[Elements] 060918

[pleiades@centurytel.net]

ELEMENTS	MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2006  THE ADELAIDE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA TB/OZ 
MEETUP EDITION

[Adelaide OTB]
[The Concert Program Notes]
[Adelaide Bells - Part one]
[Adelaide Bells - Part two]
_______________________________________________________________

Date: Mon, 18 Sep 2006 21:22:03 +0930
From: Matthew Sorell <matthew.sorell at adelaide.edu.au>
Subject: [Amarok] Adelaide OTB

Hi everyone

Well I'm not actually going to review the performance because I was so
close to the organisation of it.  I did want to share that experience
with all of you but I really couldn't at the time because the orchestra
is a professional outfit and you'd have all got sick of it.

I will give you some idea of my involvement NOW though...

When I heard about the concert (months ago), I wrote to the orchestra
pointing out that (a) I was a serious academic, not a nutter, (b) I was
an enthusiastic fan of Mike Oldfield's music, and (c) I was also tower
captain of the Adelaide Town Hall and wouldn't it be great if we could
use the tower bells in the performance?

I had in-depth face to face discussions with the artistic administrator
and the conductor (Ben Northey), and handed over to Ben spare copies of
OTB, TB and videotapes of concerts (since I now have them on DVD).  I
tried to stay hands off unless invited, partly to avoid making a
nuisance of myself but also because if I wasn't involved (1) I wouldn't
feel bad about it and (2) so that I would enjoy the show.

The next thing you know I was asked to write the concert notes.  Then
Ben flew over from Melbourne and we discussed using the bells,
eventually settling on just the Ghost Bell.  Finally, just a couple of
weeks ago, the possibility of giving the pre-concert talk was mooted.
But the latter two were not finalised until Tuesday at the rehearsal,
where I was introduced as a "leading international authority on the
music of Mike Oldfield".

Daunting as that introduction was, I'll make the point that this is
probably not completely unjustified but I am sure there are many others
on this list who could similarly claim a higher status.  I also want to
point out that in the ten+ years I've been on this list, I've learned a
lot from everybody else.  So it would be fair to say that the advice I
gave the orchestra and conductor was a distillation of material from all
of you on Amarok, and I thank you.

I rang a handbell at the studio on Tuesday; the decision to go ahead
with the Ghost Bell wasn't confirmed until Thursday morning at the full
rehearsal, when we discovered that it really did work.

OK, a couple of other things.  The concert WAS RECORDED.  The Friday
night concert was recorded by the ABC and will be broadcast in November.
However, DAVID BEDFORD has requested a copy and he will be sent one as
soon as it can be arranged.  I will see what I can do for everyone else.

I want to acknowledge David's helpfulness in preparing the pre-concert
talk.  Jeff Gower forwarded my email with a few queries to him, and he
was kind enough to respond personally.  Here's what David had to say (my
notes with prompts)...

  > - David joined Kevin Ayers and the Whole World in order to develop his
  > understanding and appreciation of the new sounds emerging in rock/pop
  > music.
It was actually more by accident than design - the manager of Soft
Machine had heard some of my arrangements for a chanteuse and asked me
to do some arranging on Kevin's first solo LP Joy of a Toy. Since this
involved some keyboards it was a natural progression for me to be asked
to join the band. Mike joined after being auditioned by Kevin. It's true
that my classical colleagues were in the main rather snobbish about my
involvement.

  > This is an illustration of his broad mindedness at a time when
  > the conservative classical establishment was not interested in the new
  > music, as evidenced for example by the reservation of good quality
  > vinyl for classical LPs while pop albums were often pressed using
  > recycled scraps.
  > - David was a major influence in Mike Oldfield's personal musical
  > development, acting as much as a teacher/mentor as a friend.

Yes we had long chats about music in our Ford Transit during journeys to
and from gigs. I gave him suggetions for listening, ranging from Delius
to Terry Riley and Stravisky and Carl Orff.
  > - His orchestral arrangement of Tubular Bells served several purposes,
  > all of them a form of musical education, but chiefly to show to the
  > classical world that modern music was valid/meritorious as "real"
  > music.  It was not really an attempt to popularise classical music
  > through the arrangement of rock music (cf contemporary arrangements of
  > the Beatles, Abba, Pink Floyd et al) for a "pop" audience.
  > - In this regard he was a radical - just as ELP had brought classical
  > music (esp Pictures at an Exhibition) to a modern/progressive
  > audience, so Bedford brought progressive rock to the attention of the
  > conservative classical establishment, using Tubular Bells as his
  > particular tool and following this through with subsequent
  > collaboration with Oldfield and later with others.

