Intercultural Dialogue and Education

A Thousand Lives Live!

2025-11-25T19:07:00.000+01:00

Is a poem always a lyric for a song? If a poem isn't a song lyric, how do you set it to music?

In a few days it will be cold and cloudy here in Madrid when we perform our show of poetry and music, but it all started with conversations in 40 degree heat. Parisa Salahshourian recently published a collection of her poetry with Ybernia press, called A Thousand Lives and I had enjoyed and admired the fragments she posted on Facebook.

Parisa directed a superb production of A Midsummer Night's Dream for the Madrid Players earlier this year and I was sure joining up her writing and directing skills with a musical element would work.

We met and made plans for an event that would combine poetry reading and live original piano music. Parisa invited Susana Monsó and Jay Mauro to guest, very experienced performers with great stage presence, and we selected a venue with a good piano and a friendly vibe.

Booking a venue and inviting friends to a show is a big step, and three things have happened since our first planning meeting that make me sure this will be a memorable occasion.

First, Parisa has directed our rehearsals with such sensitivity and clarity that her poetry is being presented in all its depth and honesty; second, I saw Susana acting in the Madrid Players production of Top Girls, directed by Joyce Buen, and her performance was stunning in every way; third Jay agreed to work with me to compose a song for one of Parisa's poems, and his musical ideas are original and unforgettable.

As for my questions: is a poem always a lyric for a song? If a poem isn't a song lyric, how do you set it to music? If you want to know the answer, I hope you will join us on Sunday 30 November, details on the poster: free admission.

https://www.ybernia.com/

https://www.madridplayers.es/

https://www.centroasturianomadrid.es/

Madrid International Choir: What makes us international?

2024-07-23T17:52:00.001+02:00

English speaking choir in Madrid

A choir, like any organisation, is not something just because its name says it is, you have to be what you say you are. In the case of Madrid International Choir, and our Ensemble, we can think about the following:

Who are our singers and instrumentalists?

What music do we perform?

Who do we perform with?

Our players and singers are truly international, coming to Madrid from more than 20 countries, including Spain, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Canada, China, England, France, Germany, Hungary, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Netherlands, Peru, Philippines, Rumania, Russia, Scotland, South Africa, USA, Venezuela and Wales.

Some of our group have lived in Madrid all their lives, several settled here years ago and plan to stay, while others, especially our younger members, are visiting students who might be with us only for a few months. All are welcome, and each one brings their own personality and experience to our community.

Our repertoire is international since it includes lyrics in English by composers from UK and USA, in Spanish by composers from Spain, Mexico and Costa Rica, a Basque carol, texts in French, Latin, Italian and German, and a traditional Turkish song arranged especially for us by Elif Gozen.

Collaboration is an important part of our character. In the last two seasons we have performed with a local orchestra, numerous Madrid choirs in the Dreamers concert at the Auditorio Nacional de Música, and with the Coro del Cabanyal both in Madrid and in Valencia. We also have performed memorable concerts with mezzo-soprano soloist Clara Conde, from Castellón, and with the Madrid-based international female barbershop choir The Barbees. The Jolly Holiday Singalong at the International Institute in Madrid was a happy occasion and we hope it will be a regular feature in our calendar.

In June 2024 we hosted our first visiting specialist when Phoebe Martha visited from London to lead a Vocal Improvisation Residency: see her work on Instagram @phoebespockets

We have been happy to welcome and share concerts with Canyon Crest Academy and The Stockton Chorale, both from California, and we had a very special weekend when singers from the Tanti Canti Choir visited from The Hague, Netherlands, with their director Elif Gozen. In the coming season we look forward to visits by the Estudio Coral Armentum from Costa Rica, and other choirs from, USA, Ireland and UK.

Madrid International Choir and Ensemble are international, not just in name, but in our origins, in our repertoire and in our numerous collaborations.

Photo: New Scientist

Madrid International Choir, English speaking choir in Madrid

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Madrid International Choir: Songs for peace

2024-07-22T10:44:00.000+02:00

Madrid International Choir, English speaking choir in Madrid

How can you write an anti-war song without using the word peace? Which pop singer from Liverpool completed a lyric for a classical composer from New York half a century later? Why would you be persecuted for calling for a deeper understanding of peace in your time?

Let’s take the last one first. Peace is not an absence of war is a well known phrase. It’s only a tiny fragment of the philosopher Baruch Spinoza’s extensive output. He was born and died in The Netherlands and he is buried in the grounds of the church in front of City Hall in The Hague: it’s impossible to live in the city without bumping into memorials and statues in his honour as you cycle around: Baruch Spinoza 1632-1677.

Apparently the trouble he got into was not so much for the better known part of the phrase: Peace is not an absence of war, more to do with what followed: Peace is not an absence of war, it is a virtue, a state of mind, a disposition for benevolence, confidence, justice. Spinoza was calling for the government of his day to up their game and work to achieve these high aims of benevolence, confidence and justice and his suggestions were not well received in his time.

The musical setting we will sing was composed recently in The Hague, for international high school students of the city. It’s in C major and starts with a bell like call for Peace, with the sopranos on a high G. One of the students remarked that starting on high G was not an easy thing to do, and the composer replied that achieving and keeping peace is not an easy thing to do.

The song ends with a contemporary observation by the composer: Peace is working out together who we are.

Amy Beach was a prolific composer and concert pianist, born in the USA in 1867. She wrote numerous pieces in various genres, including orchestral, solo piano and choral settings. Recently we performed a joint concert in Madrid with The Stockton Chorale from California, and to end the concert we sang Peace I leave with you, by Amy Beach, at the suggestion of their Musical Director, Dr Bruce Southard. It’s a beautiful setting of a verse from the bible, John 14, 27:

Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, (neither let it be afraid)

The key is the calm and comforting E flat major and the four part harmony is mainly diatonic and reassuringly familiar. At the significant moment of the text, the first appearance of Let not your heart be troubled there is a crunchy chromatic alteration in the inner voices, to be resolved soon afterwards for Let not your heart be troubled. Musically this is an interesting setting, and the stretched ending, over a repeat of Let not your heart be troubled, gives time to re-establish the tonic key and lets us go in peace.

There are many positive elements to performing joint concerts with international choirs and one of them is that we get to know unfamiliar music. In this case we were introduced to Amy Beach’s inspiring music, and we will be looking to include more of her work in our repertoire.

Why did the composer end her setting with Let not your heart be troubled, and not include the last words of the verse, neither let it be afraid? I have no idea, but given her expertise and experience, I am sure there was a good reason.

How far is it from Neither let (your heart) be afraid to Let’s hope it’s a good (year) without any fear?

Amy Beach didn’t include the reference to being afraid, but John Lennon and Yoko Ono wished us all a new year without any fear in Happy Xmas, War is over, released in 1971. Here’s a brain teaser: Amy Beach died in New York in 1944 and both Yoko Ono (1933) and John Lennon (1940) were born before she died, both far away from the city, and they settled in New York where they enjoyed the early years of their son Sean, before Lennon’s tragic murder in 1980.

Happy Xmas, War is over is a secular seasonal song, far from snowy images of Bethlehem and the stable. The lyric on the chorus is War is over if you want it, which was a phrase which John and Yoko had featured in a poster campaign throughout the USA in previous years. Yoko and John were serious campaigners for peace, not frivolous self-publicists. In their time the war in question was being waged in Vietnam, but in their early years they had both seen the devastation of another war at close quarters.

One of our choir members requested that we include this song in our new season so I started listening to it again and with closer attention. For the first time ever, I heard some whispering in the opening seconds, and it turns out to be Yoko and John wishing happy Christmas to the children from their previous marriages: Kyoko and Julian. What a beautiful way to start the song, and what a great way to end the song, with War is over if you want it/ War is over now.

From the personal to the universal with some unforgettable music in between.

https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/spinoza/

https://www.nieuwekerkdenhaag.nl/

https://www.amybeach.org/

https://www.stocktonchorale.org/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flA5ndOyZbI

Photos: Amazon, NewYork Times, The Independent

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Thomas Tallis If ye love me

2023-08-08T17:06:00.001+02:00

These reflections on repertoire appear as I start my second season as Musical Director of Madrid International Choir in September 2023

Thomas Tallis

This short, exquisitely beautiful piece has become a favourite during our first season and we will keep it in our repertoire for our second season and surely beyond.

