MUSIC THAT MOVES ME

Transcription

1 MUSIC THAT MOVES ME

2 All my life music has produced within me the most intense emotions. PETER CUNDALL 2 3

3 WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART Symphony No. 40 in G minor: I. Molto allegro 7 28 Australian Chamber Orchestra, Richard Tognetti director GIACOMO PUCCINI O My Beloved Father from Gianni Schicchi 2 27 Dame Joan Hammond, The Hallé Orchestra, Leslie Heward conductor EDVARD GRIEG Piano Concerto in A minor: I. Allegro molto moderato Simon Tedeschi piano, The Queensland Orchestra, Richard Bonynge conductor ARTHUR BLISS Morning Heroes: V. Now, Trumpeter, for thy Close 4 Spring Offensive 3 56 Poem by Wilfred Owen Dawn on the Somme 7 07 Poem by Robert Nichols Brian Blessed orator, East London Chorus, Harlow Chorus, The Hertfordshire Chorus, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Michael Kibblewhite conductor EDWARD ELGAR Nimrod from Variations on an Original Theme, Op. 36 Enigma 3 01 The Hallé Orchestra, Sir John Barbirolli conductor CAMILLE SAINT-SAËNS Softly Awakes My Heart from Samson and Delilah 4 51 Marian Anderson mezzo-soprano, unnamed orchestra, Lawrence Collingwood conductor THOMAS TALLIS c O salutaris hostia 3 10 Magnificat, Philip Cave conductor OLIVIER MESSIAEN Catalogue d oiseaux (Bird Catalogue) 9 Introduction by Peter Cundall The Tawny Owl 5 49 Michael Kieran Harvey piano 4 5

4 HOAGY CARMICHAEL ! Lazybones 3 17 Words by Johnny Mercer Paul Robeson bass, Ray Noble and His Orchestra They wouldn t let me whistle out loud, so I used to do so silently with many of the tunes that were in my head. LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 8: II. Allegretto scherzando 3 38 Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, David Porcelijn conductor DHAFER YOUSSEF b.1967 Un Soupir Eternel 7 47 To a Norwegian girl, Karen Steen Aarset Dhafer ben Youssef Maaref oud, vocals, Arve ben Arvid Henriksen trumpet, Eivind ben Svein Aarset guitar, electronics Total Playing Time

5 All my life music has produced within me the most intense emotions, always as a listener. Here is a selection of the Music That Moves Me, and although it may seem an almost bizarre mix, all the pieces have been chosen because they bring back memories of events, places and performances that continue to affect me deeply. As a child I recall listening with my mother to Paul Robeson singing Lazybones. I asked who was this man who sang so beautifully. That s Paul Robeson, Peter, she said. He s one of us, love. And of course his beautiful singing of Gershwin s great song Summertime is equally unforgettable. I m totally without religious belief. I can t even be bothered calling myself an atheist because that also places a label on my lack of belief. Despite being brought up as a Catholic and attending a Catholic school, I never believed. The concept of God and the story of the crucifixion made as much sense to me as the fairy stories I was learning to read. I mention this because I became an involuntary choir boy (with other very naughty boys), which to our horror forced us to attend not one, but several masses every Sunday morning. Worse still, we were also conscripted into singing at evening Benediction and on every Holy Day. Perhaps as a diversion I began to enjoy the music and was especially enchanted by traditional Latin hymns such as Tantum ergo and O salutaris hostia. I think there are several outstanding choirs performing this kind of repertoire and Renaissance polyphony, with Magnificat directed by Philip Cave being among the most polished and perfect. This appreciation of religious music has never had the slightest effect on my lack of religion, but I ve always revered the extraordinary artistic achievements inspired by religious belief. As a 19-year-old soldier, captured in Slovenia by Tito s Partisans in 1946, I was placed in solitary confinement in a tiny cell for several months. It was an extremely boring experience. Luckily my head remained full of music. I used to spend the days listening to the music of Mozart, Tchaikovsky, Beethoven and others. It sounds mad, but when completely alone and undisturbed we can actually listen to music this way. They wouldn t let me whistle out loud, so I used to do so silently with many of the tunes that were in my mind. And the amazing thing was this: as I listened, I gradually began to hear other instruments and background melodies too. It was the power of this music that carried me through solitary confinement. After the War, during the 1940s, I regularly attended Hallé concerts at Manchester s Belle Vue and Free Trade Hall. Conductor John Barbirolli was wonderfully adventurous in the way he constantly introduced audiences to new, unusual and difficult compositions. As a result of one experience at a concert in 1949 I ve been dropping hints for Arthur Bliss s great Symphony for Orator, Chorus and Orchestra Morning Heroes to be played on Anzac Day or Remembrance Day. The movement Spring Offensive, based on the timeless Wilfred Owen poem of World War I, was a perfect reflection of my own experiences as a front-line infantry soldier taking part in an assault. While serving in the British Army during the Palestine War and also in Egypt at Qassasin and Tel-el- Kabir ( ) I was lucky to be able to attend concerts by a full orchestra mostly German POWs with the director and conductor (ex-berlin State Opera) who was deliberately challenging in his compilation of programmes. Most of the music which has moved me deeply has been associated with experiences like these: listening to Grieg s Piano Concerto in the desert at Qassasin; Joan Hammond singing O My Beloved Father in a frost-covered garden at an English stately home converted into a military convalescent hospital in 1945; Marian Anderson and Softly Awakes My Heart through a prison window at Maribor, Slovenia in 1946; and standing next to a Centurion tank during the Korean war, half-way through a battle, to be both spellbound and elated by Beethoven s Eighth Symphony as the tank commander accidentally or otherwise tuned into a Japanese radio program. A few years ago while driving and listening to ABC Classic FM, on came the extraordinary voice of Dhafer Youssef. I had no choice but to pull over and sit listening. This extraordinary music from a Tunisian Muslim singing a melody based on a Norwegian folk tune seems a fitting way to end this selection of Music That Moves Me. Peter Cundall October 2009 It was the power of this music that carried me through solitary confinement. 8 9

6 Executive Producers Martin Buzacott, Robert Patterson Mastering Albert Zychowski, Sony DADC Editorial and Production Manager Hilary Shrubb Publications Editor Natalie Shea Booklet Design Imagecorp Pty Ltd Cover Photo Golden Kangaroo Paw (Anigozanthos pulcherrimus) Claire Takacs/Photolibrary; Peter Cundall photo Alice Bennett Photos pp 2, 3, 7, 11 Amanda Harris ABC Classics thanks Alice Bennett, ABC Archives and Library Services, Haidee McDonald, Oliver Robb, Julie Thomson, Kim Bassett, Alexandra Alewood, Katherine Kemp and Virginia Read. 4, 5 licensed from Cala Records Ltd. 8 licensed from Linn Records. 9, 0 licensed from Move Records. licensed from Universal Music Australia Pty Limited , 5 Cala Records Ltd Linn Records , 0 Move Records Dhafer Youssef AKM ; ; , 6, 7,! Australian Broadcasting Corporation. This compilation was first published in 2009 and any and all copyright in this compilation is owned by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Distributed in Australia and New Zealand by Universal Music Group, under exclusive licence. Made in Australia. All rights of the owner of copyright reserved. Any copying, renting, lending, diffusion, public performance or broadcast of this record without the authority of the copyright owner is prohibited....all the pieces have been chosen because they bring back memories