Uncut, January 2001: Difference between revisions
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<center><h3> Puck art, let's dance </h3></center> | <center><h3> Puck art, let's dance </h3></center> | ||
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<center> Jens Christensen </center> | <center> Jens Christensen </center> | ||
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'''No one expected Elvis Costello to spend his entire career re-writing "Pump It Up," but his latest project | '''No one expected Elvis Costello to spend his entire career re-writing "Pump It Up," but his latest project — composing the orchestral score for an Italian dance company's adaptation of Shakespeare's ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' — is his most surprising departure yet. | ||
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Earlier this year, Elvis Costello received an invitation to attend a performance by the Italian ballet troupe, | Earlier this year, Elvis Costello received an invitation to attend a performance by the Italian ballet troupe, Aterballetto, whose artistic director Mauro Biaonzetti had wanted to discuss with Costello the possibility of his participation in the company's forthcoming adaptation of Shakespeare's ''A Midsummer Night's Dream''. | ||
As he would later tell me, Costello had at that point very little understanding of the world of dance, but was absolutely captivated by the | As he would later tell me, Costello had at that point very little understanding of the world of dance, but was absolutely captivated by the Aterballetto company's grace and dynamism. There was, therefore, no doubt in his mind when Bigonzetti formally asked him to collaborate on the project. He was happy to take on the commission. The musical score for the ballet was written over the summer, after close consultations with Bigonzetti and his associate Nicola Lusuardi. | ||
"Every aspect, from the dramatic outline and choreographic intention to the stage design was examined in relation to the musical content. I then returned home to Dublin to write and orchestrate each scene in the production," Costello would subsequently recall. | "Every aspect, from the dramatic outline and choreographic intention to the stage design was examined in relation to the musical content. I then returned home to Dublin to write and orchestrate each scene in the production," Costello would subsequently recall. | ||
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''Do you have an inner drive that forces you to explore different musical directions? | ''Do you have an inner drive that forces you to explore different musical directions? | ||
"No, I don't think so. It just sort of happens and I'm very lucky with the opportunities. They often come through friendships, you know, I mean, with The Brodsky Quartet I was a fan of theirs before I worked with them. The same with | "No, I don't think so. It just sort of happens and I'm very lucky with the opportunities. They often come through friendships, you know, I mean, with The Brodsky Quartet I was a fan of theirs before I worked with them. The same with Anne Sofie von Otter [Swedish classical singer, with whom Costello first worked in 1996], whose record I have just produced, which won't be out until next year. | ||
"She didn't know that I was coming to her concerts. Then we were introduced and we became friendly. I wrote songs for her and The Brodsky Quartet, and little by little you reach a point where you understand one another and then you can actually talk about a serious collaboration. We have just made a beautiful record with her in Stockholm, which I think will be such a pleasant surprise to so many people. People don't expect people from a classical background of singing to be able to sing songs that come from popular music, without it being very awkward, but she has such a natural gift as a singer. We chose the songs together and we chose them very carefully and through that you get to know people and it is just a very, very natural process. It's not, as intense as people would like to imagine, you know; it's not unhealthy at all. It's very healthy, it comes out of friendship, understanding and appreciation of other artists, and if you're fortunate you become friendly with them, and through that you're able to work together." | "She didn't know that I was coming to her concerts. Then we were introduced and we became friendly. I wrote songs for her and The Brodsky Quartet, and little by little you reach a point where you understand one another and then you can actually talk about a serious collaboration. We have just made a beautiful record with her in Stockholm, which I think will be such a pleasant surprise to so many people. People don't expect people from a classical background of singing to be able to sing songs that come from popular music, without it being very awkward, but she has such a natural gift as a singer. We chose the songs together and we chose them very carefully and through that you get to know people and it is just a very, very natural process. It's not, as intense as people would like to imagine, you know; it's not unhealthy at all. It's very healthy, it comes out of friendship, understanding and appreciation of other artists, and if you're fortunate you become friendly with them, and through that you're able to work together." | ||
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''Has Elvis Costello, the pop/rock songwriter, outstayed his welcome? | ''Has Elvis Costello, the pop/rock songwriter, outstayed his welcome? | ||
"No, I don't think so. I have just had a long-term collaboration with Burt Bacharach, which took about three years from the time we first started writing together to the making and release of ''Painted From Memory'', and then I spent all of last year touring with Steve Nieve, which was very exciting, and in that way I got to learn, not just about how to sing those songs, but also which songs of my own from the last 20 years I really enjoyed singing. I've made a different programme every night, and we had the freedom to go everywhere... we played everywhere. We played in Australia twice... we played in Japan twice... we played in America twice. It was the most touring I've done since the early days. even though it didn't have the same... you know. . . anxiety and edge that it obviously has when you're touring with a rock 'n' roll band. | "No, I don't think so. I have just had a long-term collaboration with Burt Bacharach, which took about three years from the time we first started writing together to the making and release of ''Painted From Memory'', and then I spent all of last year touring with Steve Nieve, which was very exciting, and in that way I got to learn, not just about how to sing those songs, but also which songs of my own from the last 20 years I really enjoyed singing. I've made a different programme every night, and we had the freedom to go everywhere... we played everywhere. We played in Australia twice... we played in Japan twice... we played in America twice. It was the most touring I've done since the early days. even though it didn't have the same... you know... anxiety and edge that it obviously has when you're touring with a rock 'n' roll band. | ||