Tallis is a fascinating character whose long life 1505-1585 spanned the reigns of King Henry VIII, King Edward VI, Queen Mary I, and Queen Elizabeth I, a period of profound change in England.

Tallis was brought up in the Catholic faith and when the country officially adopted the Protestant faith his work in the Chapel Royal required him to follow the rules of the new faith in his professional role. It is widely accepted that he stayed true to his beliefs in the “old” religion, as did his colleague William Byrd, but the fact that they both remained in favour and in employment with the royal court shows that they were discreet in practising their faith.

The leaders of the Protestant church imposed new restrictions which directly affected Tallis. Latin was dropped and music was to be set to English texts. This is no small matter because Latin makes greater use of vowel sounds while English uses more consonants, so the former tends to make a more lyrical setting of words to music.

Another imposition was the setting of one syllable to a single note, rather than setting a syllable over several notes. The limitations of expression are easy to imagine and easy to hear when we listen to contemporary composers from, say, Italy.

Finally, Tallis was confined to certain themes and forbidden from others, such as any references to the Virgin Mary.

There was a period of respite for Tallis when Mary I reintroduced the Catholic faith, only for Protestant practices to be restored by Elizabeth I.

Tallis left a considerable number of compositions for us to admire and enjoy. In contrast to the simplicity of If ye love me, look up Spem in Alium, a hugely complex piece for forty individual singing lines.

You can hear a fragment of If ye love me on our Facebook post on 30/6/23

If you would like to join us to sing this and other music, see our Facebook page and get in touch: Season Two rehearsals start on Thursday 7 September 2023

Engraving by Niccolò Haym after a portrait by Gerard van der Gucht - The Musical Times (1913) H.W. Gray, New York; Novello, London (https://doi-org.wikipedialibrary.idm.oclc.org/10.2307/907708), Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=101138568

Come what may

2023-08-06T11:32:00.004+02:00

Looking forward to my second season as Musical Director of Madrid International Choir, starting rehearsals on 7 September 2023

Moulin Rouge was a revolutionary film: a show that used some well known songs without being a jukebox musical and treated a serious plot with a perfect mixture of comedy and tragedy. I saw it first in a small cinema in Santiago de Compostela in northern Spain, I think I was the only Monday evening spectator.

That was twenty years ago and I have watched it several times since, but I remember that several things bowled me over. One was the use of tiny fragments of songs like Climb every mountain, from The Sound of Music, another was the superb choreography and settings for the company numbers like Voulez-vous and Diamonds are a girl’s best friend.

Even so, the three standout, shiver down the spine moments were: a world class tenor as man in the moon singing a line from Elton’s Your Song; the best realisation ever of Police/Sting’s Roxanne, the most menacing, this-is-real-life-and-death-stuff-not-your-stupid-teenage-infatuation ever set to tango dance steps, anyway you need to watch it….and the great and wonderful duet for the Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor characters Come what may.

I understand this is one of the original songs written for the film by David Baerwald and Kevin Gilbert. There is a fascinating article about the writing process of Baz Luhrmann and his team here

It starts with a pretty standard the universe is perfect since we met lyric and grows to the moving near repeat, starting as I will love you until the end of time: of course we all know we will never see the end of time, even the most pessimistic climate change forecasts give all of us currently alive that much margin, so it’s a fantasy, a love will never end fairy tale. The lyric changes to I will love you until my dying day, which is very poignant in the film because we, the audience, know that the Nicole Kidman character is terminally ill with little time left, but the innocent Ewan McGregor character is ignorant of this, as he is of almost all of life’s essentials. Her understanding of my dying day is very different from his understanding. As usual, the boy is the last to know.

(Spoiler alert: skip the next paragraph if music theory is not your thing)

This song’s emotional impact works because it starts in a conversational mood where the melody follows the rhythm and shape of the lyric and it builds to an anthem like melody ending on Dying day using notes 3,2,1 of the major scale: think Three blind mice, the most satisfyingly conclusive phrase in the classical European musical language.

The three note phrase for Come what may includes first defiance, in the rising figure from 7th note to high octave in the major scale, starting half way through the bar (measure), and then despair. If the melody had repeated the high octave note on May the effect would have been triumphant, powerful and conclusive. Instead, the fall of a minor 3rd from What to May is the interval of the baby’s cry, the lost soul, hope abandoned. So in just three notes the words Come what may are set so that they catch us up in the most extreme emotions: defiance/exhilaration turns to weeping in an instant.

The arrangement we are using is from the same OUP book as Pages which we have really enjoyed singing in Season One.

The arrangement, by Charles Beale, works beautifully. It starts with unison singing and then mixes two parts, in octaves, three parts, and finally, in the most emotionally charged moments, four part harmony. We will perform the song with the instrumental ensemble with strings, flutes and clarinets. I can’t wait to hear it!

The concept of contemporary music is an interesting one. A certain number of our singers and instrumentalists were not born when I was sitting in the cinema watching Moulin Rouge for the first time. Someone wrote that “technology” is something that was invented after you were born. Applied to music, does this mean that “contemporary” music is what was written after you were born?

Be that as it may, Come what may is a great song for us to perform.

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Season 2 coming soon!

2023-08-05T22:28:00.004+02:00

This post is the first for my second season as Musical Director of Madrid International Choir.

Six public performances in three venues collaborating with two groups from Madrid and Valencia with a total audience of about seven hundred.

The composer of our earliest piece of music was born in 1505 and of our most recent in the 1970’s.

Our attendance at rehearsals settled at around forty between February and June and our instrumental ensemble has grown to eleven players.

Facts and figures!

There are those who say that music is all about numbers and then there are those of us who say that music is about sound and emotions.

For me, choir is above all about persons.

Every person in the choir has seen their life move on while joining weekly rehearsals: for some this has meant the joy of finding a job or celebrating a family member’s success, while others have suffered loss or a major health setback. Who would expect to go on holiday and fly home with a broken leg? Yes, all this and more has been going on, in the background as a choir, but very much in the foreground for the individual concerned.

It’s in the nature of an international choir that members will leave: some are here as students and return home to complete their courses while some experienced professionals are given postings in other countries by their employers. We will miss our departing singers and instrumentalists very much and we wish them well in their new/old destinations.

At the same time, expressions of interest are constantly arriving and we’re open to welcome new singers and classically trained instrumental players.

Change, flux, uncertainty and transience are part of life and singing in a choir can be an anchor and a point of reference to keep ourselves emotionally safe. One singer made this clear: after traveling half way across the world to start a new phase of life in a country with an unfamiliar language and customs, she found her way to our rehearsal and as soon as she said soprano and sat in with the other singers and opened the music we gave her, she felt totally comfortable and secure. In a choir we sit in a certain way and use music scores in a certain way and we follow a routine of welcome, vocal warm-up and repertoire.

Whatever else is going on in our lives, minds and hearts, our choir rehearsal can help us feel at home and at peace.

Madrid International Choir Season 2 starts on Thursday 7 September 2023. You can check out last season’s concerts on the Facebook page, hear us on SoundCloud and contact to arrange to join us!

First rehearsal: From A-Z and around the globe

2022-09-27T15:03:00.000+02:00

This is part of a series of reflections as I take on the role of Musical Director for the Madrid International Choir, a non-religious English speaking choir in the heart of Madrid.

From A-Z and around the globe

After months of planning we finally had the answer to the questions which have been so much on our minds as the choir re-formed after a 2 year pause:

Where will we rehearse?

What music will we sing?

And, most importantly: who will join the choir?

Our rehearsal venue, St George’s church in the city centre, is not only a beautiful building with an attractive garden, we found it has a perfect acoustic for choral singing, and there were some moments of magic as we discovered what a beautiful sound we made.

Our opening repertoire features peace and hope, with Dona Nobis Pacem as a round and Curtis Mayfield’s People Get Ready. We have plenty of music for the rest of the season, and a short discussion among the singers showed that variety will be the key to our future programming.

We ended up being short of space on our “stage” area as singers kept arriving, both new members and those who were in the choir before the long pause. We are truly an international choir, with singers from Spain, Venezuela, Australia, Austria, USA, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Netherlands, Wales, Scotland and England. The age range was equally interesting, from university students to those enjoying retirement, and all ages in between.

Some singers were not able to attend our first rehearsal, due to work, holiday travels or family commitments. We look forward to welcome more new members at future rehearsals.

I hope you will join us.

