DVD

[bluesman]

Hello
Anyone got any news about the DVD referred to ?
Thanks
Dave

[DavidG]

Keep checking back, it's provisionally scheduled for a release in November and news will appear here first! It'll consist of all six 30-minute programmes Munrow and his Early Music Consort of London made for Granada in 1976, at Ordsall Hall, Salford.

Hope this helps!

David
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[DavidG]

The DVD is nearly complete and should be ready for Christmas delivery anywhere in the wold for ?19.95 inclusive. Please get in touch with me at info@davidmunrow.org for further details.

[piedpiper]

If I recall rightly the programmes now on DVD were televised near the end of 1976, and were repeated the following year. They may well have been seen again during the 1980s, and perhaps in the following decade yet I do not think so.

I always remember the cartoon of Emperor Nero playing the bagpipes rather than the harp. This appeared in a small box article in the TV Times which introduced the then new series of Early Musical Instruments. Essentially, it explained that the Scots would need a few extra drams to believe that Nero did not fiddle whilst Rome burned. Instead, he played the bagpipes probably!!!

In many rerspects, Early Musical Instruments was a big improvement on Ancestral Voices filmed in a London studio. In the latter case, one got the feeling that it was a "rushed job", and often DM in his colourful near see through shirt seemed worn out. But, his spirit of enthusiasm, and communication was clearly evident.

[piedpiper]

Sometimes I go to You Tube, and most of the audio visual material on performances of Early Music at fairs, halls, or from actual cds come by way of people living outside the UK. It might be a good idea to consider the possibility of trying to sell a dubbed, or sub-titled version of Early Musical Instruments as a dvd!!

I assume the programmes were transmitted in most English speaking countries notably America, Canada, and Australia..?? It would be amusing to see a dubbed DM talking Spanish, French, German.....or perhaps Esperanto!!!!

Early Music does though seem to be more popular in Europe per se than in Britain. I am not sure why....!!

R.Searle

[Beachcomber]

Piedpiper,

"In many rerspects, Early Musical Instruments was a big improvement on Ancestral Voices filmed in a London studio. In the latter case, one got the feeling that it was a "rushed job""

I can remember both series very well indeed and I was very, very surprised and shocked at the lack of The Early Music Consort of London discipline shown in the ITV series.  Ancestral Voices had an audience whereas EMI didn't.  David Munrow was my absolute hero and anything and everything that he did was meticulous - less so EMI.  The one thing I didn't like about EMI was the fading into the adverts - one of the few scourges in my life.  Ancestral Voices was well planned out - EMI seemed to be done on the spot.  Still, any footage of DM has to be welcome no matter what my or other opinions are.

 

[piedpiper]

Beachcomber,

       Thank you for your comment. To some extent, I agree with you, but the man who was involved in the production of Ancestral Voices said it could have been a better job. I have his description too of the "behind the scenes" going-ons which I may release here.

 Unlike Early Musical Instruments you could clearly see the strain on occassion of Munrows on camera presentations. He looked at time quite exhausted, and ofcourse, he was well-known for being a workholic. In EMI this is not evident, and he comes across as being relaxed, and more "in control"...but that is just my opinion.

R.Searle aka Piedpiper..

[Penfold]

I'm amazed and delighted to see that the series has been released....I've just been transferring my VHS copy of the '84/'85 Channel Four repeat to disc for archival purposes, never thinking there was a bit of a community here....
        Like many here I suspect, I found DM via a keen music teacher, Two Renaissance Dance Bands (First album I ever bought), the boxed sets borrowed from the local library, and the original ITV screenings. Our music teacher was a bit of a disciple, and ran a renaissance band by teaching us kids to play the instruments he had himself collected. As a trumpet and recorder player, I dived between crumhorn and cornett....thinking back, the teacher announcing to the class that DM had passed on was the first time I saw a grown man cry.
        Interesting to see a few things in his discography I missed....the Tete de la Course sounds intriguing....now, was a soundtrack CD to Zardoz ever released?? I have all his work with Shirley and Dolly Collins, if you haven't heard this material it is highly recommended, it's the most English music you have ever heard...

[Penfold]

Early Music does though seem to be more popular in Europe per se than in Britain. I am not sure why....!!

R.Searle

Perhaps because folk survivals and revivals are treated with greater respect in Europe than in England ?? A lot of Early Music instruments, styles and repertoire survived in folk circles throughout Europe, but in England (I'm excluding Wales, Scotland and Ireland deliberately) folk traditions are treated by the cognoscenti and the media types with extreme condescension...perhaps in Europe, Early music is not seen as so esoteric but more approachable, more living and breathing, by the general public as a result. Thankfully DM also saw it this way, and so does Phil Pickett...
    It's a theory....