No Pun At All!

You Need Some Time

2008-07-29T16:22:00.002Z

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7530594.stm

A quite interesting and useful article...

Speaking of taking time, I should be taking time to write more on here. Ok well a few sentences is a start...

The unaided eye

2008-07-22T19:38:00.001Z

Kalidasa

2008-07-04T23:42:00.001Z

...For Yesterday is but a Dream,
And To-morrow is only a Vision;
But To-day well lived makes
Every Yesterday a Dream of Happiness,
And every Tomorrow a Vision of Hope.
Look well therefore to this Day!

Enescu Lives

2008-05-02T10:50:00.002Z

I'm saying this is a "must-hear".

Sometimes, listening to a performer of the past play something of the "standard repertoire" seems strange, because each age has its own "standard" way of playing. Fashion is always fashionable until it ceases to be so. That's why the way we play today will one day be seen as strange (I hope, because it sounds rather strange to me now). Yet to hear someone of any age play his own music poses no cultural problems for the ear. Every part of the style is perfect and perfectly appropriate.

Here is Enescu! He's playing some of his magic music for you.

I'm afraid I can't work out which Sonata this is he's playing here - but there are only a few so we should find out eventually.

New Life

2008-04-26T08:44:00.005Z

I'm afraid the butterfly is not alive now. Unfortunately before it was released into the outside world. But then it couldn't fly so we don't know what would have happened to it out there...

But look what has appeared on the tree next to the butterfly's place! A new shoot! So life is always appearing, even when you think it is disappearing.

Real People

2008-04-07T22:15:00.005Z

It's hard to imagine old black-and-white people as real colour people. All the old people - Busoni, Liszt, Rachmaninov, Alkan, Chopin and company - they were all colour people.

And then it's hard to hear old recordings as real performances ("colour"). I hear Rachmaninov tearing away at 300 mph in his 3rd Concerto and wonder what he really sounded like.

I'm sure we can get closer to imagining what it was all really like.

They were people, like all the people you see today. Not monochrome prints.

Something must be done to invite them to step out of the page...

Feeding Nicely

2008-04-07T13:50:00.003Z

The butterfly is still going well. Here it is feeding nicely.

As mentioned before, I give it a solution of honey and sugar in water, on a tissue. It's not a flower but the butterfly seems to like it!

The butterfly is still considering being released into the wild but we were waiting until the weather got warmer. Yesterday there was a lot of snow, so I'm quite glad we're still waiting. Both quite glad, I would think!

Chasse-neige (Snowdrift)

2008-04-01T20:21:00.006Z

Liszt is strange sometimes. He had problems with being considered serious. He wrote so much for the crowd that he must have felt a bit odd. Maybe he felt he was not quite being himself most of the time. Was he a serious composer or just an octave-merchant? Well, you know, Beethoven wrote octaves...but not like that!

Perhaps this is one reason he liked to paraphrase (transcribe) other people's music.

Yet Liszt also wrote more serious-sounding music, such as his earnest and for-posterity Sonata in B minor. Serious composers wrote sonatas, remember!

On the one hand, to me this work sounds like a more cerebral version of the Mephisto Waltz no. 1, with added religious subject matter (also improved with things stolen from Alkan's Quatre Âges sonata). On the other hand, the Faust story (Liszt picked the Lenau version, but he would obviously have known the Goethe one too), no matter how sensational the episode, has serious philosophical undertones - and with Liszt, as a cultured and intelligent man, no matter how much of the music is directed at the gallery, I think there is always some serious purpose not far away from the surface.

Anyway, there is a nice piece at the end of his Transcendental Studies, called Chasse-neige.

These studies are often difficult, and often quite big and "Lisztian". Yet writing studies is a scholarly occupation, like writing sonatas, so Liszt is being serious again as well.

Bearing this in mind, I think it's interesting that he ends with a more introverted piece. It's true, it does get loud, but also it has some of the quietest, lightest writing of the twelve studies.

What I wanted to tell you was this.

