JJ and Haz suggest three categories of summer music to enjoy, 'bubble, deckchair and fiesta', before selecting 6 summer bangers to see the sun in. Includes hip jiggling, graffiti and casting issues in Carmen.

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Braving The Stave
Upbeats: Season 4, Episode 10 (Summer Bangers)

Transcript

Hello, my name is JJ.

Haz

And my name is Haz.

Welcome to Bristol on a grey and drizzly, non-summery day.

Haz

Yeah, but I still feel quite summery because I have hay fever.

Oh, no, that's not a nice welcome to the season is it.

Haz

It's not, but thank you for not commenting that I was crying when you opened the door to me just now. You're just like “well, that's Haz, isn't it?”

You did look a little emotional.

Haz

I did. It's just hay fever. Therefore, I feel like we're fully entering summer, no matter the weather.”

Listeners, we're gonna share six summer bangers with you today.

Haz

Woooo!

And I think we're going to categorise them thusly.

Haz

OK.
JJ

OK. The first one is going to be something you could sip champagne to - something bubbly and fizzy and fun.

Haz

OK. Nice, but for me I could sip champagne to anything. Give me anything. I could sit there in silence. But cool, cool, cool.

OK. So it's the musical equivalent, then, of bubbly.

Haz

Got it. Ok.

OK, so that's the first one. The second one is your deck chair piece, right? Something that you could chill out to, something that you could sunbathe to.

Haz

Nice.

JJ

If you can imagine sunbathing, said he just looking bitterly outside at the grey, damp weather.

Haz

I know. And you’re looking at the two palest people in the history of Britain so… Great, so something to sun… shade bathe to.

Yes, shade bathe! And then thirdly, we're going to go fiesta, we're going to go summer party summer banger. You know - big, raucous party.

Haz

Amazing. Amazing. I'm there for that.

That shall we just talk about the realities of summers for us classical musos or musicians generally, because it can be a very anxious time, can't it?

Haz

Yeah. We look like, just head in hands, looking at each other like “You OK? You bit… yeah, bit busy, a bit booked and blessed, ugh” because these are the months where you're like, OK, I'm really busy. I'm really chuffed about it because it means that we're doing our jobs well. At the same time, it's like. I've got so much on, I don't know. Like, like even you can hear my voice. I'm like, “Right, OK.”

You were beginning to sound more and more beleaguered.

Haz

Yeah.

JJ

As the sentence went on.

Haz

And it's also the time where your non-muso friends, because we have them - we do have the muggles - are doing things like…

Yep. Bless them.

Haz

Yeah, they're having drinks on a Saturday evening. They're like “Do you wanna come over at 7?”

JJ

How very dare they?

Haz

Yeah. Because then we wouldn't say, “hey, do you wanna come over for mine for coffee at, like, 11:00 AM on a Wednesday morning?” They'd be like, “No, I have a grown-up job.” And you're like, “Ah ha ha, as do I. But I work antisocial hours.”

Let's just give a sense of what antisocial things we do

Haz

Oh! I mean…!

JJ

Over the summer break. I mean anti-social for us in a sense because it takes us away from the normal things but very sociable in other ways.

Haz

Yeah. I mean concerts,

Yes.

Haz

Obviously.

JJ

Festivals

Haz

Festivals are a big one, playing in festivals, and then we were also… like we met at a Pro Corda course. So like a young educational music course where we're, unbelievably, paid to be staff. Ha!

It's a joyous thing. It's a joyous thing. It is great fun.

Haz

I mean, it's dubious, but we do it and it's amazing, but we we're doing all these things ‘cause it's summer holidays for the kids so we're involved in, like, outreach projects, you know, residential music courses and things like one-day music taster experiences and things like that. So that's like our day job. And then the nighttime, then we've got concerts. You've also got weddings which people think is where musicians go to die, but it's actually where musicians go to make bank. Weddings are the one. Probably here and there you've got one or two funerals, bar mitzvahs. Summer is the one that you put all you all your time into. You start saving because you know that it's gonna be a very dry January.

