Jazz by Any Other Name

Occasionally, a disc arrives that really does fall outside of easily identified categories, with content that really should just be called music. If one wanted to pin a label on Dance Of The Three Legged Elephants by cellist Matthew Barley and pianist Julian Joseph, then jazz is the one that comes most readily given Joseph's jazz credentials. As jazz tries to forge a new direction and identity for itself, with the line of Afro-American pioneers that swept from Armstrong to Coleman hitting a dead end with the puritanism of Marsalis, it is not stretching a point too far to call this jazz. The tracks that are not Barley / Joseph originals are by jazz figures like Jaco Pastorius and John McLaughlin, or figures sometimes influenced by jazz like Brazilian Antonio Carlos Jobim or Ravel ( no christian name necessary for Maurice ! ) But there are nods in the direction of Cage's prepared sounds and while Barley's cello is often played in a style very much in the jazz violin tradition, he also experiments with found sounds and Joseph also demonstrates his classical training. In some ways, this is a follow up recording to that made several years ago by the duo with Barley's wife Viktoria Mullova but edging a little further out into experimental territory.

Thousands Of Them

For the latest edition, BBC Music magazine pushed the boat out with an epic production for the free cover disc, Mahler's Symphony No 8 "Symphony of a Thousand". I have already posted way back when about the commercial recording I have of this work so will not go into detail about it here, except to say it is a predominantly choral symphony with vast forces, though the full scale blast effect is used sparingly. This recording was made live at last year's Edinburgh Festival and is performed by the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra conducted by Donald Runnicles. They are bolstered by the Edinburgh Festival Chorus and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra Junior Chorus and a battery of soloists; sopranos Erin Wall, Hillevi Martinpelto and Nicole Cabell, mezzo-sopranos Katarina Karneus and Catherine Wyn-Rogers, tenor Simon O'Neill, baritone Anthony Michaels-Moore and bass John Relyea. Some message board posters have gone as far as to say it is the best available recording of this work, even allowing for the difficulties of getting the sound balance right for such large forces which occasionally prove too much. I would certainly agree that it is a very fine performance and would be happy to have it as my only copy if I did not already own another.

Two Of Three

I was so taken with Transatlantic Sessions 3, Volume One that I decided to indulge myself with the other volume called, not unexpectedly, Tranatlantic Sessions 3 Volume Two. The "three" refers to this being the third tv series of Transatlantic Sessions and so far the most recent. It does seem as if the series has come to a natural end which is a shame but if it has finished it went out on a high with the strongest series of the three. This actual disc is more of the same from Volume One with the same performers and house band but that is more of a recommendation than a criticism. Each track has merits, standouts include Sharon Shannon's Neck Belly Reels for instrumental exuberance, the country gospel of Iris Dement's He Reached Down and the pure folk of Cara Dillon's P Is For Paddy. The absolute standouts for me though are Tim O'Briens's masterful bluegrass on Look Down That Lonesome Road, Darrell Scott's powerful You'll Never Leave Harlan Alive and the contrastingly good time singalong of Paul Brady's session closer Rainbow. Catch them all on Youtube !

Already Mature Newcomers

The latest free cover disk from BBC Music magazine features current BBC New Generation Artist scheme members the Elias Quartet. Recorded live at Wigmore Hall, it is a solid selection of core repertoire, starting with Haydn's String Quartet Op 64 no 6, progressing to Mendelssohn's String Quintet no 2 Op 87 where they are augmented by violist Malin Bronman and backtracking to Schubert's ten minute Quartettsatz. One or two contemporaries were also looking at the string quartet form around the time that Haydn was but it is his body of work in the form that was really responsible for establishing it and it is a typically classically proportioned piece played here. Mendelssohn is taking the form towards the height of the romantic era by way of contrast. But it is the Schubert piece that perhaps carries the most emotional depth, packing much into the brief one movement span. It is obvious why it is a favourite with performers despite the problem its' length poses in programming. Alhtough given "newcomer" status, the Elias have been playing together for over ten years since student days and are already approaching musical maturity.

