Composer Gavin Bryars started the Portsmouth Sinfonia in 1970. The idea was that the members of the orchestra shouldn't be familiar with their instruments. If they were professional musicians, they should pick another instrument rather than the one in which they specialize. Brian Eno played clarinet with them for a while and they play on his song "Put a Straw Under Baby."
It's an interesting concept. Bryars was a trained double bassist, and I don't think he would denigrate skill. But you do sometimes discover new things just by stumbling around.
2 comments:
The Portsmouth Sinfonia piece is interesting but as Jer said just now it's one of those productions that's probably more fun to be involved in doing rather than listening to. It's definitely recognizable but would I want to sit through the whole symphony? No.
I hadn't remembered Gavin Bryars so it was interesting to see what the internet has to say. My favorite piece by him turned out to be composition called: 'Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet' from a recording he made of an unknown homeless man singing a hymn he'd improvised.
Jesus' blood never failed me yet
Never failed me yet
Jesus' blood never failed me yet
That's one thing I know
For he loves me so
He found the recording was in tune with his piano, and, listening to it and playing it back in the art department he worked in (where, as the tape was being looped, “the normally lively room was unnaturally subdued, and people were moving about much more slowly than usual, a few sitting alone, quietly weeping”), formed an orchestral accompaniment to the man’s voice. Here, it is played with American songwriter Tom Waits, who participated from his love of the piece alone, singing the lyrics in unison.
Bryars found out years later that the homeless man had died, meaning he would have never heard the final piece, but it has been cemented in Bryars' discography since.
https://youtu.be/gT0wonCq_MY?si=6DSilWehDh4dB8P8
Eno's first three solo albums: 'Here Come the Warm Jets', 'Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy', and 'Another Green World' were all brilliant enough that once again it's hard to choose a favorite song among them. Tiger Mountain's 'Put a Straw Under Baby' was delightfully weird with lyrics like 'your good deed for the day' and' there's a brain in the table'. song called 'I'll Come Running' from Green World can make me cry.
All that talent and skill made for an incredible time to look back on. Thanks for bringing back the memory.
You have a point about hearing a whole symphony under those conditions. They may be better taken in small doses, which of course recording technology allows us to do. One problem they're said to have is that after a while the players become too familiar with their chosen instruments. Kind of like some said that the Shaggs weren't as fun to listen to after the Wiggin sisters learned to play.
I don't know all that much about Bryars, but I have heard "Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet." I think it was back in college, it came on the radio, and it was so arrestingly strange a few of us had to stop and listen. It's a shame that the original singer didn't get to hear the finished track. He'd been an integral part of something quite beautiful. Not surprisingly, Tom Waits is quite simpatico with the whole thing.
Those are all excellent albums, and it is quite hard to pick favorites from them. Taking Tiger Mountain has the creepy "The Great Pretender" and the sunnier "Mother Whale Eyeless." Like you, I've always found "I'll Come Running" very moving, and it sounds like Eno didn't overthink it. His fourth album Before and After Science is also a must-hear in my estimation. It's got a song on it called "King's Lead Hat", which is an anagram for "Talking Heads." He was already a fan.
I'm glad to bring back the memory. You two have influenced what I hear and like.
Post a Comment