Liszt seems to me to go in a serious direction at the end of the Transcendental Studies. This serious snow-music reminds me of something else - the lonely figure at the end of Schubert's Winterreise, left out of the village like the old organ-grinder, in the end perhaps being erased by the white snowy landscape.

I find it amusing to note that while Schubert does it his way, Liszt's idea has us not so much erased by frozen blank finality - more like completely buried in the avalanche!

It was rather a dramatic snow-storm, after all.

But we shouldn't judge Liszt by our own standards, or anyone else's. Times were different then.

All the same, I rather like this piece.

It's really transcendental, too. To play it at its best would not sound particularly obviously difficult. But someone good enough to do that would be quite shockingly good!

I don't think I've ever heard it played exactly as I imagine it...but Mr. Arrau is good.

Earth Hour

2008-03-29T19:45:00.002Z

You live on Earth - your hour is near.

Earth Hour happens between 8 and 9 pm tonight, NOW!

To participate in this hour, turn off electrical things and lights and so on.

Perhaps even your computer?

You've got 15 mins. Go!

Escape from Stalag Howard

2008-03-27T17:20:00.002Z

The butterfly has escaped!

It has become quite strong (and a bit fat) by eating my fine cuisine de papillon and has started to search for...something!

It knows to go towards the light and has already got as far as the window!

It might still be a bit cold for releasing it to the outside, but it seems to be getting warmer. This butterfly mostly walks (with a bit of fluttering) but it has still got plenty of chance to succeed.

The carpet wasn't very tasty so I am feeding it again. But it has been out of its house for over 24 hours now!

You want to protect things from danger but you shouldn't protect them from development - even if it is more dangerous. Anyway, soon, soon it can go for its biggest adventure!

Still Going

2008-03-13T00:54:00.003Z

You can see: the left wing is a bit damaged. Two-spot markings. Nice yellowy colour. Proboscis - curly bit at the mouth end with which butterflies drink nectar out of plants.

Our friend is still going well in the safety of its home-made butterfly house. It can't fly well so I try to keep it out of trouble for the moment. It sleeps at night and wakes up in the day. It likes warmth from about 25°C, but becomes immobile if the temperature drops below 20 or so. It can still move if necessary in a cold temperature - I know this because when I first found it inside the fridge it could flutter and display its defensive "eye" markings on its wings. Anything with big eyes like that - you'd better keep away! It worked on me the first time.

I'm feeding it on a solution of honey and sugar in water. It is fed this on a chopstick. Since today I have a bit of tissue on the end which can soak up the solution. It would be nice to give it something to drink out of (like a flower) so it can use its proboscis properly.

Ideally this butterfly will get better and start flying properly, then the weather will get warm so I can release it into a lovely garden somewhere near. I try to give it some quality of life but it is designed to live outside, even if it is more dangerous out there.

I will see how it is looking.

A Colourful Visitor

2008-03-10T21:17:00.003Z

I was looking in the fridge for the butter.

I looked for a while but I couldn't see it.

Then I moved some potatoes at the bottom of the fridge.

And I found something buttery.

But it wasn't butter.

It was a BUTTERFLY!

That's not normally found in a fridge, is it.

So I have taken it out on a piece of paper.

I let it warm up in the room.

Then I started to think about releasing it.

One of its wings seems not to be working very well, so it was a bit hard to release. When it got warm it started walking across the table towards the light. I'm sure that's a healthy sign but I knew there was a long drop coming up if it fell off the table. I tried letting it out of the window, thinking it might be happier outside even if it was damaged. But the wind was too strong! It's very windy lately.

Then I left it on my doorstep for a while. I thought it might fly away or go to a butterfly-friendly place. I looked again after a while and it was still there! I think it was too cold outside.

So now it is living with me.

I left it some lettuce at first, but it seems that's what the caterpillars eat. Butterflies eat nectar. Or they drink it. They have a long tube that sucks it out of flowers.

