Tetra – imminent date!

 

Wednesday, 23 October 2013 – 7:30pm / Hall One, Kings Place and it’s

Tetra Guitar Quartet celebrate their 25th anniversary with the launch of their eighth studio album,Nocturne in Blue and Silver (BGS Records). The programme includes world premieres of two pieces commissioned for this anniversary as well as Elgar, Mahler and Beethoven.

Continue reading

Casa Margarita – 18th October 2013, South Hill Park, Recital Room, Bracknell

 

Doors open 7.30pm, starts 8pm.

A grand show in an intimate space!
Enter the lustrous interior of an ancient Spanish house and meet the characters that live there. Hear this achingly beautiful story of love told in words, stunning music, and improvised percussion. Feel the heat of an Andalucian night!

Come to Casa Margarita!

“Ravishing music and exciting rhythms this is an engaging concert with a great story” Oxford Times

Videos after the break Continue reading

The Metropolitan Museum’s Guitar Heroes app

This is a free app to go with the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s exhibition, Guitar Heroes – Legendary Craftsmen from Italy to New York.
Through collaborations with musicians and experts, the app brings to life the guitar makers’ creative process and celebrates the enduring relevance of these instruments.
It features museum-commissioned musical performances expressly designed for this exhibition, artist interviews, and rarely seen archival video footage.
Plus pictures of guitars!

Well worth a punt, and a visit, if you are in the vicinity.

The Contemporary Lute

 

 

 

 

Here is a curiosity, which is a pity, as players of early music instruments do happen to live in the 21st century and can have some input into the contemporary scene. It is not restricted to Sting playing Dowland, and this marvellous collection by Peter Söderberg and Sven Åberg includes an arrangement of Stockhausen’s Tierkreis (Zodiac) from 1977, Ingvar Karkoff’s 4 duets (originally for 2 lutes), John Cage’s Dream and Steve Reich’s Piano Phase. Interestingly, most of the repertoire dates from the 1960s and 70s – what has happened to music in our century?

Continue reading

Adrian Utley in C

Adrian Utley is an established guitarist thanks to his longstanding and impressive (yet still rather slim) catalogue of work with Bristol based band Portishead.

This month he  brings together an orchestra of electric guitar players to interpret Terry Riley’s ‘In C’ on a new CD released by Invada.

Written in 1964,‘In C’ is one of the most influential pieces of music from the 20th Century, it established minimalism as a music genre. In C’s simple musical rules – 53 musical phrases in C and no duration – allow for infinite variations.

Utley’s impressive Guitar Orchestra is augmented by organs and a clarinet making for a mesmeric sound experience. The Guitar Orchestra consists of 24 musicians from Bristol: 19 guitarists including John Parish (PJ Harvey), Thought Forms, and Jim Barr (Portishead live band); 4 organs and a bass clarinet.

Continue reading

The Vulcan Lute

Lute playing Trekkies rejoice – you can now learn the instrument of your choice!

The Vulcan lute (sometimes referred to as Vulcan harp, Vulcan lyre, orVulcan Lyrette) was a twelve-stringed instrument, played on the planet Vulcan, that was tuned on a diatonic scale and noted to be very soothing. (VOY: “Innocence“)

Spock was proficient at playing the Vulcan lute and was known to play it often during his off-duty hours. (TOS: “Charlie X“, “The Conscience of the King“, “Amok Time“, “The Way to Eden“; Star Trek V: The Final Frontier)

Continue reading