By the waters of Babylon, a timeless round

2022-09-20T12:55:00.001+02:00

This is part of a series of reflections as I take on the role of Musical Director for the Madrid International Choir, a non-religious English speaking choir in the heart of Madrid.

What is this music?

By the waters of Babylon takes its text from Psalm 137, which connects it to Va, pensiero and, more distantly, to People get Ready, and I have written about both of these on recent posts.

You will find different accounts for the song’s origin: some editions describe is Traditional, others as a Jewish melody, while others credit Philip Hayes 1738-1797.

By the waters of Babylon is a 3 part round. The minor key reflects the melancholy thoughts of the Hebrew slaves who were in captivity in Babylon:

“By the waters of Babylon we sat down and wept for thee Zion. We remember thee, Zion.”

Bars 1 to 3 are set to a weeping falling musical figure with a strong emotional pull, and the sense of sadness is reinforced because the same figure is repeated in each bar starting a tone lower each time, a sequence. Bars 5 to 8 continue the falling phrase shape. The last phrase, bars 9 to 12 is another sequence, the melody in bar 9 repeated one note higher in the following two bars. The rising four-note figure seems at first hearing to be optimistic, but each repeat falls and falls in imitation of weeping and the final bar is a fall of a 5th, a very final sound, almost a death knell.

Why are we singing it?

It’s a beautiful melody line. Sung as a round the beauty of the line and the emotional power is amplified. As I have explained in an earlier post on Dona nobis pacem, a round is a simple but effective musical form, and there is a strong connection between the singers.

This round is timeless: it can be harmonised in different ways, and the most simple way makes it sound modern rather than classical.

You might recognise it from a version called Babylon on the 1971 American Pie album by Don Maclean, where it sound very much like contemporary folk songs by Pete Seeger.

Is it relevant to us today?

The comments I made regarding the text of Va, pensiero apply very much also to By the waters of Babylon.

Connecting is a crucial part of singing in a choir: after all, if we simply want to sing we can just stay at home and sing in the shower/wardrobe/loft. The very act of joining a choir says that we want to connect with other human beings through singing.

As a round we connect with our fellow singers, but there is another dimension of connecting: this piece brings to mind far away friends and places. We are connecting with our memories.

St George’s Anglican Church: our perfect rehearsal space

2022-08-31T14:15:00.002+02:00

This is part of a series of reflections as I take on the role of Musical Director for the Madrid International Choir, the English speaking choir in Madrid.

The committee of the Madrid International Choir chose St George’s Anglican Church as our rehearsal space.

I think it is a perfect choice and it is a great decision. It’s important to point out that the Madrid International Choir has no affiliation with any church or religion: we are completely secular and welcome persons of any faith or none.

We are very grateful to the authorities of St George’s Anglican Church for allowing us to use this exquisite space for our rehearsals. Find out about the church here.*

Why is it such a perfect rehearsal space?

First, the location. St George’s Anglican Church is on the corner of Calle Nuñez de Balboa and Calle Hermosilla in the Barrio de Salamanca, in the heart of this wonderful and vibrant city.

Check here for the transport links, which are numerous.** The nearest Metro stop, Velázquez, is moments away.

This is important because we want our rehearsal space to be accessible and approachable for everyone.

Second, health and safety. The church is a large open space with numerous doors and windows which provide ventilation. In these times I think we are all aware of the need for space between us and for ventilation, and the church meets these needs perfectly.

Finally, it’s a beautiful space, with a tremendous history of quality musical experiences, a tiny number of which I am really happy to have been part of, and the architecture gives a wonderful acoustic for the kind of quality singing we aspire to. Get ready to hear your voice soar into the high roof and rebound between the arches.

So, thanks again to the church authorities for your welcome.

To the reader, please come and join us at our rehearsals, 19.30 - 21.00 starting on 22 September 2022.

https://www.stgeorgesmadrid.org/about-us/

** https://www.stgeorgesmadrid.org/about-us/how-to-find-us/

There is silence in my heart tonight by Ali Burns

2022-08-29T17:56:00.001+02:00

This is part of a series of reflections on current or future repertoire as I take on the role of Musical Director for the Madrid International Choir, the English speaking choir in Madrid.

What is this music?

There is silence in my heart tonight is a recent composition by Edinburgh based songwriter Ali Burns, and this is how she describes her work”:

“I’m still completely in love with the creative process of song-writing. The careful binding of text, melody and harmony constantly fascinates me and I’m drawn to elegantly sparse lyrics that leave the work with the listener. But I also write because I have to – it’s how I stay sane in this bonkers world and how I process the inner landscape of my life. “ *

This is a partner-style song: when we sing a round we all sing the same melody and text at different times, whereas in a partner song we sing different melodies and texts at the same time. The composer’s skill is in making the different independent parts fit together. There is scope for us to arrange the song as we wish, and space is given for improvising.

Why are we singing it?

It’s a beautiful piece of music.

Ali Burns is constantly leading singing workshops with serious amateur singers like ourselves, and as we sing her song we are connecting with those singers, albeit anonymously and out of sight. As I said regarding Pages, it’s right that we should recognise the quality of living writers and composers and celebrate their achievements in the best possible way, which is to perform their work.

From a musical point of view the sense of peace is carefully crafted by having a descending bass line which moves in steps for almost a whole octave. There is a total absence of the tension and release which usually gives music its interest, and in this case the sound of our voices float seamlessly and peacefully, letting the repeat of “silence” assure us that “all is well tonight”.

Is it relevant to us today?

We can see this song as a secular mirror image of Dona nobis pacem. The language is different, as is the formal structure, but the longing for peace and calm is present in both pieces.

Even in our privileged situation here in Madrid, we have experienced turmoil and loss in a way none of us would have predicted at the start of 2020. It’s a pleasure to take some time to get back to rehearsals, to re-connect with each other and to sing music which is simple, calm, peaceful and reassuring:

“Silence will be cradled in my heart”.

*https://aliburns.co.uk/

Pages by Steve Milloy & John Moysen

2022-08-29T17:45:00.008+02:00

This is part of a series of reflections on current or future repertoire as I take on the role of Musical Director for the Madrid International Choir, the English speaking choir in Madrid.

Photo of Steve Milloy: OCGMC

What is this music?

Pages is a contemporary song written for secular choirs, words by John Moysen and music by Steve Milloy* b1965.

When you look at the music score you might be surprised by the 6/4 time signature. You might think this is a bit complicated, and why not just use 3/4 with twice as many bars? One bar of 6/4 is not the same as two bars of 3/4, and it’s all to do with the accents. Since the first beat of the bar is given the strong accent, a 6/4 time signature means we wait a longer time from one strong beat to the next, and the musical impact of this is to make the music flow more which gives a more lyrical feel.

Why are we singing it?

It’s a beautiful song.

The lyrics are open enough to make this not necessarily a love song, they also serve as a thank you to a special friend, partner or family member:

“You’re the one who keeps turning the pages/You’re the one that I keep turning to”

That's a charming couplet, as is:

“Every word is a whisper/ each sentence a sigh”.

If you take a moment to read about the composer Steve Milloy you will not be surprised at the quality of the songwriting, given his vast experience as a musical director and choir trainer and composer for choirs.

The vocal lines match the lyrics perfectly, bringing out every nuance in the text. The piano part is so well written, I find myself playing it through regularly, not only to keep up with the more intricate moments, also just to enjoy playing it. There is a constant 2 against 3 interplay which gives the music at first movement, then energy, then at the approach to the chorus, absolute dynamism.

Is it relevant to us today?

It’s never not the time to say thank you and there is always someone who deserves our appreciation, so just on this level it is appropriate for us to sing this lovely song.

It’s also right that we should recognise the quality of living writers and composers and celebrate their achievements in the best possible way, which is to perform their work. Maybe the question is not so much, is this classical or pop music, as is this high quality music?

Undoubtedly, this is music of the highest quality and we will enjoy singing it and our performance will give enjoyment to our audience.

*https://ocgmc.org/blog/2022/8/2/world-renowned-conductor-steve-milloy-joins-menalive-as-the-new-artistic-director

Dona nobis pacem: Grant us peace

2022-08-29T17:41:00.003+02:00

This is part of a series of reflections on current or future repertoire as I take on the role of Musical Director for the Madrid International Choir, the English speaking choir in Madrid.

What is this music?

Dona nobis pacem is a Latin text, in this version is it sung as a round. The words, which mean "Grant us peace", come from a portion of the Agnus Dei which is part of the mass or Eucharist:

“It is the invocation to the Lamb of God to have mercy and grant peace to the worshipers.

