tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-72976261506394794152024-02-02T10:54:28.634+01:00Bill Anderton Music<strong>BILL ANDERTON MUSIC</strong><br><br>Mutterings - Musings - MeanderingsBill Andertonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00638387047078893048noreply@blogger.comBlogger81125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7297626150639479415.post-37646117346125076392022-08-14T19:56:00.016+02:002022-08-16T18:05:33.521+02:00How To Practise an Instrument - or, How Not to Waste your Time<p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWYOrVnPcdVXdO_F-GiEVZcY2YdmLR_fczejAApsfpRORdDWFmo5FQgLhKG8nlce15gzltJ-D4tsHWVn2DqrqpQbNlvYaoRZkjRNsbBnH03tJ7OJE88geJSVPS7qob2rz31aU9nBgqHJ4UWqSkdbdKvJgoiO9W4sOMzo7I9XvtLXcTjtgt-jarlnAomw/s1011/MetronomeCartoon.webp" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="647" data-original-width="1011" height="205" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWYOrVnPcdVXdO_F-GiEVZcY2YdmLR_fczejAApsfpRORdDWFmo5FQgLhKG8nlce15gzltJ-D4tsHWVn2DqrqpQbNlvYaoRZkjRNsbBnH03tJ7OJE88geJSVPS7qob2rz31aU9nBgqHJ4UWqSkdbdKvJgoiO9W4sOMzo7I9XvtLXcTjtgt-jarlnAomw/s320/MetronomeCartoon.webp" width="320" /></a></span></span></div><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />All musicians will agree that the most important part of learning to play an instrument is the time spent practising. Without practice, there is no improvement. The most effective pedagogical methods and studies have been established for many years. There may be occasional changes in fashion, or the effect of a particularly influential educator, but in general this is a constant. When you learn an instrument, there is a way mapped out for you which will take you seamlessly from beginner to virtuoso.</span></span><p></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">What has changed dramatically is our understanding of what makes effective, efficient practice. Keeping in mind the single-minded commitment that is required to learning an instrument and the number of hours involved, it would clearly be sensible to make full use of the up-to-date view on this, so that great chunks of valuable time are not simply wasted. The student may know what to practise, but may well have given insufficient thought to how.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The precious resource that we have which wasn't available to us twenty years ago, or even ten, is an understanding of how the brain participates in our practice efforts and it is this that can provide some stunning insights, which once gleaned will change your attitude to practice in major ways. The second area that we can consider in relation to modern times is the question of motivation.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">But first, what is the brain up to when we learn. It's a common understanding that as you learn a new skill the brain is forming new neural pathways, is growing. What we want is to ensure that those pathways are the ones that we want, the right-way-to-do-it pathways, rather than the-wrong-way-to-do-it ones.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">If a neural pathway is unused for a period of time then the brain will remove it. If it is in regular use, then it will be reinforced until it becomes what we experience as instinctive. Clearly, we want to create and stregthen the wanted pathways and we want to eliminate the 'wrong' ones.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Two methods of practice that are exceptionally common - and I think you may well recognise them in your own routine - are as follows. In a passage of music, or a study, you make a mistake in a particular bar. It may be intonation, or a position shift, for example. One approach is to make the mistake, then go back to the beginning of the piece and try again. The second approach is to play the mistake, then fix it, then play on.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Both of these approaches are the cause of even more difficulty. When you play the bar in question correctly, the correct pathway is in operation. Great! But when you play it incorrectly, the wrong one is reinforced. If you can play correctly 50 per cent of the time, then the other 50 is maintaining exactly what you don't want. How can you deal with this? Mark the offending place in your music and treat this as a completely separate issue. You can play up to it; you can play after it. That's all. Now, examine the error to determine what is causing it and work out a way to play it correctly, then practise just that. If you practise it ten times, it should be correct every time. If not, go back and start again.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">To play the passages that you are good at is productive, even if you have achieved your goal. This is because the 'good' pathway neural cells (synapses) will be consolidated. A layer of fat (myelin) will grow round the connective tissue (the axon) of the synapse. This layer is equivalent to insulation around an electrical wire. What you don't want is any consolidation of those 'bad' pathways.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Another no-no is to make adjustments while you play. The brain will create 'adjusting' neural pathways which if reinforced will be difficult to eliminate. Don't make adjustments as you play, but play an error the first time you notice it. As before, you can go back and work out what was wrong and how it can be fixed. Then fix it with repetitive <i>correct </i>practice. You'll have to judge when you are confident enough that you'll be able to play it correctly every time in the context of your piece and only then should it be reinserted into the whole. If you trust this process and see it through, you will be amazed at the results.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The brain has modes of assimilating what you practise. First, it needs time to assimilate what you are learning and it seems that a practise period of no longer than ten to fifteen minutes is appropriate. Any longer and the ability to learn takes a nosedive. After each short period, take a break for a few minutes. Go check your emails or update your calendar. And when you resume, move on to something different. I like to divide my practise material into warm-ups, scales, studies, pieces and spend ten minutes or so on each of these and not necessarily in the same order. If you focus on one thing for a long period of time, at the end of that period you may well feel that you have accomplished your goal. This feeling has a name - 'The Illusion of Mastery'! The problem is revealed when you come back to do it again tomorrow, when you may well have to start all over again. Short practise bursts with gaps and variety, to the contrary, allow the brain to assimilate properly.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The second mode of assimilation happens over a longer period of time and you'll know about this via the phenomenon whereby you come back to some music after a couple of weeks break and find you can play it well if not better than before.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Thirdly, another
bang up-to-date research revelation has shown that micro breaks during practice
enhance results. The study, which quantified this, demonstrates that
during a micro break (about ten seconds or so - stop and stare into space!), the brain continues to
reiterate the practice but at a much quicker rate. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Now we come to consider learning rhythm and timing. Your friend here is the metronome but probably not in the way that you are expecting. There is a part of the brain that fires off and learns rhythmic and timing skills called the 'Sensory Motor Loop' (SML). If you put a metronome on and play along with it, the SML is inactive, its not needed and does not develop. The question is, how to activate it and encourage it to learn?<br /></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">First, you will need to develop the skill of playing along accurately with a metronome, no mean skill in itself. This ability is a requirement before you can develop a true sense of timing. The SML development can then be achieved with the following method: 1. Use the metronome as an off-beat. 2. Now use it to click every other beat. 3. Now set it to click on the downbeats only (first beat of each bar). 4. Then set it to click on the 2nd downbeat only... then the 3rd... then the 4th. You get the idea.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">When the metronome is not clicking, your SML fires up and helps you along. Bingo! There is an app specially designed to set this up for you called TimeGuru.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Finally (for now!) we come to what is perhaps the most remarkable aspect of contemporary brain research and its relationship with learning. When you are practising, the active part of the brain grows by accommodating the new neural networks that are being formed and consolidated. Mental practice, that is, imagining all the details of a practice experience, <i>has the same effect</i>. Yes, your brain can grow by conducting a practice session as a mental process. The ramifications of this are enormous.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">If physical practice is not possible - because you are injured, or because you are away from your practise room, for example - then you can sit very still and quiet, close your eyes and imagine your practice. This needs to be done in detail. Imagine the feel of the instrument the movement of your fingers, or the bow, the intervals spacing between you fingers, the movement in shifting position, the creation of dynamics and expression. Whatever you would do in a physical session can be worked through internally as mental practice. The result will be the same.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I come back now to the second consideration that I mentioned at the outset, that of motivation. I have known, and know, many musicians who have not realised their potential through lack of that valuable commodity. This consideration is relevant in the context of learning music in contemporary times, just as brain research is a modern phenomenon. Motivation, however, has to be considered as a lifestyle concern, rather than one of scientific research.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Hopefully, what I have covered in this short essay is itself food for motivation but much more is needed. I have no clear answers but will offer a couple of prospective suggestions. If you don't enjoy practice for its own sake then the only other real solution has to be by setting goals. Playing a musical instrument to a high standard is an aim where dreams will definitely come true if you decide that the hard work and graft involved will be worth it.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">A busy lifestyle is an adversary that is not going away, but can be put in its place, or at least taken into account. For myself, listening to music, reading about music and stepping into genres off the beaten track all feed into my own motivation. Music is an infinite world, socially and culturally and has so much to offer that comes on the back of musicianship.<br /></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I've cited a bunch of the relevant sources below so that you know that I'm not just pulling this stuff out of thin air, and I am particularly indebted for these to the Canadian violist and educator, Molly Gabrien, whose series of Youtube videos, 'What Musicians Can Learn about Practicing from Modern Brain Research', distils her research and amplifies further what I have encapsulated here. Her videos, 'Mental Practice', are a revelation.<br /></span></span></p><p><span class="style-scope yt-formatted-string" dir="auto"></span></p><p><i><span class="style-scope yt-formatted-string" dir="auto">Abushanab, B. and Bishara, A.J. “Memory and Metacognition for Piano Melodies: Illusory Advantage of Fixed- over Random-Order Practice,” Memory and Cognition 41, no. 6 (2013): 928-937</span></i></p><p><i><span class="style-scope yt-formatted-string" dir="auto">Buch, E. R., Claudino, L., Quentin, R., Bönstrup, M., & Cohen, L. G. (2021). Consolidation of human skill linked to waking hippocampo-neocortical replay. Cell reports, 35(10), 109193</span></i></p><p><i><span class="style-scope yt-formatted-string" dir="auto">Lin, C-H.J., et
al., “Brain-Behavior Correlates of Optimizing Learning Through
Interleaved Practice,” NeuroImage 56 (2011): 1758-1772</span></i></p><p></p><p><i><span class="style-scope yt-formatted-string" dir="auto">Porter, J.M. and Saemi, E. “Moderately Skilled Learners Benefit by Practicing with Systematic Increases in Contextual Interference,” International Journal of Coaching Science 4, no. 2 (2010): 61-71</span></i></p><p><i><span class="style-scope yt-formatted-string" dir="auto"></span></i></p><p><i><span class="style-scope yt-formatted-string" dir="auto">Rao, S.M., et al., (1997). “Distributed neural systems underlying the timing of movements.” The Journal of Neuroscience 17(14): 5528-5535</span></i></p><p><i><span class="style-scope yt-formatted-string" dir="auto"> Shea, J.B.
