One of the joys of my age of music discovery was that we often learned loads about an artist before we ever heard a note of music. Their politics would be deconstructed in the NME, their styles and breakfast habits analysed in Smash Hits, well before their singles ever made it to Woolies in Derby.
Music, for me, has always been hard to separate from the musician.
So, as soon as I discovered the Composers' Rooms podcast I devoured the whole thing in one long binge. It's been an absolutely splendid introduction to a whole suite of contemporary composers, most of which were utterly new to me.
Most of their music, frankly, I didn't care for much. But that's contemporary classical music, not mostly, my cup of tea. But I liked almost every programme, lots of little snippets of interesting thought.
Things:
Despite the premise of the programme I don't think most of them are really that bothered about their room. They almost all said they could compose anywhere.
If anything it should have been called Composers' Stationery. They seemed much more concerned about that. Gavin Bryars, for instance, is down to his last few Aztek Scoremaster 101 pencils, now discontinued. And Liza Lim wears all her pencils down to tiny stubs before she moves onto the next one. Harrison Birtwistle seems very proud of his self-designed manuscript paper, he's had a lifetime's supply designed and is now down to just a one-metre pile.
I like the sound of Claudia Molitor's 'Desk Opera'.
And of the piece Errollyn Wallen did for the Tallis Scholars, but I can't find it to listen to.
And the simplicity and clarity of Emily Hall's music. (Spotify link) This track, Eternity, is especially lovely.
I love everything Jennifer Walshe does. Except the sound of much of her actual music. I'm such a philistine. Historical Documents of the Irish Avant-Garde is especially brilliant and unlistenable. (I know.)
Larry Goves mentioned 'a day of noh theatre' but I misheard him and thought he said 'a day of no theatre'. Which would be brilliant. Like Bill Drummond's No Music Day, but world-wide, like Earth Day. What a dream.