It is said to have been introduced into the Mass by Pope Sergius I in 687, and is the last phrase of the Latin form:

Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis.

Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, dona nobis pacem.”*

Here’s a translation, courtesy of St George’s Anglican Church, no, not in Madrid, in Ontario, Canada:

“O Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world, have mercy upon us. O Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world, have mercy upon us. O Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world, grant us your peace.”**

The origins of this round are unclear. In most hymn books it is listed as Traditional, code for unknown composer.

Trinity College of Music in London have some interesting notes on the round, which are worth looking at, and they credit two possible composers:

“It is often attributed to the composer Palestrina, but some argue that it was written by Mozart.” ***

The first two bars have a down-up shape: in bar one down a 4th and up a 6th, in bar two even more exaggerated, down a 5th and up a flattened 7th. The rest of the first phrase, all of the second phrase and the beginning of the third phrase are made up of repeated notes or gently falling scale passages.

Finally, in bars three and four and seven and eight of the third phrase there is a rising pattern followed by an octave dive downwards, only at the end returning inwards up a 4th.

A fanciful analysis might see the early and final bars as active and the rest as passive: perhaps the active bars are aspirational, hoping for, claiming a right to peace, before subduing in the gently falling passages into a passive acceptance, perhaps waiting for peace to be passed down, or accepting that peace is elusive.

Why are we singing it?

It’s a beautiful piece of music. Even though the authorship is unclear, we know this piece has been sung for hundreds of years, so as we sing it we are connecting with innumerable human beings around the world in so many different circumstances.

Since it is a round we are connecting with the rest of the choir in a special way: in strict four part harmony each voice line, typically SATB, is independent and keeps out of the way of the others. On the other hand, in a round we all sing all three lines, perhaps starting individually and then together, so we are connecting closely with our fellow singers.

Is it relevant to us today?

We can approach this text in a number of ways. We can sing it, as intended, as a prayer to the Lamb of God to grant us peace, as in the peace that comes from having sins forgiven.

We can sing this as a call to those in power, calling on them to be peacemakers, not bringers of war: the number of armed conflicts active around the world is numbing and those of us fortunate enough to be at a safe distance can often lose track of the dreadful suffering these conflicts cause as they drag on year after year, slipping further and further down in our news feed, whatever media we follow.

We can sing this phrase as a personal reflection, using it to help find peace and calm with ourselves, within ourselves: some would say that if we want peace in our hearts, we as individuals hold the key to our own inner peace. For some, to want it is to sing it is to find it.

*https://secondhandsongs.com/work/226202

**https://stgeorgesanglican.ca/what-is-the-agnus-dei-why-is-it-not-part-of-every-worship-service-we-do-at-st-georges/

*** https://resources.trinitycollege.com/learners/music/rounds-canons-dona

People Get Ready by Curtis Mayfield

2022-08-29T17:32:00.001+02:00

This is part of a series of reflections on current or future repertoire as I take on the role of Musical Director for the Madrid International Choir, the English speaking choir in Madrid.

What is this music?

People get ready was composed by Curtis Mayfield 1942 - 1999 and recorded by The Impressions, of which he was a member, in 1965*. Mayfield was born in Chicago and the church and its music were an important part of his early life. When he refers to travelling to Jordan, he does not have to spell out the links to Hebrew slaves and hopes of freedom: his listeners had also been steeped in biblical themes and could fill in the dots.

Mayfield brings the song into a contemporary setting with references to the diesel train: he was fully involved in the civil rights movement in Chicago and he used his music to send a message:

“I’m an entertainer first”, he often stated. Through my way of writing I was capable of being able to say these things and yet not make a person feel as though they’re being preached at.”**

This gentle song is not a full reflection of Mayfield’s output. In the following years he played a major role in composing and producing for other soul artists and in the emergence of funk music as a style, he wrote music for numerous films and from the early 70’s was one of the first musicians to establish his own publishing company to control the rights to his work.

Why are we singing it?

It’s a beautiful song. It uses a repeating chord sequence of three chords, one repeated. The melody has a sense of calm because of this and because the vocal range is limited to an octave plus one tone, a ninth, and because there is so much repetition: in a total of eight bars, bar 1 is repeated in bar 3, bar 2 is repeated in bar 6, and bar 4 in bar 8.

The highest note at the start of bar 7 if followed by a lovely falling figure to end the song. Three short verses of lyrics pack plenty of theological punch: freedom is not to be paid for, it’s God’s gift; there is room for all God’s children: don’t we all want to feel we are “among those loved the most”? There is also hope for social justice: for the hopeless sinner who would hurt all mankind there is “no hiding place against the kingdom’s throne”.

Is it relevant to us today?

For some of us this song has been a part of our musical memory dating from then we first started listening to music. From a strictly musical point of view, soul music is a comfort zone to which we keep returning, it soothes our aching heart.

Seen as a form of social commentary, tragically the song has not lost its relevance. Although the song tells us that those who “would hurt all mankind just to save his own” will some day receive judgement at the kingdom’s throne, for the moment those who harm others and spread false information to promote their own interests seem to be doing very nicely.

We are taking as our starting point an arrangement from an Oxford University Press choir series, which gives scope for our own creativity and improvisation, by Charlie Beale b1964:

“A passionate campaigner for stylistic diversity within choral singing.”***

https://youtu.be/l04yM7-BWbg

**https://www.curtismayfield.com/welcome.html

***https://www.charliebeale.com/

Va, pensiero from Nabucco by Guiseppe Verdi

2022-08-29T17:26:00.001+02:00

This is part of a series of reflections on current or future repertoire as I take on the role of Musical Director for the Madrid International Choir, the English speaking choir in Madrid.

What is this music?

Va, Pensiero, also known as the Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves, is one of the most well loved opera highlights. Guiseppe Verdi 1813 -1901 composed the music for the opera Nabucco to a libretto by Temistocle Solera 1815 - 1878 and it was first performed at La Scala in Milan in 1842.

The text is inspired by Psalm 137:

“By the waters of Babylon we sat down and wept: when we remembered thee, O Sion.”*

Va, pensiero became the unofficial anthem of the Italian independence movement in opposition to the numerous foreign powers who controlled different parts of the Italian peninsula. The opera uses the imagery of the Hebrews enslaved by the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar to reflect the Italians as captives in their own land.

The NY Met Opera guide explores the work’s historical background and artistic significance in full:

“Nabucco and the story of the Babylonian captivity are remarkable examples of the power of art as political allegory.”**

Why are we singing it?

It’s a beautiful piece of music, it’s extremely satisfying to sing and to listen to, and performing it connects us with choirs far and near who have sung Va, pensiero over nearly 200 years, be they full time professionals or serious amateurs.

Members of the Madrid International Choir will certainly have been a part of previous performances as singers or audience at some time and in some country or countries.

Victor DeRenzi gives a detailed description of the music as well as an analysis of the text, which is included in full in Italian and English in his essay for the Sarasota Opera.

As he says:

“Like all great music, it functions on many levels - some of them easily accessible and some requiring a deeper look.

Often with vocal music, that deeper look is as much about the text as it is about the music itself.”***

Is it relevant to us today?

Musically, this piece is as powerful now as the day it was first heard in 1842: the arch-shaped melodic lines, the outer unison/octave sections contrasting with a centre section in harmony, the dynamic rhythmic interplay between sextuplet accompaniment and dotted eighth notes and the counter-intuitive major key all combine to give the piece expressive energy and emotional power.

Thematically, the idea of homeland could not be more relevant, both as a matter for humanity at large, and for ourselves in the choir.

Around the world the scale of migration is unprecedented. Human beings are leaving their homeland, many for tragic reasons, some because of a threat to their safety due to foreign aggression or persecution, others who face desperate lack of basic provisions for survival.

By contrast, in relatively tiny numbers, the more fortunate ones like many of us in the Madrid International Choir, left our homelands by choice looking for a better job, chasing a place in the sun, or following a partner who stole our hearts.

*Church of England 1662 Book of Common Prayer

** https://www.metopera.org/globalassets/discover/education/educator-guides/nabucco/nabucco.16-17.guide.pdf

*** https://www.sarasotaopera.org/va-pensiero-chorus-all-time

NB: Babylon is located in modern-day Iraq

The Liverpool Band, from a Liverpool Boy

2018-10-21T14:49:00.004+02:00

Earlier this year I saw a show by The Liverpool Band, not in Liverpool but in Denia in Spain. It turns out these four incredible musicians are from the Alicante area, so the Condado venue, a former cinema in

Denia´s high street, is more or less home ground.