What Jazz Means To Me

If I had to play somebody a disc epitomising my idea of what jazz was, it is tempting to think of the obvious and play them Kind Of Blue. But I would also be inclined to spin Monk's Music by the Thelonious Monk Septet. I came to own this disc as a vinyl album quite by chance at a young age, when it was jettisoned by my elder sister who had it as an unwanted gift from a would be beau. It was a fascinating glimpse into a sophisticatedly hip, cool world totally unlike late fifties / early sixties Britain and it was only later that I began to appreciate what a fine and important disc it was in its' own right. One of the main points of interest, apart from the remarkably singular approach of Monk himself on piano and the individuality of his compositions, was the contrast between elder statesman Coleman Hawkins and young turk John Coltrane on tenor sax. And how both had so much to bring in their different ways to the music. A top notch rhythm section of bassist Wibur Ware and drummer Art Blakey was augmented by Gigi Gryce on alto and Ray Copeland on trumpet to complete the septet. The six tracks from the original vinyl release are augmented on cd by four other tracks featuring Coltrane playing with Monk and a leisurely blues from the Monk's Music lineup minus Monk himself. The story behind the session and the taking of the iconic cover photo is detailed in Monk's biography and gives further insight into this superb document of the period.

An Outsider Finally Gets His Hearing

One of the big advantages of the annual BBC Proms concert series is the ability to stage works that would hardly ever get a performance under other circumstances due to the forces required, the venue required or simply commercial viability. A highlight of the 2010 season was a performance of The Music Of The Spheres by Danish composer Rued Langaard performed by the Danish National Symphony Orchestra and Choirs conducted by Thomas Dausgaard with choir master Soren Kinch Hansen. Those same forces were able to put on the work on one earlier occasion for the purposes of the live recording contained on this disc. Dating from the beginning of the 20th century, The Music Of The Spheres is an experiemnal work that sounds as if it could date from much later. The forces required are a huge orchestra, choirs and solo soprano ( Inger Dam Jensen in this case ) with off stage musicians etc, all of which make a staging difficult. But these forces are in fact used very sparingly and most of the work is subdued with small filigree details and only the occasional extraordinary outburst from the entire company, such as the sustained choral and instrumental chords that resonate for around a minute each. The disk contains two further works for chorus and orchestra, From The Abyss and The End Of Time. These are not quite so far outside the norms of the time but all three pieces involve a musical contrast between a chaotic doomed world and a vision of celestial beauty and light. Langaard was under appreciated, if not scorned, in his own country during his lifetime and it is good to see Danish institutions finally championing this music.

Clues, Signals And Improvisation

Contemporary English composer Peter Wiegold occupies an interesting position straddling the worlds of improvised music and notated composition. This dic, Earth and Stars, gives a good indication of where this approach has recently been taking him. There are four works on the disc, two featuring his performing group notes inegales who perhaps exemplify this dual approach and two of a more traditional nature with the Southbank Sinfonia and a soprano / pianist combination. The latter, a collection of settings of poems by Jo Shapcott written in response to the writings of Rilke and titled Les Roses, is performed by soprano Juliet Fraser and fellow composer Martin Butler on piano. There are faint jazzy tinges to both the vocal and piano contributions. The Southbank Sinfonia are here conducted by Wiegold himself in the piece Earth, Receive an Honoured Guest which is named after a poem written by Auden commemorating Yeats. Not especially funereal but certainly elegiac, it is a showpiece for the cor anglais of Melinda Maxwell and there is also a significant solo viola part played by Christopher Beckett. Of the two notes inegales pieces ( the group eschews capital letters ) Kalachakra is perhaps the most challenging. They are a group of performers devoted to improvisation to given clues and signals from Wiegold and include brass, percussion, strings, wind and the piano of Butler in a flexible lineup of up to a dozen. Kalachakra expands outwards from a central bell like theme celebrating Tibetan Buddhist disciplines. The title work also featuring notes inegales, is the more immediately accessible and has a Viennese theme with inspirations ranging from Mozart, his pet starling, the decadent fin de siecle period through to the work of the second school. There are reflections on death and funereal rites but also on infinity and rebirth and the shadow of jazz is ever present.