I think you're giving me too much credit. The main reason for
orchestrating TB was that Richard Bransom offered me a large fee!
Although a lot of your remarks above are also true.

  > If you happen to be in contact with David, please pass on my
  > admiration for his work.  If he is interested in the conductor's
  > comments on the small changes he intends to make to the arrangement I
  > would be happy to pass them on.

Thanks for your kind remarks, feel free to make any changes you fell are
required. it's not sacrosanct, indeed I would probably make changes if I
were to revise the orchestration.

  >  In particular, the tolling bell which
  > occurs before the finale (arranged on brass by Bedford) will be a form
  > of spatial displacement for the audience, as that bell will be heard
  > from the belltower at the front of the building (the back of the
  > auditorium).

I hope the performance is a great success. Incidentally, if you have any
contacts with choirs, my most recently completed project has been to
arrange 4 Beach Boys songs for chorus, recently performed with great
success at a Music Camp. it was a classical choir and they couldn't
believe how good the music was - especially 'God Only Knows'!

David also sent us the following message on Saturday:

"Heartiest greetings to all of you at the Tubular Bells convention!

It's been a part of my musical life for more than 30 years and it's
great that people still appreciate it.

All best wishes for a succesful and enjoyable convention.

Warmest regards

David Bedford"

I'll post my concert notes shortly.

Matthew
______________________________

Date: Mon, 18 Sep 2006 21:28:38 +0930
From: Matthew Sorell <matthew.sorell at adelaide.edu.au>
Subject: [Amarok] The Concert Program Notes

As promised here are my concert notes.  Please note that these are
copyright.  You are welcome to them for research or personal use.
Commercial use/republication (include online publication) requires
permission from me, noting that Symphony Australia has already been
granted permission for use by its affiliated orchestras.

Tubular Bells Part 
I                                                    final 14 August 2006
Mike Oldfield, orchestral arrangement by David Bedford

Mike Oldfield was a shy, self-taught, teenage folk and rock guitarist
when he joined Kevin Ayers and the Whole World as bass player in 1970.
There he developed a friendship with established classical composer
David Bedford, who had joined the band to broaden his exposure to rock
music and new sounds.  The two would later collaborate in each other’s
work - Bedford as arranger of orchestra, strings or choir; Oldfield as
guitar soloist on such recordings as Star’s End (1974).

The seventeen-year-old Oldfield drew on Bedford’s encouragement to
develop the idea of an extended rock composition.  He recorded a rough
demonstration tape, overdubbing electric organ and various guitars, but
no record company would take on the project.  By 1971, he was working as
an impoverished session guitarist at Virgin’s new Manor Studio.  His
tape came to the attention of Virgin boss Richard Branson, earning him
residency at the Manor and a week of studio time in late 1972, followed
by the opportunity to record whenever the studio was not in use.

Oldfield played almost all the instruments himself, assembling the album
in a studio environment barely capable at that time of such an ambitious
and complex project, with the creative and technical assistance of Tom
Newman and Simon Heyworth.  He had rented a set of tubular bells from
Abbey Road with perhaps a vague idea of the final form of his piece.
Only when Vivian Stanshall, eccentric front man of the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah
Band, was invited to act as Master of Ceremonies to introduce the
instruments in the climax of Part One, did the title Tubular Bells
become clear.

The album remained unmarketable.  As a last resort it became one of four
which launched the Virgin Records label.

Consisting of two sides of 25 minutes of continuous music, it was
inconceivable that Tubular Bells would sell in the world of the
three-minute pop song.  Yet it spent nearly five years in the UK charts
after its release on May 25, 1973, eventually reaching Number One by
pushing aside its successor, Oldfield's Hergest Ridge.  It won a Grammy
award in 1975 for Best Instrumental Composition and has today sold well
over 16 million copies worldwide.

Oldfield's sound is distinctive, but his 22 original albums to date have
varied in genre from heavy rock and pop to classical and world music.
He recorded the soundtrack for The Killing Fields (1984) and developed
his own computer adventure game Music Virtual Reality.  There have been
two Tubular Bells sequels and a confident re-recording, and the themes
re-appear frequently in his other albums.

