Things have been crazy here… Most of the projects I’m involved in are super secret which is a bore because I can’t wait to tell you about them… Needless to say I’ve been in Abbey Road again with the wonderful LPO, as well as hopping across to Monterey to see friends at the EG conference in California… more on that later though.
Here are two new string tracks I recorded with Elspeth Hanson – the very super violinist… One’s based on La Folia (aka La Follia), the other is based on the Mozart A major violin concerto.
It’s the first time I’ve used an Apogee Ensemble interface – and I’m blown away by the difference it’s made. It also makes a splendid resting place for my treble viol…!
There’s an oft quoted phrase that claims that architecture is frozen music. I like inverting that – music is liquid architecture. However, the blueprint above seems to have melted a little too much.
I just scanned an arrangement to email to a band and one of the sequences got a little fried as you can see. However, I’d like them to record it like this and see what happens…
I’ve written a new ballet score for the wonderful Ballet de l’Opéra national du Rhin. It’s choreographed by Thomas Noone and is titled Many. I’m simply thrilled to have worked on this. Here are some excerpts from the piece: If you like it do download – you can do that by clicking on the files… but drop me a note to say hi! If you like my music I have some albums on bandcamp and iTunes. Here’s a press release from Faber Music;
In recent months, the name of UK composer and cellist, Philip Sheppard, has been very much in the media: a result of him having being commissioned to arrange and orchestrate all the national anthems for the London 2012 Olympics. He’s now recorded them all (205 in total!) with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. However, Sheppard has also found time to complete a 30-minute commissioned dance score for Barcelona-based choreographer, Thomas Noone.
It’s premiered in Mulhouse by Le Ballet de l’Opéra national du Rhin on 22 January 2012, later transferring to Colmar and Strasbourg (9 performances in total). Sheppard has an impressive track record in writing for dance and theatre, having worked with Akram Khan, Sylvie Guillem and Juliette Binoche in recent years. In January 2012 he joins Khan and Guillem for performances of his 2006 score to ‘Sacred Monsters’, in the Théâtre des Champs Elysées, Paris.
Tonight sees the premiere on More 4 of David Sington’s excellent documentary about the credit crisis in the US called ‘The Flaw’. This is the trailer. I was commissioned to write a cartoon-like score for the film – quite a different mode from my normal style of music…
I’ve just found something on youtube that I’ve been searching for for years – literally…
I’ve been so lucky to have been able to play the cello with some of the most amazing musicians, but by far the greatest was Jeff Buckley. Of course he’s shot up the charts recently through his beautiful cover of Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah – surely the antithesis of X-Factor..?
This is Henry Purcell’s Dido’s Lament from Dido and Æneas. But listen to this – Just. listen. to. it…
I mean, no-one can sing like that. No-one should be physically able to sing like that.
Jeff Buckley singing, withpianist Catherine Edwards, violinist Ian Belton and me on cello, in Elvis Costello’s Meltdown Festival, July 1st 1995.
I remember, this singer arrived really late, just before the show, dishevelled, all cheekbones, cool hair, black jeans and the biggest boots you’ve ever seen supporting a rake thin body.
He apologised – got out his music – a kid’s exercise book with the lyrics of the songs written out in a crazy biro scrawl. – If a word was written high up the page, well then it meant it was a high note.
At one point he asked me what country he was in… he was confused between Germany and the UK that day as I think he’d flown in with little sleep.
And then he sang.
As Elvis Costello remembers;
When he started singing Dido’s Lament at the rehearsal, there were all these classical musicians who could not believe it. Here’s a guy shuffling up on-stage and singing a piece of music normally thought to be the property of certain types of specifically developed voice, and he’s just singing, not doing it like a party piece, but doing something with it.
That’s an understatement… I remember the lights being pretty bright and the silhouette of his frame as he bent almost double to wrench every ounce of meaning from a song written 300 hundred years ago. Better than any classical musician I’ve ever heard.
As he was singing, a photographer shuffled along past the feet of the audience in the front row at the Queen Elizabeth Hall to get a shot, unaware that they were for that second the most hated person in London, and got a good clout round the head for their troubles from someone who should remain nameless.
I can’t remember anything straight after that, but Elvis Costello wrote in Mojo:
My last memory of him was at the little party in the green room afterwards. There were all these people sitting round Jeff who’d never met before – Fretwork, the viol group, a classical pianist and some jazz player – all talking and laughing about music. He’d charmed everybody. I’d much rather remember that than anything.
Whilst everyone’s looking skywards for stray fireworks… (it’s Guy Fawkes night tonight!) here’s a little piece I wrote for Inside the Milky Way. It’s called skysong. If you like it – you can download it by clicking the arrow on the right!
The amazing violin solo is my friend David Le Page. Total genius musician…
Lots of you have been writing in about my soundtracks to Moon Machines and the score to Inside the Milky Way. I really enjoyed writing the music for those shows and if enough of you want it… I’ll get a digital release underway. Let me know though…
Please share this if you like it or look at my other albums on Bandcamp & iTunes!
We had a sell-out crowd at the first Not So Silent Movies… at Kings Place. Thanks so much for coming!
There’s another one coming up on November 6th at 3pm. Most of the tickets have already gone, so snap the remaining ones up!! Click here for booking.I’m really happy to tell you that Dame Evelyn Glennie OBE is our special guest. Evelyn is a powerhouse virtuoso percussionist, brilliant communicator and a great friend.
Come and see her under some real pressure with our live band and a batch of amazing silent comedies.
What films do you want us to show..?! Please suggest ideas below. I’m wondering about One Week by Buster Keaton as it’s truly awesome. Let me know your thoughts…
This monthly event takes place at the wonderful Kings Place in London. First gig is Sunday October 2nd at 3pm. Tickets from here.
Be sure to book online to avoid disappointment!
The photo of Harold Lloyd is appropriate, as what we’re going to be doing is risky, thrilling and often hilarious.
Here’s the pitch:
Great silent film comedies,
Great musicians together on stage,
No sheet music,
No rehearsing,
No plan,
& No watching the films in advance…
Yes… it’s totally improvised (spontaneously composed if you want to be pretentious..!), utterly great when it all clicks, and unintentionally hilarious when it goes awry.
