of legal recordings that are of dubious moral origin. As I said earlier, all the ethical arguments about what is a correct or incorrect way of purchasing recordings pale into insignificance when put alongside the question as to whether it is right to spend a fortune on luxury items like CDs/LPs/downloads in a world where millions lack basic food and shelter. I put that one to the back of my mind constantly! [i'm not trying to launch any guilt trips here - just trying to put the ethics of distributing recordings into some sort of perspective. I don't think anyone who buys lots of recordings (as I do) can get too high up on their ethical horse).]

I'm always impressed by DGM - the King Crimson/Robert Fripp site. Fripp has been fighting the majors for decades to secure what he considers ethical treatment of performers. Instead of the majors approach of witholding product to create demand, DGM seems happy to swamp the site with more downloads than you'd ever want, giving the listener a vast range to choose from at very reasonable prices. How many times have we been to a concert, loved it, bought the album, only to find the performances truncated or studio bound. With live digital recording quality what it is now, there's nothing to stop a recording being made on tour and put up on an artists website for interested parties to download. Dave Douglas did this last year; and David Binney has been recording many of his concerts for download. The album every 2 years catches a fraction of what jazz performers are doing. Modern technology has the potential to allow us to hear a broader picture. Lots of us delight in the release of live recordings, airshots etc of past greats like Ellington. Current technology allows us to access this in the hear and now. I don't see the availability of a live download adversely affecting sales of a carefully constructed album (however it is distributed). With a performer I admire it's more likely to draw me towards it. Of course, it all runs the danger of more music than we can ever digest. But that's for the individual listener to control.

I think that's the key point. The dinosaur companies are desperately trying to preserve the status quo, only moving with the technology when no other possibility presents itself. If they put a fraction of the money they spend chasing illegal downloaders into offering a distinct, unique product then they might start to get somewhere. Instead of trying to litigate their survival they need to be accepting that the cat is out of the bag and they've got to provide something very different. Smaller labels and independent musicians are adapting much more effectively. I suspect in the world of specialist music (as opposed to mass popular music) there are a majority of people prepared to pay a fair price for legitimate material in the knowledge that those who made the music are getting a fair deal. Instead of sitting on a vast body of unreleased material and then moaning when another company puts it out, get it out properly. Chandos have all their OOP recording available for download. I'm sure these could then be illegally file-shared. But they've taken the risk that enough people want to play straight. They're now offering higher resolution 'lossless' downloads. This company seems to be investing in the technological revolution instead of trying to stop it in its tracks.

Virgin no longer exists in the UK - the stores were, I believe, bought by some sort of internal employee purchase (apologies, I don't understand take-overs, buyouts etc). They now call themselves 'zavvi' (I'm not sure why!). The store of there's I went in to was very poor, along with just about every UK record stop outside a handful of independents. Astonishing how quickly this all imploded.

I remember that only too well - I must have exchanged every three or four records, often with little improvement. I wonder if one of the reasons why ECMs took off at that time was the fact that they nearly always had much cleaner surfaces. My earliest LP purchases are quite solid, chunky affairs. By the end of the 70s (post Oil Crisis) they had become very flimsy. I went a bit heavy on the penny with this one, with the result that 'Positively Fourth Street' has about 20 seconds of 'scruncccccchhhh' as the stylus ripped away the surface! (I hate to think what that stylus did to my other records!). This is something you can't replace on CD as the UK version was different to the US - one of my favourite tracks, 'New Morning, is not on the US. But the CD reissue is the US one. However....thanks to digital technology I can now listen to the album in 'proper' (!) sequence. I found a cheap copy of the CD, ripped it, took 'New Morning' and another track off the respective albums and assembled the right version. Lunacy, I know, but!

Well, at least one pop/rock performer recognises your preferences: From: http://www.chrisrea.com/home.html There was a 3 minute item about this on the early morning news in the UK a few days back. I'm sure many Chris Rea fans will not be content to have just an MP3 copied from a mate. Scanning the book might just prove too arduous!!!!

I think record 'skipping' - i.e.jumping - is a problem of cheap record players. But that was all I could afford in the 70s so it left a scar! I still recall taping a penny onto the cartridge to keep it in the groove...some of my early records bear the scars! I had an excellend Rega Planar for 25 years - far from top of the range, but good. When that died last year I got a Pro-ject. The only skipping I experience is where a biscuit crumb has lodged in a groove. Easily dislodged. But inner groove distortion, clicks caused by scratches and 'wow' caused by off-centre pressing remain a problem which is why I only use the record player to transfer to CD-R. I suspect these are not issues to high end systems. It's worth remembering that a 15 year old today, with an Ipod or cheap CD box, experiences none of the irritation that I had at that age. There are records I bought in the early 70 where I still expect to hear the jumps, even though I now have perfect CD copies!

I actually understand the nostalgia for vinyl - and now CD! But I think the sound differences get overstated. It's a bit like preferring a classic car over a contemporary Peugeot. The former simply can't compete in performance, environmental friendliness etc. Yet, there's something indefinable about whizzing through the country lanes in the former. If you've never had or aspired to a classic car then the attraction is meaningless.