As a guitarist Oldfield’s technique comes from his folk roots.  He picks
with his fingernails and uses violinist’s vibrato ­ along, rather than
across, the string.  He also embellishes in the style of bagpipe
composition to emphasise the phrasing on a heavily sustained guitar, and
his bass guitar is expressive, not the bmm bmm bmm of conventional rock
music.  Although labelled a multi-instrumentalist, in fact Oldfield is
today a guitar virtuoso comfortable with any fretted instrument, and he
regards himself modestly as “not much of a keyboard player”.

After Tubular Bells, Oldfield would become renowned as an early adopter
of synthesisers and leading-edge production technology.  On Tubular
Bells he made extensive use of a wide variety of electronic distortion
effects.  Of particular note is his double speed guitar, a sustained
guitar with a curiously fast attack created by recording to a half-speed
tape and then playing back at normal speed.

The Beatles had used string and brass ensembles, and Emerson Lake and
Palmer had commandeered Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition as a
progressive rock icon, but it was Bedford who radically closed the loop
by interpreting his young friend’s album as a classical composition.
The challenge was compounded by Oldfield’s distinctive sound textures,
and the difficulty of convincing the reticent young musician of the
value of the exercise.  The orchestration is strictly conventional with
the one exception, in Part Two, of an extended electric guitar solo.

Bedford’s arrangement was first recorded by the Royal Philharmonic
Orchestra in 1974.  It was not Bedford’s only interpretation, having
already scored the avant-garde Variations on a Rhythm of Mike Oldfield
(1973) for “36 bottles, 18 flowerpots, 9 cymbals, 3 snare drums, 3
timpani, 12 squeaky toys, piano, tubular-bells and vacuum cleaner”!

Tubular Bells is composed around several ostinatos ­ persistently
repeated phrases.  Oldfield uses the ostinato structure to build layer
upon layer of melodic texture, complexity and intensity.  Part One,
which is really the definitive Tubular Bells “A side”, segments cleanly
into three sections, each building to a climax before relaxing and
segueing into the next stage.

In the original recording, the introductory theme is a formulaic
hammering around a foundation note on piano and glockenspiel in an
unusual 7/8-7/8-7/8-9/8 beat, backed by a wonderful bass tune.  The
theme expands, building in intensity before exploding into a frenzied
electric guitar which is taken over on throbbing bass.  In Bedford’s
arrangement, strings dominate the opening theme until brass takes over
the bass climax.

The second stage of the original opens with a lively guitar melody which
shifts to mandolin.  The melody moves into a minor key before changing
into a lively blues tune, again building up in intensity before winding
down while a bell is heard tolling in the distance.  It is here that
Bedford’s arrangement shines, with lilting violin, flutes and clarinet
carrying the main themes, and timpani interpreting Oldfield's howling
electric guitar jabs.

An acoustic guitar begins Oldfield’s finale quietly before the launch of
the bass-driven ostinato foundation which carries us to the climax.
Chords build up in the background leading the audience to wait in
anticipation until the Master of Ceremonies introduces the instruments
carrying the main theme, itself an ostinato, to the climax ­ Grand
Piano, Reed and Pipe Organ, Glockenspiel, Bass Guitar, Double Speed
Guitar, Two Slightly Distorted Guitars, Mandolin, Spanish Guitar and
Introducing Acoustic Guitar, Plus... Tubular Bells!  The tension eases
as a solo acoustic guitar closes Part One.

Bedford’s climax in contrast mirrors Ravel’s Bolero, relying on the
orchestra to build and build, without the assistance of a Master of
Ceremonies.  This is perhaps the clearest example of Bedford’s unique
strengths as classical interpreter, drawing on classical structures as
well as instrumentation in his arrangement, while appreciating the merit
of the new sounds emerging in rock music in general, and Oldfield’s
Tubular Bells in particular.

David Bedford has long promoted classical music education in schools and
volunteer organisations throughout Britain.  He is currently celebrating
his seventieth year with a new work especially written for amateur
choirs.  He is aiming for as many performances as possible in its first
season (July 2006 to December 2007).

Mike Oldfield most recently released the double album Light + Shade
(2005) and is reportedly working on a new instrumental album.  But he is
best known and respected for his timeless Opus One, Tubular Bells.

(c) 2006 Matthew Sorell
______________________________

From: "wolf" <wolfies at fastmail.fm>
Date: Mon, 18 Sep 2006 11:11:06 +1000
Subject: [Amarok] Adelaide Bells - Part one

Hey there folks!

Well, the Antipodean Amarok gathering at Adelaide University was a
blast!..

but first, some background...