and Morgan, R.L. “Contextual Interference Effects on the Acquisition,
Retention, and Transfer of a Motor Skill,” Journal of Experimental
Psychology: Human Learning and Memory 5, no. 2 (1979): 179-187</span></i></p><p><i><span class="style-scope yt-formatted-string" dir="auto">Sonderstrom,
N.C. and Bjork, R.A. “Learning Versus Performance: An Integrative
Review,” Perspectives on Psychological Science 10 no. 2 (2015): 176-199</span></i></p><p><i><span class="style-scope yt-formatted-string" dir="auto">Walker, M.P., et al. "Practice with sleep makes perfect: sleep-dependent motor skill learning." Neuron 35 (2002): 205-211</span></i></p><p><span class="style-scope yt-formatted-string" dir="auto"><br /></span><span class="style-scope yt-formatted-string" dir="auto"></span></p>Bill Andertonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00638387047078893048noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7297626150639479415.post-45340883937075137602022-07-19T15:25:00.002+02:002022-07-19T21:30:49.518+02:00Violin Basics, a series of short videos<p> <span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgo6BOzBE5NPOcqFoDt21BK-3Nt4UcHaWlPNPIXTaiPCMfxOF2G2UjMvmm11WzYrLp6DbOPC2XjSukGu9LtWNtHAH-wWpcQC0aoF_WXTPUCxKgkREUIZOWIHwshd4z7pM_wEM0nv6wCjxk4cHAAjBYODoOlQDWR77xIspiaTJGOXhdcwUC5mGAOA23gIw/s480/SightReadingTest.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Violin Basics" border="0" data-original-height="465" data-original-width="480" height="194" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgo6BOzBE5NPOcqFoDt21BK-3Nt4UcHaWlPNPIXTaiPCMfxOF2G2UjMvmm11WzYrLp6DbOPC2XjSukGu9LtWNtHAH-wWpcQC0aoF_WXTPUCxKgkREUIZOWIHwshd4z7pM_wEM0nv6wCjxk4cHAAjBYODoOlQDWR77xIspiaTJGOXhdcwUC5mGAOA23gIw/w200-h194/SightReadingTest.png" width="200" /></a></span></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />When I'm teaching, no matter what the ability of the student, the same technical basics continually crop up. Their priniples are the same, whether employed by a beginner or an advanced student. An example is the bow distribution, the stretch of bow to be used in a particular musical circumstance. The ability to use an appropriate length of bow stroke and vary its weight and position between the bridge and fingerboard, requires development from the word go and that development continues throughout the violinist's lifetime.<br /></span></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: small;">Other such basics are the bow hold, the left-hand shape, tuning, playing in time, playing at the required tempo, the development of sight reading, the ability to be expressive with dynamics, vibrato, tone colour and variation of tempo. All of these and more are relevant to the beginner and the advanced student alike.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: small;">So, I have begun to produce a series of short video podcasts, each on an individual topic and each of relevance to all students of the violin. The series is called 'Violin Fundamentals for All'. I've designed these presentations to be of relevance to all students as the principles in each topic are always the same no matter what the student's level of ability. The aim is that the violin student will be able to choose a particular skill and learn 'how to improve it' from the advice and demonstrations that I present.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: small;">Find my Youtube channel and hit the subscribe button for notifications of when each video is published.<br /></span></span></p>Bill Andertonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00638387047078893048noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7297626150639479415.post-67380124449730387222021-08-15T11:54:00.004+02:002021-08-15T12:02:18.803+02:00Symphonies of Youth & Maturity<p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span><span>I'm reviewing here two collections of symphonies, the first a set of String Symphonies composed by Felix Mendelssohn, begun by him at the age of eleven, and five symphonies of Camille Saint-Saëns, the 'French Mendelssohn', the first numbered symphony of Saint-Saëns begun at the age of fifteen.</span></span></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i><span><span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtpMnQxKWancokIxSUzHan684g43KyIqkPpC4qVhWxrA8kbIlOui80lbmF6foPTbcFTVQtZHvSVY8PDS9zRIdfkete-IOevvF1Dk5F335CIMBqhH_MQHNZrQzXriUD8aaCfoll4qqdl0oj/s300/MendelssohnStringSymphonies.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="300" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtpMnQxKWancokIxSUzHan684g43KyIqkPpC4qVhWxrA8kbIlOui80lbmF6foPTbcFTVQtZHvSVY8PDS9zRIdfkete-IOevvF1Dk5F335CIMBqhH_MQHNZrQzXriUD8aaCfoll4qqdl0oj/w200-h200/MendelssohnStringSymphonies.jpg" width="200" /></a></span></span></i></span></span></div><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i><span><span><br />Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, The Complete String Symphonies, also includes Concerto for Violin and Strings in D Minor, Münchner Rundfunkorchester, c. Henry Raudales, 3 CDs, BR Klassik</span></span></i></span></span><p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span><span><i> </i>There are twelve symphonies in this set and listening through them reveals the composer's self-development beginning with C.P.E. Bach, then, in No. 4, comes an experiment with the French overture, developing on further as the composer's skills and knowledge widenened, until come works with the four movements of the classical symphony. The later numbers all have their own form, such as No. 12, with its initial fugue and an expansive final movement. All are a joy! The Mendelssohn family dining-room concerts revived a tradition of 'house music', not only for amateur guests but, increasingly professional players who took part in this intimate setting. It's a mistake to binge on these symphonies - my recommendation is for listening to just one or two at a time to imbibe their full musical flavours.<br /></span></span></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span><span><i> </i></span></span></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span><span><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiL_5Y7YobcBS6DGxxPethdi_GBq1Hfcus7gVvBjGyhlk-sIel4jFeK7M1Qb89l06xWgbQOPulfqtiUoado2RE3mJXImM1Dtu2ohjnyRk6wZXYqT9L8fejx_kgKfwvgvLISUakVur5_Hbu/s500/Saint-SaensSymphonies.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="500" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiL_5Y7YobcBS6DGxxPethdi_GBq1Hfcus7gVvBjGyhlk-sIel4jFeK7M1Qb89l06xWgbQOPulfqtiUoado2RE3mJXImM1Dtu2ohjnyRk6wZXYqT9L8fejx_kgKfwvgvLISUakVur5_Hbu/w200-h200/Saint-SaensSymphonies.jpg" width="200" /></a></i></span></span></span></span></div><p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span><span><i><br />Saint-Saëns, Complete Symphonies, Malmö Symphony Orchestra, c. Marc Soustrot, 3 CDs also includes Le rouet d'Omphale, Op. 31, La jeunesse d'Hercule, Op. 50 & Danse macabre, Op. 40, Naxos</i></span></span></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span><span>The label of 'French Mendelssohn' implies a light and inventive touch, clear in these works from the word go. Only the composer's 'Organ Symphony' (No. 3), is well known, the others should be equally so. Two of the five symphonies have no catalogue number, but this certainly does not make them any the lesser. The Symphony in F Major was a prize-winning competition entry with a wonderful final movement of theme and variations. The symphony in A Major is the first, dated 1850 and is a tribute to Mozart. If you wish Mozart had given us more beyond his final 'Jupiter' symphony, let this satisfy your appetite. </span></span></span></span><br /></p>Bill Andertonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00638387047078893048noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7297626150639479415.post-87798644595728633292021-02-25T11:17:00.002+01:002021-02-25T11:24:33.028+01:00Reviews: In the Mood<p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Nothing can replace the experience of live music. There are, however, some pluses inherent in recordings. There is the obvious, that the choice is infinite. There is another that I'm appreciating more these days and that is the ability to choose listening material to suit your mood. Sometimes I like listening to Bruckner. Sometimes, I'm just not in the mood. Choosing what one listens to can be an interesting, self-reflective process. Here are my new CD recording choices that provide a widespread array of genres. Something here for everone, to coin a phrase.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span></span></p><p><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span></span></i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwv85pLR910nPeavLLvlPItktFqyM-0QEE2uCB-N6E5HHql2UmTg2bb3K1pnJFbhQ647VE7S434ZjaDHCrdgcRUHZJXkdqj9zWBDBiFoU4m10JccAtzze9uthuS8JqKwjkTX4a1kR01euB/s600/StraussTonePoems.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="600" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwv85pLR910nPeavLLvlPItktFqyM-0QEE2uCB-N6E5HHql2UmTg2bb3K1pnJFbhQ647VE7S434ZjaDHCrdgcRUHZJXkdqj9zWBDBiFoU4m10JccAtzze9uthuS8JqKwjkTX4a1kR01euB/w200-h200/StraussTonePoems.jpg" width="200" /></a></span></span></i></div><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Richard Strauss, Complete Tone Poems, boxed set of five CDs, Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg, c. François-Xavier Roth, SWR Classic</span></span></i><p></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The symphonic poem represents the step beyond the classical symphony, appearing in places where composers were creating a national music.These by Strauss are, for me, always a treat, full of quiet moments of repose, soaring strings and powerful brass, not to mention the endless themes and motifs. Simply the best!</span></span><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span></span></i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">An addition to this is Strauss's musical epitaph, <i>Metamorphosen</i>, scored for 23 solo strings.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></span><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span></span></i></p><p><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span></span></i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgO5sKEiSE6QBtUKIbgXwrGag80j83Ubvz0mVjGUdorZAqEdSCfl6jjeJTQhUSfYNHakDJOB4XfytVzrlwwKk8DeLAbJYhvYRwnCYyAujw_9HYkEyYNlowpNljOKCwfsrB-iBwpgzYR5dHb/s300/BrucknerSymphony6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="300" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgO5sKEiSE6QBtUKIbgXwrGag80j83Ubvz0mVjGUdorZAqEdSCfl6jjeJTQhUSfYNHakDJOB4XfytVzrlwwKk8DeLAbJYhvYRwnCYyAujw_9HYkEyYNlowpNljOKCwfsrB-iBwpgzYR5dHb/w200-h200/BrucknerSymphony6.jpg" width="200" /></a></span></span></i></div><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Bruckner, Symphony No. 6, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, c. Mariss Jansons, BR Classic</span></span></i><p></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Choose your moment to listen to this carefully, for like all Bruckner's symphonies it is a massive listening undertaking. Commit for three quarters of an hour of intense symphonic outpouring<i>, </i>a relatively short symphony for Bruckner. His symphonies always adhered to the same symphonic form, but within that framework are exploited all the endless possibilities.</span></span><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></span></i></p><p><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span></span></i></p><p><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span></span></i></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXEJI5Z3OPdnGNz697fbwjtVkd5xHOuAffsKLfQupKfEgW5JDKNEB97ufpRnCBlFmplmnp2EmE18lpkj7c19yWbyYrKNCHV6NH3XNHD8Ex2mXBkaE63wQULWNBTPMSAGctvEvmVkRXX0IQ/s300/Frescobaldi.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="298" data-original-width="300" height="199" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXEJI5Z3OPdnGNz697fbwjtVkd5xHOuAffsKLfQupKfEgW5JDKNEB97ufpRnCBlFmplmnp2EmE18lpkj7c19yWbyYrKNCHV6NH3XNHD8Ex2mXBkaE63wQULWNBTPMSAGctvEvmVkRXX0IQ/w200-h199/Frescobaldi.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Girolamo Frescobaldi, Unpublished Music from Chigi Codices, recorded at the organ of Basilica palatina di Santa Barbara in Mantova, organist, Ivana Valotti, Tactus</span></span></i><p></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">These are beautiful short pieces of atmosphere, a stream of spiritual delight on the old organ (1565) of the Mantova Basilica. The time period from whence these came is, in music, the beginning of Baroque experiment and innovation, when Frescobaldi, from Ferrar, played a leading role in shaping the language of keyboard music.<br /></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i><br /> </i></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i></i></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTdnXVUIDw_MLVhatybC9iS2QhDAth0syJzT6VL3PNEpNwNoYZqjpE5gbxWq9QpJVTl-a-NNuGzyt7pqQx-CphCInmQxMbInOWZLEBMF8I77lL40FTo7wuHF3VuI-wY-I5xpYIQmZ6RY1y/s600/Dubois.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="600" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTdnXVUIDw_MLVhatybC9iS2QhDAth0syJzT6VL3PNEpNwNoYZqjpE5gbxWq9QpJVTl-a-NNuGzyt7pqQx-CphCInmQxMbInOWZLEBMF8I77lL40FTo7wuHF3VuI-wY-I5xpYIQmZ6RY1y/w200-h200/Dubois.jpg" width="200" /></a></i></span></span></div><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>Théodore Dubois, Piano Quartet in A Minor and Piano Quintet in F Major, CPO</i></span></span><p></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>Piano, Oliver Triendl; Violin, Nina Karmon; Oboe, Stefan Schilli; Viola, Anja Kreynacke; Cello, Jakob Spahn <br /></i></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The chances are, this French composer is new to you. Born 1837, died 1924, known in France as a composer-organist, Dubois was born in rural Champagne and his musical life developed as a child in Reims at the cathedral. These are Elgarian pieces without the angst, perfectly formed. They are so dated, but in a nice way! The oboe in the quintet is a relatively rare instrumentation so adds that little something to the experience. Easy to picture these pieces performed over 100 years ago, surrounded by the French equivalent of Victorian paraphenalia, dress, decor.<i> </i><br /></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></span></p>Bill Andertonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00638387047078893048noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7297626150639479415.post-68973709500870115942020-11-25T16:28:00.004+01:002020-11-25T17:03:21.810+01:00Reviews: Schizophrenia and the Sublime<p><i><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span></i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixDqGfib3FI27bnYh0AT1IYAGHZd_LvmIHEDX_dFq45rVBIb_LeSH39SKIaRItXz8D-OuKn3woWYvzVDmn7ARB5XjQnJZp47cT6EAMiz7UZO5HyoeC6iHsZBFq9smMhSbYSpuqA8gJ2s2z/s500/ProkofievSymphonies.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="500" height="157" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixDqGfib3FI27bnYh0AT1IYAGHZd_LvmIHEDX_dFq45rVBIb_LeSH39SKIaRItXz8D-OuKn3woWYvzVDmn7ARB5XjQnJZp47cT6EAMiz7UZO5HyoeC6iHsZBFq9smMhSbYSpuqA8gJ2s2z/w157-h157/ProkofievSymphonies.jpg" width="157" /></a></span></i></div><i><span style="font-family: verdana;">Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953), Symphonies 1 ('Classical'), 2 and 3, Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, c. Andrew Litton, published by BIS</span></i><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">The first of the Prokofiev symphonies is short and
to the point, a delightful point which is of classical perfection, hence
the appended title. The second contains an extreme contrast with no
holds barred and in its relationship with the first appears completely
schizophrenic, as if pent up rage finds its way out before being
contained prior to the next outburst. In the third, the balance between
containment and release is achieved and so, as a listening experience, is
less alarming. Oft-times you can hear the great force of Russian industry
and militarism at play, then come periods of the composer's inner world
