Journal Entries
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The Aldeburgh Festival...
Posted Jun 24, 2001
...is where I've just got back from. If you haven't heard of it, this is a classical music festival, which was founded in the late 1940s by Benjamin Britten, Peter Pears and Eric Crozier. It was originally based in Aldeburgh, on the Suffolk coast, with most of the concerts taking place in the Jubilee Hall. It outgrew this, and in the late 1960s moved to a converted maltings house a few miles inland, at Snape. This building is, not suprisingly, known as Snape Maltings, and has become a world famous concert venue. It seats about 800 people, which seems to me about the right size for a classical venue, and overlooks the beautiful reedbeds of the river Alde, making it a great place to visit on a summer evening.
I have a minor connection with the festival this year, as they have used some of my photos of the landscape around Aldeburgh in the Festival brochure and programme, and this earned a friend and me some free concert tickets and a meal in the restuarant at the Maltings.
The music at Aldeburgh spans all periods of classical music, from Purcell and co. through to premieres of new works. The focus is very much on enjoying music and arts, rather than wearing fancy clothes or 'being seen', and the Festival as a whole is shamelessly highbrow - no fear of dumbing down!
Stand out moments for me this year included a very imaginative staging of Britten's opera 'The Rape of Lucretia', Colin Matthews' powerful piece 'Continuum', and a performance of Beethoven and Shostakovich by the Borodin String Quartet which got them a standing ovation (believe me, they deserved it).
Hmmm... this is turning into an article rather than a journal entry! However, I'll leave it here, and maybe do a proper article in a month or two.
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Latest reply: Jun 24, 2001
At last...
Posted May 28, 2001
Last night, I finally got to see my fave band, Ozric Tentacles, perform live. They did not disappoint! I've been a fan for about 6 or 7 years, but what with one thing and another, had never seen them for real before.
If you haven't come across the wonderful Tentacles, they play entirely instrumental prog. rock, with strong ethnic, jazz and dance flavourings, and a smattering of gentle offbeat humour. I'll have to do a proper article on them at some stage, but if you want to find out more, head over to [link removed by moderator], their beautifully designed web site, which includes lots of music samples etc.
I you're a fan already, here is a set list from last night. My memory is what it has always been, i.e. awful, so I don't guarantee this list to be more than about 70% accurate, but here is is anyway...
From 'Erpland':
Sunscape
The Throbbe (encore - second number)
Erpland
Snakepit
From 'Strangeitude':
White Rhino Tea (encore - first number)
Sploosh!
Saucers
From 'Jurassic Shift':
Train Oasis
From 'Become the Other':
Vibuthi
Cat DNA
From 'Waterfall Cities':
Sultana Detrii
From 'The Hidden Step':
Ashlandi Bol
Aramanu
Pixel Dream
From 'Pyramidion':
Pyramidion
Discuss this Journal entry [1]
Latest reply: May 28, 2001
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Stretchy
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