So I have been trying to feed the butterfly. It has been given water with honey in it, on the end of a chopstick. I think it got stuck a bit but it's OK now. Honey is rather sticky as Pooh will tell you...

I hope it will get stronger!

Let's see what happens.

Pianoforte

2008-01-10T00:47:00.000Z

I don't know if people realise how much skill it takes to play, not just the wrong notes, but the right wrong notes - and to play them at the right time.

No, my dears, I'm not talking about my piano-playing...

Christmas Pudding - Your Instructions

2007-12-23T20:00:00.001Z

To those people who kindly accepted the gift of one of my premier high-quality Christmas puddings - here are your instructions!

1. Condition after transportation

The muslin may have slipped a bit during transit. If so, either pull it down at the sides so it gets tighter (more like the skin of a drum) or you can even re-tie the string if you wish.

2. Storage

Fridge or somewhere cool is good. The muslin has brushed with clarified butter so obviously that will solidify as it gets cooler, and if it's warmer it smells less attractive in my opinion. It makes no difference to the pudding though! Don't worry!

3. Heating

In order to eat it, you have to heat it!

Having removed all the plastic packaging, you will now have a pudding in a basin covered with muslin and tied up with string. OK?

To warm it it needs to be steamed for 2 1/2 hours (two and a half hours).
Use a large saucepan. Put something in the bottom of it like a very small bowl or saucer. Then put some water in the saucepan and put the pudding on top of the bowl or saucer, with the little end at the bottom and the muslin at the top. The water should come no more than halfway up the sides of the pudding basin. Put the lid on the pan. Turn on the heat so the water starts to boil then leave it simmering for 2.5 hours, adding boiling water if the pan starts to get dry. Just let it simmer, it doesn't need to be boiling fiercely thank you very much! And don't let the water get in the pudding, we are steaming it not boiling it!

You could also do a similar method, but using a roasting tin with water in it and the pudding basin in the water. Cover everything with foil to keep the steam in, add water if it starts to dry out. Oven temperature 150 degrees centigrade or equivalent.

4. Sauce

(for 10 people)
500 ml (18 fl oz) double cream
70 g (2.5 oz) sugar
8 g (1 tsp) potato flour (or cornflour), mixed with 1 tbsp milk
70 ml (3 fl oz) brandy

Put the cream and sugar in a saucepan, bring to the boil, then lower the heat and reduce gently by a quarter. Stir in the flour and boil for 1 minute. Add the brandy. Keep the sauce hot without letting it boil.

5. Serving

When you have finished heating the pudding, remove the string and muslin and the round piece of greaseproof paper. Now we're getting closer!

Gently release the pudding from its basin. put it onto your serving plate with the big end at the bottom, like the Great Pyramid except round!

Pour a bit of brandy on it, touch a flame to it and it should burn merrily and mysteriously with a magical flame. Turn the lights down to appreciate. Don't trip over the dog though.

After the flame has burned out, cut the pudding into portions and bash them gently and stylishly into everybody's bowls. Then you can put the brandy cream on.

Then eat it!

Notes:
tsp: teaspoon
tbsp: tablespoon
oz: ounce
ml: millilitre
fl oz: fluid ounce

I hope this wasn't complicated! Good luck!

And of course, Merry Christmas, and to all a good night!

Performances

2007-12-14T19:32:00.000Z

Performances of my music are quite rare. Though not yet extinct!

So it surprises me that people are playing my music and not telling me about it.

There is a long piano piece by me, called "Good Night!" (named after a Janáček piece from "On an Overgrown Path"). I think it has been played in Japan by a pianist called Kentaro Noda. But I didn't hear for sure.

And now the PRS are telling me it was played in the Theatre Royal, Nottingham, on 17th June 2007.

Who did it? Any ideas?

By the way, classical music royalties are now very low indeed. I calculate that in order to get a reasonable amount of money from performances, at the current rate of pay each piano piece would have to last for 20 hours! And that's not even making a living out of it!

I am afraid it is true! You do a lot better in film and TV. But it's probably right, because lots of people "consume" TV music, and not a lot go to concerts. So what can I say?

