John Dowland and a Man Possessed

Robin has become a man possessed.
He has re-found the music for a beautiful piece by John Dowland (1563-1626), 'Sir Henry Gifford's Almaine'.

The piece itself is superb, inspired, and has some very difficult acrobatic work, for the left hand in particular.
Anyone who can conceive of such a piece must have been an outstanding player.

Dowland was a contemporary of Shakespeare, and you can get a real sense of the times whist listening to it.

Some of the ideas in the variations on the theme are very adventurous harmonically, and would have originally been played on the lute.
To achieve a similar effect, Robin plays with a capo at the third fret.

When I say possessed, I do mean possessed.
I can't walk past the music room without him calling out, "Come and listen to this bit", and as I try to sidle past unnoticed, he adds, "I know you're there".

This is what happens to a musician when they fall in love with a piece of music all over again.
Every note is analysed, and a process of interpreting the music commences.
Then there's the fingering.
"Does this sound better, or this?"

Many hours are given over to finding the most economical positioning to enable the piece to flow smoothly.

Meanwhile, the rest of us in the house, have a crash course in Dowland and all things connected.
But that's OK, it's all very interesting, and luckily I love the music of Dowland.
Ask me again by the end of the week though, when I've heard the same piece for 3 days, and none of the pre-Christmas jobs have been dealt with as Dowland has intervened....

From A Day in New York to Heavy Weather to Rostropovich

Robin was lucky enough to have some time in New York yesterday. This was a rare treat for him as usually he is just passing through. He didn't have a full day, as getting through security took longer than anticipated, and he had to be back on board the QE2 by 4 pm. So, unfortunately, didn't manage to get to The Cloisters, as recommended by Paul, in New Jersey, and Ted, in New York. Many thanks for the directions though!

One thing he did need to do was to get some new strings for the next stage of his trip.
He found himself a luthiers in Manhattan and stepped inside, the first thing he saw was a copy of his very own book, 'The Guitar Gymnasium.' He was quite delighted and it reminded him of seeing a Hill/Wiltschinsky album in Tower Records a few years ago.

After a chat with the owner, Robin purchased some strings, along with another footstool, and this rather beautiful capo.



As he left the shop and walked down the road he came across the legendary Birdland Club. This is the famous New York jazz club that so influenced the band Weather Report that they named their famous song 'Birdland' after it.
This has always been rather a special track for us. In the early days we would listen to it very loud, late at night, often with musician friends, and just enjoy.
Now, well, usually son number one tells us to turn the music down, he's trying to sleep...

However, we should also take a moment to remember Mstislav Rostropovich the outstanding cellist, conductor and pianist who died yesterday. Obituary provided by The Daily Telegraph.