Yeah, that's good to look ahead to January, right, because I was gonna say, actually autumn tends to be quite busy as well. The start of a new season. I've got a wedding tomorrow where I'm playing something that I've composed - a Welsh folk tune, I'm pleased to say,

Haz

Oh my God!

JJ

I mean, I say it's a Welsh. I mean, I've tried to access my inner Welshness to come up with something that sounds ‘folksy’. Anyway, it's in front of 250 people, I reckon probably 200 of them are musicians, so it's one of those gigs where you feel

Haz

Terrified.

Slightly scrutinised, right?

Haz

Yeah.

JJ

But I'm really looking forward to it. I can't wait to celebrate with the couple. So there is that.

Haz

Yeah, that'd be lovely. What a nice… is that your present there as well? That's beautiful.

That's my gift to them. Yeah, I'm a bit of a cheapskate.

Haz

No, no, that’s… you’re giving up your time and talent.

JJ

No, it is very meaningful. It is very meaningful and a privilege, actually, to to gift a piece of music in that way. I thought we could start with something fizzy.

Haz

Yeah. Yeah. Please! Ohh you mean music? Ohh.

I mean music and I, you know, I… basically all three of my choices could have been Mozart today.

Haz

Ohh yeah.

JJ

Right?

Haz

Yeah. I was thinking oh, like what’s summery, what's got… and I was thinking all of his overtures for everything.

JJ

Yeah!

Haz

Every overture that he's ever done I think is just gorgeous and fizzy and makes me think of sitting outside with the glass Prosecco watching an open air production of something.

JJ

Yes.

Haz

You know, it was gorgeous. So, yeah. So what have you gone for?

Basically, if you want a summer dinner party or festival it’s just pure Mozart, you could. You've got all the moods that you'd need.

Haz

I mean. You've got it. You’ve got it, yeah.

But most importantly, the sunniness and the joie de vivre and I've gone for Divertimento in D. A divertimento is, you know, it's one of those pieces that is meant to be light and entertainment anyway, he wrote this when he was 16 in between tours of Italy. And, you know, just chucked it off. I think in the cello part, he said “I'm going to leave it open for double basses to join.” Which sort of suggests it could be for string orchestra as well.

Haz

Yeah.

But this version that I'm about to play, this is the third movement, the Presto, which I'm sure you know very, very well, because it's a wedding classic, isn't it?

Haz

Yeah, well, I'm looking forward to seeing what tempo of the piece that you've chosen, because this can either be a very scary moment because the first couple of bars, you're like, “Oh my gosh” or it's scary because it's too slow and you think this has got no momentum.

Well, buckle in because this is scary. This is the Hagen string quartet.

[Music: Mozart: Divertimento in D Major, K. 136: 3. Presto. Artists: Hagen Quartett]

Haz

Amazing. And at that point, I would like literally look up and be like “we’re doing the first repeat not the second?”

That's a fair lick, wasn't it?

Haz

So good. I love that. And it's like “dn d d dn” I, I like… oh, sorry, I just knocked the microphone. I'm so excited!

I think we'll get away with it. So you've played that a lot and you know how busy the parts are and you were… you've come up with some rather choice words to… I don't know whether we can share that on this podcast.

Haz

Absolutely not. No, we definitely can't.

Absolutely not. These are words to go with the rhythms of the music just to make sure you don't rush. And actually, it's in keeping with Mozart because he was quite scatological, wasn't he? He came up with lots of rude words.

Haz

That's cool.

Some people thought he even had Tourettes, you know, such was his swearing. So, you know, it's in the spirit.

Haz

Yeah. It's perfect. It's like ordered, but also chaotic. And I love that, yeah.

JJ

So what's your bubbly piece?