Watchy Watchy is what too many substandard bands in Spain use to fill in for the English lyrics they cannot understand and/or cannot be bothered to learn. Happily there was absolutely no Watchy Watchy from the Liverpool Band as they sang every song with perfectly accurate content and with fantastically clear diction. My admiration for this quartet grew by the minute as they showed their complete mastery of the Beatles catalogue and their own skills as instrumentalists and singers.

This was a long show, starting with those amazing 3 minute wonders from the early sixties, perfect gems that are over almost before they have begun: they had to because that was all that would fit onto one side of a 45rpm single record. Then the band moved on to the later material from the White Album and Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and they played and sang with effortless ease those polyrhythmic figures and complex harmonies, one song after another without putting a foot wrong.

I do not know the names of the members of The Liverpool Band but apparently they started in 1997 and have been working continuously on this material since, and it shows. In between versions of complete songs they played little fragments of so many other songs, teasers for another gig, another night. I am full of admiration for their individual musical skills and for their superb ensemble togetherness as well as their perfect vocal harmonies: there seems to be nothing these musicians cannot do.

As the gig I saw was in the summer there were many Brits in the audience and I suppose many of us have Beatles stories to tell. I enjoyed a Paul McCartney concert in Madrid in the nineties and that took me back to early days of listening to the Wings albums, trying to contain the guilt at enjoying this music which was the result of the break up of the Fab Four.

In 1963, I believe it was, The Beatles returned to Liverpool from their first triumphant tour to the USA. This was a historic moment because the popular music charts had up to then been the absolute domain of American artists such as Perry Como, Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley, and here were these four young men from Liverpool who had broken the mould, taking over the highest places in the pop charts the world over, and especially significantly, in the USA. You have to remember that the Liverpool of that time was drab, grey and still showing the scars of the tragic effects of the 1939-1945 war. How could they have dared to achieve so much?

On the day the band returned to Liverpool there was a line of people on the streets from the airport to the city centre: I know because I was one of them. As my memory has it, and I could be wrong, I walked, or rather I was taken, since I was only 6 years old, along to the main road where they were due to pass by, and waited a hugely long time until finally a cavalcade of big black cars drove by. The window of one of the cars was partly open and a hand appeared through the window to wave. The hand belonged to Paul, or maybe George or John or Ringo… or maybe one of their assistants, and then they were gone.

Many years later Paul McCartney gave one of his free concert at the Liverpool riverside, called the Pier Head, and someone my age was there with her teenage daughters. When the great man appeared on the stage there was near hysterical applause before even a note had sounded. One of the teenage daughters said: What are they all clapping for, he hasn´t done anything yet. To which her mother replied: It’s not about tonight, it´s about the last 50 years that everyone is applauding.

All these memories of the original Beatles only go to increase my respect and admiration for The Liverpool Band, and I look forward to catching up with them the next time I am in Denia.

Sense of Occasion by Harold Prince: review

2018-09-23T14:32:00.001+02:00

Sense of Occasion by Harold Prince: review

Going to the theatre should always be an occasion, something special, different, say, from going to the cinema, the movies or going shopping.

That the combined efforts of a handful or dozens of individual persons to present a live show, something in the moment and fleeting make a special occasion is something that I completely agree with and the title of Harold Prince´s 2017 book is entirely appropriate. It harks back to Henry Purcell and his colleagues in 17^th century London who referred to their work in the theatre as Spectacle and Entertainment, something very much out of the ordinary.

The first part of Sense of Occasion is a reprint of his earlier book: Contradictions, Notes on 26 years in the theatre from 1974 with commentary and self evaluation on that earlier book. That the time in question includes ground breaking works such as West Side Story should give a clear enough hint that this is no small time endeavour.

The remainder of the book is a collection of Mr Prince´s experiences over seven decades of success in the theatre and especially in musical theatre. I was drawn to this book by reading Andrew Lloyd Webbers´s Memoir and the quintessentially English Sir Andrew ´s experiences of collaborating with the totally American Mr Prince.

I came to the book as an admirer: I have enjoyed Evita and Phantom of the Opera and have seen both several times both in London and New York. So, imagine my surprise at learning that not everything Mr Prince touched turned to gold.

“Not every show is going to work, and in a long career you have to expect disappointments” he says in the opening sentence to Chapter 32. How can it be that the producer/director of magnificent pieces such as West Side Story, Evita, Phantom of the Opera, Sweeney Todd, and so many more successes, can also turn in some shows that were commercial and/or critical disasters?

Isn´t that precisely why going to the theatre is an Occasion? As a spectator, we put our trust in the producer, director, writer and performers without any guarantee that the show will be to our liking. We spend our hard earned cash in the hope of, but without any guarantee of, a good time being had by all.

Among Harold Prince´s frustrations we read of his battles with the musicians´union who insisted on a certain number of players to be employed, not according to the needs of the score but according to the size of the performance venue. This leads to the ridiculous situation of musicians being paid to not play, literally to sit reading during an entire performance just to satisfy a quota system. This section of the book drew me back tom Blair Tindall’s book Mozart in the Jungle, where she describes this and many other craziness examples of the NY music scene.

Back to Mr Prince, my favourite part is where he describes his work as providing the minimum of staging so that he audience can supply the rest through their imagination. Once and again he repeats the mantra that if too much is spelt out and up front, there is nothing left for the spectator to bring in terms of her/his own imagination.

After reading page after page of the book, and after seeing numerous performances of Mr Prince´s producing/directing work on stage, I am left with the impression of a strong and likeable personality. It was striking to read an article in this morning´s London Sunday Times where he is described as “A dictator and not a nice man” by actress Patti LuPone. Mind you, according to the same interview she also “fell out with Andrew Lloyd Webber”.

Each to his/her own: I am left with a sense of admiration for Harold Prince who has been an essential part of some of the great successes on Broadway and London´s West End, and who has been an inspiration for so many of us who have worked to pass on his legacy to our students, albeit in much more limited circumstances.

Andrew Lloyd Webber: Unmasked review

2018-09-22T17:12:00.000+02:00

Andrew Lloyd Webber: Unmasked review

I have still have a worn and well used copy of the songs from Jesus Christ Superstar from the 70´s, back in the day when we used to actually pay money for sheet music: a quaint custom when viewed from today´s internet free for all grab what you want world. I don´t know how to love him was easy and I was so happy to be able to play that and impress anyone who could bear to hear me play it. On the other hand, there were those tunes in 5/4 and others with such a curious rock rhythm that I honestly could not make them out.

We all came to Jesus Christ Superstar as a kind of graduation from Joseph. Joseph was enough, everyone knew you meant Joseph and his amazing technicolour dreamcoat, sorry, that is Technicolor. When I say everyone, I mean parents, teachers and my fellow school students and myself. Joseph was brilliant: clever, funny, tuneful and, at last, a piece to sing at school that was not embarrassingly old fashioned.

One of my audition pieces for music at university was a piece by Lloyd Webber senior: I couldn´t really play it and I know the professor noticed but I suspect they were short of trumpet players so I got in anyway.

I spent a summer in ´77 ish going to West end matinees and saw Elaine Paige, David Essex and Joss Ackland in the first cast of Evita and even I, a young music student, could tell that this was the future and A Chorus Line, which I saw the day before, was the past of musical theatre.

So in 1980-ish when I started working in London and spent more than I should have to see the ground breaking crazy show without a story on a revolving stage at the New London Theatre called CATS I was knocked out by basically everything but especially by the song, THE song, which you were kept waiting for until after the interval, wondering what the fuss was all about and then realizing this was what you really came for: Memory of course.

Last year I directed a performance of CATS with my students at school and was overwhelmed at how students from many nations knew and loved these great songs and laughed at all the clever lyrics.

I saw Song and Dance and was entranced by songs like Take that look off your face and by Wayne Sleep´s athletic dancing.

I love music theatre and thought very carefully about finding a show that would introduce my son to the genre and inspire him. The show was Starlight Express in London and the combination of great singable melodies and roller skating virtuosity was everything you could ask for to inspire a young child and a young at heart adult.

Phantom of the opera in New York a few years later confirmed for us all that musical theatre can appeal to all the family and engages us on so many levels, from the sheer spectacular stage effects to the emotional power of the music and lyrics.