of reflection, even calm.</span><i><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span></i></p><p><i><span style="font-family: verdana;"> <br /></span></i></p><p><i><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span></i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcMFWaCczS8vpKi6pycn3sD5SQBVKxNIdmAP6z03gXFiUP9_2URcnYtk4g8F18kZo-FFIM70D-4Xf-XGO88C2RHvNS2xKN03BKBx7spPrWO9Xpw8veE4i4LKCfClA7IfUW4PVT8NvkYccg/s300/RubinsteinQuartets.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="300" height="152" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcMFWaCczS8vpKi6pycn3sD5SQBVKxNIdmAP6z03gXFiUP9_2URcnYtk4g8F18kZo-FFIM70D-4Xf-XGO88C2RHvNS2xKN03BKBx7spPrWO9Xpw8veE4i4LKCfClA7IfUW4PVT8NvkYccg/w152-h152/RubinsteinQuartets.jpg" width="152" /></a></span></i></div><i><span style="font-family: verdana;">Anton Rubinstein (1829-94), String Quartets, Op47, No 1 in E minor and Op. 47, No 3 in D minor, the Reinhold Quartet, published by CPO</span></i><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">These two quartets are more classical than classical can be! If you are in the mood for surprise and stimulation then go for the Russian Prokofiev. If not, turn the late night lights down low, sit back and chill to these delightfully formed and expressive pieces. The Russian Rubinstein's career as a composer was overshadowed by his success as a virtuosic pianist, conductor and educator, particularly as Tschaikovsky's composition tutor, so his name may be familiar but experience of works such as these may be lacking. While Beethoven penetrates deep into the musical psyche, these quartets play with it in perhaps a Mozartian way even though they are clearly post-Beethoven.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">The cover artworks on these two CDs are well-chosen expressions of their content, the first a Russian utilitarian graphic expressing power counterbalanced by artful expression, the second a seemingly peaceful idyll brimming with strong emotion.<br /></span></p><p><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>Bill Andertonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00638387047078893048noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7297626150639479415.post-36601490727263509762020-10-21T13:12:00.018+02:002020-10-21T20:07:28.797+02:00Painting With Music<p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">As a composer, I've developed some (to me!) interesting abilities, ideas and techniques. I'm beginning to know what I'm comfortable with and what is out of my comfort zone. Sweeping musical statements I can do but they don't come naturally. Harmonic progression I can do, but takes work. And the need to 'change key' to maintain interest is an unwanted compositional distraction. I have absorbed a whole variety of compositional facets: counterpoint, fugue, serialism, minimalism, form, phrasing, harmony, discord, sequence, repetition... In addition, in working with groups of musicians, chamber strings, woodwind, brass, full orchestra, I've absorbed some ability to orchestrate, to choose an effective combinations of instruments for a given circumstance.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"> The result that emerged is a liking for 'painting with music', by which I mean making brush strokes of short musical statements and joining them up within a context that frames them to make a whole. A brush stroke can be anything from a single note or chord to a run of semitones, from a random sequence of notes to a carefully constructed phrase, a piece of counterpoint, a scale.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"> The first project using this newly-found musical canvas is a series of four meditations on haikus by Japanese masters and I chose one for each season. Here is <i>Winter</i>: <a href="https://youtu.be/GadT1gS5b2g">https://youtu.be/GadT1gS5b2g</a><br /> </span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="314" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/GadT1gS5b2g" width="465" youtube-src-id="GadT1gS5b2g"></iframe></div><p></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: small;">The process is, first, to choose a subject and then to use that subject to suggest the atmosphere, the instrumentation and also to make some imaginative connections, for example, dividing the composition into three parts, one for each line of the music, or choosing an instrument for specific facets, like the flute for frost. These imaginative connections are somewhat arbitrary but make the music express its subject matter. Thereafter, it's a case of making those brush strokes and seeing - or rather listening to - what happens.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: small;">I apply as much theory about what could work as I can, particularly where harmony is concerned, also rhythmic phrasing, but then come endless repetitions of listening hard and making vital adjustmens to what sounds right. Somehow, the brain, which after all is the music-maker, recognises the right note and the wrong one as much for the composer as for the listener. Listen to <i>Snow's Falling!</i> and judge for yourself.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: small;">At its extreme, this painting-with-music can become a Jackson Pollock-esque creation of happenstance musical patterns ('stochastic' is the term used for random events, loved by experimental composers of the 1960s and 70s, John Cage springing to mind). But my method uses chance <i>and </i>design on the palette, alongside all the other musical colours.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: small;">Falling into this use of visual language to describe music is fascinating for a multitude of reasons.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: small;">It is difficult for a listener to cotton on to a new piece of music at the first listening, especially if it contains any challenges, but by suggesting or accompanying it with an image or images is a sure way of leading the listener in. Again, <i>Snow's Falling!</i> is an example, the simple image holds attention while the music plays on, weaving its detail into a coherent whole. We are used to background sound tracks creating atmosphere. Here, the opposite occurs, an image re-enforces the music's atmosphere.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: small;"> Even without the video, the haiku is enough, conjuring a strong image. These haikus are ideal subject matter as their essence is to take a particular subject, one we can all recognise from personal experience, and incorporate into it an awareness of the universal. It is a small hook and bait to catch a much greater truth.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: small;">The history of the visual arts has an equivalent in music and there are some clear equivalences that can be made in describing the development of either genre, Impressionism (Renoir, Monet/Debussy, Ravel), for example, or, in the case of my four seasons meditations, abstract expressionism, although, of course, all music is abstract.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: small;">This reminds me of a short book, <i>Fear of Music</i>, by David Stubbs, subtitled, 'Why people get Rothko but don't get Stockhausen'. Its thesis is that art galleries have no problem attracting audiences for abstract art, while music struggles to find an audience for contemporary music. Using this thread, the book follows the phases of 20th-century art together with those of music happening at the same time. Recommended!</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: small;">If you would like to hear the other three haiku meditations, go to <a href="http://www.billanderton.uk/compositions.html">www.billanderton.uk/compositions.html.</a><br /></span></span></p>Bill Andertonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00638387047078893048noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7297626150639479415.post-27147076581130270692020-08-27T16:13:00.002+02:002020-08-27T16:22:23.979+02:00Review: A Very Nice Composer<p><i><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span></i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0Jkxfsv-W6-Zmarfp_Sg1le5UYeqwSvWE0w_5D73iESEqpAQjHpz92ApRSp44jcUFnlgNfzPrJnY5AzUCF7J4frkNI8XkFz4PZ5ByIbPA3So4MPYLeJWcJUG3ywRIs42_qLfOqQZ7VZtf/s304/ReineckeSymphonies.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="304" data-original-width="300" height="243" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0Jkxfsv-W6-Zmarfp_Sg1le5UYeqwSvWE0w_5D73iESEqpAQjHpz92ApRSp44jcUFnlgNfzPrJnY5AzUCF7J4frkNI8XkFz4PZ5ByIbPA3So4MPYLeJWcJUG3ywRIs42_qLfOqQZ7VZtf/w240-h243/ReineckeSymphonies.jpg" width="240" /></a></span></i></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">It's a delight to discover a 'new' composer, the
irony being that this composer's lack of fame was directly attributed to
his lack of 'newness': Carl Reinecke (1824-1910, born in Altona,
Hamburg, then under Danish rule).</span></span><i><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></i><p></p><p><i><span style="font-family: verdana;">Carl Reinecke Symphonies 1 & 3; Plus, music from the opera, 'King Manfred'. Munchner Ründfunkorchester, c., Henry Raudales</span></i><span style="font-family: verdana;">. CPO<br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">A man who avoided anything brash, outspoken, outlandish, he was cast in the mold of an upholder of the classical tradition. For a considerable part of his prodigious career, this went well, but by the end - as iconoclasts Richard Strauss and Gustav Mahler took to the stage - this did not continue, his music then cast as academic and stuck in the classical groove.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Reinecke's orchestral music is superbly crafted with no consequent lack of passion, grace, force and expression. If you enjoy a great symphony, try the two found on this CD. Always feeling in the shadow of other musical greats and geniuses, Reinecke humbly dedicated himself to the service of music, as conductor, director, composer and author, the pinnacle of his career taking place in Leipzig at the Gewandhaus and Conservatory, where as a shy Danish boy he sought out the musical director, Felix Mendelssohn. Reinecke eventually became head of the finest orchestra of his day at the Gewandhaus.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"> For some reason he offended Johannes Brahms who wrote of his third symphony, "Everything is so coarse and ill-bred!" Clear nonsense and damaging. To make way for the new, Reinecke was sidelined, but his considerable repertoire is waiting to be fully rediscovered and appreciated as, to quote another reviewer, "His works are distinguished by nobility and form, melodic euphony and ingenious artistic construction." </span><br /></p>Bill Andertonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00638387047078893048noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7297626150639479415.post-85161405107359343372020-07-08T16:57:00.006+02:002020-08-27T16:23:10.721+02:00From Monteverdi to Modernism<div style="text-align: left;"><font face="verdana">My usual attraction is to go for contrast, which is, incidentally, a basic requirement of musical expression, soft to loud, slow to quick, low to high, etc. Here are two recent recordings that exemplify contrast.</font></div><div><font face="verdana"><br /></font></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmnzCsX2PoIxQlJd7yBEQVlIXv-BG8R-JU7GpzeHzezBOhwv4v-D0CZ_Vggxgf8S6hFNbgDgV6EcF-mDl8l8Yk0-RvwNs_vUAqEh3ymPx_QudWei2w3BJPexx4LWTOHihPvebJyffo9DGg/s500/RouseSymphony5.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="500" height="205" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmnzCsX2PoIxQlJd7yBEQVlIXv-BG8R-JU7GpzeHzezBOhwv4v-D0CZ_Vggxgf8S6hFNbgDgV6EcF-mDl8l8Yk0-RvwNs_vUAqEh3ymPx_QudWei2w3BJPexx4LWTOHihPvebJyffo9DGg/w205-h205/RouseSymphony5.jpg" width="205" /></a></div><font face="verdana"><i>Christopher Rouse, Symphony 5, Supplica & Concerto for Orchestra. Nashville Symphony, c. Giancarlo Guerrero. Naxos American Classics</i></font></div><div><font face="verdana"><i><br /></i></font></div><div><font face="verdana">American contemporary music is neither inhibited nor inaccessible. Rouse (1949 - 2019, my exact contemporary) and one time student of the fabulous George Crumb is where symphonic music's mantle rests today - his music a constant stream of contrasts, most notably from loud and frenetic, to quiet serenity, the transformation from one to the other often stark. Always present is the sense of being carried along, as by an automotive, the journey ever continuous. There is a highly attractive balance in his music between uncomfortable discord and soothing harmony and this is probably what made Rouse one of the most performed living composers during his lifetime. That's the symphony in a nutshell; the piece <i>Supplica </i>belongs to Rouse's serene world, while the <i>Concerto for Orchestra </i>is a tour de force for each orchestra section, each of which takes the role of 'soloist'. The USA is not a well nation today on many levels, but its music suggests an underlying strata of promise for the future.</font></div><div><font face="verdana"><br /></font></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3nVCdSQQQgGO_oUiGN4qTD20vbqN3-_SRlDpBAOWZAbNSgJ5KzrQqAUeiKL0RGno3dCS4pIeFtk9m7KkVGroDd2-YzYoWXZb-Igns1LVpHADuZ2sj49PVhIyJEto1b9XmvYyPOyChW6wQ/s600/MonteverdiMadrigals.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="600" height="205" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3nVCdSQQQgGO_oUiGN4qTD20vbqN3-_SRlDpBAOWZAbNSgJ5KzrQqAUeiKL0RGno3dCS4pIeFtk9m7KkVGroDd2-YzYoWXZb-Igns1LVpHADuZ2sj49PVhIyJEto1b9XmvYyPOyChW6wQ/w205-h205/MonteverdiMadrigals.jpg" width="205" /></a></div><i><font face="verdana">Monteverdi, Complete Madrigals, Delitiae Musicae, c. Marco Longhini. Naxos. 15 discs; 15 'books'</font></i></div><div><i><font face="verdana"><br /></font></i></div><div><font face="verdana">Here is a veritable feast of madrigal music, secular song, whose expression reached its peak with the works of Monteverdi (1567-1643). His <i>First Book of</i> <i>Madrigals for Five Voices</i> was published in Venice in 1587 at the age of nineteen. These 'youthful compositions' formed the seed for later works that would change the art of composition for ever. The madrigal, here in Monteverdi charged with high-voltage sexual desire, delight and pain, was a quest to transform poetry into music. It became the highest form of refinement and cultural expression patronised by the courts and their followers:</font></div><div><font face="verdana"><br /></font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><font face="verdana">This hand set the snare, this</font></i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><font face="verdana">loveliest of hands laid it midst flowers and grass,</font></i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><font face="verdana">and this hand took my heart and placed it</font></i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><font face="verdana">with such haste amid a thousand burning flames.</font></i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><font face="verdana">that I hold it captive here,</font></i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font face="verdana"><i>vengeance, Love, vengeance</i>.<br /></font></div><div><span><span><span></span></span></span><br /></div><div><font face="verdana"><br /></font></div><div><font face="verdana"><br /></font></div>Bill Andertonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00638387047078893048noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7297626150639479415.post-35878389239499672592020-05-11T14:04:00.001+02:002020-08-27T16:21:41.068+02:00Thoughts and Reviews of Prokofiev and Tchaikovsky<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuxrLlIgyJVfRVDj9t5_tseGcxCP84zGeOFNwa04z3x71Kh5vxREUetshhW2r_aBcx29TiaRzl-I3w5Y1ARflaz8r78x0KGZtZrwGJGR4x6erIf_3vTy4NKuDQfEmbOZZCqXOccVedxAnl/s1600/ProkofievGambler.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1417" data-original-width="1417" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuxrLlIgyJVfRVDj9t5_tseGcxCP84zGeOFNwa04z3x71Kh5vxREUetshhW2r_aBcx29TiaRzl-I3w5Y1ARflaz8r78x0KGZtZrwGJGR4x6erIf_3vTy4NKuDQfEmbOZZCqXOccVedxAnl/s200/ProkofievGambler.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<i><span style="font-family: "verdana", sans-serif;">Sergei Prokofiev, Suites from the Gambler & The Tale of the Stone Flower. Lahti Symphony Orchestra, c. Dima Slobodeniouk. BIS</span></i><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrOQ1O2WOWn5r95XBpU3ljd4jKwLHVxaoPVX-WQbowEiW5pc4NUyqbfvS2iSodDDFW33sSaL-DOY4u0K3MoMkZUp_AmTpuYSdrrKx-gmYaKuF27MgPpfcIqrrM1VPWSyWjAweWOc0b1kHx/s1600/ProkofievSymphonies3%25266.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="300" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrOQ1O2WOWn5r95XBpU3ljd4jKwLHVxaoPVX-WQbowEiW5pc4NUyqbfvS2iSodDDFW33sSaL-DOY4u0K3MoMkZUp_AmTpuYSdrrKx-gmYaKuF27MgPpfcIqrrM1VPWSyWjAweWOc0b1kHx/s200/ProkofievSymphonies3%25266.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<i><span style="font-family: "verdana", sans-serif;">Symphonies 3 & 6. Deutsche Radio Philharmonie, c. Pietari Inkinen. SWR Music</span></i><span style="font-family: "verdana", sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana", sans-serif;">Imagine that, as a composer, your next composition could be judged by the authorities as inappropriate for the public and that the result of this would be your removal, imprisonment or even execution. 'The Terror' was the name for these circumstances under the Soviet dictator, Stalin.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana", sans-serif;">Then, the two composers at the pinnacle of Soviet era music were Shostakovitch and Prokofiev. Prokofiev was the more cosmopolitan and of the two and spent enough time in exile, in Paris and New York, to imbibe the atmosphere and compositional styles of the first half of the twentieth century. Later, Prokofiev was to return to Russia at which point his passport was never returned to him.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana", sans-serif;">He was the great painter of portraits, musically and psychologically speaking, those of the portraits he 'painted' being right in your face. Don't expect soothing music when coming to Prokofiev for the first time, but do expect brilliant percussion, brass and rhythmic thrills. Then, out of the orchestral mayhem will emerge Prokofiev's lyrical beauty, the ballet<i> Tale of the Stone Flower </i>giving full vent to this side of his character.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana", sans-serif;">In 1915, before The Terror was an issue for Russians, Prokofiev composed <i>The Gambler,</i> an opera based on the characters of Dostoevsky's novel of the same name. This suite of music from the opera is four portraits of its characters, the composer's expression unfettered. By the time we arrive at his sixth symphony after the conclusion of World War II, his character, personality and body had been worn down by age and the constant threat of humiliation and removal if he, like others, did not tow the party dictation. Music should be accessible for the masses and should not involve the modernist tendancy towards dissonance, described as 'formalistic'. When the sixth was premiered, all seemed to be fine. A few weeks later, in January 1948, Prokofiev, along with others, including Shostakovitch, were humiliated and denounced for formalistic tendencies and performances of this great symphony were silenced.