"But it doesn't mean that I'll never do that again. but I certainly won't tour with The Attractions again, that's definitely disbanded permanently... I always hope there's an opportunity to work with [[Pete Thomas]] again and my relationship with Steve Nieve is very good, you know. I was in New York to sing in [[Welcome To The Voice|his opera]] in the summer and he is coming to see the premiere of ''A Midsummer Night's Dream''. He is a great friend and he was in Stockholm, playing on | "But it doesn't mean that I'll never do that again. but I certainly won't tour with The Attractions again, that's definitely disbanded permanently... I always hope there's an opportunity to work with [[Pete Thomas]] again and my relationship with Steve Nieve is very good, you know. I was in New York to sing in [[Welcome To The Voice|his opera]] in the summer and he is coming to see the premiere of ''A Midsummer Night's Dream''. He is a great friend and he was in Stockholm, playing on Anne Sofie von Otter's record and he's a terrific player and he is a great composer in his own right now we spent so much time touring with The Attractions and he never had the opportunity to show what he could do... he gained a lot of confidence in the last few years. While I have my collaborations, he has done the similar thing in his own way. He's worked in France with all sorts of artists, been touring in Mexico and places that I never got to play. He's really on quite a journey of his own, which eventually will lead somewhere, I'm sure. | ||
"I was sort of waiting this year. I felt that I'd done enough touring last year and this opportunity came up [''A Midsummer Night's Dream''] and the | "I was sort of waiting this year. I felt that I'd done enough touring last year and this opportunity came up [''A Midsummer Night's Dream''] and the Anne Sofie von Otter record came up and a couple of other things that I was doing and I didn't really wanna talk and I didn't really wanna make a record. I've made one nearly every year for 20 years, although I did have two years off in the late Eighties and I was really ready to do something very special and ‘'Spike'' was a very different record. The next record I will make... well... it has got to be special. I have made a lot and there's no point in making a record just because the clock says it is time to make one. | ||
And I am a little suspicious of all the record labels buying one another, you know it's a very unsettled time. I don't want to sacrifice any more releases. I have had two or three releases getting caught in the middle of the corporate nonsense. Particularly ''Painted From Memory'' really suffered commercially because of that and it's too upsetting. I knew ''Painted From Memory'' wasn't gonna outsell Mariah Carey, because it's not that kind of record, but it should have done much better, particularly in America, and it would have done better if we'd not had a company that was falling apart... everyone was getting fired and everyone was afraid they were gonna get fired. | And I am a little suspicious of all the record labels buying one another, you know it's a very unsettled time. I don't want to sacrifice any more releases. I have had two or three releases getting caught in the middle of the corporate nonsense. Particularly ''Painted From Memory'' really suffered commercially because of that and it's too upsetting. I knew ''Painted From Memory'' wasn't gonna outsell Mariah Carey, because it's not that kind of record, but it should have done much better, particularly in America, and it would have done better if we'd not had a company that was falling apart... everyone was getting fired and everyone was afraid they were gonna get fired. | ||
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"So it's like you develop a kind of telepathy which is very fascinating to me, because it was obviously impossible to collaborate on every part. We couldn't sit down together all the time. I had to go away to compose and he had to go away and develop his ideas and then hope that his ideas could make use of what I wrote — and they have coincided more often in a favourable way than not. There's nowhere in the score where I can't understand why he is using that music to do that. Every time it is kind of what I hoped, but much, much more." | "So it's like you develop a kind of telepathy which is very fascinating to me, because it was obviously impossible to collaborate on every part. We couldn't sit down together all the time. I had to go away to compose and he had to go away and develop his ideas and then hope that his ideas could make use of what I wrote — and they have coincided more often in a favourable way than not. There's nowhere in the score where I can't understand why he is using that music to do that. Every time it is kind of what I hoped, but much, much more." | ||
''But that's also a way of communicating, I mean there are no songs included in the score... | |||
Yes, but here it's not completely without another sense of meaning, because if it was purely orchestral music then it would have to have still more substance. I think this is good music, I am proud of it. | Yes, but here it's not completely without another sense of meaning, because if it was purely orchestral music then it would have to have still more substance. I think this is good music, I am proud of it. | ||
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<br><small>Page scans.</small> | <br><small>Page scans.</small> | ||
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<br><small>Page | <br><small>Page scans.</small> | ||
<small>Photo by [[Stefan de Batselier]].</small><br> | |||
[[image:2001-01-00 Uncut photo 01 sb.jpg| | [[image:2001-01-00 Uncut photo 01 sb.jpg|380px|border]] | ||
[[image:2001-01-00 Uncut photo 02.jpg| | [[image:2001-01-00 Uncut photo 02.jpg|380px|border]] | ||
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[[image:2001-01-00 Uncut photo 04.jpg| | [[image:2001-01-00 Uncut photo 04.jpg|380px|border]] | ||
[[image:2001-01-00 Uncut photo 05 bl.jpg| | <small>Photo by [[Brian Liu]].</small><br> | ||
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[[image:2001-01-00 Uncut photo 06 jt.jpg| | <small>Photo by [[Justin Thomas]].</small><br> | ||
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[[image:2001-01-00 Uncut photo 07.jpg| | [[image:2001-01-00 Uncut photo 07.jpg|380px|border]] | ||
<small>Cover and contents page.</small><br> | |||
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{{Bibliography notes footer}} | {{Bibliography notes footer}} |
Latest revision as of 16:51, 16 December 2023
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