Churnalism.... from art to music and back again...

Here are  three events that I think will be good, and details of a season's programme by an orchestra I rather like They are all about music. Except the second one, that's about visual art. As always, press release in plain text, Vile comments in italics

Edit-Point: Axe! Music for Electric Guitar and Electronics

Persistently intriguing Glasgow-based contemporary composers Edit-Point dial it up to 11 with music performed by guest electric guitarist, Peter Argondizza. An eclectic set of live guitar and electronics and fixed media music played over a multi-speaker sound system. 

The classical modernist meets the post-minimalist in Luciano Berio’s Sequenza XI and Jack Vees’ National Anthem. Gilles Gobeil’s small, but perfectly full-on Associations Libres takes on Alistair MacDonald’s sparse and intriguingly angular Quite Still. All of this is contrasted by lush, fixed-media works by Manuella Blackburn and Oliver Carman.

7.30pm Friday 15 November, Recital Room, City Halls, Candleriggs. Tickets £6 (£3)

This next one could provoke an intriguing article about how visual art made in Glasgow, at one point excluded from GOMA and the 'mainstream' has become part of Glasgow's Cultural Capital. These artists are getting to go in the Big Important Museum  -have a cheeky keek at Social Sculpture, the book, to see how complicated that relationship is...

The first programme details for a landmark series of exhibitions celebrating 25 years of contemporary art in Scotland have been revealed. GENERATION will bring an ambitious and extensive programme of works of art by over 100 artists to over 60 galleries, exhibition spaces and venues the length and breadth of the nation between March – November 2014, with the majority of exhibitions taking place over the summer of 2014, as part of the Glasgow 2014 Cultural Programme.

GENERATION has been in the making since 2011. The programme will continue to grow in the coming months, and featured artists announced today include Charles Avery, Sara Barker, Karla Black, Christine Borland, Martin Boyce, Roddy Buchanan, Steven Campbell, Duncan Campbell, Katy Dove, Graham Fagen, Moyna Flannigan, Douglas Gordon, Ilana Halperin, Charlie Hammond, Iain Hetherington, Louise Hopkins, Callum Innes, Jim Lambie, Lorna Macintyre, Sophie Macpherson, Alan Michael, Rosalind Nashashibi, Toby Paterson, Ciara Phillips, Alex Pollard, Charlotte Prodger, Mary Redmond, John Shankie, David Shrigley, Ross Sinclair, Simon Starling, Clare Stephenson, Corin Sworn, Joanne Tatham and Tom O’Sullivan, Cara Tolmie, Sue Tompkins, Hayley Tompkins,  Zoë Walker & Neil Bromwich, Alison Watt, Cathy Wilkes, Richard Wright and many more.

Yep, totally need to deconstruct and elaborate on that line-up... 

WEST SIDE STORY

King’s Theatre 15 - 25 January 2014

West Side Story - based on a conception of Jerome Robbins

Book by Arthur Laurents. Music by Leonard Bernstein. Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim.

Entire original production directed and choreographed by Jerome Robbins

Originally produced on Broadway by Robert E. Griffith and Harold S. Prince

by arrangement with Roger L. Stevens

“WEST SIDE STORY” changed the course of musical theatre when it opened on Broadway in 1957 and it still remains one of the most successful stage shows of all time. The 1961 film version won ten Academy Awards. Based on Romeo and Juliet, “WEST SIDE STORY” is set on Manhattan’s Upper West Side and explores the rivalry between two teenage gangs; one white, the other Puerto Rican. When Tony falls in love with Maria, the sister of the rival gang’s leader, the feud takes on a new dimension, and as their love blossoms so begins a fatal journey overshadowed by violence and hatred.   The score includes the unforgettable songs ‘Maria’, ‘Tonight’, ‘Somewhere’, ‘America’ and ‘I Feel Pretty’.

“WEST SIDE STORY” originally directed and choreographed by Jerome Robbins, has a book by Arthur Laurents, music by Leonard Bernstein with Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim.

This production is directed and choreographed afresh by Joey McKneely - former assistant to Jerome Robbins. Joey has worked extensively on Broadway where his choreography credits include “Smokey Joe’s Café” (Tony Award nomination) and “The Boy From Oz” starring Hugh Jackman. His other credits include Hal Prince’s production of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Whistle Down the Wind” and Nicholas Hytner’s production of “Twelfth Night”.

West Side Story

15 - 25 January 2014

Box Office 0844 871 764

The Scottish Ensemble’s 2013/14 Season 
Musical journeys around Scotland and EuropeThe Scottish Ensemble will launch its 2013/14 season at the Music Hall in Aberdeen on Friday 7 June 2013. The choice of location is not accidental: it underlines the Ensemble’s commitment to its innovative regional touring model, the City Residencies programme. In October 2012 SE launched residencies in Inverness and Dundee, and in June 2013 Aberdeen and Perth also receive their first–ever Scottish Ensemble residencies.