See Vees ("CV"s)

2007-12-14T01:14:00.000Z

It's quite common for me to get emails from people keen to trumpet to the world on the subject of their forthcoming engagements and general wonderfulness. This is fine inasmuch as I'm delighted if they are doing well, etc., whoever they may be, but I do find the biographies slightly aggravating.

All publicity is naturally one-sided, and if it is relevant it can only refer to the event at hand (things must be excluded). We understand that, while professional qualifications and accolades may be mentioned, criminal convictions and misdemeanours might not. "The greatest I have ever heard", not "Have you considered the trombone?"

That's fine, and we know how to read CVs to detect what they are really concealing. You know that "Sublime." (New York Times) suggests one thing, while "Sublime." (Detroit Arc-Welders Monthly) doesn't necessarily imply the same. "Great!" (Maxim Vengerov) is a single syllable taken from many which could indicate Mr. Vengerov thinks you are indeed great, or something quite different - "Great! Doughnuts!"

Did you know that you are just as good even if no-one ever praises you? Most people like to hear good things about themselves, some people often don't hear anything good, but I think the one person you should be able to rely on is yourself. That doesn't mean it's just you against them all (Every man for himself, or "Jeder für sich und Gott gegen alle"), but that you know if you've done your best or not, you know what you need to improve, and that any failure is not because you are a failure, but because you have not succeeded completely YET! I hope you think that way, and if not, you can start now.

It's good to have good "quotes" or reviews. (It doens't mean anything, but it is a sign of something and at least shows that someone recommends you). It's rather sad to have good reviews from puny sources. ("It was as if Brahms sat down at the piano himself" - Salt Lake City Catering Gazette).

All in all, I'm in favour of truthfulness in CVs. "Studied with X" should mean exactly that - not the same thing as "had some lessons with X" or perhaps "watched X's DVD training course twice".

I think what aggravates me the most is the matter of prizes. You know, I've won a couple of prizes. I mention them in programme biographies and things. That's because it's true and relevant. It doesn't mean I'm good! Who knows, it may mean the opposite! I admit, of course, that I will generally want to show my best (or least worst) side in publicity materials - this is fine. But it's very lazy and a bit dishonest to, er, rephrase things in your favour. Have you heard of this?

"Won the Tchaikovsky Competition Prize" (He won the 100th Prize but it's true, it was A prize though perhaps not THE prize?)

"Was awarded the first prize" (Yes, last place is normally awarded first. Different to being awarded First Prize...)

And so on and on. Anyway, you get the idea. Watch out for this measly rewording of the truth!

I guess people want recognition, don't they. Well here are my tips (time to get tough!)

1. If you want to be recognised, WORK HARD and TRY YOUR ABSOLUTE BEST then something may happen.

2. If you wish you could win a prize then WIN SOMETHING. Come on! Winning is the only way to win, look in the dictionary!

3. Please, it doesn't matter what you won or didn't win. Just show the things you care about, as only you can, and you should do fine.

4. Tell the truth! It's OK to make a nice story out of it, as long as it's still the truth, After all, it's the story of your adventure!

If somebody tried hard and got 5th place, I like to hear about it! But as for exaggerations and vaguenesses like "top prizes" and the (fictional) examples above, I don't like to hear about it. The end.

Ah well, anyway, everybody wins my prize. What I have cleverly not mentioned is that there are several categories, hee hee...

Latest Update

2007-12-11T22:36:00.000Z

The puddings are done and should be maturing nicely. The whole house smelled puddingy and wet while they were steaming. It was quite nice actually!

And your fact for today is the King Charles II was so keen on clocks that he had seven of them in his bedroom. It sounds a lot but then I don't know how big his bedroom was and it could well have been ENORMOUS, perhaps rendering today's fact not-so-remarkable. Nevertheless...

Big Pudding Project

2007-11-13T23:36:00.000Z

It's a bit late for making Christmas Puddings...but I think it's best to do things rather than not. So they will have at least one month to mature before any eating happens. That's something!