<~~~~~~~~wavy lines~~~~~~~~~>

I raced home after work the Thursday before the concert - funnily
enough, that was the opening night of the show  - and
set to work on a dozen T shirts, which incorporated the work of the
wonderful Hans Claesson, who kinldy gave his permission to use it -
thankyou Hans!)  While I was printing them out on my
trusty HP printer, and ironing them on the hottest hot hot hot setting
possible, then peeling off the transfers ever so carefully, a wonderful
tubular fellow who I now feel I know pretty well - after all he's a TV
star as well as a leading South Australian Academic, the cuddly and
koala-esque Matthew Sorrell - was taking the stage for a pre-concert
talk - something of a tradition for the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra at
the Adelaide Town Hall, I'm told.

The program, if there's anybody out there who doesn't yet know,
consisted of Mozart's "Paris" Symphony, Brahms' 2nd Piano Concerto, and
some odd little quasi-classical piece nobody here would know anything
about ;> - the Orchestral Tubular Bells!

http://www.aso.com.au/Calendar/sep06.htm#ms11

So Matthew's figuring was, why not hold an Amarok mini-convention
earlier on the Saturday, and make something of a fan event of it? Kindly
fellow that he is, Matthew decided to pump his fees for his appearances
in the concert program into various social lubricants and nutritional
sustenance for those heavy partying Amarokers..whose reputation precedes
them, and is second only to Guns & Roses and possibly the Rolling Stones
when it comes to indulgence and wild behaviour.

I'm a bit of a stranger to Adelaide, but for a city, it's kinda small -
a bit like Anchorage, Alaska, but not as easy to navigate. So on a
beautiful 29 degree Adelaide spring morning, I found myself armed with a
dozen T shirts, heading across town to meet Dr Sorrell and the assembled
fan base, such as it is, in the "Little Theatre" at Adelaide Uni.

Well, it was a hoot. Matthew had set up a great sound system and a giant
screen on which the Montreau video was playing. Tubular Tracey had
brought an entourage including her son, her sister, and her hunky
husband Michael (I only know he's hunky because he stripped off in front
of everyone to dive into his Tubular T shirt - which I must immodestly
say - looked a million bucks), and then there was Matthew and his lovely
wife Michelle, Gwynn Cleeves - who had also been training like a beast,
Gwynn's son Gareth, me (I was bit fat and out of shape!), Alan P (g'day 
Al!) and a few others unknown to
me, many of the names I forget, but the faces (and the T shirts) I will
always remember.

There was lots to drink, and eat, (mmmmmm..pizza!) and it was great to
meet everyone, and bask in all the assembled Mike paraphernalia - even one 
of those 3D
thingies where your eyes have to converge to see the hidden image (it
was a "tubular bell" - d'oh!), and also in that wonderful shared spirit
that only comes at an Amarok convention, no matter how small.

The four hours Matthew had booked the Little Theatre for went by faster
than a Bondi tram, and by 4.30pm, when we'd humped all the gear back to
Matthew's office, there was less than an hour to get back across town,
get spruced up and into the Town Hall for Dr Sorrell's multi-media
pre-concert speech on Mike Oldfield...let me tell you Amarokers, he did
us proud..

<~~~~~~~~~wavy lines~~~~~~~~~~~~>

stay tuned for part 2...THE SHOW!

w.
______________________________

From: "wolf" <wolfies at fastmail.fm>
Date: Mon, 18 Sep 2006 14:20:35 +1000
Subject: [Amarok] Adelaide Bells - Part Two

<~~~~~~wavy lines~~~~~~~>

...so at the convention, Matthew tells us that the conductor has asked
up to wear our T shirts to the show that night..

while this is flattering, with the t shirts being very blue on white, it
rather limits one's Saville Row wardrobe choices for the evening..

ah - well - thank goodness Phil Bendall wasn't there - it would have
clashed horribly with his tuxedo ;>

(Actually, Phil, you would have been most welcome - you would have
fitted in like a hand in a glove!)

I had to bolt from my hotel in pants that I suddenly realised were too
tight (I had only worn them once before - when I was young, fit and good
looking - last year ;) and a brand new checked shirt opened over the
famous t.. I made it in the door just as one of the orchestra members
and Matthew were about to start their talks..