Throughout the 4-day residencies SE undertakes a wide range of on- and off-platform events designed specifically around individual communities. Events have included: coaching sessions with young and amateur musicians, pop-up performances, late-night and cross-art-form events, tea dances, ceilidhs, and more. This new model is ambitious and has already delivered significant results. It has brought about a considerable increase in audience numbers, strengthened key relationships with community stakeholders and is bringing high-quality music-making to previously unreached groups.
2013/14

The Scottish Ensemble’s season takes audiences on a number of exciting musical journeys around Scotland and Europe; each programme is inspired by place and musical identity. 2013/14 includes four major tours in Scotland, four city residencies, concerts at London’s Wigmore Hall, lunchtime concerts, and chamber music performances. It also includes late-night gigs and a whole range of activities in surprising and unusual locations as part of the city residencies.

Season highlights include:

·         A season of work rooted in the idea of musical place and identify.

·         Performances of Martin Suckling’s full set of Musical Postcards written for the Ensemble.

·         A new commission from Danish composer Christian Winther Christensen in a programme to include classic Scandinavian string repertoire alongside contemporary voices.

·         A major tour of Scotland with rising star mezzo soprano Sophie Harmsen, which will culminate in a performance at London’s Wigmore Hall.

·         Concerts with Chris Stout and Catriona McKay, to include Sally Beamish’s Seavaigers, plus new material from Stout and McKay.

·         A new commission to some of Scotland’s most exciting composers, each writing a variation on a traditional Scottish melody.

·         The continuation of SE’s relationship with key broadcast partner BBC Radio 3.

Nordic Nights
Concerts by Candlelight
 6 December Aberdeen / 7 December Inverness / 8 December Dundee / 9 December Perth / 10 December Glasgow / 11 December Edinburgh

The Scottish Ensemble’s popular December ‘Concerts by Candlelight’ series has a Nordic twist in 2013. The programme includes a new arrangement for the Ensemble of Grieg’s string quartet and an usual journey through ‘Holberg’s Time’ with fascinating detours via exciting contemporary Scandinavian voices. 

Grieg                               From Holberg’s Time (Holberg Suite)
                                      with interludes from contemporary     
                                      Scandinavian composers including
Christian Winther
Christensen                       New Work (SE Commission)

Sibelius                            Andante Festivo
Grieg                               String Quartet No. 1

Love and War in Bohemia
21 February Inverness / 22 February Dundee / 23 February Glasgow / 24 February Edinburgh / 26 February London 
Following her successful UK debut with the Scottish Ensemble in 2012, the thrilling mezzo soprano Sophie Harmsen returns to perform with the Scottish Ensemble in February 2014. She performs Dvořák’s magical love songs alongside virtuosic baroque arias in a concert centring on musical treasures from Bohemia. The concert concludes with a Suk’s beautifully romantic Serenade for Strings.

Pavel Haas              Study for String Orchestra
Dvořák                    Love Songs (arr. Matthews)
Handel                    Selected Arias
Biber                      Battalia
Suk                        Serenade for Strings in E Flat Major

Mezzo soprano         Sophie Harmsen 

Seavaigers
Aberdeen 24 April; residency 21-24 April / 29 April Perth; residency 26-29 April /30 April Glasgow / 1 May Edinburgh 
In April, the Scottish Ensemble team up with folk super duo Chris Stout and Catriona McKay for the final musical journey of the season, one SE will take to Aberdeen and Perth as part of the city residencies. Sally Beamish’s Seavaigers was composed especially for the Ensemble and these two soloists; it describes a sea journey from Dundee to Shetland. The programme also includes Bach’s Double Violin concerto in a performance that explores the work’s folk roots. There is also a composite new commission from some of Scotland’s most exciting musical voices, all writing a variation on a traditional Scottish melody.

Stout/McKay            Sunstone (new material)
Sally Beamish           Seavaigers
Bach                      Concerto for Two Violins in D Minor
Various Composers   Scottish Variations (SE new commission)

Violin                     Jonathan Morton
Scottish harp           Catriona McKay
Fiddle                     Chris Stout

Scottish Ensemble Artistic Director Jonathan Morton said:

Presenting exciting concerts of the highest quality throughout Scotland and in London remains our main objective, but in 2012 our activities broadened significantly in two areas. Firstly, we launched our first annual city residencies, and secondly we raised our profile internationally through two major touring projects in the USA and in China and Taiwan. In quite different ways these experiences have enriched our purpose, and encouraged us to keep striving for deeper and more meaningful engagement with our audiences.

