17th Century viol music / The Silence Before Bach

Has anyone seen this? Sounds fantastic.

Portabella’s title is inspired by a poem that rhetorically asks what the world—God, musical instruments, European society—was like before Bach’s music came to uplift them. But rather than pursue a history of religious music in society before the maestro’s arrival, Portabella playfully literally observes the silence before—and usually for a beat after—Bach.

The opening shot sets both the tone (contemplative) and idea (the title). The camera tracks through the empty white halls of an art gallery before coming to rest seemingly at the same blank corner at which its movement began, when a player piano humorously starts rotating into frame and we track backwards following its lurching, awkward movement as it mechanically plays a Goldberg variation. Here it is the purity of the light, the emptiness of the rooms, and the effect of the space—almost-but-not-quite looping—that precedes Bach’s music. The next sequence of a man slowly walking to a grand piano. He is blind, and he proceeds not to play Bach but rather to tune the instrument, making sounds that hint at the work of the recently deceased György Ligeti, whose music is literally evoked later later in the film. Clearly a myriad of possibilities can precede the playing of Bach’s music, and Portabella’s graceful, reflective film—part cinematic gallery piece, part scattering of fictional excerpts, part documentary—imagines many, if not them all.

We see Bach in his workshop upon receiving a grant, and then performing a piece for the anonymous messenger. We see Bach’s son in his house in 18th century Leipzig, goofing around with his sister before sitting down to practice. The sounds of these recordings are just as important as Portabella’s visuals, the supple recession of the drawknobs on an organ at the end of a piece, the dynamic background clatter during a cello piece remarkably performed on an empty Leipzig subway, the difference between a player piano, a grand, and a clavier. The place of music in lives, as practice, as a vocation, as a trade, as a hobby, or escape. As a thing to fill space and time, or to move away from it–Portabella’s film expresses all this without pretense. Even with the elegance of Òskar Gómez’s cool photography and the deliberateness of most of Portabella’s camera movements, there is a casualness to the film, an admission above all else of the small silences before the music.

http://www.d-kaz.com/reviews/review.php?id=446

[Statto]

my first thought — which misses the point but nevertheless keeps me from appreciating this piece — was:

there was loads of great music before Bach

my first thought — which misses the point but nevertheless keeps me from appreciating this piece — was:

there was loads of great music before Bach

Uh Huh. thats what led me to this ironically. Sainte Colombe

[Statto]

Tallis, Byrd, Monteverdi, Palestrina, Taverner, Dufay, Binchois, Landini, Machaut, Senfl, Hildegard, Praetorius, Gibbons, Dowland, Victoria, Morley, Weelkes, Perotin, De Vitry, Susato, Sheppard, ...

Tallis, Byrd, Monteverdi, Palestrina, Taverner, Dufay, Binchois, Landini, Machaut, Senfl, Hildegard, Praetorius, Gibbons, Dowland, Victoria, Morley, Weelkes, Perotin, De Vitry, Susato, Sheppard, ...

Yeah, I have to admit that I was about to shout "Palestrina and Monteverdi you spacktard" (not a phrase I use often) when I read the first sentence of Droid's quote...

Sounds cool though.

[noisemonkey]

the silence involving lots of deafening plain song?

Any recommendations for 17th century Viola stuff in the same vein as Colombe and Marias? Im into old skool, but I have to admit Im shaky on medieval!

[Statto]

Any recommendations for 17th century Viola stuff in the same vein as Colombe and Marias? Im into old skool, but I have to admit Im shaky on medieval!

17th century is baroque not mediaeval :P

but I can't think of any, no

Any recommendations for 17th century Viola stuff in the same vein as Colombe and Marias? Im into old skool, but I have to admit Im shaky on medieval!

17th century is baroque not mediaeval :P

but I can't think of any, no

Hmm.. I happily bow (geddit?) to your superior knowledge.

Just bumping (and changing the title) to share some tunes...

This is some of the most haunting and beautiful music Ive ever heard. The playing is fantastic as well. Jordi Savall

http://www.weareie.com/Improvisation_sur...Marais.mp3
http://www.weareie.com/La_Reveuse-M._Marais.mp3
http://www.weareie.com/Concet_a_deux_Vio...olombe.mp3
http://www.weareie.com/Le_Badinage-M_Marais.mp3
http://www.weareie.com/Les_Pleurs_versio...olombe.mp3
http://www.weareie.com/Prelude_pour_Mr%2...e_Fils.mp3

These wont be up for long! Statto - would love to hear your opinion.

marked for later grabbage



(i know nothing about this - my wife is a cellist tho so may well know).

I heard the most beautiful harp playing on R4 the other week. Unfortunately I was later unable to recollect who it was, though pretty sure it was a woman (and what a talented one at that )

Can any of youse lot point me in the right direction please?

Sainte Colombe is lovely btw droid.

[Statto]

just bumping (and changing the title) to share some tunes...

these wont be up for long! statto - would love to hear your opinion.

nice stuff

and i've changed the title as well — viola music was misleading, since the viola da gamba (aka viol) is not the same as a modern viola.

viols have six strings (the bass viol sometimes seven) and frets, are tuned in fourths (like a guitar), and are played standing on the floor (like a cello); whereas a viola has four strings, is unfretted, tuned in fifths, and played on the shoulder (like a violin)

anyway, if you like viols try some of us john dowland's consort music

just bumping (and changing the title) to share some tunes...

these wont be up for long! statto - would love to hear your opinion.

nice stuff

and i've changed the title as well — viola music was misleading, since the viola da gamba (aka viol) is not the same as a modern viola.

pfft! only to a philistine! i was obviously reffering to the italian designation there

it was sainte-colombe who added that 7th string to the bass viol apparently. btw - i assume you've seen tous les matins du monde?

thanks for the recommendation.
.

[Statto]

btw - i assume you've seen tous les matins du monde?

wassat?


ps

the playing is fantastic as well. jordi savall

he's getting a hell of a lot of tone
is he using a modern cello bow or something?

I love the recording as well - all the breath and noise...

I have no idea what kind of bow he's using - here he is doing his stuff:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9Lx8ZY-b...re=related

And heres a clip from Tous les matins du monde

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnriefsHK...re=related

Which I think you would like. Loads of brilliant music, great acting and frilly costumes. its quite a famous film actually. I first saw it on BBC2 in the mid 90s.

[Statto]

frilly costumes

Bumping before I delete those MP3s.

[Statto]

not viol music, and earlier too, but go and listen to the streams here anyway:

http://www.gothicvoices.co.uk/c4p0.php

Big up