Category Archives: David Starkey

radiomovies roundup

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Moon Machines is on the Science Channel this week – the companion series to In the Shadow of the Moon. I wrote the music for the series last year which aired on the Discovery Channel.

Henry Mind of a Tyrant continues its run on Channel 4 this evening at 9pm with the second episode – Warrior. Channel 4 have put a series of short films, images and even (oh no…) an interview with yours truly at this site. Don’t forget the soundtrack is a free listen on this site.

Sergio is going to be shown at HotDocs in Ontario – click here for more details.

Lots of people (hundreds in fact!) have downloaded the sheet music for Crystallised Beauty this week, and I’m asking for suggestions for the next piece to be made available. Let me know at this page!

On this site, I’ve put up a couple more archive album tracks; Aqua Voce now online, together with Penitential Psalm.

Thanks for all the messages and comments – it’s great to hear from you…

fiddlewiddle.com

Easter free things!

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Here’s a free Easter gift for the first 100 of you who click this link. It’s a free mp3 of a piece I wrote called Penitential Psalm – hear it here:[Audio http://radiomovies.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/02-penitential-psalm.mp3%5D

As I’ve mentioned many times in previous posts I’m a great believer in mp3s being legally free to download where the artist/writer/publisher can give their consent, particularly where the recording is of an event for which concert/theatre/film-goers have already paid an admission charge.

This secondary exploitation is often exploited in the true sense of the word with charges being levied for something which has technically never left the digital domain.

I think a rebroadcasting of material can be free in many cases without exploitation, and can act as a way of spreading the word about a great performer, group or writer. I love it when authors upload some of their books as free pdfs in the fairly certain knowledge that (if the material is great) people will go and buy physical copies of their other work. In the case of performers, it’s a great way of getting people to come to gigs.

Here are a couple of great  sites for interesting classical mp3s – all free:

The European archive of classical recordings has over 8oo pages of LPs in mp3 format on its site as free downloads. These are extraordinary recordings featuring some of the world’s most historic performers.

The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum has a really high quality concert series which it condenses into a regular podcast. The whole concert series is archived, and it shows great foresight on the part of the performers and the museum itself to make this available to anyone.

This week’s events/broadcasts:h82

David Starkey’s Henry Mind of a Tyrant is on this Easter on Channel 4 in the UK.

11th April: 7pm – Channel 4. Episode 1 Prince

13th April: 9pm – Channel 4. Episode 2 Warrior

You can hear my soundtrack for the series here for free, and a free Henry VIII download here!

Hope you have a happy and peaceful Easter.

radiomovies roundup

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Henry – Mind of a Tyrant

David Starkey and his dog Ledger at home in London. Photograph: John Reardon

I’ve just come back from the dubbing sessions (when the audio is finalised with pictures) for the new David Starkey series on Henry VIII.

I’m really excited about the series. Can’t say too much here, but, most of the soundtrack will appear shortly on this site as an audio stream.

It features Alamire, Fretwork, Charles Mutter and Dot Allison amongst others.

Dot Allison

Here’s a sneak preview of one of the lead tracks Ultimi[Audio http://radiomovies.files.wordpress.com/2009/03/ht4-ultimi-mix-copy-1.mp3%5D

New Piano track

Here’s a newly released track playing with the idea of piano touch – it’s a little rhapsody about Glenn Gould [Audio http://radiomovies.files.wordpress.com/2009/03/15-glenn-gould.mp3%5D

If you like this, there’s a whole page of piano tracks…

Sheet Music

Hundreds of people have downloaded the Crystallised Beauty sheet music this week. I’ll put some of the other piano pieces online as scores as soon as I get a chance… watch this space!

Tracks and albums go online

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112I like sites with long streamed mp3s where I can listen to music while I work – kind of webpage radio stations for each album, show or film project (where I own the tracks or have permission from the publishers). I’ve had lots of nice requests for the scores to recent stage shows, and I don’t want to charge people for the music – especially if they’ve already paid for a ticket!

I’ve had a really encouraging response from posts such as this.

So..  I’ll post tracks along with all their associated images and artwork.

So far, lead tracks from The Glass Cathedral and Diver in the Crypt are up. Their B sides, and other album tracks will get posted soon, but I’ll also be adding the full sets of Jane Austen piano pieces, more electric cello works,  string pieces and recent stage shows.

Sacred Monsters which starred Sylvie Guillem and Akram Khan will be put here soon, as a partner to In-I which is getting nice reviews for the score – it’s playing this week at the Sydney Opera House.

Transmission dates for the new David Starkey series on Channel 4 are to be announced soon, as well as news about Moon Machines, Shadow of the Moon and a recent project, Dream with Korean Director Kim Ki-Duk.

In the meantime here’s a string orchestra piece (written in Suffolk..!) called Primary Colours:[Audio http://radiomovies.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/01-primary-colours.mp3%5D

radiomovies latest round-up

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Carceri III The round tower - Piranesi

Carceri III The round tower - Piranesi

radiomovies latest round-up

So… The Jane Austen lovers have come out in force behind a certain piece of piano music, In-I has opened at the Sydney Opera House – and the score / soundtrack is now online here and Channel 4 are to shortly announce the transmission dates of David Starkey’s new series on Henry VIII -  the Mind of a Tyrant.

Excitingly.. for me anyway, I found the one Jeff Buckley bootleg recording I’ve been looking for for years.

Meanwhile I’ve started to put my albums online. I realised that it was ten years since I recorded The Glass Cathedral, and so I’ve decided to release it as a one tune radio station.. okay, so it’s actually a webpage with a Piranesi engraving and a tune… but, as with the dance scores, i like the idea of people being able to dial it up and listen. A lot of people have paid to see concerts, films, shows – for which I’m really grateful… why should I ask people for more money, and anyway, what’s wrong with giving the odd tune away?

Dr David Starkey series on Henry VIII announced with score devised by Philip Sheppard

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Dr David Starkey photographed by Phil Coomes

David Starkey is to produce a four-part “psychological profile” of Henry VIII for Channel 4. The as-yet-untitled series will go beyond the facts of Henry’s six wives and his split with the Catholic church to piece together a sense of his character and motivations. Soundtrack available here.

The series will be broadcast in April, to coincide with the 500th anniversary of Henry VIII’s accession to the throne and a major British Library exhibition on the monarch.

The soundtrack has been composed by Philip Sheppard and is based on music written by Henry himself, as well as themes drawn from Tudor contemporary composers such as Philippe Verdelot and Robert Fayrfax. The score is being performed by Philip Sheppard, together with the superb vocal consort Alamire (directed by Dr David Skinner) and viol consort Fretwork.

Click the play button below to hear a preview of one of the tracks to be featured in the programme - ‘O Dolce Nocte’ by Philip Sheppard after Philippe Verdelot, featuring Alamire:

The first 60-minute episode will show Henry as a highly intelligent child, while subsequent episodes will paint him as a brilliant “A-list celebrity” character with an over-developed ego and “solipsistic sense of self”.Henry

David Sington, who will direct the series for Red House Dox Productions, said:

“[David Starkey] will ask which events changed Henry, and in changing him, changed the British character. He was convinced of his own destiny and shaped us as an island nation, cut off from the continent…. He’s not a Bluebeard character, however. He emerges as a sympathetic character even though he does terrible things.”

Indeed, the Daily Mail has just run a story, resulting from one of Starkey’s more surprising discoveries; Henry’s possible use of a stairlift towards the end of his life.