With all this background I came to read A L W Unmasked and I was totally unprepared. I thought that Sir Andrew had an easy time of it, what with his famous father, establishment connections and early success. Nothing could be further from the truth, as we can see from page after page in the memoirs.

What stands out in the book, time after time, is Lloyd Webber´s unfailing passion for musical theatre and his perfectionist´s striving to achieve the best result in every show he writes. What is a total surprise for me is the large number of shows which either failed commercially or took so many attempts to get off the ground.

I especially enjoyed Lloyd Webber´s accounts of his collaboration with other major players in musical theatre, such as Harold Prince, and this lead me to search Prince´s memoir, Sense of Occasion, which I will review shortly.

The memoir only gets up to the opening of Phantom of the opera: I look forward to the next installment, full of expectation and admiration.

Wizard of Oz: Displacement & Identity 1899/2016

2016-02-15T21:15:00.001+01:00

“Wonderment & joy are maintained and the heartaches & nightmares are left out”

– this is how writer L Frank Baum compared his fairy tale to those of earlier authors such as the brothers Grimm and Andersen.

Baum´s own account of his intentions in his introduction to The Wonderful Wizard of Oz in 1899 is clear so we should not try to read too much into his fairy story. Even so, as I start to rehearse the RSC version of The Wizard of Oz with my students there are themes which have a curiously topical and serious resonance.

Firstly, because I am teaching at an international school in The Netherlands where there are students from nearly 90 nations. Secondly, because we are living at a time when millions of persons, among them innumerable children, are living in a foreign land, far from their roots. I should say that these notes are my personal thoughts and are not meant to represent the school in any way.

The US government has posted a version of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz on line with the lovely illustrations by W W Denslow

On page 44 Mr Baum puts these words in the mouth of his characters,

“No matter how dreary or grey our homes are, people of flesh and blood would rather live there than in any other country, be it ever so beautiful. There is no place like home.”

What is home for our students?

Many of them have lived in several countries already in their short lives.

Many of them have parents from two different countries and they have never lived long in either of those countries.

For all of them English is the language they use to study and to communicate with their school friends, while for many of them it is not the language of their country of origin.

What is home for my colleagues? For some it is where they have elderly parents or siblings; for others it is where they have a property for which they are paying a mortgage; for others it is the place where special possessions have been left in safe keeping: a pet, a pony, a piano.

“But now we are all, in all places, strangers and pilgrims, travellers and sojourners …”.

This is not a quote from L Frank Baum in 1900 nor from a United Nations worker attending the needs of Syrian refugees in 2016.

Robert Cushman was a pilgrim who fled persecution in England in 1622 and was exiled in Leiden here in The Netherlands, a short train ride from my school. During their exile, more than 30 family members died and were buried at the Pieterskerk, as shown on the plaque in the photo.

Exclusion can be suffered in many ways, whether its origin is in cultural difference or religion, race or gender.

I cannot help quoting a lovely line from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, delivered by the Scarecrow on page 38,

“I am stuffed so I have no brains at all”.

In these days of our so-called knowledge economy, far too many young people who have been labelled as stupid by our education system are experiencing this sentence the other way around, ie

I have no brains at all, so I am stuffed.

I hope we will stay true to Mr Baum´s intentions as we work with our students on his wonderful story full of great and important themes such as friendship, courage and the imagination. I trust that our production at the end of June will avoid the nightmares and the heartaches and that our students and their audience will experience wonderment and joy.

At least during two hours each evening for 3 days we will all know where home is: it will be what is conjured up in our hearts and minds by the wonder of Mr Baum´s imagination in the dark rows of theatre seats, each seat filled by a person with their own experience of displacement and identity in 2016.

Guadalupe Álvarez in a Tribute to Joni Mitchell in Madrid July 2015: review

2015-09-27T19:33:00.002+02:00

It was my friend Michael who first alerted me to Joni Mitchell’s health problems earlier this year. It is clear from his Facebook page that he has been a devoted fan for many years, I mean of Joni Mitchell, not of me. I confess I have not followed her with the same devotion: for me Joni Mitchell from a distance has been a combination of a thinking person’s Madonna and a Bob Dylan alter ego with a better voice. I suppose Both Sides Now is the song that I would think of as essentially hers, Joni Mitchell’s, I mean, not Madonna’s. Yes, in part due to the scene in Love Actually, sorry.

So, when I got back to Madrid for the summer I noticed a Tribute to Joni Mitchell concert in the listings. Normally I would run a mile rather than go to a Tribute To … concert as I can live without a bunch of wannabees cynically living of other artistes’ achievements. Still, with Michael’s heartfelt messages in mind, and with the confidence I have in the Café Central, in Madrid along I went.

Guadalupe Álvarez is a fantastic singer and this concert was wonderful. I had never heard of her before (sorry!) but she is a renowned singer in her native Argentina and has many achievements and recordings to her name: here´s just one example. She can take a song from a whisper to a 10 force gale in the space of a line, her jazz phrasing is rhythmically excellent, and her pitch control in the many angular phrases of these interesting songs was superb.

On top of all that is her expressive power. There is a myth in show business that you can only be really expressive as a performer if you have suffered in real life, as if the real life suffering were the true inspiration for great performances. I saw this earlier this month in an article by Dan Cairns, who should know better, writing about Cilla Black in the Sunday Times (paywall).

I don’t know whether Guadalupe Álvarez has suffered in her life or not: I hope not. She certainly is able to perform these powerful songs in a way that brought tears to her eyes, and to mine. I think there are other things you need to be able to express deep emotions in music: among them are a well developed technique on your instrument/voice; a careful choice of material/repertoire with arrangements that present the material at its best; and an accompanist or band who present your work in the best light.

On this occasion at the Café Central Guadalupe Álvarez showed that she has all this and more. Her own technique and performance standards are superb, and she has surrounded herself with excellent musicians who, as far as I can see, have all contributed to the interested and varied jazz arrangements of Joni Mitchell’s songs:

Toni Brunet, guitar & vocals; Josué Santos, piano & alto sax; José Vera, bass; and Pedro Barceló, drums.

There was a lot of noise, in the best sense of the word, of high energy power music in this concert. One of the most interesting points was a solo by Toni Brunet, accompanying himself on guitar. This was among the quietest few minutes I have heard at the Café Central in more than 20 years of going to concerts there: a wonderful performance.

All the songs were arranged in a very interesting and sensitive way. These were not just copies, they were genuine arrangements with a strong jazz flavor. I would like to hear this same group of musicians play a straight jazz set: something to look forward to. And in the end, there it was, Both Sides Now, sung with passion, pain and power from the very depths of her being to the most needing points of my heart. Wonderful.

So, thank you, Michael for many things: most recently for jogging my mind so that I saw this concert.

And thanks to Guadalupe Álvarez and musicians, and Café Central, for an excellent evening of music.

Quartet Mezza Voce in Denia: review. Classical music in an original performing space

2015-09-27T19:17:00.000+02:00

One of the nice surprises in Denia this year was to hear a concert of string quartet music in a relaxed atmosphere with views overlooking the historic castle. Young talent and ancient views combined in a very enjoyable occasion on 6 August at the Jauja Port venue.

Sadly I missed the first part of the concert because this area was new to me even though I have been holidaying in Denia in Spain for more than 20 years. It was certainly worth the effort required to find the concert.

The Quartet Mezza Voce performed Mendelssohn’s Quartet Op 13 no 2 in A minor. Of course the playing was excellent, after all these young players are students at the Conservatorio Superior de Música de Aragón. (I missed the Haydn Op 76 no 3 in the first half of the concert.)

Yes but … the moving thing for me was to see a string quartet whose players have rehearsed painstakingly throughout the year and who have been able to arrange a tour which takes them so far musically and geographically. Denia is more than 400 km from the conservatoire in Zaragoza, where they are based. Much more important is the musical journey they have undertaken together. It was clear from the standard of playing and from the quality of their ensemble technique that they have performed this repertoire in several concerts.

The history of music is full of quartets which have started with great promise and yet have faded away. The point is that there are so many difficulties involved in maintaining a quartet: from the logistics of having a rehearsal venue to rehearse together for several hours a day in addition to the hours of individual practice the players need to keep up their technique; the financial demands; adjusting to each member’s taste in choice of repertoire, and finding venues to play which will keep the quartet alive.

