In Review--Brahms Blues

-


Classical/Blues
Knut Reiersrud Band 
Trondheimsolistene 
Infinite Gratitude 
Kirkelig Kulturverksted



Last month I ran across a YouTube video of Norwegian bluesman Knut Reiersrud’s band playing along side a chamber orchestra.  The result was so astounding that I paused to compose my thoughts.  Normally, we wouldn’t think of blues and classical chamber music coming together on the same page.  Yes, we have heard pop, jazz, and rock versions of famous classical pieces.  And in reverse, symphonies performed pop or rock classics with mixed results.  On the album Infinite Gratitude, Knut Reiersrud and his blues band pair up with the chamber ensemble Trondheimsolstine where they explore the 2nd movements of Franz Schubert’s String Quintet in C major and Johannes Brahms’ String Sextet in B flat major.  The musicians literally wed blues to chamber music.

  
I much prefer the dreamier slower passages where Reiersrud plays otherworldly steel guitar in which the violins and cellos dance around the guitar.  This, thankfully, isn’t a pop melody with a bank of strings creating a lush background ala the Beatles, though the overall sound here is Baby Boomer generation.  Some times the chamber strings even slide into a blues mode while still keeping the chamber pieces recognizable.  I can’t even imagine the arrangement process of melding American-style blues and chamber music with a drummer playing an apestic beat, such as on Part 2 of the Schubert string piece.  When David Wallumrød’s Hammond organ comes in, I’m reminded of the Moody Blues Night’s in White Satin album (not that I remember organ on that record).  It's just the feeling of the piece and not the actual sound scape that brings up this connection.


  
I much prefer Part 3 of the Schubert Piece and also Part 3 of the Brahms piece.  The chamber orchestra sets the pace and tone of these two movements while creating a large space for the blues musicians to intermingle.  It’s also fun for me to hear the shift from chamber to blues which happens when the string players pluck their strings and a slow drum beat and elongated notes played on steel guitar give the music an exotic feel (on the Schubert piece).  The third part of the Brahms piece sounds slightly contemplative, even melancholic, until the ethereal guitar arrives with stunning results.


  
While I give the musicians credit for their artistic achievement, I don’t agree with the liner notes that combining blues with classical music will solve the problem in the US regarding a decline in symphony audiences (assuming that the 30% decline with US classical music audiences has to do with dying demographics of older generations and lack of youngsters attending symphonic concerts).  The decline in US classical music audiences has more to do with a tight economy and budget cuts that eliminate music programs from K-12 schools.  Without music appreciation or music classes, children are not exposed to classical music in a way that demystifies complex art music.  In addition, children spend too much time around pop culture blasted to them through the media on their computers and television.  These children aren’t even familiar with the American blues, which is seen more as a folkloric style of music these days.
  
The best approach to increasing younger symphonic audiences in any country is to provide classical music training to children of all economic backgrounds in the way that Josè Abreu has done in Venezuela with his El Sistema project (which founded youth orchestras for youth from different economic situations).  The US has also dealt with its share of youth violence in recent years that captured international attention.  Research has proven again and again that classical music provides students with emotional healing as well as, helping children with the learning process.  No other music genre can boasts the same credentials.


However, for those of you only here to read a review of a fine recording, I recommend Infinite Gratitude for entertainment and artistic purposes.  But in all honesty, this recording will appeal to Baby Boomers (plus shadow boomers) and not American youth with little exposure to either American blues or classical music.  Oddly, American blues enjoys more popularity outside of the US.  And American youth gravitate towards the glittering pop stars who probably couldn’t tell the difference between a Bach fugue and a Beethoven sonata. 



http://www.kkv.no



Sample Infinite Gratitude http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obcjMfmDuPo

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Introduction to Peyote Songs & The Native American Church

-
Image
Father Peyote: Songs of the Native American Church Introduction to the Peyote Church Ceremony This is an archival article written in 2003.  It's not updated.  For more recent recordings, go to Canyon Records website, http://www.canyonrecords.com When some people speak of Native American ceremonies, the peyote ceremony or the ingestion of the hallucinogen peyote (contains mescaline) usually surfaces. However, there is too much false information being passed around in the non-native community surrounding peyote meetings. The first thing people need to know about the Native American connection to peyote is that the plant is sacred medicine ingested as a sacrament during healing ceremonies of the Native American Church. The second thing, people need to know is that the Native American Church is not a set structure like the Christian Church. The peyote meeting could take place in a Navajo hogan or a teepee. And finally, since the peyote meeting does in part derive from Nat
Read more

The Practice--Treasure Hunt from the book Whole Music

-
Image
Excerpt from Whole Music The Practice: Musical Treasure Hunt Similar to treasure hunts from our childhood, I’m going to send you on a music treasure hunt in which the pleasures are many.  Pretend that you are a song catcher visiting other cultures where you collect new sounds. While I mentioned sound healers earlier, another important player with music preservation are ethnomusicologists who combine cultural anthropology with music preservation.  Two famous song catchers are the late Alan Lomax, and the world beat drummer Mickey Hart.  I recommend learning more about these song catchers through books, and documentaries. 1) Step One-- Head over to YouTube, and look up the following music traditions: ·          Aboriginal Didgeridoo ·          Finnish Runo-Songs (Traditional singer) ·          Gregorian chants ·          Griot Music of Mali (Acoustic, not pop music) ·          Sanskrit Chants Sung by Hindu Indians in Context (aka Kirtans)
Read more

Talking about Timbre

-
Image
Wikipedia As I mention in my book Whole Music , when I was a child I fell in love with timbre and the voices of the individual instruments we listened to in music class.  Each instrument conjured a specific emotions or feeling in me.  The French horn caused me to feel majestic and the cello invoked melancholy.  My moods would shift with each instrument that I heard and my moods would shift quickly. Today, I listen to more than timbre, but I have an understanding of how tone, frequencies of the tone and timbre (the color of the tone) affect me on all levels.  And I wonder what listening to an entire symphony does with its many voices, themes, keys, musical passages etc... In the concept of "whole music" I prefer not to separate musical components, but in the case of this post, I will present solo instruments for your listening and feeling pleasure. If you keep a music journal (and I hope that you do by now), write down the emotions that come up with each instrument.  R
Read more