Haz

Right. So my bubbly is not as bubbly as yours now mine’s… not flat, but I thought this would be a nice one because you hear it all the time and it's one that I play a lot over summer for different outreach projects with various different percussion and we get people to clap or stomp the rhythm along. So I've chosen something from Bizet's Carmen.

Ah, Carmen! We should just say what our outreach projects… I mean, which projects are you thinking of?

Haz

OK, so this one would be when we go into different care homes and play things, so residential care homes, so it will be with older people or people, you know, in assisted living and we basically do forced fun for an hour. So it’s “have these scarves have all these bells and whistles and let's have at it for an hour.”

You have scarves! Do you have bouncy balls as well? Does that happen? Is it full Dalcroze?

Haz

Oh my gosh, it's not Dalcroze, but it’s like, “Please don't chuck that swanee whistle.” sort of like.

JJ

Right, right.

Haz

The staff love it as well. It's as much for the people who are working there and for friends and family who come to visit as it is for everyone else.

People forget that, don't they? It's the wider community that are also being blessed by your visit.

Haz

Yeah, and they might not... I mean, if people have aphasia or different elements going on or dementia or Alzheimer's, they might not remember your session, but they might feel slightly happier later on in the day, and that's great. That's good. And sometimes you get the best feedback because people are like “not this crap again” when you come in, you're like “Margaret, good to see you. How are you? Are you well? Let's play some music.” And, yeah. So this is one. And I always say ‘Harbonara’ like it's carbonara, but it's Habanera.

JJ

Habanera

Haz

Habanera. Habanera, yeah. Yeah, so this is like the “duhm bu duhm buhm” so we get the rhythm going, all the bells and whistles and…

Haz, you were doing an actual hip jiggle there almost.

Haz

I would go so far as to say thrust, perhaps.

Right. Well, maybe.

Haz

Yeah.

From behind, you know, seated position behind a microphone, I hasten to add.

Haz

Yeah, you asked for fizz. You got it. So, yeah, I’ve chosen Bizet's Habanera.

This is more of a slow cocktail drink I feel.

Haz

Oooh…

JJ

but we can go with that. It's got fizz in it.

Haz

Yeah, it's something alcoholic.

It's a bit saucy.

Haz

Yeah. Oooh! Maybe a bloody Mary.

JJ

There we go.

Haz

Got it.

[Music: Bizet: L’amour et un Oiseau Rebelle (Habanera) from Carmen. Artists: Georges Prêtre, Maria Callas, Orchestre de l’Opéra National de Paris]

JJ

You've got to have the right person cast for that role. Haven't you?

Haz

I was just thinking that.

JJ

Were you?!

Haz

Yeah, because about 20 years ago, my parents took me to see Carmen in Pontardawe Arts Centre.

Oh right!

Haz

And I remember my parents, like their shoulders shaking with laughter and in the end I realised it's because she was hideous and she was supposed to be beautiful.

JJ

Aww.

Haz

No, no, no, but I Know that sounds really awful!

JJ

That’s a bit harsh.

Haz

But she was supposed to be this temptress, but I think was like an Am Dram society. It sounded God awful and it was like…

There was nothing seductive, visually or aurally.

Haz

Absolutely… No, no hip shaking. It wasn't even live. It was to a CD and I think…

Oh dear me.

Haz

Yeah, exactly.

JJ

Ohh dear.

Haz

So it was awful, but still good to support live local theatre.

Cast that image out of your minds listeners. This is a a beautiful love song, isn't it? Or a... Yeah. Seductive song.

Haz

Mmm.

I thought we could move on to something to chill out to. Now you've got us in the mood and well, I'm going to give you the choice, basically. When I think of summer and you're on a deck chair and you're in the sun, let's just imagine that, if we can possibly, it's often a moment of nostalgia, isn't it? For summers when you're a kid and it can be tinged with a little bit of sadness I find.

Haz

Yeah.

In a way that spring isn't.

Haz

Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah, that's lovely. Like bittersweet. You know, you think…

A bittersweet quality.

