Did Brian Hayden ever record anything on his duet?

[ritonmousquetaire]

Though there are several makers selling new Hayden duet concertinas, there are very few players who seem to post some recordings of their playing online - I only know of a few. It's a bit frustrating to have such a limited range of examples of what can be done with the instrument. That let me wondering : what about the instrument's creator? He's obviously the most experienced player of the instrument he designed; in one of his interviews he mentions playing 3 or 4 parts pieces; I think he's also one of the very few to have been able to play a >60 keys version of his system. Recordings of his must be very interesting to listen at!

 

So, does anybody know of such records? And, if they exist, is there any way for us to listen to them?

[John Adey]

You could ask him. He's a member here, wth the username 'inventor'.

[Wolf Molkentin]

2 hours ago, John Adey said:

You could ask him. He's a member here, wth the username 'inventor'.

 

I'm sure he'll respond anyway...

[inventor]

Simple answer is "no". I am not very good at electronic things. 

However I have seen many people sitting in front of me with recorders at WCCP concertina weekends, so there must be many recordings of my live performances somewhere. One particular recording that I remember from a time when I was at my best on on my 68 button instrument, was a 4 part harmony of the first part of Handel's "Overture to the Royal Fireworks". 

Inventor.

[Noel Ways]

Brian, I have searched and searched over the years but have come up with no hits. 

I will keep trying.  For those of us who play the Hayden system, to have some links

would be a treasure!  It would also give us a  point on connectedness to the one

who brought this system into use.  Any chance that you know of someone

who could do this for you ??   Please ?!?!

Edited August 13, 2018 by Noel Ways

[ritonmousquetaire]

5 hours ago, inventor said:

Simple answer is "no". I am not very good at electronic things. 

However I have seen many people sitting in front of me with recorders at WCCP concertina weekends, so there must be many recordings of my live performances somewhere. One particular recording that I remember from a time when I was at my best on on my 68 button instrument, was a 4 part harmony of the first part of Handel's "Overture to the Royal Fireworks". 

Inventor.

Thanks a lot for the answer! Too bad you're not good at electronic things lol. Maybe some members here are among those who recorded some of your past performances?

 

May I also ask you if you did publish some of the arrangements you used in these performances? That way, even if we don't have a record to listen at, we could get an idea of what and how you played!

[John Adey]

Here is the man himself, all of 5 seconds of him playing, at 9.09 in a video of Bracknell folk festival from 1988:

 

 

[Wolf Molkentin]

4 hours ago, John Adey said:

Here is the man himself, all of 5 seconds of him playing, at 9.09 in a video of Bracknell folk festival from 1988:

 

 

nice video - will watch it in its entirety later on - but re Brian Hayden, he‘s (you‘re) playing a double-reeded instrument (rather sounding like a Carlsfelder to me), isn‘t he (aren‘t you)?

 

best wishes - ?

[inventor]

Yes this is a double reeded instrument (octaves), accordion reeds.

This instrument is discussed elsewhere on concertina.net.  I had a batch of them made by Bastari in Italy.

Inventor.  

[ritonmousquetaire]

John Adley > That's an amazing find, thanks a lot! How did you manage to find it?

[maccannic]

Yes, well done for that.  I too was aware of that bit of film, as Ian Anderson put it up on Mudcat a few years ago, but I wouldn't have been able to come up with a link to it.

[John Adey]

22 hours ago, ritonmousquetaire said:

John Adley > That's an amazing find, thanks a lot! How did you manage to find it?

I remembered it from some years ago and recalled having seen Brian in it, then a bit of browsing for the clip.

 

I'm also a fan of Roy Bailey and Leon Rosselson who feature on the clip. There' s lots of other good stuff on there too.

 

Brian is a a member, I think a founder member even, of WCCP and so I've met him many times and heard him play at meetings. He would usually play something when folks did their 'party pieces', often a lovely arrangement of an O'Carolan tune as I remember.

 

[David Barnert]

On 8/19/2018 at 7:27 PM, inventor said:

Yes this is a double reeded instrument (octaves), accordion reeds.

This instrument is discussed elsewhere on concertina.net.  I had a batch of them made by Bastari in Italy.

Inventor.  

 

Mike Knudsen, known as “ragtimer” in these forums (he’s been inactive since 2012) has one, and his avatar is a photo of it. Don’t be fooled by the round image (all our avatars are framed in round images). The instrument is square. If you look closely you can see the four edges. 

 

Edited September 1, 2018 by David Barnert
Typo

[soloduet]

Hello Brian,

It's great to see you playing your own instrument, even for a few seconds. Would it be possible to take a look at this instrument somewhere and hopefully try to play it?

 

[David Barnert]

12 hours ago, soloduetconcertina said:

Would it be possible to take a look at this instrument somewhere and hopefully try to play it?

 

It’s a bear to play. I’ve played Mike’s and also one that Moshe Braner had many years ago in Vermont (might have been the same instrument). You’ll notice that in the video, Brian is not playing one of his 6-part harmony baroque chorales. I think there’s a reason for that.

[Spectacled Warbler]

Hi Soloduetconcertina, 

 

Hope you're well!  I have one of those square double reeded Bastaris that Brian is playing on the film,  it's very possible that you had tried it when you were researching available Hayden instruments a few years ago - what a joy it was to see someone play a Hayden well!        I vaguely remember taking every Hayden I possessed except the Stagi which I didn't think would interest you.  

 

All the best,

 

Joy

[soloduet]

Hi Joy,

 

Thank you so much for this information! When we met a few years ago my goal was to try the Beaumont, so I didn't really notice and don't even remember that you had other instruments. Now that I'm more aware of what I'm searching about the Hayden system, I would be very interested to see and try this double reeded Bastari more accurately. So if you don't mind I will contact you on your e-mail address to talk about this possibility.

 

All the best,

 

Didie

[Paul_Hardy]

On 8/13/2018 at 6:30 PM, inventor said:

Simple answer is "no". I am not very good at electronic things. 

However I have seen many people sitting in front of me with recorders at WCCP concertina weekends, so there must be many recordings of my live performances somewhere.

 

I have online a recording of Brian from Kilve in 2007 at http://www.pghardy.net/concertina/kilve/kilve200710/ but it's not a good recording, and its not Brian at his best.

 

I remember Brian performing some spectacular Handel at the Wheatstone Bicentenary concert in 2002, but I think I only have a photo, not a recording, although I did record the hour-long talk and discussion on Wheatstone by Stephen Rowling and others.