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana", sans-serif;">Listen to it - any uncomfortable dissonance is hard to find. Key centres that are hard to pin down, yes, but dissonance? Right at the end, a most spectacularly defiant dissonant chord resolves, dissolves, into the final chord - a bright, optimistic D major.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana", sans-serif;">Stalin's and Prokofiev's funerals were on the same day, 9th March, 1953. Prokofiev's coffin was carried through Moscow's streets, its barers struggling against the tide of people moving in the opposite direction towards the funeral of his aweful nemesis.</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFNZBR42a-Sn1SmQ6YM6DcpZyo_4KRfi74qGiBi3aEARRcMy1Yz_usAzGQAYEarDnjDjv4lniKYinkfeWAyx3C1-WCPy0t3_hbz7YALQd6wdq1kiYuehcpmdN9t0WC2nOCcDA-yjoy1DWN/s1600/TchaikovskyAllNightVigil.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="200" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFNZBR42a-Sn1SmQ6YM6DcpZyo_4KRfi74qGiBi3aEARRcMy1Yz_usAzGQAYEarDnjDjv4lniKYinkfeWAyx3C1-WCPy0t3_hbz7YALQd6wdq1kiYuehcpmdN9t0WC2nOCcDA-yjoy1DWN/s200/TchaikovskyAllNightVigil.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<i><span style="font-family: "verdana", sans-serif;">Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, All-Night Vigil; Sacred Choral Works. Latvian Radio Choir, c. Sigvards Klava</span></i><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana", sans-serif;">And now, music to soothe a troubled mind, <i>The All-Night Vigil</i> was described by Tchaikovsky as 'An essay in harmonisation of liturgical chants'. That sounds academic; the result is not. A significant clue to give insight into what lies behind this spiritual music is in the composer's attitude to religion. He loved to be in a church, loved the poetic forms of expression that religion spawned, but had no sympathy for its dogma. He wrote to a friend, 'I, like you, have come to believe that if there is a future life, it is only in the sense that matter is preserved, and that in a pantheistic view of the eternity of nature I am merely one microscopic phenomenon.'</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana", sans-serif;">The music is harmonically satisfying and follows the various styles of practice in the Russian Orthodox Church which the composer studied carefully, adding, subtly, harmonic movement of his own.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana", sans-serif;">In the above mentioned correspondence, Tchaikovsky speaks of standing in the shadows of some ancient little church filled with the smoke of incense, meditating deep into himself and searching for the answers to eternal questions, then awoken from thoughfulness when the choir sings, "Since my youth many passions have made war against me." </span>Bill Andertonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00638387047078893048noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7297626150639479415.post-10568622390561357142020-04-04T17:53:00.000+02:002020-04-04T20:31:48.422+02:00Reviews: Octets from Mendelssohn, Enescu and Berio; Bruckner, Romantic Symphony<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBg3u-daStlcuYL0b4nScglKoUuRw4c2Bcmc13NcNj3AaerUC4GoSWQxZfuEdBdYBzrIzx3hyphenhyphenfeQwku2u2WE9L32Hs516EN5qZOutIUQcqyafLKl_Ngf70dcPiCpox-qS18ExDO439dTg3/s1600/MendelssohnAndEnescoOctets.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="1500" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBg3u-daStlcuYL0b4nScglKoUuRw4c2Bcmc13NcNj3AaerUC4GoSWQxZfuEdBdYBzrIzx3hyphenhyphenfeQwku2u2WE9L32Hs516EN5qZOutIUQcqyafLKl_Ngf70dcPiCpox-qS18ExDO439dTg3/s200/MendelssohnAndEnescoOctets.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><i>Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (1809-47), Octet in E flat major, Op.20</i></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><i>George Enescu (1881-1955), Octet for Strings in C major, Op.7</i></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><i>Gringolts Quartet and Meta4. BIS</i></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">It's always a joy to hear this Mendelssohn signature piece, the one that claimed him a place amongst the great composers of all time and which embedded his ability to create elfin music. It is the third movement where this trademark appears, inspired by Goethe's <i>Faust</i>, about Walpurgis Night, 'Trailing cloud, and misted trees... Breeze in leaves, and wind in reeds.' No philosophical depth here though, just the transportation to an aetherial world of spirits. When he started to write the octet, Mendelssohn was sixteen. It is not possible to find a work of such maturity amongst other composers of similar age, including Mozart, to whom the octet's final movement refers in its fugal style, surely inspired by the final movement of Mozart's 'Jupiter' symphony. With this octet, Mendelssohn leaves behind the classical world and enters that of the Romantic.</span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Contrasted is the Enescu octet, which, as Mendelssohn journied from classical to romantic, Enescu moves through the portal from romanticism to modernism. A first premier of his octet was attempted in 1900 but abandoned after five rehearsals, when described by the conductor's son as 'horribly beautiful'. To modern ears, the adjective can be dropped, unless it is to be used to emphasise the inhuman depth of its beauty. Nine years later, the piece was performed in public. Supposedly written to encompass sonata form, each of the four movements makes this happen - the first movement is first subject, the last is recapitulation. Clearly the two young quartets who combine have a sympathy for the angular nature of the Enescu octet.</span></span></span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIwK3DboaixrIQ1hNbAQ1wAr40KFltckW7jjVgYpHlCh1qW6QTLDBp4ZPbHxC2avKtjCqy3-_IED5ZzHnnvdJGQRm988Pb4G3g-uxHlce03Pbzk4bg36hNXrBiCK2EDLWXN7EazrK65J9-/s1600/BerioCriesOfLondon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="600" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIwK3DboaixrIQ1hNbAQ1wAr40KFltckW7jjVgYpHlCh1qW6QTLDBp4ZPbHxC2avKtjCqy3-_IED5ZzHnnvdJGQRm988Pb4G3g-uxHlce03Pbzk4bg36hNXrBiCK2EDLWXN7EazrK65J9-/s200/BerioCriesOfLondon.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">Luciano Berio (1925-2003), Cries of London for eight voices</span></i></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">Norwegian Soloists Choir. BIS</span></i></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: small;">Continuing the octet theme, this CD moves us now closer to our own times (composed, 1974-76). The Italian-born Berio was working in the period of experiment during which he was a pioneer in the making of electronic music. Many experiments in music from this period failed; be not concerned, this octet was a great success.</span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: small;">Written originally for the King's Singers, <i>Cries of London</i> references madrigals and part-songs often featured by the 'King's' and their cabaret performances. The vocal textures lie well on the ear and I even smiled at the repetitive use of the cry for "money, money, money", overlapping and urgent. If you would like a piece from this musical period to get to grips with, here is your opportunity: these are the cries of London Town, cry of cries, come money to me. Perhaps thereafter you may be tempted by the other piece on this CD, 'Coro for voices and instruments'. You won't be disappointed.</span></span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLuNKKFNLzi51duaB02gwpP7wl6822eiXhPb9HMgFrJ8rQ6NF4bQnHW7wZlQpKThHO38XevPnayLgsAMdJok65Up-PtfQM8vI0c46cysL7eGQbyLbmW8uRJ6R5QOsynUoXuYnJVTdO7B5R/s1600/BrucknerSymphony4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="300" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLuNKKFNLzi51duaB02gwpP7wl6822eiXhPb9HMgFrJ8rQ6NF4bQnHW7wZlQpKThHO38XevPnayLgsAMdJok65Up-PtfQM8vI0c46cysL7eGQbyLbmW8uRJ6R5QOsynUoXuYnJVTdO7B5R/s200/BrucknerSymphony4.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Anton Bruckner's Fourth Symphony, 'The Romantic'</span></span></span></span></span></i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">WAB, 104.</span></span></span></span></span></i></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks., conductor, Mariss Jansons. BR Klassik</i></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: small;">Finally, this month, listen to this recording of the huge Bruckner symphony, 'The Romantic', all 72 minutes of it. No-one in the history of western music has managed to sustain such expression, orchestration genius and inventiveness without inviting flagging focus. This is what classical music is all about. 'The Romantic' was the piece of Bruckner's breakthrough, premiered on February 20th, 1881, after his symphonic works to that date had largely been rejected.</span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>"Music opens to man an unknown realm, a world that has nothing in common with the outer sensual one that surrounds him", E.T.A. Hoffman</i></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></span><i> </i></span></span>Bill Andertonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00638387047078893048noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7297626150639479415.post-84495555563604992982020-03-23T11:50:00.001+01:002020-08-27T16:25:02.046+02:00Review: Saint-Saëns, Organ Symphony<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPZxKtroY1K15eMegAgTsBE3ER_Yf8RLmgx-_re646JeWmmqN_AuiuxdW2dIpCZ0vMAMJZA8jKXP9q41EFZG51xuaCf5tiv6ndQETYTGGzYJJknC_rK0QRmE-l-GwA8GvIKp2qGaVPqD4o/s1600/Saint-SaensSymph3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="1500" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPZxKtroY1K15eMegAgTsBE3ER_Yf8RLmgx-_re646JeWmmqN_AuiuxdW2dIpCZ0vMAMJZA8jKXP9q41EFZG51xuaCf5tiv6ndQETYTGGzYJJknC_rK0QRmE-l-GwA8GvIKp2qGaVPqD4o/s200/Saint-SaensSymph3.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>Camille Saint-Saëns, Symphony No. 3</i></span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks</span></i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Conductor, Mariss Jansons, organist, Iveta Apkalna</span></i></span><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">BR Klassik. This CD also includes the Poulenc Organ Concerto in G Minor, "a homage to Paris in sound".</span></span></i><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">French composer of the romantic period, Saint-Saëns was famed as the organist of the Eglise de la Madeleine in Paris and particularly renowned for his skill in improvisation. This enabled him to draw on and incorporate the most diverse influences. At the outset of the 'Organ Symphony' and at its conclusion the traditional organ sound with its rich chord production are to the fore and in the slow movement it can be heard clearly creating a smooth uninterrupted flow of sonority. But between these musical events, the organ plays its part not as a concertante instrument but as an orchestral addition providing integrated, subtle colourings with Saint-Saens wonderful orchestration.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It is the first and second movements, Adagio/Allegro Moderato then Poco Adagio which draw in the listener, captivates, mesmerises and then plays with them. The final movements break the spell and excite with tempo and dynamic changes, leading to the organ's final huge sonorous conclusion - just to let you know it was there all the time.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Saint-Saëns is so much more than Danse Macabre and Carnival of the Animals, providing us with symphonies, operatic work and concertos for cello, violin and piano - more than 300 works in all. Within this spectrum, there are comparatively few works for organ, which can perhaps be explained by his focus on live extemporisation. </span>Bill Andertonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00638387047078893048noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7297626150639479415.post-53167847374250376032020-01-27T17:47:00.000+01:002020-04-04T16:42:38.885+02:00Reviews: Glass, Mahler and Donizetti<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3OTej_0pvQpk-0ELYHWxYw9oEhBil9htPMPuyLO7FsnnvPTCryuwVhZ8JRpVzhcl_0rxr_R7HKa5J8ctFI840bGdq87_vyLIcdIl7Le8pvQMAq_Bsv962-6QTXoNDiW2B6IiOjMFKg5fh/s1600/GlassViolinConcerto2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1587" data-original-width="1600" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3OTej_0pvQpk-0ELYHWxYw9oEhBil9htPMPuyLO7FsnnvPTCryuwVhZ8JRpVzhcl_0rxr_R7HKa5J8ctFI840bGdq87_vyLIcdIl7Le8pvQMAq_Bsv962-6QTXoNDiW2B6IiOjMFKg5fh/s200/GlassViolinConcerto2.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">As a violinist I was irresistibly drawn to the first choice for this month's reviews - Philip Glass's Violin Concerto No. 2, 'American Four Seasons' (<i>Piotr Plawner, Violin, Berner Kammerorchester, c. Philippe Bach, Naxos American Classics</i>).</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I'm sure that Glass is long past the label of minimalist, but he might forgive me if I use the term here, as the style of simple arpeggio figures and insistent repetition has much in common with the Baroque, where rhythm and pattern are significant features. Vivaldi's famous 'Seasons' piece is clearly visible in Glass's compositional mirror, as was his intention. The remaining significant similarity between the two works is the contrast between the expression of power and then lyricism which both concertos capture magnificently. The movements are not labelled with their appropriate season and although others will try to guess which movement is which, I was relieved to escape from that distraction. </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The concerto was premiered in Toronto in 2009.</span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDvpok7mDN5VJbcthUFf2jF6GQuFzZG8jQronCCTq8Ulba9j2MEt2CRMWI2MGJhFB5ygvtbInLKgGmSYkRorHgXbRJfuRG-kba1Ek2C9WTJ_stbK_un6FX9h2lnbft5z1lPImae0lYb6-L/s1600/Mahler4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="225" data-original-width="225" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDvpok7mDN5VJbcthUFf2jF6GQuFzZG8jQronCCTq8Ulba9j2MEt2CRMWI2MGJhFB5ygvtbInLKgGmSYkRorHgXbRJfuRG-kba1Ek2C9WTJ_stbK_un6FX9h2lnbft5z1lPImae0lYb6-L/s200/Mahler4.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">My second choice is a familiar symphonic favourite, Mahler's No. 4 (<i>Minnesota Orchestra, c. Osmo Vanska, soloist, soprano, Carolyn Sampson, BIS</i>).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">A heavenly delight! If you haven't indulged in this symphony before it is perhaps one of the most soothing, even healing, symphonic experiences that you are likely to encounter. There may well be bubbling musical tensions abounding throughout but don't expect anything but the occasional <b><i>ff</i></b> or explosive crescendo. Instead, bathe in an hour's worth of inventive orchestration as the musical narrative unfolds. Having experienced Mahler from the first violin desk, I can tell you how prescriptive the score is, how there is something new every few bars, seemlessly woven into a symphonic whole. When I first heard this symphony, it was somehow spoilt for me by the soprano entry in the final fourth movement, proclaiming a child's vision of heaven, but now the song is an additional high which sums up the whole work. The symphony was composed in 1901.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The third and final choice this month are three string quartets by Donizetti (<i>Nos 4-6, Pleyel Quartet, Koln, CPO</i>)</span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitBqJPmyS-NbDXdSl9A1BGIutVlTkzLJ4PGGNN6_WlCyAHxWWtRZE7lCFSi1y-WnnoPfzdNV6LUSPB1hFr8VJg-0vPTHlCWh7rhEA0b2Ny2RzlITC5xCrtqrB3jolcB6IkPcK6_Tyl8ng5/s1600/DonizettiQuartets.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="893" data-original-width="900" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitBqJPmyS-NbDXdSl9A1BGIutVlTkzLJ4PGGNN6_WlCyAHxWWtRZE7lCFSi1y-WnnoPfzdNV6LUSPB1hFr8VJg-0vPTHlCWh7rhEA0b2Ny2RzlITC5xCrtqrB3jolcB6IkPcK6_Tyl8ng5/s200/DonizettiQuartets.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">It was with a little trepidation that I listened to these quartets having been quite disappointed by other such chamber offerings from the Italian <i>bel canto</i> style opera composers of the early 19th century. These quartets were fortunately a delight! The style is, naturally, strictly classical as created by Haydn, the acknowledged master of the genre, so you will know what to expect if you are a fan. However, what I heard in addition was operatic atmosphere in this music, particularly in the slow movements. They evoke the stage - nothing visual, you understand, but a visceral theatrical feeling at the heart of the music.</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>Bill Andertonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00638387047078893048noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7297626150639479415.post-28273780930329087662020-01-04T18:12:00.001+01:002020-01-10T13:34:17.308+01:00Oil, Seagulls and Dead Fish<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:RelyOnVML/>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:View>Normal</w:View>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves/>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:DoNotPromoteQF/>
<w:LidThemeOther>EN-GB</w:LidThemeOther>
<w:LidThemeAsian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian>
<w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:SnapToGridInCell/>
<w:WrapTextWithPunct/>
<w:UseAsianBreakRules/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/>
<w:EnableOpenTypeKerning/>
<w:DontFlipMirrorIndents/>
<w:OverrideTableStyleHps/>
</w:Compatibility>
<m:mathPr>
<m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/>