What is alarming is how long it takes to make them.

I have finally gathered all the ingredients after about four days of scouring the streets of London for currants (they don't have them on the streets, you have to look in shops - maybe that's why it took so long?) and have the bowls etc. Now I have read the recipe. I thought I could have them finished by tomorrow night but the mixture has to rest for two days before it can be cooked.

Do you think that's long? Every aspect of this recipe requires great patience. Here are some further figures:

Cooking time: Eight hours!

Heating time: yes, HEATING, how long it takes just to get them hot when you want to eat them - two and a half hours!!

Preparation time, as it says in the book: "two hours, to be done one to five years in advance"

I didn't put a "!" at the end of the last sentence. I think you probably put your own one in there...

!!!

The recipe is from my excellent book, "The Roux Brothers on Patisserie". They say the recipe came from a "superb English cook" called Mrs. Bradbrook about 50 years ago. I don't know, there's something about the word "superb" there. Is it "superb" and "English"? Would a Frenchman normally use both in the same sentence? It certainly has some sort of unusual air about it.

Right so they should hopefully be done by Friday. I'm making four!

Advertising

2007-10-27T19:07:00.000Z

If you have been wondering what I've been up to lately, here is one of the answers!

I have been playing in an advert for Sony Walkman. The concept was to take 128 musicians, give them all one note to play, and add the bits together to make a complete piece. It took three days! It's called "Music Pieces" and has just started airing on UK TV. You can see me, you know. I apologise for wearing a cravat. That's what wardrobe gave me, you know. I'm sure it looks very dashing...

Also we have a "Preview Trailer" you can see. That shows you something of what it was like to film the project.

We also have for your viewing pleasure another "Teaser" of a more tantalising nature.

I hope you all buy Walkmans now!

The spot was filmed in the crumbling old Victorian theatre theatre at Alexandra Palace, London in rather low temperatures on 2, 3, 4 October 2007. Musicians were too numerous to mention, music was by Peter Raeburn of Soundtree, co-written by Nick Foster. (I can't remember the name of the other writer, sorry. He's called Jason something. That's not very helpful, I'll try and find out who it is). Directed by Nick Gordon with production by Academy Films. Many other people worked on it but I don't know their names or companies.

Anyway the people mentioned here are good at their job, so you can watch out for them in future. I am giving them a good review!

ALKAN

2007-10-15T23:24:00.001Z

I do like to read some nice information about Alkan. The fact that I have written it myself doesn't put me off at all, oh no.

Alkan is...well you really should know. If not find out!

Alkan is my favourite composer. Although my favourite piece is the Beethoven Violin Concerto (not by Alkan). However, statistically Alkan wins by having more pieces I like. But let's not have Alkan and Beethoven competing, please. After all, they are different. There is no comparison!

So what to tell you about Alkan? The following shiny fishes of delight, which I have gathered from Ronald Smith's book (two books in one now, Alkan: The Man/Alkan: The Music). In English it's the main book (or only book?) for reading in some depth about this great composer. Yes, great, not odd or unusual. Busoni says, in the Foreword to his edition of Liszt's Studies:

These fifty-eight pianoforte pieces alone would place Liszt in the rank of the greatest "pianoforte" composers since Beethoven, Chopin, Schumann, Alkan, Brahms.

And that's true so just think about it please.

OK good things to tell you about Alkan:

1. He entered the Paris Conservatoire at the age of six.
2. He won first prize for solfège at the age of seven and a half.
3. He won first prize for piano when he was eleven!
4. Much later, when he was teaching at the Conservatoire, he awarded a special prize to César Franck. The reason was that Franck decided his sight-reading exam was too easy so played the piece perfectly but in a different key and thereby failed the exam! Presumably Alkan thought he was worth a prize.
5. Alkan may have had (or definitely had, or something) a son known as Delaborde, who was keen on swimming. A joint natatory outing in the river Seine shortly preceded Bizet's death! Not only that but soon after Bizet died, perhaps from swimming with Delaborde, the survivor began the process of marrying Mme. Bizet!
6. Well actually these are all quite gossipy facts, aren't they. Wouldn't it be better to talk about something more useful?

