Los Angeles Times, February 14, 1993: Difference between revisions
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Well, seemingly, yes, sometimes. Early in his recording career Costello became legendary for his maniacally prodigious output, issuing a brilliant album or two a year. The pace has slowed since, but the ambition is no less unbridled. Gloriously risky and satisfyingly accomplished, ''The Juliet Letters'' is a song cycle written and performed by and for string quartet and voice. | Well, seemingly, yes, sometimes. Early in his recording career Costello became legendary for his maniacally prodigious output, issuing a brilliant album or two a year. The pace has slowed since, but the ambition is no less unbridled. Gloriously risky and satisfyingly accomplished, ''The Juliet Letters'' is a song cycle written and performed by and for string quartet and voice. | ||
Costello collaborated with the well-regarded London ensemble the Brodsky Quartet, and they found their loosely unifying theme in a newspaper article that told of a mysterious Veronese academic who answered letters sent from around the world to the very late Juliet Capulet — a sort of romantic continental equivalent of those American folks who might take it upon themselves to answer Santa's mail. | Costello collaborated with the well-regarded London ensemble [[the Brodsky Quartet]], and they found their loosely unifying theme in a newspaper article that told of a mysterious Veronese academic who answered letters sent from around the world to the very late Juliet Capulet — a sort of romantic continental equivalent of those American folks who might take it upon themselves to answer Santa's mail. | ||
Only one song on the album is explicitly based upon this real-life touchstone, but all lyrics take the form of missives, ranging from standard lost-love letters to hate mail to battlefield correspondence to wistful notes from beyond the grave. | Only one song on the album is explicitly based upon this real-life touchstone, but all lyrics take the form of missives, ranging from standard lost-love letters to hate mail to battlefield correspondence to wistful notes from beyond the grave. | ||
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I think a preconceived idea of people who have no knowledge of classical music whatsoever is that the string quartet is some nimsy little thing with people in powdered wigs — sort of playing in the corner in a shopping mall, the way they sometimes do to denote sophistication. Well, play those people Bartok's quartets, and tell me that it isn't as wild and abandoned as any punk music that's ever been made up — yet it's all composed, it's not accidental. You can bring both things to it. | I think a preconceived idea of people who have no knowledge of classical music whatsoever is that the string quartet is some nimsy little thing with people in powdered wigs — sort of playing in the corner in a shopping mall, the way they sometimes do to denote sophistication. Well, play those people Bartok's quartets, and tell me that it isn't as wild and abandoned as any punk music that's ever been made up — yet it's all composed, it's not accidental. You can bring both things to it. | ||
Q: ''You've probably considered the fact that this album is bound to be viewed as some sort of pop/classical "crossover" . . . | Q: ''You've probably considered the fact that this album is bound to be viewed as some sort of pop/classical "crossover" ... | ||
A: Let's hope not. I don't see it that way. I just see it as music. Perhaps because people from these worlds rarely work together, when they do it's usually either a conceited folly on the part of a rock person with no ideas or warped ideas, or even worse still, some bankrupt idea from a record company to squeeze a little bit more money out of the celebrity of a famous opera singer or pianist or conductor, playing Gershwin or singing Rodgers & Hart. And I think if people from the different worlds all exchanged their musical ideas more readily, perhaps this wouldn't be such a shock. | A: Let's hope not. I don't see it that way. I just see it as music. Perhaps because people from these worlds rarely work together, when they do it's usually either a conceited folly on the part of a rock person with no ideas or warped ideas, or even worse still, some bankrupt idea from a record company to squeeze a little bit more money out of the celebrity of a famous opera singer or pianist or conductor, playing Gershwin or singing Rodgers & Hart. And I think if people from the different worlds all exchanged their musical ideas more readily, perhaps this wouldn't be such a shock. | ||
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Q: ''"Jacksons, Monk and Rowe" is the song that sounds the most like a classic sort of '60s pop song, but that's one of the ones you were least responsible for musically. | Q: ''"Jacksons, Monk and Rowe" is the song that sounds the most like a classic sort of '60s pop song, but that's one of the ones you were least responsible for musically. | ||
A: (Quartet member) Michael Thomas is, entirely. And there's the irony illustrated graphically, isn't it? I really like the song, and I think it serves the purpose — to people with conservative ears — of possibly allaying their fears that this is some impenetrable art-music thing that they can't possibly relate to, if they hear that first. I like hearing the drive in the cello where you would otherwise expect to encounter a rock 'n' roll or R&B rhythm section. | A: (Quartet member) [[Michael Thomas]] is, entirely. And there's the irony illustrated graphically, isn't it? I really like the song, and I think it serves the purpose — to people with conservative ears — of possibly allaying their fears that this is some impenetrable art-music thing that they can't possibly relate to, if they hear that first. I like hearing the drive in the cello where you would otherwise expect to encounter a rock 'n' roll or R&B rhythm section. | ||
And on the other extreme, some of the music that I've composed is quite unlike anything else I've ever had occasion to write. But it's not an affectation. ... | And on the other extreme, some of the music that I've composed is quite unlike anything else I've ever had occasion to write. But it's not an affectation. ... | ||
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A: Well, a few songs, but we've deliberately chosen songs which might be a little unexpected, rather than simply your best-known songs. Because I think that would be like denying the quality of the rest of the work, to simply choose them whether or not it's really suited to being arranged. Don't hold your breath for "Pump It Up" with string quartet. | A: Well, a few songs, but we've deliberately chosen songs which might be a little unexpected, rather than simply your best-known songs. Because I think that would be like denying the quality of the rest of the work, to simply choose them whether or not it's really suited to being arranged. Don't hold your breath for "Pump It Up" with string quartet. | ||
Q: ''As far as your other projects, it's been at least a couple of years now since you recorded an album of old rock 'n' roll songs called | Q: ''As far as your other projects, it's been at least a couple of years now since you recorded an album of old rock 'n' roll songs called [[Kojak Variety]]. Do you think that might actually come out someday? | ||
A: Yeah. Really, I don't want it to arrive when I haven't done something for a while and it must arrive with a huge big roll of the drums, because all it is is a bunch of songs I like. And I think that we should have that ability that they used to have in the '60s, when I first started buying records, like Sam Cooke would do | A: Yeah. Really, I don't want it to arrive when I haven't done something for a while and it must arrive with a huge big roll of the drums, because all it is is a bunch of songs I like. And I think that we should have that ability that they used to have in the '60s, when I first started buying records, like [[Sam Cooke]] would do ''Night Mood'' or something and it would just be a night mood. Or ''Somebody Goes Latin''. | ||
It was kind of an unpretentious thing, just to do some songs in that style, and it didn't have to be dressed up to be something more. But the amount of money that's involved in the release of a record makes it impossible to do something so simple as just releasing the record. So I'm hoping that we can get that out under those circumstances, and that it won't just vanish then. | It was kind of an unpretentious thing, just to do some songs in that style, and it didn't have to be dressed up to be something more. But the amount of money that's involved in the release of a record makes it impossible to do something so simple as just releasing the record. So I'm hoping that we can get that out under those circumstances, and that it won't just vanish then. |
Revision as of 06:36, 27 September 2013
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