<m:brkBin m:val="before"/>
<m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/>
<m:smallFrac m:val="off"/>
<m:dispDef/>
<m:lMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:rMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/>
<m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/>
<m:intLim m:val="subSup"/>
<m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/>
</m:mathPr></w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="false"
DefSemiHidden="false" DefQFormat="false" DefPriority="99"
LatentStyleCount="376">
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="0" QFormat="true" Name="Normal"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="heading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="heading 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="heading 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="heading 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="heading 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="heading 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="heading 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="heading 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="index 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="index 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="index 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="index 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="index 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="index 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="index 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="index 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="index 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="toc 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="toc 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="toc 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="toc 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="toc 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="toc 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="toc 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="toc 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="toc 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Normal Indent"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="footnote text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="annotation text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="header"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="footer"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="index heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="35" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="caption"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="table of figures"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="envelope address"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="envelope return"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="footnote reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="annotation reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="line number"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="page number"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="endnote reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="endnote text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="table of authorities"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="macro"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="toa heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="10" QFormat="true" Name="Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Closing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Signature"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Default Paragraph Font"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Message Header"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="11" QFormat="true" Name="Subtitle"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Salutation"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Date"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text First Indent"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text First Indent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Block Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Hyperlink"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="FollowedHyperlink"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Document Map"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Plain Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="E-mail Signature"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Top of Form"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Bottom of Form"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Normal (Web)"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Acronym"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Address"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Cite"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Code"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Definition"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Keyboard"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Preformatted"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Sample"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Typewriter"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Variable"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Normal Table"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="annotation subject"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="No List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Contemporary"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Elegant"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Professional"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Subtle 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Subtle 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Balloon Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="Table Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Theme"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Placeholder Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" QFormat="true" Name="No Spacing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Revision"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" QFormat="true"
Name="List Paragraph"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" QFormat="true"
Name="Subtle Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" QFormat="true"
Name="Subtle Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Bibliography"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="41" Name="Plain Table 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="42" Name="Plain Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="43" Name="Plain Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="44" Name="Plain Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="45" Name="Plain Table 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="40" Name="Grid Table Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="Grid Table 1 Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="List Table 1 Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="List Table 6 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="List Table 7 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Mention"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Smart Hyperlink"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Hashtag"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Unresolved Mention"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Smart Link"/>
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin-top:0cm;
mso-para-margin-right:0cm;
mso-para-margin-bottom:8.0pt;
mso-para-margin-left:0cm;
line-height:107%;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;
mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;
mso-fareast-language:EN-US;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZDAZnVo69QDzRrTujdOiUno7CJByA18Lyt040vVy3haB_21DfJsIjM9iD22jlpdUetq3g_WhEpmPPnT1nIyh6OLeUiE6_kmCfPILhFrZpH6-xFOxoxkidJV0EOowaWjOdzl1N_drhQboN/s1600/fingal%2527s+cave.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="455" data-original-width="685" height="211" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZDAZnVo69QDzRrTujdOiUno7CJByA18Lyt040vVy3haB_21DfJsIjM9iD22jlpdUetq3g_WhEpmPPnT1nIyh6OLeUiE6_kmCfPILhFrZpH6-xFOxoxkidJV0EOowaWjOdzl1N_drhQboN/s320/fingal%2527s+cave.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<i><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Here is the adventure surrounding the writing and performance of the concert overture
called ‘The Hebrides’. The music was inspired by composer Felix Mendelssohn’s
visit to Scotland in 1829 culminating in a sea voyage from the Isle of Mull to
Fingal’s Cave on the uninhabited, tiny, rocky, Hebridean Isle of Staffa.</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<b><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">The
Scene</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">The
year, 1829: Sir Robert Peel introduces the Metropolitan Police Act 1829 into
Parliament to establish a unified police force for London;</span> <span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">madman Jonathan
Martin sets York Cathedral on fire, doing £60,000 of damage; Britain outlaws
suttee in India (a widow burning herself to death on her husband's funeral
pyre); William Austin Burt patents America's first typewriter; Johann Wolfgang
von Goethe's ‘Faust, Part 1’ premieres; The first Oxford and Cambridge
University Boat Race takes place; the Greek War of Independence ends after eight
years and six months; the ‘William Tell’ opera, Gioachino Rossini's last and
greatest, premieres in Paris; J.S. Bach's ‘St Matthew Passion’ is revived by
Felix Mendelssohn, conducting in Berlin; later that year the composer visits England
– and Scotland.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">In
1822 Mendelssohn was thirteen. The Caledonian Canal, engineered by Thomas
Telford, was opened, linking the east and west coasts of Scotland through the
Great Glen from Clachnaharry on the Beauly Firth near east-coast Inverness to Corpach on
Loch Linnhe near Fort William on the west.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<b><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">The
Journey</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">In
1829, Mendelssohn accepted an invitation to travel to England. The invite was
from Sir George Smart, an English musician, and the Philharmonic Society based
in London. Following a tour of England, Mendelssohn extended his travels to
Scotland, where he began work on his Symphony No. 3, 'The Scottish'. His voyages
through the rugged loch-strewn Highlands of western Scotland included
traversing its waterways by means of the new-fangled steamboat.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">The
first commercially successful steamboat in Europe, Henry Bell's <i>Comet</i> of
1812, started a rapid expansion of steam services on the Firth of Clyde, and
within four years a steamer service was in operation on the inland Loch Lomond,
a forerunner of the lake steamers still gracing Swiss lakes. It is this type of
vessel that would have taken Felix on the water stages of his journey through the
Scottish Highlands. Remember that although these boats were then no longer
dependent on wind and tide, their engines were not yet terribly efficient. You
can imagine, like any steam engine powered by coal, a black, sooty, billowing
chimney smoke, a substantial amount of engine noise and a trail of engine oil
in its wake.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Now,
a ‘skiff’ in contrast is a seaworthy rowing boat, sometimes rigged with sail
and on 8th August, after the relative luxury of their steamboat trip, two
friends were being rowed in such an ecologically friendly but relatively small,
vunerable boat from the Isle of Mull to the uninhabited, rocky Isle of Staffa in
the Inner Hebrides, far up the west coast of Scotland. One of the friends was
being violently sick over the side of the boat but insisting as he held a
kerchief to his mouth and gripped his somersaulting stomach that they carry on
with their once-in-a-lifetime adventure to visit Fingal’s Cave. After all,
despite the ocean’s swell, the weather was not too bad at all!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Felix
Mendelssohn, composer, conductor, soloist, born 3<sup>rd</sup> February, 1809,
Hamburg, died 4<sup>th</sup> November, 1847, Leipzig, was born into a prominent
Jewish family and founded the Leipzig Conservatory, a bastion of anti-racial
sentiment. He was a romantic but
conservative composer whose works were meticulously created, usually undergoing
radical revision before completion. A crowning achievement of his was to create
a revival of interest in the works of Johann Sebastian Bach, as suggested
above.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He is also attributed with
introducing the concert overture (as opposed to the operatic overture), most
notably ‘The Hebrides’.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">He,
Chopin and Schumann are a trinity of early 19<sup>th</sup> C. romanticism
representing a refined, less expansive style than the more extroverted Berlioz
and Liszt, or the theatrical Wagner. His music is charming but never
philosophically deep, enchantingly magical, with a genius for the scherzo. And,
clearly, he had a yen for travel.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">The
day before, on the 7<sup>th</sup> August, the young Felix and friend, Karl
Klingemann, journeyed by steamer from Fort William down Loch Linnhe to Oban and
then to Tobermory on the Isle of Mull. Next day, they set out for the Inner
Hebrides Isle of Staffa to visit Fingal’s Cave.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Felix’s
companion, Klingemann, was a diplomat, born in Limmer an der Leine in
1798. He was secretary of the Hanoverian Legation, a diplomatic office in Berlin and, from 1828, was
located in London. He was also a gifted poet and was Mendelssohn’s companion throughout
his travels to Scotland.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">The
composer and his friend took the journey to Staffa to view the cave and eventually
were able to sit in the rocking boat at the mouth of this awe-inspiring
formation. His friend, Klingemann, wrote that Mendelssohn, terribly seasick
during the trip, got “along better with the sea as an artist than as a human
being with a stomach.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">The cave, part
of the Ulva estate of the Clan MacQuarrie from an early date until 1777, was brought to the attention of the English-speaking world by 18th-century
naturalist Sir Joseph Banks in 1772.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">It
became known as Fingal's Cave after the eponymous hero of an epic poem by 18<sup>th</sup>-century
Scots poet-historian James Macpherson. The relevant section formed part of his
Ossian cycle of poems claimed to have been based on old Scottish Gaelic poems.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">In
Irish mythology, the hero Fingal is known as Fionn mac Cumhaill, anglicised to
Finn McCool and it is suggested that Macpherson rendered the name as Fingal
(meaning ‘white stranger’) through a misapprehension of the name which in old
Gaelic would appear as Finn. The legend of the Giant's Causeway has Fionn or
Finn building the causeway between Ireland, in County Antrim on the north coast
of Northern Ireland, and Staffa.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">The
roots of the construction between the Causeway in Antrim and Fingal’s Cave go
back much further than the poem, however. Both visible geological wonders were
created up to 60 million years ago by the same Paleocene lava flow and share
the same unexpectedly symmetrical hexagonally-joined basalt pillars which
countless tourists have since delighted in using as stepping stones. According
to local experts, Staffa Tours, the columns of rock at both Giant’s Causeway
and Fingal’s Cave were laid down at the same time.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Thousands
of years ago, the cave was formed when underground pressures forced open a
crack, which was further hewn by violent waves striking Staffa. The cave’s
natural and spectacular acoustics amplify the sounds of the waves within its
arched roof, earning the cave the Gaelic name ‘Uamh-Binn’, the cave of melody. The
melody of the waves can be heard by visitors, including the astounded Felix and
Karl, too, well before the visiting boat arrives. Teeming birdlife nests on
Staffa from late April to August including puffins and the two friends had more
than a chance of spotting seals, porpoises, dolphins, basking sharks and even, perhaps,
whales on the trip to the island.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<b><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">The
Music</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">The
Hebrides Overture began life with an opening theme that Felix jotted down in
Tobermory and sent back home to his sister, Fanny. Although intending to
represent his experiences travelling through the Hebrides in the manner of a
tone poem, the overture has had several name changes, including the title
‘Fingal’s Cave’, which was added by the publisher Hartmann & Breitkopf to
the version published in 1834. Today, in the UK, it is still known as ‘The
Hebrides’.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">The
Hebrides is in sonata form, its first subject, suggesting the deep feelings of
loneliness and solitude that Fingal’s cave evokes, announced right at the
beginning in B minor; the second subject, depicting rolling waves, is in the
relative (D) major, followed by a development section, recapitulation and coda.