Yes, I certainly will. But that's for next time...

"Breaking News"

2007-09-27T15:59:00.000Z

This is the closest we get to Reuters...

This morning Sir Colin Davis was presented with half an acre of woodland in Suffolk in honour of his eightieth birthday (two days ago) and with thanks from the London Symphony Orchestra.

Well, that's news isn't it?

How to Cook Chicken

2007-09-15T23:41:00.000Z

OK here's a cookery tip for you.

Chicken (if you eat it) is one of the most difficult things to cook because it easily gets into an upsettingly dry, tough, squeaky condition which nobody wants but many people don't know how to avoid.

Here is the secret.

OK assuming you have cut it into small pieces, and you are frying it in a frying pan, all you have to do is: leave it. Yes, you read me correctly. Do nothing!

The side of the chicken pieces that is in contact with the pan is the side that is cooking. Turning it over now will make it cook faster (two hot sides). If you have other ingredients to add, and often there are lots of things to add and not enough time, then you don't want the chicken to be cooked before you start the other bits. No you don't, because the chicken will be over-cooked then. So just leave it in its initial position. THEN, when everything is cooked right, and the plates are ready, etc, then and only then should you turn it over. This way, it will be ready when you want to eat it and not before.

Remember that hot food continues to cook while it's on the plate. So stop cooking the chicken just before it looks ready. This means, if you cut a piece or split one with the cooking implement, it should be, well, not exactly pink in the middle, but certainly not quite white yet ("cooked chicken colour"). Yes, stop BEFORE it is ready. Stop when it is NEARLY ready.

So when it is on the plate in front of your guest or customer (or you) it will be the right colour inside. Because it is hot, and is still cooking itself as you watch!

Does that make sense?

To summarise:
1. in the pan, leave the top side of the chicken raw until you are ready to go.
2. turn it over to complete the cooking but stop just before it is cooked all the way through.

Now please tell me it worked.

In the Supermarket

2007-09-12T01:41:00.001Z

Tesco is a famous kind of supermarket. There's nothing so super about a supermarket - they just want you to think it's super. That's not to mention hypermarkets, which must be in a different league altogether.

In my view, it's better to grow food than to buy it, but if you're buying it get it from nearby, from somewhere trustworthy. It's better to buy with no packaging than with tons of illustrations attached to the food (think carefully: are you enjoying the food or what the picture tells you the food should be like?). Lots of things are better, but they are not necessarily convenient in some kinds of lifestyles.

So, in the absence of the above, we go to Tesco.

Today I wanted to tell you a few strange things that Tesco have offered me in the way of unusual experiences recently.

Not the man who bought a single banana and asked for a bag.

Not the homeless man who dashed in to steal food and took...chocolate cake.

Not the young men who looked so pleased with themselves for stealing pizzas.

Not the lady who bumped into everyone she passed in the shop.

No, this is to do with the conversations you find at the end of your journey to hunt and gather a simple meal of yoghurts and curry meals (taking an example at random). Because there are people who take your money in exchange for the goods you want, and those people sometimes like to have a bit of a chat with you. Do you have that? It's fine, but listen to what they say. It's rather odd in my Tesco (when I can actually understand what they are getting at).

A relatively normal conversation was proceeding when one man asked me, "are you Chinese?"

What do you think of that? Look at my picture...do I resemble your typical citizen of the Middle Kingdom? I wonder what made him ask if I'm from China? It's EXTREMELY odd!

The other one is less strange but I still remembered it. I bought two muffins and the following exchange took place:
Man: "......(indecipherable)...."
Me: "What?"
Man: "You have party?"
Me: "...party?" (thinks: what is he talking about?)
Man: "You buy cake. You have party!"
Me: "Oh. No. Well, I suppose I could....Good idea." (leaves)

That's on the evidence of two muffins (blueberry). Whatever next?