Many of these problems are explored in the fictional story of a string quartet based in New York City: an entertaining film, A Late Quartet starring Philip Seymour Hoffman, among others.

Thankfully, the young players of the Quartet Mezza Voce are young enough not to face the pressures of those fictional musicians, and, more importantly, have had the benefit of coaching from the members of one of the leading string quartets active today, the Cuarteto Quiroga .

The debate about getting music out of the strict formalities of the concert hall is alive and well: some musicians are exploring alternative venues including car parks. There are advantages in using venues which are not formal concert halls, even though we have to put up with little children running around and the clink of wine glasses being collected by the bar staff while the musicians are playing. On this occasion, the disadvantages were outweighed by the pleasure of listening to this lovely music.

According to the programme, The Quartet Mezza Voce are Eva Laliena Sanz & Eva Ortells Pecheco, violins; Carolina Úriz Malón, viola; and Violeta Mur Minguell, ‘cello.

A concert in this venue would have been impossible just a handful of years ago. The Balearia shipping company have made substantial improvements to the port facilities to provide docking for larger vessels, including an entirely new dock area for their ferries, and there are many improvements in hand which are making Denia a more attractive place every year.

Thanks to the Balearia company for making this concert possible, and thanks to the wonderful young players of the Quartet Mezza Voce for their lovely playing. I hope to hear you all playing together in 20 years time.

Fairy Tales & Nightmares at the Korzo Theatre: review

2015-04-19T19:35:00.002+02:00

The show Fairy Tales & Nightmares started before it began: the playback tango music set the scene while the 5 actor/dancer/musicians were already on stage as the audience took their seats.

I had read in the programme notes that this show is made up of modern dance set to the music of Prokofiev. The first music we heard after the lights went down was a scratchy war time rendition of a patriotic Russian song so I wondered whether the show was going to be a portrayal of that composer´s treatment at the hands of Stalin and his henchmen. In fact there were moments when the dancers mimed an attack on the violinist and this even included pelting him with missiles, some of them hitting the wall behind him, some of them hitting his body or his violin.

This theme was not developed as the show went on but that does not mean it lost interest. In fact I suppose this show is more of a divertissement, an entertainment which features movement and music, not always at the same time. The show was devised by the pianist Shuann Chai , whose incredible playing of the difficult Prokofiev pieces deserved a better instrument than the one used last night. Still, the piano was part of the show: moving it around the stage marked the different scenes in the show. Shuann Chai was also story teller: her telling of the Baba Yaga tale reminds us that fairy tales were not always the saccharin product Disney likes to pretend. Shunske Sato is a wonderful violinist and all round artist: how many violinists you know would allow someone to throw missiles at their violin, be used as a foil for comedy routines, partner a dancer in over and under movements while playing perfectly in tune, and be smothered into “unconsciousness”, only to be revived in time to play a duet with a film of himself playing the other part?

The choreography was created by dancers Ederson Rodrigues Xavier and Masahiro Yanagimoto and included extended solos and duets and action which involved the pianist and violinist. A scene like a wrestling match to grasp control of a gas mask included drama and comedy. Movements involved mainly floor work with angular poses. There were moments when the dancers joined the audience as spectators to the music interludes.

These four performers filled the stage with humour, drama and skillful interpretations of the choreography and music and they moved between each others´ roles as the dancers played the piano and the musicians danced.

The fifth member of the cast is in fact a life size, dismembered latex puppet created by Duda Paiva . He, sorry it, is manipulated with such skill by Ederson Rodrigues Xavier that he, sorry it, takes on the role of a character and is movingly expressive.

This was an enjoyable and entertaining show. If I had to split hairs I would say that I would prefer to hear less of the phrase happy ever after: it never sounds in my nightmares and in my fairytales it only comes once, when all else is said and done.

Is culture crashing? Scott Timberg: Part 2 review

2015-03-15T22:54:00.003+01:00

I often tell my students that if they enjoy my lessons they should thank the rulers of the former Soviet Union. When they start to laugh I tell them that the story goes that the launch of the first Sputnik rocket in 1957 sent shock waves through the intellectual class of the USA. How could the world´s greatest country have been beaten into space by the USSR? The missing link, it was decided, was original thinking, so a new generation of bright sparks needed to be produced in no time at all. But how? Creativity was the answer.

Thanks to those lawmakers in the USA who expanded arts provision, the more genteel but equally ambitious rulers in London followed obediently and introduced music and drama courses at all levels of education in a way that was unthinkable a short time before.

That generation of creative minds was meant to restore prominence to The West not in the arts themselves but in what really counted: geopolitical dominance. Of course it was not called that then: lots of things changed their names over the years and the decades.

Scott Timberg nails it in his Culture Crash , The Killing of the creative class. In Chapter 6 he describes how those early days when the creatives were to save The Free World gave way to the view of those same persons as Idle Dreamers: the curse of the creative class. He cites Dan Quayle, intellectual giant as he is, VP that other man renowned for deep thought and er … well, maybe not. Anyway, he cites Quayle as using the expression cultural elite as an insult in a speech in 1992 in California. I am not going to quote the passage, better you buy the book for yourself, it´s worth it just to have yet another laugh at the mighty thinking power of Messrs Q & B.

Mr Timberg details how, while snide comments from people who know nothing like to describe those in the creative industries as cosseted and privileged, the real statistics show that earnings in this field are lower than average incomes and working conditions are arduous and precarious.

I enjoyed Chapter 7: The end of print. It is a sad story that has been told many times and it has to do not only with the technological revolution. More profoundly it has to do with greed among business leaders and failure of governments to regulate properly.

Yes the digital dawn has played its part. Mr Timberg refers to the Guardian, a British newspaper founded in 1821. Here´s a thing, my beloved father bought it even when it was still called The Manchester Guardian. In 1959 they dropped the local tag as it aspired to be a national newspaper, and so it was and so my father bought it every day probably for 40 years even as the price rose from a shilling to I suppose 60 pence. Now I read the Guardian and I dip into it several times a day and find new stories constantly appearing, excellent graphics and high quality writing and beautiful photographs. Yet not only am I paying less in 2015 than my dear father paid in 1965, I am paying nothing at all. No wonder its owners are losing money daily: as Mr Timberg remarks, the Guardian continues to operate thanks to its almost unique support from the trust which owns it.

Today, Will Hutton writes in the Guardian/Observer about different levels of internet connectivity available in different parts of Britain. What is the good of having all the world´s knowledge at your fingertips if the rate of download is so slow as to be ineffective? How is there a broadening of democracy and an increase of freedom if you access to information depends on the profit your neighbourhood provides to the cable provider? These are big questions and not all newspapers are prepared to ask, much less answer them.

Mr Timberg makes an insightful comment about the loss of theatre and music critics in many newspapers in recent years. He points out that specialist bloggers may well write about local plays or concerts so apparently the loss of coverage in the press is not significant. Yet, he says, the danger is that the arts “become a tiny subculture, losing their connection to a mass middle-class public, surrendering their ability to be discovered accidentally.”

I agree totally, and I think the “ability to be discovered accidentally” is similar to the effect of large numbers of school students taking musical instruments to and from school daily. When it is seen as a natural thing to do to carry that strange long box with a trombone, or that short flat almost weightless case holding a violin, other students are much more likely to adopt playing an instrument into their life than if selected students attend specialist courses out of the normal school routine.

Mr Timberg concludes that the artist and the journalist, two groups of workers who are suffering, are committed to uncovering the truth, be it of the human condition or of institutions. Truth, no matter what the cost “is something we cannot live without.”

Looking forward to reading the next chapters. Thank you Mr Timberg.

Music, culture & politics: Somaliland at the Korzo in The Hague

2015-03-15T21:25:00.000+01:00

Last night´s concert by the Sahra Halgan Trio at the Korzo Theatre in The Hague raises lots of questions. It all added up to a fascinating evening of music, culture and politics, sponsored by the Alliance Française in The Hague.

First the music: Sahra Halgan was accompanied by 2 French musicians, Maël Salétes on guitars and Aymeric Krol on percussion and kamala ngoni. Sahra has a wonderful voice which ranges from jubilation to powerful protest. Her fellow musicians are excellent: technically virtuoso and totally assured in this musical style. This was basically a presentation of their cd Faransiskiyo Somaliland, recorded recently in France. By the end of the concert the audience were on their feet, joining in the dance to the African rhythms and singing along to the call and response melodies.

