Now the last note has died away

The whirlwind that was Music and Beyond has now finished. My final tally was 24 events, pretty much all of them excellent. Perhaps the only disappointing show was Don Campbell's 'Beyond the Mozart Effect', which whilst having excellent musical performances, was rather more an illustrated history of Mozart than an evening about The Mozart Effect. Top marks to Igudesman and Joo for their hilarious 'A Little Nightmare Music' - I highly recommend their online videos! Of the more traditional style concerts, The Jupiter String Quartet were amazing, as was Stéphane Lemelin, who looked and sounded as if he was having a great time. The Music from Turkey concert with Tahir Aydoğdu on kanun was riveting and highly entertaining, as well as the 'tango' concert from Les Violons du Roy and Tango Boreal. From the closing gala, I also really enjoyed Marc Djokic's performance from Richard Mascall's Labyrinth. Reminded me of Nicolas Bolens' Tempus Fugit.

My last mention goes to Rachel Barton Pine and Menahem Pressler. Pine's Classical Heavy Metal show at the Mayfair Theatre was brilliant. She explained some of the links between classical music (especially violin) and heavy metal with performances of works by AC/DC, Metallica, Led Zeppelin, Rush and more. Extremely versatile, Pine's two concerts with Menahem Pressler were also first rate, and I think many concertgoers will remember Pressler's lecture about Brahms' Piano Quintet in F minor for a long time to come.

A few days rest before ChamberFest starts... so far I have plans to see the Cecilia String Quartet and Marc-André Hamelin.

Comments

Pigeon Funk

Notes on a very random purchase. Earlier today I acquired Venetian Snares 'Rossz Csillag Alatt Sz ü letett ' purely on the basis of the language and artwork. Its certainly something different - and most definitely not pop. After a bit of searching: Venetial Snares is, according to Wikipedia, the performing name of Aaron Funk, who seems to specialise in experimental tracks in odd time signatures. Article here . The sleeve notes for this album (whose title is Hungarian for 'Born under a bad star') poses the question: what if, for just a day, we could both be pigeons? Interessant. Apparently this concept (a day in the life of a Hungarian pigeon) is non-typical of Venetian Snares sound, but one could ask, does Mr Funk do 'typical'? On first listening, the sound of this CD mixes classical/traditional Hungarian sounds and breakbeats. but aside from that? Definitely a 'listen for yourself' artist; try the website , fan site or myspace .

Hidden Witness

Moving house completed - for now - and we are back in the Vale of Evesham. The wonders of Facebook unearthed a live gig and St Richard's Hospice fundraiser by slow-burning band Hidden Witness so off we went for an evening out in Worcester. I honestly can't remember the last time either of us did that.... cue pleasant surprise at our venue for the evening, Keystones Cafe Bar . Quite open and spacious in terms of standing room, reasonably large stage and a bar ensconced in the remaining medieval walls - much more atmosphere than many other small bars... A busy few weeks meant I hadn't had time to check out Hidden Witness' SoundCloud page so I had fresh ears and no expectation. The support band, The Miffs , were ok, with a few engaging covers, but sadly (for my ears) nothing memorable. After a short break - in which the background music made me feel both young and old simultaneously - Dan, Chris, Neil and Dan took the stage for an interesting set. A few ...

Mini update

I have finally sorted out my site links to reflect some new/renewed interests and my current location. We have something of a National Arts Centre bonanza shortly: I had already booked to see Angela Hewitt on 16th Feb but found a good ticket offer on LivingSocial.com to see Radu Lupu this coming Wednesday, 26th. In addition to all that, New Yorker music critic Alex Ross (his recent book, Listen To This , is excellent, as well as his previous tome, The Rest Is Noise ) is giving a talk there on 13th February. This is all followed in March by a complete about turn to the Bronson Centre to see Finnish band Apocalyptica . They have been somewhere on my radar for a while but I was spurred on to book tickets after a bout of nostalgia. M and I were regular visitors to Wolverhampton UK to see various bands at Civic Hall/Wulfrun Hall; a few months ago a mutual friend posted on that there Facebook thing about seeing said Apocalyptica at Wulfrun Hall. Nostalgia for the venue and renewed intere...

PrettyInScarlett

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