Matthew had suddenly lost of all of his koala-esque jeans & t shirt
familiarity and looked quite the consumate orator up there. He spoke for
a good fifteen minutes about Mike and the origins of Tubular Bells,
about Bedford and what motivated him to do an orchestral version
(money!). He peppered the speech with a few self-deprecating jokes, but
the thing that most impressed me was his absolutely unapologetic passion
for Mike and his music -that came shining through. I know also (because
he told me) that he felt the need to diffuse the sort of "what's this
doing in a classical repertoire?" snobbishness among the type who
typically attend pre-concert talks. As I sat down, a middle-aged woman,
a complete stranger, leaned forward and whispered excitedly - "where did
you get that T shirt?"

Tee-hee!

Meanwhile, Matthew played them some sound bites to illustrate his
musicological discussion - and basically charmed the pants off them.

Then there was just time for a little milling in the foyer before the
signal to enter the auditorium rang out..

My partner had intended to come, but couldn't, in the end, so I sat
alone up in the dress circle..(I was ultimately very glad about that,
and I'll tell you why a little further in..)

Anyway, the orchestra was warming up a little with the odd little
tantalising whiff of some familiar ostinato or other..seductive it
was..and more than a little bit exciting..

Then they were into the Mozart - gorgeous it was, but my mind kept
running ahead to what was about to be played..

Then it was on. This was not, let me tell you, any direct version of
Bedford's OTB. Based on it, definitely, but it was far, far more
energetic, with sumptuous dynamics and tender sections that brought more
than a few in the hall to tears..

But I'm getting ahead of myself..

The first sound we heard was Windchimes..(windchimes?!) yes, windchimes!
Then THAT theme on, not violins, as in the Bedford, but on celeste, and
possibly marimba, at least at first..soon all the familiar early themes
burbled about together, but at the first climax, the emotional intensity
was incredible - the climax was also satisfyingly, brutally
percussive..and around about that time, I was struck by a rogue wave. (I
mention that as a rather brilliant piece by Frank Robson on Freak and
Rogue Waves appeared that morning in the Sydney Morning Herald - and I
read it on the plane on the way over..) But my rogue wave was the reason
I was glad - being a tough guy'n all - that I was sitting by myself.
Tears of joy, love, happiness, whatever they were, they were falling
hard - and I couldn't have spoken a word if I'd had to, to anyone. It
was just so beautiful to hear that work, the one that started it all,
played so well and handled so reverently - to hear its remarkable if
episodic structure given such a treatment.
I wan't the only one brought asunder, by the way. Most of us fans were
(hi Tracey!) but I spoke afterwards to people who barely knew the piece
to begin with, upon whom it had exactly the same effect.

Next freak wave for me was when was our mate Matthew - also head
campanologist (bell ringer) at the Adelaide Town Hall - did his thing -
which he'd worked on unbeknownst to most of us fans. Now you all know
the section about two thirds of the way onto part one, where the whole
mix fades away to leave just the tubular bell clanging away by itself
(just before it comes back on an E minor chord to begin the final
bolero-type section..)

So the orchestra subsides, and we watch the one of the orchestra's
percussionists strike the last note on tubular bell on the stage and the
orchestra fades to total silence when..(remembering we are in the TOWN
HALL auditorium) - then blow me down, the town hall bell rings in an
exactly tuned and timed response to the bells on stage - the ghost bell,
I think it's called..echoing from the back and the top of the whole
building - actually ringing out all over Adelaide's CBD - and seemingly
ringing through the soul of everyone in there...courtesy of that hard
working koala Matthew Sorrell - who has set this up well in advance with
the symphony administrator and the conductor. Everyone is TOTALLY
enchanted ...

bang! freak wave for me - glad again I don't have to speak to anyone -
because I can't..

Oh, it was just marvellous - there were slutty horns (thanks Michelle,
for that sparkling turn of phrase :) and gorgeous layerings of things,
and facets to TB that you knew had always been there but that had never
sounded so fine..

Then the Bolero style finale...it was great watching the cello players
coping with playing THAT bass figure for about 10 minutes straight..and
my God, when the TUBULAR BELLS came in right at the very end, there were
TWO sets - those E notes never sounded so fine!  It was sublime.

Then it was over, and the place went apeshit - and WE went apeshit when
the conductor pointed the audience's attention up at Matthew -
standing right at the back of the dress circle where the bell tower
opens through a hatch into the auditorium  - a bit like a cuckoo clock.
Oh lordy, what a night. Definitely one of the highlights of my concert
going life - in fact, my life in general.

Thanks again to you Matthew - I know you put a lot of work in behind the
scenes to make it what it was. And mate, it was sensational!

xxx to all

wolf
_____________________________

(end)