Simon Dunbavand - Simon's blog

A New Chapter

The last piece of the jigsaw is now in place! Living in Mevagissey is the most stimulating thing in the world, and the views from the Music Room of Wheal Kendall continue to inspire my creativity! Jon and I have replaced our annual three-month globe-trotting trips for a few years with something very exciting: The University of Sheffield. Here we are being stretched in our respective disciplines by great tutors who are bringing out things we didn't even realise lay within!

Sheffield is also home to St. Mark's church, our new spiritual home. Here the staff, regulars and even drifters offer friendship, fellowship and a place to belong. It's a very special place indeed; in our trips round the world we have explored countless religious sites and buildings, and St. Mark's depth of purpose and holiness is equal to the best of them all! Each service is inspiring, unexpected and stimulating! And the standard of music-making means that we are going to stretch each-other along the way, and, as Hazel writes in my profile, take us in unexpected directions.

But then it's been unexpected for the last 12 months. Until last November, I'd never even set foot in Sheffield, and now it's exactly where I want to be. So long as I can still enjoy the view of the fishing boats from my Music Room balcony...

A New Term!

Exciting times! This week is 'Intro Week' at the University of Sheffield, and term starts next Monday. I'm registering as a graduate student for a mid-life tune up. I'll be working on a dissertation which explores the theological significance of Messiaen's coloured harmonies, whilst developing interpretative insights on a range of organ pieces. The composer as his own interpreter can yield some astonishing sounds, and engaging with the scores alongside the piano and orchestral repertoire reveals a dense network of self-quotations.

There are going to be further musical and spiritual experiences in store for me in Sheffield, and it would be an understatement to say that I'm really looking forward to joining a community which engages in thoughtful, purposeful worship and meaningful social action. We're hoping to get involved in the soup run, and if you add to this the blustery fresh air of the Peak District, we don't need to be in Patagonia to feel truly alive!

June, 2011

The first four months of the year were spent on the biggest expedition we've ever undertaken: this time to the whole of South America (well, minus Suriname and Guyana, although to be fair, Jon even made it for a brief moment into Guyana!) and we managed to include Easter Island and Cuba. The most significant moment must surely have been climbing Monte Roraima, but this is closely followed by the wonders of Iguassu, Machu Picchu, and the landscapes, mountains and glaciers of Patagonia. Looking back, Brazil stands out as the most engaging country and culture, closely followed by Colombia. But enough of all this information; if you haven't already seen the blog, the link is at the top of the Welcome page, as are the links to our expedition of 2010 to Asia, and 2009 to India and Bangladesh. There's three books here just waiting to be published, and we're justifiably proud of both the text and the illustrations!

Since returning it has been a very busy time with concerts, recitals, services and compositions. Soon the full list of compositions will be available from the online shop to download in pdf format. But what does the future hold? Well, in short, more of the same! Future travel plans include the High Atlas for just a few days in July, and a return to Gdansk in October. And I'm now also looking for some part-time opportunities in the Sheffield area, so if anybody has any ideas, they would be gratefully received!

15, 000 hits!

Well, the number of visitors to the site has reached the 15,000 mark! Thank you for visiting, and thank you for your continuing support at concerts, in lectures and on cruises, and for buying cds and compositions.

Don't forget to add me on twitter, and there is also a facebook fan page you can sign up to. And if we've met personally, don't forget to add me as a facebook friend!

Plans for the Future

Looking forward to 2011, there are going to be some amazing musical experiences:

Firstly, I'll be experiencing at first-hand the music of South America again. I'm hoping to get on the trail of Forro in Pernambuco, Brazil; Tango Nuevo in La Boca in Buenos Aires; all manner of sites in Bolivia and Peru where composers such as Juan Araujo worked; Salsa and Cumbia in Colombia, and of course Son and Reggaeton in Havana. And don't worry, I'll be bringing back as many materials as I can!

Secondly, there are some really great concerts already in the diary for when I come back to the UK.

And thirdly, a major new development: I will be undertaking some more in-depth research which will be allied to a new performance project. Exciting times!

And what of undertakings outside the world of music? Well, don't forget to follow the 2011 blog because this really IS going to be the trip of a lifetime. For starters, this third expedition is going to be much longer than the first two. It's also going to be much, much more physical, with stunning treks from Patagonia to the mountains of Colombia and Venezuela. And I'm going back to Easter Island, this time for a whole week. Hopefully the whole experience will improve my fluency in Spanish, but once we return I'm afraid the hiking boots will be taking a sabbatical: from April 2011 my focus will be firmly rooted in the UK!

Three Years of being a Dotcom!

Well, the site has had a little spring-clean, even though it's almost autumn: this coming Sunday will be our Harvest Festival. The new-look menu seems to be going down well, and it's integrating well with the banner at the top of every page. Those candles have also appeared on the cd and in some slides in powerpoint presentations. As we entered the astonishing cathedral at Bamberg, there they were, and snap, it was almost a throw-away shot I gave no further thought to until we made it back home: I looked, and looked again far more closely, realising the power of the photo. It's not just the candles which are captivating, it's the colours, the light, the interplay of the flames, the varying levels, and, of course the side altar in the background. Needless to say, since then I've always had my eyes open for candle shots wherever we go. I'm quite pleased with a few from Stockholm, and very pleased with some taken in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. It would be nice to include a few pages on the site about our travels around the globe, but it's meant to be a site about music...

I've digressed! Three years of being a dotcom (actually, it's more like four, considering we launched in April 2007). What has happened during that time? Well, to put it simply, there have been three developments, all of which are perhaps inter-linked.

