MUSIC PREVIEW
Making Music Happen
GAMES PEOPLE PLAY
In line with the ongoing resurgence of interest in the field of period performance. a new Edinburgh-based ensemble can be heard in a programme of baroque chamber music in Stockbridge's St Stephen's Church. l.udus lnstrumentalis — it means game with instruments -- was initially formed last year by its director Richard Neville-'I’owle. The name comes from a
collection of l8th century court compositions for the fairly unusual combination of flute. viola and continuo. As Neville- Towle explains. ‘The name was appropriated for this ensemble because we enjoy exploring the sounds of unusual instruments and vocal combinations. Our aim is to play with one player or singer to a part which enables the separate strands of the music to be clearly heard and also allows for greater freedom of interplay between the performers.‘
The core group is a trio of violin. oboe and bassoon with harpsichord continuo. which for this concert is augmented by two sopranos. giving a greater degree of flexibility in programming. ‘We're doing a Sonata by Corette. who writes wonderfully for bassoon.‘ says Neville-'l‘owle. ‘a l‘antasia for solo violin by Telemann and a Trio Sonata by Vivaldi. There are also two duets by Handel set for two sopranos. The words are quite frivolous. something like “don't touch me. you dirty old man. I'm a young virgin”. but the tune is quite recognisany the one llandel later uses in The .l/(’.\‘.\‘i(l/l in For L'nm L’s (1 Sun is Bur/If
The second half brings more Vivaldi. the .S'ununr in C” for violin and bassoon by the Moravian composer Finger and a Sonata by Zelenka. the Bohemian composer greatly admired by Bach. And it‘s all in the appropriately contemporary architecture and fine acoustic of St Stephen's. a venue Neville-'l‘owle is convinced will be used more and more for this type of milsic. ((‘arol Main)
Lin/us lnxlrnnn'nmlix p/uv St Stephen E ('lrtm '/I. Iii/in/mrg/i (HI Sui I.
l l
5 One of the band’s three co-founders, saxophonist Tony Gorman, hails from i
} while she was spending some time studying in Europe, and the pair set up
, linked up with keyboard player Alister Spence to form Clarion Fracture Zone.
I Free zone
'f mixed instrument groups with
Clarion Fracture Zone take their name from a geological fault with a musical echo lying off the Australian coast, but the Sydney-based quintet also have a distinct Scottish connection.
Greenock, and was a familiar figure on the Glasgow jazz scene in the mid-80$. Tony met and subsequently married
Australian saxophonist Sandy Evans
home in Sydney in 1988, where they
The band play a distinctly modern fusion of free-ish jazz (with Drnette Coleman standing out as a notable influence) and swing- and funk- derived elements, shot through with the occasional eruption of unexpected musical pastiches of all kinds.
All three co-founders are featured as 5 . :
writers on ‘The Blue Shift’ (199D) and ‘Zones Dn Parade’ (1992) discs, but their next recording, which should be with them for the tour, will feature an extended suite in five movements by
Sandy, entitled ‘What This Love Can 00’.
‘There is a lot happening in jazz in Australia now,’ Tony Gorman reports, a fact confirmed by the roster of ten or so bands which he and Sandy play in. ‘We began Clarion as a way of getting our own compositions heard back in 1989, and this is our third tour to Europe, but we have only ever managed to play once in Scotland, so we are really looking forward to these dates.’ (Joe Alexander)
Clarion Fracture Zone play The 13th Note, Glasgow on Sat 1 and the Tron Jazz Cellar, Edinburgh on Sun 2.
Growth industries of the 905 include selling cooking sauces in cans, printing mountains of travel books, and giving classes in traditional music-making.
The autumn season gets underway with lain Fraser’s successful Scots fiddle school, every Wednesday evening in Glasgow’s Washington Street Arts Centre, now catering for beginners as well as the experienced player. lain, like his brother Alasdair, promotes a distinctive Scottish idiom, avoiding the creeping universality of the folk/Irish style.
Edinburgh’s Adult Learning Project expands on its extremely popular graded classes in accordion, whistle, fiddle, guitar, Scots song, chanter and
departures in dance tuition, weekday ensemble playing and a new all- women group.
The Daytime Scots Music Group is from 1pm on Monday afternoons. There are no age limits, but an ability to play at a basic level is required as no beginner’s tuition will be given. The Women’s Scots Music Group meets on Saturdays 11am—1 pm, and
efslucky
Nova Scotia.
ceilidh dance are scheduled for the
towards the older traditional dances
ALP Music Group ? creche facilities will be organised. All 1 levels except absolute beginners.
Birlin’ For Beginners, on Wednesday evenings at Bruntsfield Primary School gives an informal grounding in the basics of Scottish dancing, while the Cape Breton Step Dance class on Saturday mornings in the Tron Ceilidh House concentrates on the solo footwork of the Highland style transplanted a century or two ago to
A series of workshops followed by a
Merlin in Morningside Road commencing late October, orientated
of rural Scotland rather than the
: formalised regimes of the Royal i : Scottish Country Dance Societies and their ilk, and with an informal
tolerance of footwear and footwork. (Norman Chalmers)
See Folk listings for details of lain Fraser’s Fiddle School. Information
and enrolment forms for ALP Scots i Music Group from the Adult Learning
Project, 184 Dalry Road, Edinburgh,
I 337 5442. l
Any Mould ire?
Sugar have fought through the black sheets of rain that surrounded their last offering to come
up (almost) smiling on the new File Under: Easy 3 Listening. Bob Mould takes the opportunity of a i brief sunny spell to talk to Damien Love.
‘lt's interesting. in that there‘s been a
. , small group of people. who re real big
fans. who're really disappointed with
3 this record because there‘s not enough
bleeding and torture on it. and it's like.
: y'know. well. just give it a rest fora while. Believe me. it'll comeback ; when you least expect it. lleh-heh-heh.‘ ’
Bob Mould cackles down the line from Athens. Georgia. rightly proud of having created the buzzing shiny pop thing that is [file (Km/er.“ linsy Listening 7- Sugat"s new album -~ unconcerned
l with the complaints of those who g reckon its ironic title is a little too close ‘
to the truth. Was the record. then. a reaction to the ‘blood and torture‘ strands of much of the current American ‘alternative' scene’.’
‘I look around over here.‘ Mould
Tennents Live! Making Music Happen
30 The List 23 September—6 ()ctober I994