December 15, 2020

The Sinking of the Titanic and Jesus’ Blood Never Failed Me Yet

Gavin’s Notes:

I visit the Goldmark Gallery quite often – it’s in Uppingham, about 9 miles away from my home. Mike and the whole Goldmark family are my friends as are many of the staff who work there. When I need to send copies of my music manuscripts to be processed for publication, someone – Chris, Max or Roger – scans the A3 pages for me. I have written an unaccompanied solo violin piece, Goldmark Variations, for Freya who is a tremendous violinist. And I have performed in the gallery with my ensemble on two occasions, in 2012 and 2017. The space is quite small and can accommodate up to 5 or 6 players (without piano) and a maximum of 60 in the audience. A very varied and interesting number of musicians have played there, in front of a loyal and discriminating audience. My first concert had four players plus voice – John Potter, tenor – and the second one featured specially arranged new 30-minute versions of my oldest pieces The Sinking of the Titanic and Jesus’ Blood Never Failed Me Yet for just six players. Here is a YouTube link to a film of that performance, preceded by a conversation between Mike Goldmark and myself as part of a live broadcast on Goldmark TV.

The players are Morgan Goff, viola; Ziella Bryars, Nick Cooper and Audrey Riley, cellos; James Woodrow, electric guitar; and Gavin Bryars, double bass.

Both the films have links on this video journal entry.

 
 
Gavin Bryars