I know there was a thread somewhere before here about the Portsmouth Sinfonia, that great ensemble, which once boasted Brian Eno and Michael Nyman amongst its hallowed members, but here they are in all their splendour playing two sections from Kubrick's masterpiece:
Just saw the videos and my reaction was: Oh my God. Should I laugh? Should I cry? There are simply NO words to describe what I have just experienced!
It's just a 'stunt', really. A performance act. The shock value is what they were after; turning notions of classical music upside-down. It's amusing to me that so many years later, people still label it the 'worst' performance etc. without really knowing what the project was about in the first place.
Haha...I did wonder - I've been playing brass instruments for long enough to know when I'm hearing a "Les Dawson Performance" i.e. clever enough to make it sound professionally bad....that trumpet player was no beginner ...
Just saw the videos and my reaction was: Oh my God. Should I laugh? Should I cry? There are simply NO words to describe what I have just experienced!
It's just a 'stunt', really. A performance act. The shock value is what they were after; turning notions of classical music upside-down. It's amusing to me that so many years later, people still label it the 'worst' performance etc. without really knowing what the project was about in the first place.
A stunt? Ok then still pretty damned funny. Like watching that dude walk across the Grand Canyon on a tightrope. Ya can't look away. Or in this case listen away. Oh the horror, the horror.
I've been playing brass instruments for long enough to know when I'm hearing a "Les Dawson Performance" i.e. clever enough to make it sound professionally bad....that trumpet player was no beginner ...
As far as I know, they could all READ music: there'd be an absolute necessity for that. But they had to play instruments they had just picked up. There was a selection process for sure.
I could be wrong, but I think they're still going at Portsmouth Poly or somewhere, in a lower profile way.
... 
