Thoughts on the Levy/Sutphin bellow/bow project

[Anglo Enthusiast]

In his great and definitive book on the subject of American Method acting, film critic Steve Vineberg describes the ultimate aim of the Method as "making the theatrical familiar and making the familiar dramatically interesting." If we were to modify this statement and impose upon it a musical application, we'd have a pretty accurate description of what Bertram Levy and Kirk Sutphin accomplish within the realm of American fiddle tunes (to my mind, a rough musical equivalent of Method acting) in their new album THE BELLOW AND THE BOW.

 

As far as I can discern, the arts have historically been dominated by imposing figures such as Shakespeare, Beethoven, Orson Welles, Salvador Dali, or Laurence Olivier-men whose greatness lies in its grandeur; its sheer magnificence; its audacity; its immense, disarming, inescapable brilliance.

 

However, there have always been individuals who represent a more subtle and less demonstrative (but no less profound) vision of what the arts can accomplish, like Mozart, Chekhov, the Bengali filmmaker Satyajit Ray, or Vermeer-individuals that have an uncanny, almost subliminal knack for evoking and embodying the regrets and longings of ordinary folks and locating a paradoxical, earthbound sort of lyricism within what we might refer to as the domestic, even the vulgar (think, for example, of many of the characters that occupy the libretti of Mozart's great operas LE NOZZE DI FIGARO, DON GIOVANNI and his great singspiel DIE ZAUBERFLOTE). My conviction is that, in Bertram Levy, the concertina community has such an artist. Bertram really seems to be at the height of his powers these days and I would venture to say that he has achieved a mastery of nuance and economy that invites comparison to the likes of Bach and (again) Mozart. It seems to me that Bertram brings the same level of sophistication and harmonic daring to a less "elevated" musical form (namely American fiddle tunes), and in so doing, manages to lift it into the realm of high art (Norman and Nancy Blake have accomplished the same feat in their own ineffable fashion, and so, for that matter, has Peter Ostroushko within the more varied context of his patented Ukrainian-American, home-grown "Sluz Duz" ideology).

 

Prior to obtaining THE BELLOW AND THE BOW, the most compelling glimpse that I had been afforded of just how far and exactly in what direction Bertram's approach to the concertina has evolved since the glory days of SAGEFLOWER SUITE and FIRST GENERATION was unfolded to me during a skype meet, where I had the priviledge of watching him perform a few fiddle tunes with his daughter, a talented classically-trained violinist who can also play a mean fiddle. I remember being overwhelmed by the contrapuntal expansiveness and sheer variety of interpretation explored within a single tune, and yet the innovation, no matter how impressive, never came at the expense of the restraint and good taste that Bertram seems to champion. THE BELLOW AND THE BOW not only documents this all-too-fleeting glimpse, but expands on it, as Bertram and fiddle great kirk Sutphin (Sutphin's contributions to the album are as distinct from the contributions of Frank Ferrell and Peter Ostroushko on Bertram's other 2 concertina albums as those contributions are distinct from each other) combine to leave an indelible impression.

 

Andy.

[Bruce McCaskey]

Hello Andy,

I'm certainly a fan of Bertram's and have been enjoying his albums. Bertram possesses a broad repertoire and he has developed a very effective approach to the Anglo's mechanics such that he is able to play a diverse body of music with authority and conviction. I've heard him play English, French, Argentinian, Irish and of course his favored Southern fiddle tunes, and don't doubt he has other genres to draw from. In the case of Southern fiddle tunes, he opened my interests to a body of music that I've newly come to embrace - in no small part because it is the core fabric of his new tutor's material.

I've seen both Bertram and his talented daughter perform on stage, and I agree with you, she is quite good. You can view a descriptive notice for a house concert they did earlier this year here, I reference it because it offers background insights on both of them. If they elect to do such a concert in the Seattle area you can be sure I'd attend.

 

 

[Anglo Enthusiast]

Thanks for sharing the link, Bruce. I got a kick out of the "Slim Pickins and Precious Little" stage name. I'm also excited to hear that you've expanded your repertoire to include American fiddle tunes. I watched your youtube video awhile ago of "the Laird of Drumblair" and it's clear from this clip that the time you've invested in Bertram's fiddle tunes tutor has not been in vein. I was impressed by the solid execution and fluidity in the phrasing-evidence, I think, of a real quantifiable improvement between this and your earlier recordings. What I like best about the new fiddle tunes tutor is that, though the focus is superficially on the American fiddle tunes repertory, the methodology presented therein represents, I think, something of a one-size-fits-all approach to the instrument. The chief value of the text, I would submit, is really primarily of a didactic nature, equipping the musician with a technical arsenal that can be applied with equal success to just about any genre (this, at least, has been my experience thus far). The fact that each excercise is steeped in one aspect or another of the American tunes is really, as I see it, the icing on the cake.

 

Andy