Two masterclasses

 

Two more videos coming up, one of which was already plugged in these pages, albeit somewhat in passing... these feature the two current "travelling experts" on B's music, so to speak - the two figures who seem to have been busiest lately in terms of teaching the maestro's music to eager musicians. One is a short documentary, the other a (longer) piece of concert footage, and both of them offer windows into the warped and wonderful world that is Braxtonland*. 

In truth, neither video needs very much commentary. The first, put together by or on behalf of Kobe Van Cauwenberghe, is a bite-sized and very digestible documentary showing the guitarist preparing his Ghost Trance Septet  for their performance at Philharmonie Luxembourg, as part of the Rainy Days Festival in November 2021; it is handily indexed into parts, five of which centre on specific compositions used as tertiary materials (6f, 40f, 40b, 58 & 34**) - other sections focus on the treatment of language music types or secondary materials, etc. It is both charmingly relaxed and indicative of how into the music all of the individual musicians are: all six of the band members (besides the leader, of course) are interviewed, albeit briefly, and their fascination with B's music - and its unique challenges and freedoms - is readily apparent. I wondered at first whether Van Cauwenberghe's addressing his group in English was purely something done for the camera's benefit  (although Belgium is a polyglot country, and this is not always a trouble-free issue***), but when we hear violinist Winnie Huang speak (around 7.15), she does so in more or less unaccented English - and possibly, therefore, does not speak either French or Flemish very fluently. (Coincidentally, she is also the one player who is no longer in the band: she was replaced by Anna Jalving for the group's superb double-CD.) The video explains very clearly what tertiary materials are, as well as secondary materials - although this is slightly more confusing, largely thanks to a misleading title for the segment beginning around 6.30# - and the impression given is that the leader's relaxed and confident approach facilitates the understanding for the players, as well as for any potential viewers.

Van Cauwenberghe, besides leading this highly-rated## group, is currently focusing on B's music in his PhD at the Antwerp Conservatory (according to his official bio), which helps to explain why his expertise has been so sought after in recent times. Our next masterclass is given by one of B's heirs apparent, whose credentials have already been established in these pages. 

Here, Roland Dahinden conducts (what appears to be) a thirty-one-piece orchestra through a thirty-two-minute performance entitled simply "Language types", at the Archa Theatre, Prague, in October 2021. This time, such commentary as might be needed - in terms of filling gaps in understanding which might easily arise from a close watch of the video - is unfortunately beyond me to supply. When the cameras pick up visible sheet music, it does indeed appear to contain nothing more than a list of the primary language types - long sounds, staccato attacks, trills, multiphonics and so on - together with the symbols used to denote these within B's scores; but the music we hear is not simply a series of exercises, rather it has its own continuity and internal structure, and although the conductor is showing the performers how and when to play, that does not explain how they know what to play. There is nothing random-sounding about this, suggesting that a schema must have been worked out in advance and then carefully rehearsed prior to the performance. This becomes most evident at times (for example from around the 17-minute mark) when different sections of the orchestra are producing different types of attack, but really it is apparent throughout, to a viewer who is paying attention. If all that had been decided beforehand was that the orchestra would be taken through a sequence of language music types, with no other limitations specified, the results would doubtless be very different from what we actually see and hear. Still, the closeness with which all eyes watch RD, and the rapidity with which the orchestra responds to him, leave us in no doubt that the assembled players have complete trust in the conductor to guide them through this piece. As someone with a background in martial arts and qigong, I was very impressed by Dahinden's excellent posture and whole-body movement, in which his limbs are perfectly aligned to a straight spine, resulting in clear and commanding gestures at all times. If I can't claim to make total sense of what happens in this video, I can at least say that it provides clear insight into Dahinden's skill and aplomb as a conductor - and it ought to prove helpful, when I finally get to the point of attempting a breakdown of Ensemble Montaigne (Bau 4) 2013. 

In the meantime, the obvious place to seek direct comparisons is the opening track of Creative Orchestra (Köln) 1978...  

The maestro was present for both of these events, by the way: in Luxembourg, the septet's set was one half of a double bill with a performance by B. himself###, and the previous month's Prague concert had him there in some capacity too. In both cases he looks delighted by the interpretations of his work (in Prague he appears to have been almost overwhelmed). Like I say: two masterclasses...

* This reference will make sense to anyone who watches the first video - though you do have to keep watching till the very end!

** 34 is listed in the video as 34a, a persistent anomaly - the origins of which predate the guitarist's birth: listed on the 1981 Antilles album as Comp. 34, this has very often been cited as 34a - including the only other time it was officially recorded, as part of (the live portion of) Willisau (Quartet) 1991 (the half of that '92 box which has yet to be reissued in remastered form). Yet there has never been any mention of a "Comp. 34b" or the like... the roots of the confusion go back to the Composition Notes, where Book C in fact begins with the notes for 34a, described passim with that precise title, but with no real explanation given. The catalogue of works, on the other hand, lists 34 - as the first of "Three Compositions (1974)"... despite the fact that, according to the actual notes, 34(a) was composed in Canada in 1975. Small wonder, then, that nobody has ever been quite sure how to refer to this marvellous piece. (Given the number of times it is named as 34a in the notes, I am inclined to go with that - even if it doesn't really make sense..!)

*** My information on this subject is admittedly a couple of decades out of date, but Mrs C. and I found Belgium a frustrating country to drive around, as different areas would display road signs in one language only - so that in some cases one could be heading for a town or city only to find that one has changed from a Walloon district to a Flemish one, or vice versa, and the name of one's destination is now completely unrecognisable. Historically, the different areas had a problematic relation to each other (and I have seen for myself how French-speakers in Flemish Belgium might be totally ignored by the locals, who would answer questions in English but would refuse to acknowledge French at all). However, I have also met several Belgians who were perfectly fluent in both - as well as In English - and in a situation where people come together to cooperate, I'm sure there wouldn't be any such problem...

# Actually, this segment is a little confusing all round. The title for it - both onscreen and in the indexation for the video - probably should be "Composition 358 (secondary material)", where the wording "Tertiary material" is probably left in there by mistake, carried over from the previous segments. But although Comp. 358 is another of the works which this group did play - on the album, for instance - the video as a whole is supposedly all about a rehearsal and performance of Comp. 255 only. That in itself is probably a mistake on the part of whoever edited the video for release, since not all of the five tertiary materials relate to the group's arrangement of 255; and besides, even to call 255 itself "second species GTM" is not strictly accurate as it is really a Syntactical GTM piece... of course, with no vocalists present, there would be little point in emphasising that. - As usual, I am compelled to point out all these little details, but the main thing is just to enjoy the video and not to worry too much about the particulars...

## The septet's CD - which I still haven't got round to writing about, yet! - has been much lauded: several reviewers considered it to be one of the best recordings of 2022. (Without giving much away here, I also consider it to be about as good as any reading of B's work would need to be, or as any listener might wish it to be.)

### At least, there are references online to this having been the case, though I've not yet been able to verify it: the TCF events page actually has a conspicuous 2021-sized hole in it, so who knows what really happened in Luxembourg. We do know, of course, that B. was present, as we can see for ourselves that he took his applause at the end of the septet's set...