Moving from B minor to D major and then to F sharp minor in the opening six
bars gives a wild, stark feeling to the music suggesting a primitive, bleak
beauty.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mendelssohn, the arch master of
counterpoint, would normally have avoided this sequence, but here, blatantly,
he was unfettered and released himself from convention.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">The
overture was, true to form, revised by the composer, particularly the middle
section which Mendelssohn called “… stupid … (savouring) more of counterpoint
than of oil and seagulls and dead fish …”. Without knowing about that intentional
musical reference to oil, seagulls and fish, the listener can be forgiven for
simply visualising an idylle, seeing with the inner eye the swell, storms and indeed calm of the ocean and the rocks and cave of the isle hewn by immeasurable inner volcanic forces but now fixed, a monument to their violent history. However, the steamships were filthy beasts and
there was no environmental lobby to object to the slicks of oil that
accompanied them through the Caledonian canal and beyond. The oil and steamboat
propellers were fatal to wildlife including the fish and, inevitably, the
birdlife, too. It was this that Felix was alluding to when revising the middle
section of his overture.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">The
final version was ready for its first performance in London at the Philharmonic
Society on 14<sup>th</sup> May, 1832, conducted by Thomas Attwood. The concert
also featured Mendelssohn's ‘Overture to A Midsummer Night's Dream’. The final
revision was completed by 20 June, 1832, and premiered on 10 January, 1833, in
Berlin under the composer's own baton.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
Bill Andertonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00638387047078893048noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7297626150639479415.post-78185885509575594222020-01-01T11:53:00.002+01:002020-07-21T11:41:56.312+02:00Jupiter and the Death of a Composer<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:RelyOnVML/>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:View>Normal</w:View>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves/>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:DoNotPromoteQF/>
<w:LidThemeOther>EN-GB</w:LidThemeOther>
<w:LidThemeAsian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian>
<w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:SnapToGridInCell/>
<w:WrapTextWithPunct/>
<w:UseAsianBreakRules/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/>
<w:EnableOpenTypeKerning/>
<w:DontFlipMirrorIndents/>
<w:OverrideTableStyleHps/>
</w:Compatibility>
<m:mathPr>
<m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/>
<m:brkBin m:val="before"/>
<m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/>
<m:smallFrac m:val="off"/>
<m:dispDef/>
<m:lMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:rMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/>
<m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/>
<m:intLim m:val="subSup"/>
<m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/>
</m:mathPr></w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="false"
DefSemiHidden="false" DefQFormat="false" DefPriority="99"
LatentStyleCount="376">
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="0" QFormat="true" Name="Normal"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="heading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="heading 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="heading 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="heading 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="heading 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="heading 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="heading 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="heading 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="index 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="index 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="index 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="index 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="index 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="index 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="index 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="index 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="index 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="toc 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="toc 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="toc 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="toc 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="toc 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="toc 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="toc 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="toc 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="toc 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Normal Indent"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="footnote text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="annotation text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="header"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="footer"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="index heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="35" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="caption"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="table of figures"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="envelope address"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="envelope return"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="footnote reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="annotation reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="line number"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="page number"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="endnote reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="endnote text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="table of authorities"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="macro"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="toa heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="10" QFormat="true" Name="Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Closing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Signature"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Default Paragraph Font"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Message Header"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="11" QFormat="true" Name="Subtitle"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Salutation"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Date"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text First Indent"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text First Indent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Block Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Hyperlink"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="FollowedHyperlink"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Document Map"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Plain Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="E-mail Signature"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Top of Form"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Bottom of Form"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Normal (Web)"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Acronym"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Address"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Cite"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Code"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Definition"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Keyboard"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Preformatted"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Sample"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Typewriter"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Variable"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Normal Table"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="annotation subject"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="No List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Contemporary"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Elegant"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Professional"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Subtle 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Subtle 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Balloon Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="Table Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Theme"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Placeholder Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" QFormat="true" Name="No Spacing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Revision"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" QFormat="true"
Name="List Paragraph"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" QFormat="true"
Name="Subtle Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" QFormat="true"
Name="Subtle Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Bibliography"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="41" Name="Plain Table 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="42" Name="Plain Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="43" Name="Plain Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="44" Name="Plain Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="45" Name="Plain Table 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="40" Name="Grid Table Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="Grid Table 1 Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="List Table 1 Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="List Table 6 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="List Table 7 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Mention"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Smart Hyperlink"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Hashtag"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Unresolved Mention"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Smart Link"/>
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin-top:0cm;
mso-para-margin-right:0cm;
mso-para-margin-bottom:8.0pt;
mso-para-margin-left:0cm;
line-height:107%;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;
mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;
mso-fareast-language:EN-US;}
</style>
<![endif]--><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<b><span style="font-family: "verdana", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"></span></b></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQDEoW40QuFQiVHpO2Xes6EGBM4SDP4DExi3XdgEamc9hQqaWuOy8iP_5LoNN3iSyRD34QHbo7a0jdyYaPnW20U77EhaxYlXEih8IwPN2yBbew0hw9zac4a18smr-LgV5MRztH3AsaKYKc/s1600/Zeus.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1044" height="146" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQDEoW40QuFQiVHpO2Xes6EGBM4SDP4DExi3XdgEamc9hQqaWuOy8iP_5LoNN3iSyRD34QHbo7a0jdyYaPnW20U77EhaxYlXEih8IwPN2yBbew0hw9zac4a18smr-LgV5MRztH3AsaKYKc/s200/Zeus.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<i><span style="font-family: "verdana", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">The
dire circumstances surrounding the composition of Mozart’s final works were
soon to be followed by the composer’s enigmatic death.</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<b><span style="font-family: "verdana", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">The
Scene</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "verdana", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">The
year, 1788, the place, a house in a suburb of Vienna, Herr Mozart’s new home.
The events of that time: London’s Daily Universal Register becomes <i>The Times</i>;
the First Fleet carrying 736 convicts from England to Australia arrives at
Botany Bay to set up a penal colony; Lord Gordon is found guilty of libelling
the Queen of France; the 1st US steamboat patent is issued by the state of Georgia
to Briggs & Longstreet; Austria declares war on Russia.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "verdana", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Meanwhile,
Mozart, at his desk, head in his hands, has reached rock bottom. His source of
income has dried up, he has been forced to move out of the centre of Vienna,
debtors are at his door and his mental state is one of vacillation between
thoughts of suicide and manic bouts of creativity. From out of this fog of despair
emerged the ‘Jupiter’ symphony, one of the greatest and most joyful orchestral
works ever written.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<b><span style="font-family: "verdana", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">The
Music</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "verdana", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Mozart’s
41<sup>st</sup> symphony in C Major, K551, is composed in four sublime
movements:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "verdana", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><i>Allegro vivace, 4/4</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent: 36pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: "verdana", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Andante cantabile, 3/4 in F major</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent: 36pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: "verdana", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Menuetto: Allegretto – Trio, 3/4</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent: 36pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: "verdana", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Molto allegro, 2/2</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "verdana", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">The
third of three symphonies written in quick succession, the Jupiter was written
at the furthest edges of the possible for Mozart, and contains many different
expressive and compositional contrasts moulded into a single symphony. Hence,
the result is of unusually grand scale for a classical period symphony. It is
characterised by joy, good humour and exuberant energy throughout. These
qualities belie a great contrast with his crushing domestic situation - and his
death just three years later in agonising circumstances of great mental and
physical pain.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "verdana", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">The
nickname, ‘Jupiter’, was probably attached by German musician, impresario and
long-time London resident Johann Peter Saloman and was perhaps first used in
print in a London concert program in 1821. Jupiter, the Roman equivalent of the
Greek Zeus, chief of all the gods on Mount Olympus, was a massively exuberant immortal
of prodigious sexual energy and unlimited power. Familiarity with the symphony
brings no argument with its title.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "verdana", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">The
beautiful second movement contains one of the longest themes Mozart would ever
write - eleven bars. Furthermore, it is unusual in that the strings play with
mutes throughout, Mozart requesting the purest of restrained string sound
possible. The expansive, stately minuet that follows could easily function as a
posh dance in an imperial ballroom. But it is the final movement that stands
out as one of the most stunning symphonic movements achieved by any composer.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "verdana", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">It
begins with a simple four-note theme that could have been taken from a church
work. What follows is strict sonata form, but with so much use of fugal
imitation that early 19<sup>th</sup>-century German musicians referred to the
entire work as the ‘symphony with the fugal finale’. The final movement has
also been described as Mozart’s most learned piece of music. The effect is,
however, far from highbrow but a pure, unadulterated, joyful romp. If there
might have been the 19<sup>th</sup>-century equivalent of a rock festival, it
would have been played to an audience jumping in ecstasy, out of their heads,
so to speak. In the final coda, all five, yes, <i>five</i>, major thematic
elements are played simultaneously, yet the overall effect is not a lesson in
counterpoint but an Olympian conclusion to a dramatic symphonic movement.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<b><span style="font-family: "verdana", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">The
Decline</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "verdana", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Toward
the end of the 1780s, Mozart’s fortunes worsened. He was performing less and
his income shrank. Austria was at war and both the affluence of the nation and
the ability of the aristocracy to support the arts had declined.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "verdana", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">To
give a flavour of the situation, one Habsburg possession that had escaped
reforms during the reign of Maria Theresa and Emperor Joseph II was the
Austrian Netherlands, which ruled itself under its own laws. In January and
March 1787 Joseph simply swept away the constitution of the Austrian
Netherlands and announced that from then on it would be ruled according to
absolutist principles, just like the other provinces of the monarchy.
Resistance simmered in the Austrian Netherlands until 1789, when it boiled over
into open revolt, forcing the administration there to flee to safety in the
duchy of Luxembourg. By that time there were rumours of rebellion in Hungary
and in Galicia, and for a period it appeared as if revolution might erupt in
many parts of the monarchy. Joseph therefore had his own problems and little
time for the fripperies of court life and music. And then came war with Russia.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "verdana", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Living
in this period of political turmoil, Mozart had been able rarely to compose on
a whim. Generally, he wrote on commission or for his own concerts, or he
created new pieces as gifts for friends. Such transactions were usually catalogued
in the composer’s letters and writings, which have survived in large number.
However, in the case of his last three symphonies dating from the summer of
1788, the historical record is silent. Music scholars have found no indication
of a commission, so perhaps Mozart composed the works in hope of selling them
or presenting them in a concert in Vienna.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "verdana", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">By
mid-1788, Mozart moved his family from central Vienna to the suburb of
Alsergrund, as a way of reducing living costs. But in reality, his family
expenses remained high and the new dwelling only provided more room. Mozart
began to borrow money from friends, though he was almost always able to repay promptly
when a commission or concert came his way.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "verdana", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">During
this miserable low period, he wrote those final three symphonies and the last of
the three so-called Da Ponte operas (after librettist, Lorenzo Da Ponte), Cosi
Fan Tutte, which premiered in 1790. Mozart ventured long distances from Vienna
to Leipzig, Berlin, and Frankfurt, and other German cities hoping to revive his
once great success and the family’s financial situation but did neither. The
two-year period of 1788-9 was unbearable for him, experiencing in his own words
‘black thoughts’ and deep depression. Listen to the Jupiter with this in mind.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "verdana", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">In
doing a little research into the nature of the Jupiter symphony, I became aware
that this compositional event was not long followed by his death a mere three
years later. In my mind, the first event became connected with the second, not,
of course, in a causal way, but simply by association. The Jupiter is a
crowning orchestral achievement; his death comes after a rapid decline in
fortune, both financial and health-wise. It’s the extreme qualities of this juxtaposition
that makes their association compelling.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<b><span style="font-family: "verdana", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">…
and Death</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "verdana", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Mozart
died on December 5, 1791, at the age of 35. The cause of death is uncertain, owing
to the limits of <i>post mortem</i> diagnosis. Officially, the record lists the
cause as severe miliary fever, referring to a symptomatic skin rash that looks
like millet seeds. Since then, many hypotheses have circulated regarding
Mozart's death. Some have attributed it to rheumatic fever, a disease he
suffered from repeatedly throughout his life.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "verdana", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">During
the intervening centuries, numerous causes of his untimely demise have been
offered, ranging from assassination by his rival, Italian composer Antonio
Salieri, to kidney failure and rheumatic fever. In fact, about 150 different
theories, both plausible and implausible, have circulated. None can ever be
proven with certainty.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "verdana", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">One
of the more bizarre but distinctly plausible explanations that popped up in
recent times was that Mozart had consumed an undercooked pork chop that
ultimately killed him.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "verdana", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">According
to Jan Hirschmann, a physician at the VA Puget Sound Health Care System in
Seattle and an amateur medical sleuth, there is a compelling piece of evidence
pointing to the pork chop as the culprit. While searching for clues, Dr
Hirschmann came across a letter Mozart penned to his wife, Constanze, in which
the composer reported that a servant was bringing him dinner. “And what do I
smell?” he wrote. “Pork cutlets! Che gusto. I eat to your health.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "verdana", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Mozart
might have indeed eaten to Constanze’s health but, it would seem, to the
detriment of his own. Hirschmann discovered that Mozart passed away a month and
a half after the letter had been written. It typically takes that long for
trichinosis, an intestinal parasite resulting from eating undercooked or
tainted meat, to appear. The reported repulsive symptoms were similarly
consistent with this diagnosis.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "verdana", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">It
was documented that his funeral drew few mourners and Mozart was buried in a
common grave. Contrary to the popular notion of it being a travesty that the
great man suffered a pauper’s burial, both funeral and burial were in accord
with the Viennese custom of the time that only aristocrats and nobility enjoyed
public mourning and were allowed to be buried in marked graves. Mozart’s subsequent
memorial services and concerts in Vienna and Prague were, however, gratifyingly
well attended and his music, thereafter, like the Olympians, became immortal.</span></div>
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:RelyOnVML/>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:View>Normal</w:View>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves/>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:DoNotPromoteQF/>
<w:LidThemeOther>EN-GB</w:LidThemeOther>
<w:LidThemeAsian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian>
<w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:SnapToGridInCell/>
<w:WrapTextWithPunct/>
<w:UseAsianBreakRules/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/>
<w:EnableOpenTypeKerning/>
<w:DontFlipMirrorIndents/>
<w:OverrideTableStyleHps/>
</w:Compatibility>
<m:mathPr>
<m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/>
<m:brkBin m:val="before"/>
<m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/>
<m:smallFrac m:val="off"/>
<m:dispDef/>
<m:lMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:rMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/>
<m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/>
<m:intLim m:val="subSup"/>
<m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/>
</m:mathPr></w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="false"
DefSemiHidden="false" DefQFormat="false" DefPriority="99"
LatentStyleCount="376">
