Post-Imperial cultural tripe, a few steps above Disney. I didn't bother giving this piece a listen because one of my most unsatisfying gigs was playing the piper in a stint of Orkney Wedding. It was clear that the composer knew very little about the pipes. From the ornaments alone it was clear he hadn't even given the most basic tutor a once over, because one or two were impossible and most were pointless. It required the piper to start in the lobby and walk in from the stage right. Fair enough, except the piper's part starts on the beat four of the bar previous to the orchestra...playing the same melody a beat ahead of the orchestra. You are supposed to do this while waiting off stage without being able to see the conductor. Add to that the fact the conductor spoke only Japanese, and no one in the orchestra gave the piper a cursory "hello." Like playing with the Cheiftains, it may be prestigious but afterwards you feel like a cheap trick. Wham, bam, there's the door.
John "Chris Ormston" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 10/28/2006 03:28 AM To <nsp@cs.dartmouth.edu> cc Subject [NSP] Re: Kathryn Tickell on Radio 3 I managed to listen for a few minutes, then had to switch off. The little that I heard clearly demonstrated the composer's lack of understanding of the instrument and its music. Bagpipe music is all about the relationship between melody and drones, yet we were subjected to strange intervals that neither sit comfortably on the chanter nor relate to the drone accompaniment. Previous works by this composer have included a piece for pipes which goes beyond the range of the chanter - enough said??? More high-brow, emperor's-new-clothes fodder using the pipes as a gimmick! Chris -----Original Message----- From: Matthew Walton [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: 28 October 2006 08:47 To: Richard Shuttleworth Cc: nsp@cs.dartmouth.edu Subject: [NSP] Re: Kathryn Tickell on Radio 3 I had some of the same feelings myself. It definitely wasn't in the mould of the traditional music for the pipes, and while I do like to see composers and players branching out into other types of music for instruments from time to time, in a lot of cases unless one does stick close to the traditional style, one doesn't get the most out of the instrument (this is something I've also observed on the recorder, although modern recorder music is something quite evil which relies on techniques fit to drive you mad). But as you say, Kathryn played it well. There were some bits in there which I definitely wouldn't have wanted to attempt on any instrument! On Fri, 2006-10-27 at 18:24 -0400, Richard Shuttleworth wrote: > Thanks for the heads-up. I managed to catch it but was quite disappointed. > The pipes were under-recorded most of the time and were often drowned out by > the orchestra. The second (slow) movement raised my hopes for a while but > sadly missed a golden opportunity to showcase the pipes, almost as though to > composer didn't really know how to treat the instrument and tried to bend it > into a classical mold instead of taking advantage of the traditional gendre > that the pipes could have made available to him. > > None of the above detracts from Kathryn's playing, she was superb! > > Just my 2 pence work, > > Richard > > Matthew wrote: > > > It's working right now as I'm in the middle of the relevant piece. > > Probably won't be available after today though, as they take them down > > after seven days - may not even be available later this evening. > > > > I'm in no position to comment on Kathryn's playing style but it > > certainly doesn't sound like the sort of pipe music she usually plays on > > her albums. Of course, on her albums she's not got the Northern Sinfonia > > playing with her either. > > > > Tis good. > > > > On Sun, 2006-10-22 at 23:47 +0200, Bart Blanquart wrote: > >> WILLIAM REEDER wrote: > >> > Was this program ever archived? I seem to be completely unable to find > >> > it. > >> > >> The BBC seems to be having difficulty with the archiving feature; they > >> have 'Performance on 3' archived for all days this week but friday. > >> > >> At the top of their radio player > >> (http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/aod/radio3.shtml) it currently says "We > >> regret that many programmes are unavailable. We are working to restore > >> normal service"... so hopefully it'll show up soon. > >> > >> Bart > >> > >> > >> > >> To get on or off this list see list information at > >> http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html > >> > > > > -- > > > -- --