Maybe they are nervous. I would like to set them at ease but I'm too apprehensive of what they're going to come up with next!

And this is neither the time nor the place to relate what I have heard from taxi drivers over the years! Maybe one day.

The funny thing might be...are these people wondering at my strange behaviour?

One of Many Herzog Interviews

2007-08-30T21:58:00.000Z

Anything by or to do with Werner Herzog is interesting. I recommend it to you. Here is one interview.

Read it if you have a moment!

I've only seen three films by him - Nosferatu, Fitzcarraldo, and The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser. There is always a unique feeling to them which isn't present in any other work. It doesn't matter what they are about; if you find something as strong as this you have to at least take notice for a while.

He once promised to eat one of his shoes if Errol Morris ever finished his film Gates of Heaven. He finished it, and Herzog ate the shoe in public. You may think that's not a very good thing to do, but it's really quite a small thing when you consider what really unpalatable things people have to do all the time.

Then during the filming of Even Dwarfs Started Small, one actor was run over but escaped unhurt. Then the same actor caught fire and Herzog had to run over and put the fire out. So he told them all that if there were no further accidents, after the end of filming he would jump into a cactus patch and they could film him doing it.

I mean, these aren't things that I would necessarily do, and some people will certainly find them strange, but what is good about it is some visionary power of his is providing an incentive for other people to achieve something. Couldn't that be said of his films too?

It's also important to note that he does what he promises. I think you have to have integrity if people are going to believe what you're doing.

The Hobbit (Film)...?

2007-08-24T12:48:00.000Z

I was just thinking about what I thought was Peter Jackson's upcoming film adaptation of Tolkien's story "The Hobbit". I was going to begin: "So they're making a film of The Hobbit". But they aren't! They are nearly making a film of The Hobbit. The original plan was to make it then go on to film the three episodes of The Lord of the Rings all at the same time. But that was a long time ago. It seems there are problems about a number of things, particularly who owns the production rights, who owns the distribution rights (not the same people, I think, unfortunately), and a law suit which has apparently offended New Line Cinema and made them vow never to use Peter Jackson for anything ever again...so I hear, at least. I don't know what is true, but it seems there is some trouble with this project getting off the ground.

So is it still worth writing my thoughts about the music for this film? Of course! Let's go!

Now, The Hobbit is a good story. It's a very good read. I always feel with Tolkien that it is somehow offensive to "right-thinking literary people" because it is a little bit naïve and doesn't subject its literary form to any radical exploration or expansion. Yes, it's not Finnegans Wake. Well those imagined opinions undoubtedly have some truth to them, but you could also say that since Tolkien goes back to the sources he knew so well - the Sagas, Eddas, poems and prose of Northern Europe which are our surviving mythological and legendary heritage - and since he tries to make a real story like stories used to be told, maybe that is a radical thing to do, in a way. But it's true that it's not avant-garde. It's rather conservative in that it wants some things to remain a certain way. Certainly in The Lord of the Rings the peaceful way of life of the Hobbits living in the Shire is threatened by the "development" and "progress" that comes out of the land of Mordor. It may mean several things but one is certainly that rural life is threatened with extinction by the Industrial Revolution. Plus there is world war, too - I'm sure people have looked into all this in plenty of detail.

So anyway, it's not a great work of modernist fiction, but I will include it as an important work of modern fiction because whatever is good or bad about the writing, the idea and its world have found many ears eager to hear more. It's a good story, like The Three Musketeers or a James Bond novel. I mean it's a GOOD story - I'm praising it, not belittling it!

All of which is not to complain about the book, but to examine why I feel I should be slightly embarrassed to be discussing it in public. Well, I'm not. It's a proper story, so there. Ha!

The Hobbit is fun because you can read it in a day (if you have all day). There are plenty of excitements, some spooky bits, some magic and comedy too. And plenty of escapism if you enjoy reading about home comforts. The Hobbit, it seems, is a homely creature who enjoys his bit of supper. Often more than once!