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="0" QFormat="true" Name="Normal"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="heading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="heading 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="heading 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="heading 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="heading 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="heading 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="heading 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="heading 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="index 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="index 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="index 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="index 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="index 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="index 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="index 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="index 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="index 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="toc 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="toc 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="toc 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="toc 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="toc 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="toc 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="toc 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="toc 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="toc 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Normal Indent"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="footnote text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="annotation text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="header"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="footer"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="index heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="35" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="caption"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="table of figures"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="envelope address"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="envelope return"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="footnote reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="annotation reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="line number"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="page number"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="endnote reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="endnote text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="table of authorities"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="macro"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="toa heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="10" QFormat="true" Name="Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Closing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Signature"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Default Paragraph Font"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Message Header"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="11" QFormat="true" Name="Subtitle"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Salutation"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Date"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text First Indent"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text First Indent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Block Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Hyperlink"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="FollowedHyperlink"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Document Map"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Plain Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="E-mail Signature"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Top of Form"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Bottom of Form"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Normal (Web)"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Acronym"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Address"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Cite"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Code"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Definition"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Keyboard"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Preformatted"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Sample"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Typewriter"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Variable"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Normal Table"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="annotation subject"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="No List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Contemporary"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Elegant"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Professional"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Subtle 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Subtle 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Balloon Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="Table Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Theme"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Placeholder Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" QFormat="true" Name="No Spacing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Revision"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" QFormat="true"
Name="List Paragraph"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" QFormat="true"
Name="Subtle Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" QFormat="true"
Name="Subtle Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Bibliography"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="41" Name="Plain Table 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="42" Name="Plain Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="43" Name="Plain Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="44" Name="Plain Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="45" Name="Plain Table 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="40" Name="Grid Table Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="Grid Table 1 Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="List Table 1 Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="List Table 6 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="List Table 7 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Mention"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Smart Hyperlink"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Hashtag"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Unresolved Mention"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Smart Link"/>
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin-top:0cm;
mso-para-margin-right:0cm;
mso-para-margin-bottom:8.0pt;
mso-para-margin-left:0cm;
line-height:107%;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;
mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;
mso-fareast-language:EN-US;}
</style>
<![endif]-->Bill Andertonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00638387047078893048noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7297626150639479415.post-27182606822202174852019-08-16T20:25:00.001+02:002019-09-06T16:39:31.085+02:00Pendulum Art as Music<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKRScZ3E_t96QPQOv0ctbmevDAmRZiIm_NhvIT3D1Hab8GMP2zBRBpzKGeSozMEe8kG7HrLwA1VTdSDK6XDOdqHChZ0xVTSBDrTTbVJOgbawL8RNrtedkOD7Y5uq9hayNsb-BqPLjH02cr/s1600/2019-07-17+11.16.58.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKRScZ3E_t96QPQOv0ctbmevDAmRZiIm_NhvIT3D1Hab8GMP2zBRBpzKGeSozMEe8kG7HrLwA1VTdSDK6XDOdqHChZ0xVTSBDrTTbVJOgbawL8RNrtedkOD7Y5uq9hayNsb-BqPLjH02cr/s200/2019-07-17+11.16.58.jpg" width="150" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The abstract artist, <a href="http://www.hannahferguson.net/" target="_blank">Hannah Ferguson</a>, paints using a pendulum and her artworks have particular significance for my music. An example is the third movement of the 'Momentous Quartet', <i><a href="http://www.billanderton.uk/video-installation.html" target="_blank">Strangeness and Charm</a>, </i>with the accompanying video featuring Hannah at work.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">It's a simple idea. Attach a sphere with a hole in it to a length of cord and fill it with paint. Let the pendulum sphere swing and uncover the hole so that as it swings lines and drips of paint cover the surface below. The resulting patterns are individual and visually interesting.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The swing of the pendulum is a fundamental physical phenomenon and its repetitive harmonic motion can be represented graphically by a simple sine wave graph. The sine wave is also a mathematical representation of a pure sound.</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi888nf5AnKi3dAjEHX2V5lAGxWuogJBl5Hnmwmx2rxsibuV6rbNlOWhRTanwWdSp0I8MVA5JNVebVPY0OP5lF4sL1DOjF344JpgTu4OAUKmTF2VfOGe8THZBCoB1j-uHTOiX2PW9eUa5SU/s1600/Pendulum+Wave.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="384" data-original-width="512" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi888nf5AnKi3dAjEHX2V5lAGxWuogJBl5Hnmwmx2rxsibuV6rbNlOWhRTanwWdSp0I8MVA5JNVebVPY0OP5lF4sL1DOjF344JpgTu4OAUKmTF2VfOGe8THZBCoB1j-uHTOiX2PW9eUa5SU/s200/Pendulum+Wave.gif" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Any complex sound, such as made by a bow sweeping across a violin string, or a hammer hitting a gong, can be represented by a set of these sine waves, each with its own parameters. Any sound made by a musical instrument is not just a random collection of these simple waves, but consists of a fundamental, for example, a tone oscillating at 100 Hz, plus a series of waves having a simple relationship with this fundamental: 200, 300, 400 Hz, etc. This is called the harmonic series and seems to be a natural phenomenon.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">All of this was subject matter for the ancient Greeks, most notably Pythagoras, and our understanding of it has subsequently been refined through history, culminating (for geeks) with the work of Joseph Fourier in the 19th C, which led to the sophistication of modern sound sythesisers. In parallel, discoveries in astronomy revealed that orbiting planets follow the rules of harmonic motion. When it was thought that the planets orbited in circles, their relationship with harmonic motion was easily demonstrated. A corresponding 'music of the spheres' was based on the idea that planetary movement and sound vibrations conformed to harmonic motion.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">With the revelation that planetary orbits were elliptical, this still held true but became more complex. If a circular orbit represented a particular harmonic movement, i.e., a particular tone, then an elliptical one meant a change in its harmonic frequency as it orbited, translating not into a continuous tone, but into a glissando. Heady stuff!</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1GgEEMc58alJ8dz_CNfuLH0Du4qoz5GsvnD4HXnzzTiiMjhGHIeknFZ4zMmo6u6tVnuLu9oOT4UNBsSLJaPe8_uPC1wHPsPWw9ScZ3Mvx15T0ZxoB7D7iDuMMZbQjrZnisshjz1Unb9L3/s1600/2019-07-17+11.21.00.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1596" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1GgEEMc58alJ8dz_CNfuLH0Du4qoz5GsvnD4HXnzzTiiMjhGHIeknFZ4zMmo6u6tVnuLu9oOT4UNBsSLJaPe8_uPC1wHPsPWw9ScZ3Mvx15T0ZxoB7D7iDuMMZbQjrZnisshjz1Unb9L3/s200/2019-07-17+11.21.00.jpg" width="199" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">This is tough going without a clear visualisation of what is going on mathematically and treatises have been written explaining the subject, but my point is that harmonic motion is fundamental to the way the universe and everything in it looks (light waves have harmonic motion), moves and sounds. Music and art can be created to demonstrate and represent this, hence my <i>Strangeness and Charm </i>piece.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I know Hannah probably won't view her abstract artworks this way, but I do.</span>Bill Andertonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00638387047078893048noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7297626150639479415.post-11703592098126615392019-08-06T14:42:00.000+02:002019-08-06T14:42:38.313+02:00Chamber Music Plus<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.chambermusicplus.uk/" target="_blank">Chamber Music Plus</a> website publishes a free brochure of classical music concerts in central and northern England. It's a great overview of events, festivals and music societies for 2019/20.</span>Bill Andertonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00638387047078893048noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7297626150639479415.post-12753202123384336742019-08-05T12:21:00.000+02:002019-08-05T16:29:26.858+02:00Momentous Quartet<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiOXCRHp_Fc8EnEQoyUWx2wRPDjmG131pxkacGkzrQN5iv9y_UtzyWpJRe83CuUEbJo6BwhrX1yHkmlmA7Yntrk7W9Vhd5z4AXY9DvgjfeBxJQ9tocOg1311ajK8h8ijgCtJyYJwlp3ctS/s1600/CDCover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="593" data-original-width="606" height="195" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiOXCRHp_Fc8EnEQoyUWx2wRPDjmG131pxkacGkzrQN5iv9y_UtzyWpJRe83CuUEbJo6BwhrX1yHkmlmA7Yntrk7W9Vhd5z4AXY9DvgjfeBxJQ9tocOg1311ajK8h8ijgCtJyYJwlp3ctS/s200/CDCover.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The video installation of <a href="http://www.billanderton.uk/video-installation.html" target="_blank"><i>A Truly Momentous Quartet</i></a> is running at Newent's Secret Gallery until the end of August. Successful live play through there on Saturday eve. at the annual Art Competition prize giving. Sound-track CD published which includes <a href="http://www.billanderton.uk/compositions.html" target="_blank"><i>Alchemy In Music</i></a>.</span></span>Bill Andertonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00638387047078893048noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7297626150639479415.post-39434286192581910592018-09-18T16:34:00.003+02:002019-08-05T16:25:52.496+02:00What Music Might Be<h2 class="wsite-content-title" style="text-align: left;">
</h2>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><img alt="Image result for what is music?" class="rg_ic rg_i" height="121" src="https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQS4zLkrZdyfEQ5Wh_rUk9Z9QpIJc9FhQoWlXYTvxxwXn2Hum75" style="height: 136px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 13px; width: 224px;" width="200" /> The art of arranging
sounds in time so as to produce a continuous, unified, and evocative
composition, as through melody, harmony, rhythm, and timbre.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br />Or:<br />Vocal
or instrumental sounds (or both) combined in such a way as to produce
beauty of form, harmony, and expression of emotion.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br />Or: </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The hidden arithmetical exercise of a soul unconscious that it is calculating <i>Leibniz </i>(a contemporary of J.S. Bach)<br /><br />
What Is Music? Where does the
border between music and sound lie? Is there something other worldly or
mystical about music? Can music create altered states of perception, or
the possibility of experiencing these? How is music the language of us
all? What is music’s place in a rational, scientific culture? What is
the value of music?<br /><br />All these questions deserve some updated answers...</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">John
Cage thought that any sound can be music: He said that,'There is no
noise, only
sound' in an attempt to make us aware of the musical possibilities
contained in the sounds and acoustic spaces that surround us all day
long.</span>Bill Andertonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00638387047078893048noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7297626150639479415.post-10860639019109493502018-03-13T20:40:00.001+01:002018-03-25T20:36:36.952+02:00Message to Myself<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSjO0f0YRa_3gMcVJwjKN5Njhii4WhFv6W9y1abZ_G40woYh6h-SDZwFBZyqUYn8mS9auGBLy8yWHD9jgyUTz4ivASnFSi-0kE2JE5JjHa_2kQ80kTtD31ElwulhlA___qSMZpigIzeCtf/s1600/AtWork.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1072" data-original-width="1600" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSjO0f0YRa_3gMcVJwjKN5Njhii4WhFv6W9y1abZ_G40woYh6h-SDZwFBZyqUYn8mS9auGBLy8yWHD9jgyUTz4ivASnFSi-0kE2JE5JjHa_2kQ80kTtD31ElwulhlA___qSMZpigIzeCtf/s320/AtWork.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The process of composing music, for me, is a game. Given one or two seed ideas, it then becomes a matter of copying and pasting, starting with something quite simple and then using this to build a piece that has enough twists and turns to become musically interesting and satisfying. It's a minimalist approach as the fragments that I copy and paste become repetitive and layered, perhaps distributed among the different instrument parts in overlapping ways. The game is to make it work as a whole. Even the most simple musical fragment can quickly become uncontrollably complex so, I suppose, the craft is in maintaining the simplicity while adding in the interest.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The history of modern art, from impressionism to contemporary abstractions, is particularly useful for inventing associations with musical ideas. The closest I can get to relating my copy-and-paste method with a visual form is that of the cut-out-and-pasted pictures made by Henri Matisse in his later years. His quite crude juxtapositions of colours and shapes, collaged together are often abstract, sometimes more figurative, sometimes somewhere in between. Whatever, they are all expressions of an inner artistic force or experience.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I like having a title first. That seed brings forth musical expression; sucks inner experience into the outside world to become the building blocks dropped into my computer software. I had always thought of this particular composition process as simple and naive in a childish way - a child could have done it. But I value composing like this as something not to move on from having learned how to do it, but on which to focus more, to value and to hone. It makes inventing or purloining titles, then composing, a pleasure; not a chore. All I am doing is playing the game.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">If you'd like to listen to one or two samples: <a href="http://billanderton.uk/compositions.html">billanderton.uk/compositions.html</a> </span>Bill Andertonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00638387047078893048noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7297626150639479415.post-9155636329831820852018-02-04T12:33:00.000+01:002018-02-04T12:35:45.322+01:00A Postcard from the Volcano<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifH52S-n9zj_fbimj9LHr_hY7rs9pupzZb-Tg-72DnkQt7h3xyQlW92ASnQrMrJMweDmdH4CCKvNqUsQPSJ0xcrCbRlF0Jx7D3wLSjMRo_bawk54XOGVpzL6fef0QVNNqwjFiHyslAs3XF/s1600/volcano.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifH52S-n9zj_fbimj9LHr_hY7rs9pupzZb-Tg-72DnkQt7h3xyQlW92ASnQrMrJMweDmdH4CCKvNqUsQPSJ0xcrCbRlF0Jx7D3wLSjMRo_bawk54XOGVpzL6fef0QVNNqwjFiHyslAs3XF/s320/volcano.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921) is credited with introducing the genre of descriptive orchestral work to France and many people will be familiar with, for example, the spooky depiction of death, <i>Danse macabre</i>, used as the signature tune for the Jonathan Creek TV series. You'll find a selection of these symphonic poems recently published on Naxos.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoJsXtWW3nvwxx5rKZT3I8AZCs8k5RdimcSENWpJTwaWR6vEBukqMegILKC2qgAfMTtoZEIoIdqdnFZNHUvCrgOZUgHm4BoH3E8LCaJ3nwZCYOF_CycFpPRT6RLcqPcdIAU-Xya-i6SAU2/s1600/Saint-Saens2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="496" data-original-width="500" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoJsXtWW3nvwxx5rKZT3I8AZCs8k5RdimcSENWpJTwaWR6vEBukqMegILKC2qgAfMTtoZEIoIdqdnFZNHUvCrgOZUgHm4BoH3E8LCaJ3nwZCYOF_CycFpPRT6RLcqPcdIAU-Xya-i6SAU2/s200/Saint-Saens2.jpg" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I like the idea of having a title which will attach itself to the music. Danse macabre is so much more helpful to the imagination than Symphonic Poem, No. 3. With the title, the music <i>is </i>a danse macabre, without it's an abstraction that could equally be a depiction (to me) of an unkind practical joke, or a crime with a funny side; or - and nothing wrong with this - just a piece of music. Don't get the idea that I need a title before a piece of music will come alive in the imagination. It can help, it works, and may be a way in to appreciating the music more fully, or of getting to grips with contemporary music which has no easy way in.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">When it comes to writing, rather than listening, I like to have a title in mind before a single note has been written. The title works for me as an imaginative seed. I'm finding that the somewhat open-ended titles given to the poems and pictures of the Symbolist movement are particularly effective as the launch point for a new piece. How about: On the Manner of Addressing Clouds; or, Hymn from a Watermelon Pavilion; or, A Postcard from the Volcano; or, Two Figures in Dense Violet Night. I particularly like the last two. All of these are titles of poems by the symbolist poet, Wallace Stevens (1879-1955) from his anthology, <i>Harmonium</i>, a sufficiently musical title in itself.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
Bill Andertonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00638387047078893048noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7297626150639479415.post-78907190572017548842017-11-16T17:24:00.000+01:002017-11-16T17:24:36.098+01:00Back Door - Review<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwTmWmBmv0gEp1WpeOm54hPsqkMAL6xfM7co7D8vpM2RpjZTMuNGn4fD-wnO4FL1sAHKpG1RcyN8IKTePmikond5waDflc2S7t75FIOk3WRG5oSNkUdI82m1l1crlYU3H9ALtJiZiCQiyG/s1600/bd.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwTmWmBmv0gEp1WpeOm54hPsqkMAL6xfM7co7D8vpM2RpjZTMuNGn4fD-wnO4FL1sAHKpG1RcyN8IKTePmikond5waDflc2S7t75FIOk3WRG5oSNkUdI82m1l1crlYU3H9ALtJiZiCQiyG/s320/bd.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I just spent a few days up north and was reminded of a pub I visited from time to time many years ago on the N. York. moors on Blakey Ridge close by Rosedale. It's a beautiful place in the summer and bleak in the winter. On the ridge is the 'pub at Blakey', or more precisely the Lion Inn. Two out of three of the band who played there are dead now, but their first album was my first truly great one. I had progressed somewhat, musically speaking, since an opening vinyl purchase featuring Adge Cutler and the Wurzles, a statement surely worthy of an exclamation mark. Back Door came soon after.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">There's a vogue these days for virtuoso electric bass players, but, I'm guessing, the bass player in this band was the first to turn his instrument into bass, rhythm and lead all in one and without any overdubs, too. Back Door were Ron Aspery, Alto and Soprano Sax and Flute; Colin Hodgkinson, Fender Bass; Tony Hicks, Drums. Their jazz-rock style is infused with furiously fast melody lines played in unison on all three instruments, contrasted with atmospheric slowies that invoke the bleak moorland and the sheep outside the lonely pub's back door.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">My vinyl of Back Door is playable but noisy in the way that vintage vinyl is, so their music was well worth the media change to CD. (I prefer CD, not download, btw, with its insert from the original album cover. I'll still play the vinyl version from time to time.) This is music from the early seventies so, if you are a contemporary music type, just keep in mind that this is well past the time of Stockhausen, who all of us are trying still to get to grips with. I'm not easily thrilled by music these days. This music continues to do it for me.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It's possible that the mistake Back Door made was signing with Warner Brothers when they had an early offer from the virgin Virgin Records who were then just about to make it big and take many new bands with them. Back Door had their day in the lime light though and deserve to be revisited; as is the Lion if you are ever passing that way. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span>Bill Andertonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00638387047078893048noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7297626150639479415.post-32881830007283781662017-08-08T17:36:00.002+02:002017-08-08T17:36:44.506+02:00A Great Year - And Next?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjW2ZRpE6vbNcvlzluw2manZHo7-3NnTsWoCvrU5_18oobvc0eWzCSK5V14twxPcLn3tWzN5aL0lqUKyLSQW7I0XONdmdqOiZM-IcELkjIk1YShGcuZGhm97cc28zUM9OGjMqSh0wBK9L3R/s1600/curtains.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="194" data-original-width="259" height="149" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjW2ZRpE6vbNcvlzluw2manZHo7-3NnTsWoCvrU5_18oobvc0eWzCSK5V14twxPcLn3tWzN5aL0lqUKyLSQW7I0XONdmdqOiZM-IcELkjIk1YShGcuZGhm97cc28zUM9OGjMqSh0wBK9L3R/s200/curtains.jpg" width="200" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Ever mindful of the way our Newent Orchestra might progress, I've been giving
thought to what we can do next and how we might develop it (or not!).