The 2013/14 season is rooted in the idea of musical place and identify. Highlights include a genre-crossing programme with folk musicians Chris Stout and Catriona Mackay, featuring an evocative score by Sally Beamish; our Christmas programme, including new and familiar Scandinavian music transporting you to a Nordic winter landscape; and in February, a musical collaboration with a star of opera stages and concert halls, mezzo soprano Sophie Harmsen.

Tonight's show....

FACE FRONT! Here's a whole kaboodle of news and gossip from the VileArts Bullpen straight to your heart!

BIG NEWS! Fan favourites Black Hearted Press, that ever-lovable trio of monarchists, are launching their latest Carnivorous Comic tonight. Jocular John Farman will be talking about Royal Descent  to a captivated CCA Crowd, and anything else that captures his fancy.

Everybody's favourite guessing game these days is the identity of the man behind the face balefully staring out from the first floor of the CCA. Worry no more true believers, that white face of wry wit has been revealed as LAPTOP GUY. Smilin' Sha Nazir's alter-ego has been beautifully rendered into 3D and is available to hire out on an hourly basis. Ideal for cosplay and weird relationship games, the rumour is that this mask is the first in a new range of BHP adult accessories.

Did you know that the third member of BHP's top level cabal, MARK BOYLE, is actually a superhero in real life. Well, he has a secret identity which is being revealed for the first time in the BULLPEN BULLETIN. He is, in fact, DJ Muppet, the veteran Saturday night disc-spinner at Glasgow's legendary Cathouse. Other rock DJS are also available.

Press Launch Royal Descent

Wednesday 6 Nov, 7pm – 9pm
Saramago Terrace Bar, The CCA: Glasgow

Royal Descent
24 page book, over 8 issues
Writer: John Farman Artist: John Howard

Black Hearted Press present their 12th title.  After being found to be complicit in the greatest catastrophe in British history, the Royal Family face the ultimate punishment at the hands of an angry and vengeful nation. Cast onto a desolate island, with an audience at home watching their every move, it’s kill or be killed. Who will survive… the Royal Descent.

Copies will be available to buy and review, followed by a short talk by the creator.

Before my medication wears off, I want to give a big thank you to the broadsheet newspapers. In the past day alone, I have learn that 'now is the time of the graphic novel' through a top fifty list that included works I have never heard about before: Persepolis, The Watchmen and V for Vendetta. I have learnt that burlesque is all about the art of the tease, and it isn't about undressing at all!

Of course, it isn't all about opinion pieces - The Independent has a provoking article that explores whether the FEMEN protests are compromised by the presence of a rather seedy man acting as a creative director to their protests, and the various arguments about Syria have been clarified by the amount of pieces that have been shared on Facebook.

I am very aware that Facebook is there for people to put up whatever has excited them and I do get a great deal of information from clicking on links that people set as their statuses. In fact, I can even tolerate the few people who over-share - easy to ignore and balanced out by the vast number of friends who are sharing something of interest.

It appears, however, that the death of newspapers (something to do with the sword of the internet, just like the last time, when they thought the machine gun of the TV was threatening) is coming closer to reality.

Appeal to my Theatre Pals

So... I am writing a play.

I know I have said a few things about the script in contemporary drama that might suggest that the script is a moribund template for relevant performance - but I usually say that in reviews just before pointing out that the particular play I am discussing is an exception.

I wouldn't being writing a play unless circumstances insisted. And they insist. And so...

Part of the process of this critic writing a play is to offer it to artists. This is a chance for revenge. I am shouting out to the theatre community of Scotland. This is a unique opportunity. Take the chance to criticise the critic.

I am hoping for a little advice on my playwrighting skills, and asking anyone who fancies taking a keek at my script to email me. Or facebook message me. I'm inviting you to be as nasty as you want (you'll see a first draft, so I'll have an excuse for the really bad bits).

At the moment, the script is very offensive: I am thinking of calling it 'Trigger Warning.' It's brutal, contains violence, sexual violence and is never going to get a PG rating. I am more uncomfortable showing it to people because of the content than any perceived weakness in my writing (although I am sure there is plenty of weakness to enjoy, revenge fans).

I'm serious about the content. I feel ill when I read it. Regular readers of the blog will know that I refer to Sarah Kane as a saint. I read Howard Barker for kicks.

I'm serious about wanting a good kicking (not literally), too. It would be nice if you could do it with a friendly smile. I realise I am, potentially, setting up a complicated relationship between critic and artist here.

The Last Temptation of Criticulous

I trudge through the darkness that is merely a shadow. Above me, the canopy that hides me from the light is a thin lattice of reports on audience responses to live events. Yet the canopy is not natural: those reports that seem the thinnest, based on the least rigorous scholarship and little or vague data, cast the deeper shadows.  And in the darkness, looming, a figure that I can barely make out and yet retains a fearsome aspect.