Haz

Yeah.

JJ

Yeah. And so I thought, which pieces do I know that have that quality? And so it's either some incidental music by William Walton to the Shakespeare's Henry the Fifth or it's Oblivion by Piazzolla with his very plangent, bandoneon sound. I didn't… ugh… ban… bandoneon. I never… I always hesitate over that.

Haz

I'm not gonna even attempt that one. So can I please go for the first option because I think that was mostly English. I understood ‘Henry’! So maybe that one.

This was incidental music or comes from the suite of incidental music by William Walton, who was a fantastic film composer to Henry the Fifth. It was the 1944 film with none other than Sir Larry - Sir Laurence Olivier.

Haz

Oh, what a guy.

And it's this moment where the soldiers are saying their final goodbyes to their loved ones before going off to fight in France. It’s ‘touch her soft lips and part’, and I'm told there's a fair bit of graffiti that goes on in the schools.

Haz

I actually remember playing this in Youth Orchestra, something that shouldn't be attempted anyway when you hear how delicate and beautiful I think this is supposed to sound.

Oh dear. Beautifully lilting, isn't it?

Haz

Honestly, I've never seen so many scribbles and rude words on a part like alternates for ‘touch her soft lips and part’ and I remember sitting down, and our conductor teacher being like look now some of you will find this funny. It's not funny. It's art. It's beautiful and….

That made you laugh all the more, right?

Haz

So funny.

JJ

Because you were now repressed.

Haz

Of course because ‘touch her soft lips and part, touch her soft lips and party, touch anybody.’ Like, there’s thing that I shouldn't…

I think we've got it.

Haz

Yeah.

JJ

I think we've got it. We're there.

Haz

Exactly. And just the mind of a young teenager trying to play this with bows shaking with repressed laughter as we try and play this.

I'm never going to be able to hear this piece in the same vein again. Do you know, Walton wasn't the only so-say serious composer at the time who was drawn to the world of film scores. There was Bax, Ireland, Arnold, Vaughan Williams. They all gave it a go, but I think Walton had a particular talent for it.

Haz

And it's supposed to sound beautiful and lovely. So should we listen to it when it's sounding beautiful and lovely?

This is a version by Daniel Barenboim and the Berlin Philharmonic, so this should be pretty beautiful I think.

[Music: William Walton: Touch Her Soft Lips and Part from Incidental Music from Henry the Fifth. Artists: Daniel Barenboim, Berlin Philharmonic]

Ohh, that's just gorgeous, isn't it? Every time I hear it. We couldn't just play an excerpt of that. It's just a complete gem.

Haz

Yeah, it's sultry as well, isn't it?

Yes.

Haz

We were just talking over that as well, saying I learned most of my… I'm going to say sex ed from West Glamorgan Youth Orchestra. Just honestly, and there were holes in the page from all the rubbings out and they used to give us rows like, ‘We gotta give these parts back. You’ve brought shame upon the county Youth Orchestra.’

Well, as sex ed goes I think that's a pretty good way of doing it you know.

Haz

I mean, William Walton.

I think, you know, that's quite healthy compared to what modern day standards are.

Haz

Exactly.

JJ

So well done West Glamorgan Youth Orchestra. Is that right?

Haz

Thank you. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Thank you.

What is your choice of chill out piece? What's your deck chair piece?

Haz

Oh, I'm so chilled after that I almost forgot. Mine's definitely not as chilled as this. So, I've chosen. A Rhapsody in Blue. Is it ‘A Rhapsody’ or ‘Rhhhapsody’?

JJ

Just ‘Rhhhapsody.’

Haz

Just Rhap… take out the ‘a’. Yeah. OK.

If we're doing a Welsh accent, we just have to put the ‘h’. Rhh, rhh.

Haz

Rhhapsody.

But you put the…. Rhhiannon, don’t you. There’s a Rhhiannon.