Membership has continued to grow and, along with that, arise new
opportunities and new problems to be dealt with. The question is how to
maintain the best of what we have while allowing change to happen.
During our last term we tried a new concert schedule with an extended
season finishing in June, so that an additional concert could be
encompassed. It was a successful move. But what next?<br /><br />Everyone
has their own ideas and wish list. Here's an outline of mine, including a
little blue sky thinking. Personally, I'm more enthusiastic about the
new than the old. I see the merit in introducing people who are new to
classical music to the wonders of its classics, but my own penchant is
for something I've heard less often and has more relevance to me as a
creature of the 20th and now 21st centuries. Imagine my surprise as a
fan of composer, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Harvey_%28composer%29" target="_blank">Jonathan Harvey </a>(look him up), when I became hooked on some old-time romantic song music.<br /><br />Old
Time Music Hall began in the middle of the 19th century and was a
presence in entertainment for about 100 years thereafter, declining only
with the advent of radio and then TV and superceded by the musical
songsmiths, such as our own Ivor Novello, by jazz and the big band era.
It had some great tunes and words that, I suppose, spoke directly to its
audience about human emotion and relationships, about life. The serious
classical composers, too, dealt with questions of the human condition
but have been placed on a plane more to do with existential philosophy
than raw emotion, love and laughter. However, those music halls were in
some ways akin to classical opera with its rowdy, expressive audiences
who were as likely to boo their villains as cheer their favourites.<br /><br />When
I first joined, Newent Orchestra would present traditional classical
concerts, consisting of an overture, followed by a guest soloist, then a
symphony. That was great music to play but, as an amateur orchestra,
was not an audience magnet. Then we began to play shorter, more
entertaining pieces from the classical repertoire, providing programmes
of much greater variety. That worked well. The 'variety' approach would
appear to be our strength and is probably the area that, rather than
moving on from, we should develop. It's the direct communication that
audiences like and respond to, the 'we're all in this together', loving
and laughing, being touched by the music, the performance and the
'old-time' togetherness. Those are just a few thoughts. Make of them
what you will.</span></span>Bill Andertonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00638387047078893048noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7297626150639479415.post-68799957241870625692016-11-17T21:36:00.002+01:002017-08-08T17:39:55.254+02:00A Newent Symphony<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUxfsxvhnq9qr9p09buycWJg4vZ8X_QmFVHvgZ2hOQrvkSBuTZM7wS_GXxWDkl0oMdKupbQC54cIY0aD5yNRoL0ZuxX5lLVN5a0xPm9DdAIwesgPEuDfk63d_5r8GqQBD3JlO8HIivYFve/s1600/newent_market_house2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" kasperskylab_antibanner="on" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUxfsxvhnq9qr9p09buycWJg4vZ8X_QmFVHvgZ2hOQrvkSBuTZM7wS_GXxWDkl0oMdKupbQC54cIY0aD5yNRoL0ZuxX5lLVN5a0xPm9DdAIwesgPEuDfk63d_5r8GqQBD3JlO8HIivYFve/s1600/newent_market_house2.jpg" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">It's taken over seven months to complete this <span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">composition </span>and I felt the need to <span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">express </span>one or two <span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">thoughts</span> after such a long time living with it. It's the most ambitious piece that I've come up with so far and the writing process has been interesting, to say the least. The idea was to take some pictorial themes in and around Newent and to represent them in music. There are five: the lake; its spring daffodils; the market square and main streets; the Onion Fayre; and May Hill with its top-knot of trees.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">Music is an abstract art so the listener is more important than the composer in deciding how to respond to or interpret the music. However, because of my relative inexperience in composition the writing has been an instinctive rather than academic process and the end result seems, to me, clearly descriptive. Satisfyingly though, the music stands on its own, without any titles or descripti<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">ons</span> to go with it.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">The brief to myself was to make the music enjoyable to play and listen to and was written particularly with the Newent Orchestra in mind. Happily, having (hopefully) met these criteria this has not meant any dumbing-down. Compared with a Shostakovitch or a Prokofiev opus, my stuff is easy going, but easy does not mean the music is lacking in depth or interest and listeners will detect a fusion of influences from Baroque to <span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">folk</span>, including calypso! It's my hope that the symphony will have appeal well beyond the boundaries of Newent.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">A concert has been scheduled to launch the Newent Symphony at the end of March. In keeping with the descriptive, even visual nature of the music, an art exhibition celebrating Newent in art, poetry and photography will be run in conjunction with the concert. This is quite an ambitious project, involving a much expanded orchestra membership, its brass contingent and percussion, involving also a complete community cross-section of young and old alike to both create the event and come and listen. Although this sounds somewhat ambitious, a ringing endorsement has been achieved already with the awarding of a substantial grant for staging the concert. That was great news to me and I openly thank clarinetist, Claire Townshend, for her support and for obtaining this bonanza for our orchestra.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">You can preview the music at <a href="http://www.billanderton.uk/compositions.html">www.billanderton.uk/compositions.html</a></span>Bill Andertonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00638387047078893048noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7297626150639479415.post-43584240030804975942016-07-23T09:26:00.002+02:002016-07-23T09:32:56.995+02:00Know Your Onions<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7ZmP6NFXrGSrdw1TE_N3kI_4NVT5oIo6_3QoPa9vuyTA09SVk7wn214FDrgz7IrY-sZWzMjsHxmXjXt6yJDV_I6H9AtqVEb0ZypDTkTtFiutFfROSATJTf2G8G6QIqQDEQwkoKKb3J3Uz/s1600/onion.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="148" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7ZmP6NFXrGSrdw1TE_N3kI_4NVT5oIo6_3QoPa9vuyTA09SVk7wn214FDrgz7IrY-sZWzMjsHxmXjXt6yJDV_I6H9AtqVEb0ZypDTkTtFiutFfROSATJTf2G8G6QIqQDEQwkoKKb3J3Uz/s200/onion.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLfvKimkN_IRh621-qVUtbpi8qhl1C66fqhEU5SiNCtzmeXRrcXsc7vbCeg8Q87mO6V3OcMHwpZX-74mBaEbnPQGzuLMq9DQkFQ3Qgb5RwikUq4SKMGr4RYaMuxhGvmuZwPDWGnkiNkR6O/s1600/bill+-+56.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">I've
been doing a little research into local folk music. The reason is that I
wanted to make reference to one or two old, local folk tunes in an
orchestral piece that I'm writing. It appears that Cecil Sharp, the
erstwhile gatherer of folk tunes visited Newent in 1910 when he noted
tunes from "Charlie" Baldwin when he was in Newent workhouse. The
workhouse is now our Community Centre building on Ross Road, where, a
nice little coincidence, the orchestra rehearses. Charlie Baldwin was
born in 1827 at Gorsley Common, described (I like this!) as a "wild and
untamed place", on a drovers' route from Wales and a stopping place for
travellers. One of several tunes Cecil Sharp collected from Charlie was
'Polly Put the Kettle On'.<br />
<br />
Folk and classical music can seem miles apart and this gap is defined in
medieval times when the goals of sacred and secular composers were
different. Composers of sacred music sought to bring a mystical
atmosphere to church, while secular music was made solely for
entertainment, for dance and to express love. Sacred composers were
formally trained while secular composers were not. The two forms of
music represented a musical separation in society between the trained
and the untrained, basically between the privileged and the poor. This
division still exists today but not so clearly in terms of rich and poor
but as an unfortunate musical snobbery: there are the commoners who
love their folk, pop, rock and country music, and those who are
'classically trained' and ostensibly appreciate the finer things in
music. At this point, I'll drink a toast to crossover music.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLfvKimkN_IRh621-qVUtbpi8qhl1C66fqhEU5SiNCtzmeXRrcXsc7vbCeg8Q87mO6V3OcMHwpZX-74mBaEbnPQGzuLMq9DQkFQ3Qgb5RwikUq4SKMGr4RYaMuxhGvmuZwPDWGnkiNkR6O/s1600/bill+-+56.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLfvKimkN_IRh621-qVUtbpi8qhl1C66fqhEU5SiNCtzmeXRrcXsc7vbCeg8Q87mO6V3OcMHwpZX-74mBaEbnPQGzuLMq9DQkFQ3Qgb5RwikUq4SKMGr4RYaMuxhGvmuZwPDWGnkiNkR6O/s320/bill+-+56.jpg" width="213" /></a></span></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;"><br />
Where was I - oh, yes, onions. The music I'm attempting to write is a
tone poem, with scenes inspired by some aspects of life in Newent. One
such scene is the Onion Fayre, which takes over the town for one day in
September (this year on the 10th). Revived in recent times the fayre has
medieval roots so I thought it appropriate to make reference, in music,
to medieval folk traditions and combine this with something more
modern.<br />
<br />
The <span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Newent Orchestra </span>has a stall to promote itself at the Onion Fayre and this
year, w<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">ill</span> be doubling the size of the stall <span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">to </span>present
some live music throughout the day. If you are wandering past, you might
hear some of our woodwind and brass musicians, and one or two string
chamber groups. You might also hear the strains of a couple of those
scenes in and around Newent depicted in music, one in particular owing
something to Cecil Sharp and Charlie Baldwin.</span></span></span></span>Bill Andertonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00638387047078893048noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7297626150639479415.post-70427251665604755542016-01-23T21:20:00.001+01:002016-01-23T21:26:20.448+01:00Hi Fidelity<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSl87qo-toPcPnssqS-Jd-oOIYDOpWP3t2AnDxjLqqj_wC2v2-vu3ALdAJnyDMGCp3F14qmD3NlPTct2Ir-e980hwiJW_Q438Slet3TH0fHQqazjY1PRmCm2HzlAUexLup4qMm63f8oQtE/s1600/high_fidelity.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSl87qo-toPcPnssqS-Jd-oOIYDOpWP3t2AnDxjLqqj_wC2v2-vu3ALdAJnyDMGCp3F14qmD3NlPTct2Ir-e980hwiJW_Q438Slet3TH0fHQqazjY1PRmCm2HzlAUexLup4qMm63f8oQtE/s200/high_fidelity.jpg" width="130" /></a></div>
Yer know that Nick Hornby did that thing about making top tens - what's yours? Like, top ten best albums of all time, or yer top ten Motown recerds, or top ten bass guitarists or... well. u get the idea. Ten is actually quite a lot. You get to three or four, whatever the category and then have to start thinking really hard and that hurts. The thing is, that top-ten whatevers changes, too. Depends on your mood and, the main thing, discovering something new and unexpected. So here's my proposal. Never mind the top ten, that's too hard. Let's make it top five. Apart from anything five focuses the mind. Makes you think about the BEST. No buts, not ifs, no nearly-rans. Sharing a top five means too that we give those top tips that really mean something. You'll know they're worth looking into, especially if there's something you haven't heard of.<br />
<br />
Here's a choice for the top five albums that I want to listen to right here, right now, Saturday night. The peculiar thing I realise on thinking this through is how wildly unrelated is my right-now musical taste: Strypes, <i>Little Victories</i>; John Adams (the one who lives in Alaska), <i>Become Ocean</i>; Royal Blood, <i>Royal Blood</i>; Howard Skempton, <i>Lento</i>; Oh, and I won't bore you with the fifth. Safe it to say it's some 17th-century Baroque stuff. How pretentious is that. There you go; I've bared my soul. There's nothing else. Just emptiness.Bill Andertonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00638387047078893048noreply@blogger.com0