Valerie Tryon concert Sunday 12 June

[Robin Orton]

St Barts not quite so jam-packed tonight - a pity, because we had another top rank performance from a world class soloist. I think 'poetic' is the word I'd apply to her playing - not that there weren't plenty of pyrotechnics as well, particularly in three virtuoso pieces totally unknown to me: Chabrier, Bouree Fantastique; Grunfeld, Soirees de Vienne (based on themes by Johann Strauss the younger); and an amazing encore, which someone told me on the way out was a Chopin study(anybody know which?) - I guessed Rachmaninov!

Ms Tryon seems to be at her best in the romantic repertoire: the highlights for me were three beautifully shaped late Brahms intermezzos and the Chopin Scherzo No 3. I was disappointed in three Poulenc nocturnes from 1929 - they hadn't got the bitter-sweet pungency you associate with Poulenc - or the not-very-interesting early Debussy nocturne from 1892.

[Am I (and Tim sometimes) the only poster on this forum who goes to these concerts? Nobody else seems to have anything to say about them. And why do other events in Sydenham not get reviewed (which I see is one of the things the Town Cafe is meant to be for)? What was Shedload of Love like at the Golden Lion on Friday? How about some reviews of Sydenham Festival events?]

[kennyb2]

Funny thing music, I am absolutely tone deaf,and couldn't carry a tune in a bucket.

I can't see what the attraction of it all is, at school I drove my music teacher to distraction.
Never bought a record in my life either, don't own any music playback gizmos either and the joy of moving out of SE26 was that I no longer had to listen to anyone else's music either. Often a choice of as much as three coming over the wall.
Or from three streets away.

I am told I must be missing out on something, but then I am a bad person anyway.
Or just plain Philistine?

I do get up at 4.30 to listen to the dawn chorus though, which is magnificent around me.
So perhaps not a completely lost soul.


This is not a criticism of ,nor a dig at anyone or anything. Just random musing at wine o'clock.

[bigbadwolf]

Mesmerizing, I'm sure.

Robin, have you ever considered changing your username to Rhapsody Orton instead of the comparatively bland nom de plume that you currently contribute under?

[kennyb2]

Rachmaninorton??

Beetorton?

must be better ones but I'm off to bed.

[Robin Orton]

It's not a nom de plume, bigbadwolf, it's my name, But I'll bear your suggestion in mind if I ever feel the need to conceal my identity under an alias. Rhapsody Orton... yes, I like it.

[bigbadwolf]

I can just picture the scene. Ensconced in his favourite armchair, wearing his favourite woolen socks and with his eyes closed, Robin's head rocks and twitches in harmony with the dramatic and emotive concerto. A small, solitary tear rolls down his cheek.

[leenewham]

Perhaps your name should be KennyG rather than Kennyb2.

[Robin Orton]

Ensconced in his favourite armchair, wearing his favourite woolen socks and with his eyes closed, Robin's head rocks and twitches in harmony with the dramatic and emotive concerto. A small, solitary tear rolls down his cheek.

Got it in one, except that I wasn't wearing socks and St Barts don't unfortunately run to armchairs.

It's 'woollen' in British usage by the way, bigbadwolf. I'm sure you won't mind having this pointed out, so that you can avoid the error in future.

[Tim Lund]

Funny thing music, I am absolutely tone deaf,and couldn't carry a tune in a bucket.

... the joy of moving out of SE26 was that I no longer had to listen to anyone else's music either.

I am told I must be missing out on something, but then I am a bad person anyway.
Or just plain Philistine?

I do get up at 4.30 to listen to the dawn chorus though, which is magnificent around me.
So perhaps not a completely lost soul.

Kenny:

Not being able to carry a tune is far from being tone deaf. I had a very musical "ex" once who was simply incredulous that I could try singing something, end in a quite different key than I'd started, and be completely unaware of it. One day I was trying to pick out a tune with some interval in it, and eventually got it right - it was a minor seventh, for the technically inclined - and she couldn't imagine anyone not knowing this fact straight away. It's far from being anything to do with snobbishness - or even a good or bad person - said "ex", who grew up in a mining community, would have regarded me as by far the snobbier one of us.

I realised from going to concerts with her that she was getting something from the music which I wasn't - which I think explains why she would always stay awake. In this connection, I'm looking forward to the up-coming Mozart Piano concerto, since it's the slow movements in these that, without being able to follow the intricacies of key changes and themes reappearing with variation, I respond to simply at their wonderfully calming emotional level. I just love them, but my wife will be beside me, watching out in case my head starts nodding ...

Apart from its emotional impact - which is still the main thing I like about music - in an odd way I also appreciate being aware that there is so much more to it that I'll ever understand. It's wonderful and humbling, and no one who doesn't get music should feel they are in some way Philistine.

And I'm glad you enjoy the dawn chorus ... why not start your record collection today with Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony, #6?

[kennyb2]

Thank you for kind words advice Tim, but I am afraid most of what you are saying just goes over my head, its all just someone else's noise to me.

I don't possess any kind of record player and don't intend to, the dawn chorus however is worth getting up for as is the wonderful quiet all around me in which it happens and which is discernable from the bird song.

Funnily enough, I can tell by listening if an engine is running with its ignition timing out, but for the rest I can just about tell differnce between a Violin and a chainsaw, frankly I prefer the chainsaw.

I was once taken to a guitar concert at the Fairfield Halls, slept through most of it.

lost for ever you see.

[Robin Orton]

-

it was a minor seventh, for the technically inclined -

If this were the Town Pub, Tim, I would score an easy point by pointing out that there is no such thing as a 'minor seventh' - I think 'diminished seventh' may be the term you're groping for.

However, as this is only the Town Cafe, where courtesy and consideration is the norm (I now bitterly regret commenting on bigbadwolf's spelling, but I'm afraid a red mist came over my eyes and I just couldn't stop myself), I shall refrain from mentioning it.

[Tim Lund]

Hi Robin:

According to Wikipedia a minor seventh is an interval, as is a diminished seventh, but not the same one. To avoid ambiguity, the interval I was thinking about was one where the ratio between the frequency of the two notes was 2 raised to the power of 5/6. Clear enough for you, or would you like to see me outside?

[Robin Orton]

Tim, I believe you are right. I apologize. All my life - including, I have always thought, when I studied music theory for Associated Boards piano exams and GCE music 'O' level - I have referred to the flattened seventh interval (e.g. C to B flat) as a 'diminished seventh', and believed that only the flattened major third and sixth should be referred to as 'minor' intervals. It appears I was mistaught (or, more likely perhaps, that I mislearnt or that I misremember) and that the term 'diminished seventh' should is in fact be used for the flattened 'minor seventh', e.g. C to B double flat (which in equal temperament, i.e. on the piano keyboard, is of course the same as C to A.)

Thank you for putting me right.

[bigbadwolf]

Blimey, Robin/Rhapsody, you must feel like a right prat now.

[Robin Orton]

Blimey, Robin/Rhapsody, you must feel like a right prat now.

Indeed, but it's good for me.

[kennyb2]

Is there an interpreter in the house?