My conversations with Lucifer are a matter of concern both to the preacher and the psychotherapist, and still, I recognise him from the mellifluous tone of his voice. He urges me to accept that theatre, all art, is merely cultural capital. It’s a product, the same as washing powder and purchased with the same criteria: value for money, efficiency of effect, reputation of the brand. The quality I supposedly seek is merely a reflection of my own vanity, an untoward emphasis on efficiency that is, at once, an attempt to make spiritual the material (a play may be ephemeral, but it is, above all, physical and temporal) and an act of my disturbed social conscience.

‘In seeking to make theatre some kind of exalted species of experience, you only occupy its existence, make it another tool in your relentless quest to aggrandise yourself,’ he sneers. ‘Critic, you want the arts to be holy, in order to bask in its glory, like a provincial priest pretending to holiness through his post rather than his actions.’

I don’t know why Lucifer still bothers with me: he already has the arts administration in his lair. What appears to be a sensitive attempt to involve the audience in the analysis of art – to define quality as being defined by the audience and not a panel of elevated experts – is quickly revealed as a cynical exercise in marketing. The language of consumerism stinks out the discussions of audience reception of performance.

‘You are a pocket of resistance – an elitist. Remember how Tony Blair would attack ‘conservative forces’ that believed they knew better than the common man or woman. That’s you, Vile. Former Latin teacher, cod-intellectual.’

The attack is always swift, always emerges from the darkness and retreats back into the warmth of the night. I make tentative statements about why I follow theatre – they usually involve a recollection of Iona Kewney’s solo, and the majesty of the intense, emotional experience.

Lucifer sneers and points out that in requesting art to be so divine, so authentic, I am begging it to have qualities that my life lacks. I am buying into a myth of artistic behaviour to support my intellectual superiority.

“And so reduce it to cultural capital. You already fit in one of the demographics.’

Attempts to qualify art through audience response are sophisticated. Here, a paper reduces it to a simple formula – KRAC. The audience wants Knowledge, to escape Risk, to experience Authenticity and Collective engagement. The quality of the play depends on its ability to offer all four.

There is no indefinable quintessence that makes for good.

There is no value to art that offers genuine transformation – if such art even exists.

There is only product, assessed by weight like the packet of old fashion sweets I buy on cheerless mornings to help me past the bus journey into the office.

My job as a critic is merely to help set up the shop window. My job is to give Knowledge, to reduce Risk.

Giants and Nethy

In an attempt to put my ravings in context, I have stolen some science from this site here. Bold is theft, italics is commentary.

The landscape around Nethy Bridge convinces me that I am in the far north of Scotland. Of course, this is sentimental nonsense: compared to True North, this is a mild glacial valley. But walking through the woods with my host, even I can spot the path of the glacier that carved out the plateau.

The focus of the settlement lies where the river Nethy empties onto the haughlands beside the Spey but clusters of houses are widely scattered along the valleys of the Allt Mhór, Dorback and Nethy and in the forest between.

What surprises me are the fragments of information that deny my assumption that I am standing in an ancient forest. If I was alert to the width of the trees, I would probably have noticed this already. In the river, a single rotting plank marks the former location of a mill. The straight lines of the trees is another clue. Less than a century ago, this area was more like a factory, a production line, than the shining example of wilderness my urban mind believed it to be. 

The impact of glacial erosion is less obvious here than further up Strathspey but large volumes of

meltwater debris cover the ground and were the river Nethy cuts through this the terraces are enormous. The lowest of these is wisely avoided by habitations in recognition of folk memories of inundation by the Muckle Spate that damaged the Thomas Telford’s bridge in 1829 and drowned The Dell.

The past shapes the present inhabitation of the area. The advantages of watered soil are balanced against the problems of flooding. They used the river to send the cut wood down to the central belt. The river would be flooded, after a fashion, on purpose.

The Dell forms a natural corridor through the settlement. A path meanders along the river bank amongst alder, willow and hazel. The river is used by dippers and is a very attractive natural feature in the core of the settlement. Higher up the slopes of the river, there are pine, birch and juniper, with some fine veteran trees growing amongst the houses that line either side of the Nethy. These large garden trees provide habitat for tawny owls, tits and finches, and bats. Woodcock are a common sight over the houses here at dusk in spring and summer, as they fly out and back to the woods on ‘roding’ display flights.


I am unable to identify any of the varieties of wood... I peek into back gardens to look for the veteran trees. I heard an owl last night. I was pleased with myself for not mistaking it for a ghost. Far enough in, and I am slightly lost...

Densely wooded slopes and small areas of pasture back the settlement, merging into the extensive pine woodlands that cover the slopes and lower hills of the braes of Abernethy. The vicinity to the forest means that pinewood wildlife are often seen within the village; red squirrel, crested tit, great spotted woodpecker and crossbills.