Firstly, I've been spending quite a lot of time onboard the M.V. Discovery. This all started with a visit to Cuba, followed up a year later with a voyage in the South Pacific. The company then also started to book me for the summer season with Baltic, Norwegian and North Atlantic itineraries, as well as some Asian globetrotting in the winter season.

Secondly, I've started to compose. Who would have thought that halfway through life, somebody would suddenly embark upon something (almost) entirely new? I'm looking forward to getting to grips with my chamber opera; I can already hear some of the music, and I'm already starting to live with some of the characters. But it's just not worth spending all the hours on it until we get the all-clear with the permission to use the play. So it's in limbo, as it were, at the moment.

Thirdly, following the death of my father, I've embarked upon some amazing travel adventures: you can see all this in detail by clicking on the blog links at the top of the Welcome page. Who would have thought it, that I'd spend time immersing with the local cultures of Bangladesh, Burma and Laos, to name but three? It's an exhilarating experience.

Just for fun, here are some personal preferences for you:

TOP 5 COUNTRIES: 1) Laos 2) Ecuador 3) Seychelles 4) Sweden 5) Bangladesh

TOP 5 CITIES: 1) Havana 2) Calcutta 3) Jerusalem 4) St. Petersburg 5) Hanoi

TOP 5 PLACES 1)Taj Mahal 2)Petra 3)Angkor Wat 4)Inle Lake, Burma 5)Bhote Kosi River, Nepal.

Recital Programmes

This month I've been working on some ideas for new recitals for 2011 and 2012. This doesn't mean that the wonderful Baroque Visions of Eternity programmes won't be heard again, but instead there are going to be more varied programmes to choose from.

The first idea takes up two pieces by Duruflé and creates an entire programme which builds up to these works. I've always been fascinated by the fact that the Sicilienne and Toccata from the Suite, Op. 5 are very similar to the Sicilienne and Toccata which Vierne composed about six years previously. So lets put these works together in concert to compare them! The Duruflé Toccata is a work I've lived with for many years, and I was lucky enough to record it at Chester Cathedral when I was 18. Every few years I return to this piece (to make sure I can still play it...) and rework my interpretation of it. Duruflé himself refused to perform it, but often his wife would include it in her recitals, saying that she enjoyed the 'sauce'.

This set me thinking about other works for organ which would fit well together in a programme with the Duruflé and the Vierne. Not many players include the Siciliano for a High Ceremony by Herbert Howells in their repertoires, and the other day I played it through for what I suspected was the first time, although I did find some of my pencil markings on page 2. What an absolutely incredible piece, and much underrated. So it's IN.

And on the subject of discoveries, I'm also working on two pieces by little-known almost exact contemporaries from French organ-lofts, both Marcels: the toccatas by Paponaud and Lanquetuit. These are thrilling and rewarding pieces, and I shall write more about them as I give them a few Sunday morning try-outs. I wonder what our congregation will think of these pulsating chords! Incidentally, I've programmed the Lanquetuit to play in concert in December alongside the Chichester Psalms. Exciting times!

The other recital is a theological journey, and an idea which came to me as I programmed my most recent recital at Truro Cathedral: a concert which took place within the octave of Easter, just after we returned from the Far East. It's a musical representation of the Light of Christ, with some absolutely thrilling items. I'll explain ALL in a blog entry soon!

Compositions!

This year has been exceptionally busy for compositions. We started off by launching Sing! out in Southeast Asia, and right now another compilation is underway for use in January 2011, this time with a Latin American theme. This new venture contains numerous songs from Brazil, Bolivia and Mexico, as well as a sea-shanty, three songs from South Africa and two well-loved hits, all arranged for the SATB choir Discovery Singers. The last concert we performed, in August, was probably the best yet with many items unaccompanied, and staying in tune! Our five soloists were also on top form.

Since returning from Asia in March, I've completed a range of pieces, all of which are looking for performances. There are three religious works:

The Missa Brevis Sancti Petri is a short mass setting for organ, cantor and unison voices which makes use of the Gregorian chant Exultet as part of the Sanctus.

Illuminations is a complete setting of Evening Prayer and Night Prayer from Common Worship, scored for priest, cantor, unison voices, oboe, cello and organ. The title Illuminations means that both additional texts and Gregorian chants are used to illuminate the meaning of the liturgical texts. Much of the music is devotional and contemplative, perhaps best performed by candlelight.

Triptych gradually expands the textures: unison voices; two-part choir; three-part choir. The texts are in challenging yet rewarding languages: Cornish (Matthew 4, 16-22), Anglo-Saxon (The Lord's Prayer) and Gaelic (Ave Maria).

There are two substantial secular works:

Song Offerings lasts for about ten minutes and is for the unusual scoring of SATB chorus and violin. This work is inspired by my visit last year to Bangladesh, and sets the moving poetry of Rabindranath Tagore.

Mistral Lyrics is a cantata lasting about 90 minutes, making use of two different choirs, soprano solo, narrator and small jazz-ensemble. The text is by Gabriela Mistral, translated by Ursula K. Le Guin, and we are awaiting the response from the University of New Mexico Press for permission to use the poems.

What next? Well, I'm all set for the opera. The play is simply a fantastic plot for a small chamber opera, with the main technique of cutting between present and past ideal for musical treatment. There's also a prologue and an epilogue which give us valuable insights into some of the characters, derived from the dialogues in two novels by the same author. The copyright seems to lie with Edition Seix Barral in Barcelona. But why haven't they responded to my requests yet...? I think I need a PA.

If you have any idea about how opera composers start to work with plays and texts still in print and in copyright, then let's do lunch! But not for the first four months of next year: I'll be out doing fieldwork, collecting the folk and street music of South America in preparation...If you know anything about obtaining dramatic rights or grand rights, or if you have any Catalan skills, or you know Mario Vargas Llossa, then please give me a call!

Watch this space....