I recognized the music as being very much in the style of other African music I have heard so my question was whether these songs were traditional or original? When I asked M Krol after the show as I bought the cd he said that all the music was original to the trio. I remembered that in the documentary Sahra Halgan pays tribute to a Somaliland elder musician called Abdul Nasir, saying that when she was young he taught her all the songs she knows. So I asked M Krol and he said no, some of the lyrics are traditional but others, and the melodies, are original to the trio. I am not sure how Mdme Halgan learnt the traditional songs as lyrics only and how she would have remembered them over 20 years in France, but if that´s how she sees it it´s fine by me. I suppose it is not important to get hung up on the matter of authorship in what is fundamentally an oral tradition of music.

In the Q & A session after the concert one question was whether Mdme Halgan was influenced by English (I think the questioner meant American) blues or by French music. She replied that definitely not English, but yes, by the French musicians she worked with all those years away from home. She was very emphatic that when it came to singing she only sang in her own African language.

Sahra Halgan describes herself as a cultural ambassador for her home country, Somaliland. She has been resident in France for many years and recently decided to return to Somaliland. This is no small matter as the country is not officially recognized as an independent state by the world community: in 1991 it broke away from Somalia and declared its independence. Is Somaliland a country or a region?

Before the concert there was a showing of the informative and moving documentary made by Cris Ubermann . He details Sahra Halgan´s difficult life in France and the challenges of returning to her home country. The documentary includes interviews with her 16 year old daughter, first in France, a European teenager full of admiration for Sahra Halgan as mother, singer and cultural ambassador; later we see her in Somaliland as a student of the American school, quite frank about the difficulties of adapting to boarding school and to dressing to fit the local codes.

Sahra Halgan describes her life in Somaliland in the documentary. She describes her achievements as an entrepreneur setting up a restaurant which employs 19 local people. Added to the normal difficulties of setting up a new business are the restrictions on women as owners and as bank account holders. She blames these restrictions on the international community´s refusal to recognize her country. Are these problems as a woman to do with the international community or more to do with the country´s own decisions on how it is to be run?

Was I the only one in the audience who was ignorant about Somaliland and its bid for international recognition? I notice on youtube there are numerous films about the diaspora returning to Somalia and the surrounding region, not just from France but also other European countries. There is also a UN mission to Somalia which, according to local reports, is regarded as a threat to the continuance of Somaliland as an independent state.

Clearly there is a need for cultural ambassadors like Sahra Halgan to explain her view to the world.

Thanks to the Alliance Française in The Hague for this fascinating evening: many questions were raised and some were answered, about Somaliland and its music, culture and politics.

Culture Crash by Scott Timberg: Review part one

2015-03-12T23:38:00.000+01:00

First off: I bought a paper copy of this book in a specialist book shop because I was browsing through the Philosophy section and it jumped out at me. Yes, yet another great thing about living in The Hague is that there are quality bookshops which stock a wide range of new work in English.

The Killing of the Creative Class is the subtitle to this fascinating book. I have only read the first five chapters but the author has already made a big impression.

Scott Timberg is one of the many victims of the first years of this millennium: you could say he was careless enough to be born at the wrong time. He explains how he was brought up to believe that hard work plus talent equals a middle class life style. In a few short years he found himself without a job and losing his home and at risk of living without medical insurance.

Quite apart from his professional disappointments, he is angry at the way his bank foreclosed on his mortgage instead of working out an alternative solution. Yet his anger is dignified and contained. There are many around who, by good fortune, were not so cruelly affected by the crash of 2008 but who share the despair of people like Scott Timberg and who are waiting for individual citizens who were responsible for bad decisions to be brought to justice: wrong things were done and the wrong doers should be held to account. Sadly, governments around the world, in the USA and in Europe, have failed, and failed miserably, they have failed the citizens who elect them and they have failed to live up to the standards that can rightfully be expected of the holders of high office.

Scott Timberg sets out his plan in the Introduction: that new technology, globalization and deregulation have changed the game in a few short years, with tragic consequences for a whole swathe of people, including the citizens he calls the Creative Class. He includes in the creative class workers in recorded music and book stores, and I was struck this week by news of the closing of a renowned shop selling printed music in New York. After 80 years in business, the shop is closing down this month. Free downloads of often inferior quality prints have killed this supplier of high quality music scores.

One of the many things I like about Mr Timberg´s book is that he does not get stuck in distinguishing between art for art´s sake and commercial use of the arts: to him, the arts and creative artists are all one, whether they be clerks in a book store or musicians on the road.

Mr Timberg writes about how remuneration for creative work has been driven down over a decade. This strikes a chord. I know of musicians in Spain who in 1992 were paid 40,000 pesetas for a performance and who, in 2010 were offered 100 euros for the same type of gig. That sounds fine until you do the conversion: 40,000 pesetas is equivalent to 240 euros. So a job that was paid 240 euros has been driven down to 100. This is one of many examples that bear out Mr Timberg´s thesis.

I look forward to reading the rest of this interesting book over the weekend. Of course, not all of the creative class are penniless and homeless. Mr Timberg points out that the heavy hitters of the entertainment industry can still pocket huge amounts of money, but he rightly points out that they are the exceptions. Recent reports of the court case brought by the family of Marvin Gaye claiming their share of the success of a recent hit tune by Pharrell Williams talk of receipts of 17 million dollars in sales of a single song. Clearly the majority of the workers in the creative class will never come anywhere close to this kind of money.

To be continued …

How to treat our heroes? Hoorn has the answer

2015-03-09T23:22:00.000+01:00

All countries have heroes. I suppose we all want to have people to look up to: those larger than life figures who have conquered far away lands or who have won unwinnable battles at some time, usually in the dim and distant past.

What happens when objective historical research shines its light on these heroes? In many cases, in the cruel light of day our heroes turn out to be human beings and their imperfections are all too obvious.

I remember when I was a t school in Liverpool in the 60´s I learned how Sir Francis Drake was a hero who brought riches and honour to the court of the English queen Elisabeth I. Thirty years later I visited the maritime museum in Tenerife in the Spanish Canary Islands and found myself reading an inscription beneath a portrait of the same Sir Francis: “the English pirate who stole from defenceless traders as they sailed the high seas”. At what point did my history teacher´s hero become a Spanish museum curator´s villain?

In Spain the issue of the civil war which ravaged the country from 1936 – 39 is still very much alive. In recent years numerous statues have been demolished or removed to hidden destinations and street names have been changed to respect current sense of right and wrong.

In Liverpool, England, there has been a vigorous debate about a proposal to re-name streets which were originally named after respected civic leaders who later were regarded as pariahs because they made their fortunes on the misery of their fellow humans who were bought and sold in the most miserable conditions and called slaves as they passed through the port of Liverpool as merchandise in much the same way as bales of cotton and sacks of corn. Some said we should take down the street signs bearing the names of the slave traders, as if re-naming the streets we all know and have walked along would somehow right a dreadful wrong in the city´s history.

Last weekend I was in the Dutch port city of Hoorn and I saw yet another example of the Dutch ability to put things in perspective. In the town square of Hoorn there is a monument to one its sons and heroes: Jan Pieterszoon Coen, born there in 1587. He was a founder of the incredibly successful and world-defining Dutch East India Company (VOC), which not only inspired the English to copy their working model, but opened trade routes which were previously unimaginable. At first sight Pieter
szoon Coen must be an indisputable hero, a model for all wannabe entrepreneurs who have never had it so good.

But take a look at the inscription on the plinth of his statue and you see that there is a more complex story: the fortune which Pieterszoon Coen made for his investors was not without cost, and the price was paid by the human beings who inhabited the lands he decided were targets for his trade empire, among them were those who were murdered or deported from their own land for contravening his instructions.

So what do the sensible Dutch do? They do not tear down his statue and hide it in a municipal warehouse, neither do they change the name. Their practical, sensible solution is to maintain the statue in situ and to add a plaque in Dutch and English which explains the facts: that on the one hand here is a local hero and on the other hand a human being who was responsible for the terrible suffering of fellow human beings.

Thanks to the good citizens of Hoorn in the Netherlands who have given us all a lesson in how to treat our heroes: undoubtedly persons who have achieved great things, and who in some cases have achieved greatness at the cost of their fellow human beings.

By the way, Pieterszoon Coen died in 1629 in the city which he called Batavia, now known as Jakarta, half a world away from the picturesque port of Hoorn.