Max Beesley did Private Passions on Sunday.
It was mostly just background listening as I got on with other things, but for some reason I was paying attention as he introduced his final track.
He had first heard it on his headphones as he was being driven down the motorway from Manchester to Luton by two of his teachers from Chetham’s .
He told us that the structure of the piece was immediately clear to him – a birth, a life, death, rebirth. He wants it played at his funeral.
Goodness me. He certainly had my attention now & I listened intently.
I can say with confidence that I would never have arrived at that interpretation for myself, unaided, though I think I could hear it once it had been pointed out.
The word that immediately comes to mind is busy – a very busy life.
But, somewhat disconcertingly, the moment of birth & the moment of death were each represented by a very distinct PLOP.
Not unlike the sound that comes through my headphones when I remove my memory stick from the library computer, even though I have been assured that it is safe to do so.
Exhilarating, as Michael Berkeley put it.
The piece was from Third Wind (track 5) from Still Life (Talking) by the Pat Metheny Group
