R.Fripp Churchscapes at St.Paul's
On Tuesday afternoon, I had the honour of visiting St.Paul's Cathedral and hearing a 30 minute performance by Robert Fripp, an extraordinary guitarist. The performance was part of Fripp's 'Churchscapes' tour of England, which as I understand it, aims to present his guitar soundscapes in spaces that are (hopefully) outside the realm of commercial expectations associated with music today. Not having visited St.Paul's for many many years, I really enjoyed how such a sacred place also had an atmosphere of a working environment where art and ideas were also being tested out and communicated in a very informal way. So as R.Fripp played, tourists, priests and conscience members of the audience intermingled, sat or walked past, and the music formed part of the sorroundings in ways which, at times, demanded one's attention and at times seemed to support attention toward other things in the space, such as the ceiling of the Dome or religious pictures or our thoughts.
I am really enjoying R.Fripp's current soundscape material, and the way it combines soaring and floating waves of sound, which pass like clouds, with the minimalistic melodic sketches based on a very direct, unprocessed guitar tone, used throughout the recent Fripp&Eno release "The Equatorial Stars". Simply wonderful, especially as the music scaled the heights of St.Paul's Dome.
Another take on the music comes from Sid Smith.
I was happy to have the chance to bring the family along, and observed how both children stretched themselves out over a few chairs, listened and rested without becoming restless.
The rest of the afternoon was spent scaling the heights of the Dome, by foot that is:
The day ended with a bit of interesting karma. The day before, my wife had gently tapped into a parked car while turning around and surpringly left a dent in the others' car door. No one saw the event and in fact no one was around at all, but she went to some lengths to find the owner of the car and report it. "Am I being stupid?" Or doing the right thing? The next day at St.Paul's, she mysteriously misplaced her wallet. After racing back from the Tube in a panic, sure enough it was returned to the guards with all contents intact. Two acts that were individually irrational, and yet without these, society could not exist.
I am really enjoying R.Fripp's current soundscape material, and the way it combines soaring and floating waves of sound, which pass like clouds, with the minimalistic melodic sketches based on a very direct, unprocessed guitar tone, used throughout the recent Fripp&Eno release "The Equatorial Stars". Simply wonderful, especially as the music scaled the heights of St.Paul's Dome.
Another take on the music comes from Sid Smith.
I was happy to have the chance to bring the family along, and observed how both children stretched themselves out over a few chairs, listened and rested without becoming restless.
The rest of the afternoon was spent scaling the heights of the Dome, by foot that is:
The day ended with a bit of interesting karma. The day before, my wife had gently tapped into a parked car while turning around and surpringly left a dent in the others' car door. No one saw the event and in fact no one was around at all, but she went to some lengths to find the owner of the car and report it. "Am I being stupid?" Or doing the right thing? The next day at St.Paul's, she mysteriously misplaced her wallet. After racing back from the Tube in a panic, sure enough it was returned to the guards with all contents intact. Two acts that were individually irrational, and yet without these, society could not exist.
posted by Gregory Jackson at
10:55 AM
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