Fin Keegan

Thomas Adès continues to dazzle and I only wish, as one who has yet to see or hear his (by all accounts, remarkable) Tempest, that his record label was as prolific as he.

“Concentric Paths” is his latest: a Violin Concerto in three movements:

1. Rings
2. Paths
3. Rounds

I have posted some customized soundlinks below, preferable to their BBC Proms equivalents in that they isolate the music from the framing, spoken material:

• Thomas Adès - Violin Concerto ‘Concentric Paths’ (20:30)
  • Recorded at the Royal Albert Hall: Sept 6th, 2005
  • Anthony Marwood (Violin)
  • Chamber Orchestra of Europe
  • Thomas Adès, Conductor
• BBC Introduction
• ‘Concentric Paths’ with Intro and Outro

The Introduction link, which includes some insightful remarks from Marwood, is worth a click, as is the composer’s Programme Note.

Note: According to Radio 3, the official links shall expire on September 13th, 2005. I am hoping that mine outlive theirs–but my apologies if they have shuffled their mortal code.

In Nevada, Nature is held in a sort of stasis: little grows or moves: there is not the tumbling profusion of life one finds in wetter climates.

But the stillness here is constant and resounding–echo of some inhumanely large, climactic chord.

Curious fact: discounting demos, the first four songs recorded by the Beatles in 1968 ended up on four different records:

• Lady Madonna ["Lady Madonna"]
• Across the Universe [Let It Be]
• Hey, Bulldog [Yellow Submarine]
• Blackbird [White Album]

Burn them on a disc together and they make for a substantial Lennon-McCartney EP.