Haz

Yeah, yeah, [fax Welsh accent] Rhhapsody in Blue, it's lovely it is. So we're going to… Yeah, I've chosen Rhapsody in Blue by… Gershwin???

JJ

Yes.

Haz

OK, good. I always get Gershwin and Ravel confused. And I'm really sorry, I'm just....

That's curious. I mean, they're not that similar. I know, you know, they…Ravel famously gave Gershwin some advice on his composition.

Haz

Ohh.

But.

Haz

Yeah, I… So who wrote an American in Paris?

That's Gershwin.

Haz

Oh, well, I don't know why I'm getting them confused then!

JJ

Clue’s in the title! But anyway, let's go back to that opening of the Rhapsody, right, which is…

Haz

OK, let's say in our chilled mode. So yeah, I've gone for Rhhapsody in Blue and I've gone for the orchestral version. So we've got that amazing clarinet run going all the way from whatever note it is to whatever note it's going to be. And I just think the first chords then coming in are the most beautiful, seductive, sultry, and I could just imagine lying on a deck chair listening to this. Oh, also, can I just do a boast before we play it?

Yeah, please do.

Haz

Yeah. Coming straight out of music college. I was booked to play on the Queen Elizabeth II or Queen Mary II. I always get them confused! A boat’s a boat to me, do you know what I mean? But yeah, on the cruise crossing in the Atlantic Ocean or whatever ocean it is to go to America and we were playing this and it was my first experience of playing at sea and it was amazing. It's the only place that's got a restaurant open 25/7 because you gain an hour every evening. And I just remember the pianist playing this. And I remember thinking the boat was rocking and he was just cool as a cuc[umber].

JJ

Really?

Haz

Absolutely gorgeous. So this is just…

Amazing.

Haz

Yeah. So this has just stayed in my mind as being like the most chilled song ever.

[Music: Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue. Artists: Leonard Bernstein, Columbia Symphony Orchestra]

Well, there are lots of different moods to that rhapsody but you're right that it opens, at least in that sort of very laid back mode.

Haz

Yeah.

JJ

A beautiful kind of deck chair moment. I agree with you.

Haz

I think it's not that it's, like, a chilled piece, but it makes me feel chilled and cool and, like, more sauntering and sultry. So I think that's why I think of it as being chilled, even though it's not actually, like, the most… I don’t know, relaxing thing all the way through.

Well, that's already four of our six summer bangers and all of which, by the way, you can listen to again on our Spotify playlist, which is ‘Upbeats, bracket, Braving the Stave podcast.’

Haz

‘Close brackets.’

‘Close brackets’! Yes, as we keep on saying, perhaps not the niftiest of playlist titles, but it's there and, you know, as we keep on boasting, it is now three days’ worth of listening.

Haz

It's amazing. I can't even… I don't know how long that is. I mean, I've lost all sense of time and direction, but that's great. That's great. I'm up for that.

Lots of bangers for all seasons, I hasten to add. So, we now come to our final two, which are going to be party pieces. I've got one that I think is really unusual, and I don't think anybody will have heard this.

Haz

Oooh.

JJ

They should have because it's an amazing piece for orchestra and it's by my friend Liam Taylor West.

Haz

Lovely.

JJ

Who lives just around the corner. I often bump into him in the park and we have musical conversations.

Haz

You just wait in the park for your friend. You're like, ‘I’m just gonna hang around in case my really cool friend comes.’ And like, ‘Oh, fancy seeing you here!’

He is so cool.

Haz

Is he?

JJ

Yes, he does things with, kind of, little boxes with lights on and you know multimedia pieces basically.

Haz

Oooh.

JJ

But this isn't. This is for full orchestra. This is for the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra in fact, cool. And it's called Turning Points. And if you know John Adams's Short Ride in a Fast Machine, then this will remind you of that.

[Music: Liam Taylor West: Turning Points. Artists: Clark Rundell, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra]

That's got a lot for the percussion department, hasn't it?

