Monday 19 December 2005

I've had a sneak preview of Wednesday's Bach broadcast, which is very interesting indeed. It's always revealing to hear something from a different angle after the event.

The cantata is pleasingly good, with only the last movement tending a little towards an inappropriate jolliness. There's lots going on in the sonata - my occasional bum note doesn't matter as much as I thought it would - and we make a good contrast between the astonishing busyness of the second and fourth movements, and the complete calm of the third. And you can hear Bach, which is the point of the whole exercise. 

The concerto is a bit of a mess though: in the first movement, James plays with the long lines that Bach wrote, while around him there's a tendency to chop everything up into little bits. I sit in the middle feeling uncomfortable and as a result not playing very much, and my attempts to bring the string playing closer to what James was doing fail miserably. Oh well. I usually sit with my back to the audience, so that I can hear what's going on from an ideal listening position, but in this concert I sat at the back of the stage so that DG and I could play the sonata with the harpsichord facing the right way (the sonata wasn't originally in the programme). As a result I wasn't as in control as I would have liked to be. So I won't do that again.

Anyway, listen on Wednesday and make your own mind up ... 10pm onwards.

later
In the mail today I received a CD-R containing Martyn Bennett's track 'Paisley Spin', which I'm told was left off the Grit album for copyright reasons, as it's brilliantly chock full of Gerry Rafferty samples they couldn't get cleared. The one most relevant to me is the little harmonium solo at the beginning of 'To Each and Everyone', which I'll play in live in the concert next month. Martyn really didn't recognise musical boundaries - even now, he's getting me to admit my knowledge of old Gerry Rafferty LPs.