I was thinking about the music for this projected film. I imagined it would be in the mode of The Lord of the Rings, which I feel is an extremely strong score (from Howard Shore). Its use of Leitmotiv (a theme for each character or thing, so you can see how they are interacting in the story, associated most with Wagner - very appropriate for a legendary story about a ring) provides a great way to unify all three films, almost as good a unifying factor as Peter Jackson's brain, which must be enormous to have made all three films at the same time!

On the other hand, once you have your motifs worked out, not much has to change. Because Wagner operas are mythological, they are supposed to be beyond the scope and compass of mortal time, so time gets stretched out. There is climax, or course (see Isoldens Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde) but time is a bit flattened out. So maybe leit-motifs prevent a more natural flow of musical events? Maybe, maybe not. Anyway they definitely made the right choice for those three films.

But the embarrassing moments for me are: the "Happy Shire" music, intended to be antic and comically endearing, but rather annoying for me, and the songs.

A big song in a film (or "movie", as they are called) is normally a signal for you to go out and buy the record (or "CD" as they are called). Yes, it is a marketing opportunity, almost a moment of "branded content" - entertainment that is actually selling you something. But if the song has a dramatic purpose, that's different. If not...why is it in a film? Do they stop the story to say "buy Simpson's Shock-Absorbers"? Yes they do. It's called product placement. However, that doesn't happen all the time.

But it's the little songs I'm worrying about here. Why do they go wrong? In fact, musical examples of "real music" in films go rather badly - look at Mr. Holland's Opus! The Piano! Dear me. Supposedly examples of great music and would be fine on the soundtrack but not when you take the same level of musical discourse but expose it on a completely different level.

I'm talking about songs because there are quite a lot in The Hobbit.

Far over the misty mountains cold,
To dungeons deep and caverns old
We must away ere the break of day,
To seek the pale enchanted gold.

has potential (could still be ruined though) but

Chip the glasses and crack the plates!
Blunt the knives and bend the forks!
That's what Bilbo Baggins hates -
Smash the bottles and burn the corks!
...So, carefully! Carefully with the plates!

could go badly wrong. You see, musical music (as used in an opera by someone who is intending the music to carry important meaning) has a great emotional and expressive range which includes comedy as well as more serious thoughts. But "background music" (which film music is not when it is one of the characters in the story but which it easily can be) doesn't have much range. It can illustrate or echo what is happening on-screen, but it needs more wide possibilities of expression, obviously, to express more things. Bad examples go like "Aha there is something nasty happening me better make loud noise bang bang!", but in a good example you hear an added level of story. Maybe it would be more dramatic with quiet music. Or no music. And so on.

So the score needs to be thoughtful, but it should think on a different level when the music gets exposed and we are asked to listen to it as "real music" in the story.

You have to think carefully, though, because a film score mostly can't have quite the same depth as music on its own in a concert, because film + music is the totality of the offering, each playing its part which should add up to 100%. But that's about good partnerships. When person X is doing something important, person Y should try to help...perhaps even by doing nothing.

Style is difficult for songs in a film because one assumes the audience has a very limited imagination of what songs should sound like. Songs are...well, anything from pop music, or "a folk song". What is a folk song? Why it's Irish of course!

Yes why does it always have to be Irish? Come on, you've got more choices than that! Or could it perhaps be because most films are aimed at the USA? Where there are a lot of people who think of Ireland as "home"? Or the home before this home? Could be.

Yes there are perhaps limited references to work with when you want to engage with the audience, but I still think you should give it a try. People are more intelligent than you might think. Still, they have to sell the picture. I understand.

If The Hobbit has embarrassing aspects, then they may extend to the film version too...and that may include the songs. Let's wait and see.

But Tolkien wasn't embarrassed, and neither are the fans of the stories. You have to get into the world to learn how to show people what it looks like. Being intelligent about it doesn't mean it has to sound "clever". It just will take people there, that's all.

I'm sure it will TURN OUT FINE!