Haz

Yeah. It’s great. For some reason I was visualising, like, a pinball machine with that one, you know when the ball bounces down, it's, like, knocking off all these different corners and sometimes those big [inasudible]. That was really cool.

Yes, it is really cool and very Adamsy.

Haz

Mmm.

And it's got such a lovely energy, but not quite as predictable as you might think it could be right? You never know quite what's around the corner. That's what's called Turning Points, I think.

Haz

Mmm.

JJ

You know, there's lots of different ways of… or lots of different directions in which it goes.

Haz

Yeah, that's great and it really uses the whole orchestra as well.

Yes, I think they must have loved to play that and I'm going to suggest it to others as well, other orchestras ‘cause I think it's a really good party piece actually.

Haz

Mmm.

JJ

You can imagine that either opening or closing a set.

Haz

Yeah. Oh, nice. Well, I feel like mine is so not original and new now, but at the same time it's a classic. So it's a banger. I mean, you could put it on in a nightclub and people would be like ‘waaay! This is great!’, well, I think.

Yeah, in fairness, I don't think I could have done that with Liam’s piece! I don't know how that would go down in a nightclub, but you're right with this next piece.

Haz

Yeah, which I've already shared with you pre starting recording because I'm so excited to play it. So, I've chosen the Mambo from West Side Story.

JJ

Yes.

Haz

It's by Leonard Bernstein and I had a panic essentially on the way here, I was like is it Bernsteen or Bernstayn? Because, you know when you know something so well and you're like ‘I’m gonna say it wrong.’

It depends which side of the Atlantic you're on so...

Haz

Oh my Lord. Well, Google told me ‘steen’ today.

‘Steen.’ Well, Google would, right?

Haz

Yeah. Oh yeah.

JJ

Because they're over that side. Yeah, ‘Bernstayn’, over here. But ‘Bernsteen’ over there basically.

Haz

Ohh, do you know, I've lost it. Anyway, it's from West Side Story. I can say that. And this is… I remember seeing this the first time the, uhm, Simón Bolívar... Again, I just… [inaudible] all the names tonight, but…

JJ

We don't care!

Haz

No, OK, cool, Thank you, with the Youth Orchestra. And I saw them spinning their instruments and standing up and shouting ‘mambo!’ and stuff, and I, I think it was one of the first times I realised that orchestras could be cool rather than… I mean, I do love ‘Touch Your Soft Lips and Fart” but we were all trying to be really serious. And then I saw this and I was like, ‘whoa, you can have fun as well.’ And you’re allowed.

It doesn't get more party for the orchestra, particularly as you say, the Simón Bolívar Orchestra, that youth orchestra just having the time of their lives in these major concert halls, touring.

Haz

Yeah.

JJ

And quite rightly this was the kind of performance that really put Gustavo Dudamel - their charismatic, then young conductor, into the spotlight. And now he's with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and has done all the top world orchestras as well, and rightly so.

Haz

Yeah.

So, I mean this is going to be the piece with which we see out, not just this podcast, but our whole season of podcasts so far. And we hope to be back with you in the new season in autumn. But I have to say, you know, with Saint David's [Hall] and, you know, being in the situation it is we can't guarantee that can we Haz.

Haz

We can't. We'll see what happens. We've got one of those, like, really. really busy summers so we won't talk for, like, I don't know, three months and be like, ‘Oh my God! Hey! Remember Me?!’

Let's hope that this isn't a tearful farewell to you as well, listeners, but thank you so much for joining us on the journey so far. And here's a piece just to lift the spirits, whatever happens in the future and we wish you a very joyful summer.

Haz

Hwyl fawr.

JJ

Hwyl fawr.

[Music: Bernstein: Mambo from West Side Story. Artists: Gustavo Dudamel, Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela]

Braving the Stave

Upbeats: Season 4, Episode 10 (Summer Bangers)

Transcript

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