Hot and Steamy

Sunday Music Selection - Three Moderns

Some modern classical avant garde stuff now -


Iannis Xenakis - Metastasis

Toru Takemitsu - To the Edge of Dream.

Composed in 1983.

Toru Takemitsu (1931-1996) was a self-taught Japanese composer who combined elements of Eastern and Western music and philosophy to create a unique sound world. Some of his early influences were the sonorities of Debussy, and Messiaen's use of nature imagery and modal scales. There is a certain influence of Webern in Takemitsu's use of silence, and Cage in his compositional philosophy, but his overall style is uniquely his own. Takemitsu believed in music as a means of ordering or contextualizing everyday sound in order to make it meaningful or comprehensible. His philosophy of "sound as life" lay behind his incorporation of natural sounds, as well as his desire to juxtapose and reconcile opposing elements such as Orient and Occident, sound and silence, and tradition and innovation.

Sean Shibe(guitar)/BBC National Orchestra of Wales/Christoff Konig.


Einojuhani Rautavaara - Symphony No.8 ("The Journey")

Rautavaara is a prolific composer with a career spanning seven decades. So far he has created ten operas, of which Thomas (1982-1985), Vincent (1986-1987) and Aleksis Kivi (1995-1996) are the best known. He has also produced eight symphonies and many concertos including the popular Cantus Arcticus; concerto for birds & orchestra (1972) and the double bass concerto Angel of Dusk (1980). Rautavaara has also written reams of choral, chamber and vocal music and a small amount of electronic music. Through working directly from his emotions and not hewing to party line serialism, Einojuhani Rautavaara has emerged, in the autumn of his life, as one the major figures in contemporary music worldwide.Symphony No.8 was composed in 1999.

Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra/Mikko Franck.

Faversham Hop Festival Saturday

After my visit ti do the lunch i ended up in Faversham Not realising that it was the Hop Festival. The town was busy,there was live bands and musicians in the streets and lots of stalls, including one where you could sample many Kent brewed ciders. I think it was the cider that got me almost kegless.



That stall had some really great tasting ciders.

There was morris dancers and food stalls.
The weather that started sunny had gob=ne overcast when i arrived in the town but luckily it did not rain too much - just minor spits occasionally.

I also had a couple of cheap ales,Rockin' Robin and Hopdaemon.

So here are the rest of the pics under the cut.

( More photos here )

It was a fun day all round.