Ben’s Blog

The spring workshop put on by the Viola da Gamba Society of New England was a really good time last weekend. The theme was Music for Voices and Viols by 17th Century German Composers.

I think my favorite thing we did was a Buxtehude piece, Vulnerasti cor meum. What a gorgeous piece!!!

We had some tremendous singers join us from the Joyful Noyse ensemble. What a treat!!! I have to get the score for that piece and would like to play that again.

If you’re not familiar with the piece, here’s a version on YouTube. Buxtehude rocks!!!

bentorrey :: May.12.2010 :: Repertoire, Stocking the Pond, Filling the Well :: No Comments »

I love that show Chuck on NBC. The last episode was so great, it’s a must-see for any Rush fan. Check it out at: http://www.nbc.com/Chuck/video/episodes/?vid=786721

I was thinking of building a fun little quiz game where you take the first 10 studio albums and put them in order. Somehow that seems be a fun exercise in restoring order to the universe, just putting those in order.

I’ve recently been rediscovering Caress of Steel, what a fantastic album!

bentorrey :: Nov.03.2008 :: Stocking the Pond, Filling the Well :: No Comments »

Last night I saw Hesperion XXI with Jordi Savall at the Sanders Theater. What a fantastic show. Such great playing from the entire ensemble. Really inspiring.

There was a signing line after the show, and it was a real honor to meet him briefly. What a super nice guy!

bentorrey :: Oct.26.2008 :: Stocking the Pond, Filling the Well :: No Comments »

I have to tell a quick story. Back in the days, my cousin AC was the first one to get a license and we used to drive around with him to the Burger King and other key attractions of the South Shore. One time though, we were going on a ski trip to New Hampshire and AC was driving. He had gotten really into that tune Footloose, so he got the LP from the library and taped it continuously on both sides of a 45-minute tape. He made me and my brothers listen to it the whole way up. Boy, that was a long ride.

But, I still think of that sometimes when I’m learning pieces, I’ll do my “footloose” listening, and loop it enough times to really absorb every detail. Of course, these days it’s a lot simpler to do that. My car’s CD player has a repeat track option, and very easy with an iPOD of course.

When I got the latest Avishai album, I did my “footloose listening” with Pinzin Kinzin (Like I had with Remembering on the last live album). It’s funny how much you pick up by that type of absorption listening. I really enjoy that. There’s a spot at 0:56 that seems like a real “in the bass/drums groove DNA” type moment, when the bass drops down the octave and the drummer switches to the ride cymbal. That’s such an instinctive moment.

Anyway, I went to the Avishai show last week with my mentor, teacher, and good friend Wesley Wirth. Great show! Wes and I had a really good time catching up, it had been quite awhile. He’s working a really cool project with a great pianist in the area, and he dug hearing about all the early music stuff I’m up to. It was a really special night all around.

bentorrey :: Sep.13.2008 :: Stocking the Pond, Filling the Well :: 1 Comment »

One hot summer day between my junior and senior year in high school (1989), I was mowing the lawn and my friend Pete pulled up in his Jeep. “We’re going to see the Who at Sullivan Stadium! Jump in,” he says. “But Pete, we don’t have tickets, forget it man, I’m not going,” I said. “Jump in!” he said. I couldn’t take no for an answer; I had been around Pete enough to know that sometimes you had to follow him on these types of journeys. “All right, let me finish up the lawn and tell my Mom,” I said.

Anyway, so we drive to the show, park like 2 miles away, walk over there, and just as we’re getting to the stadium, we can hear them starting with Pinball Wizard. Just as we’re starting to wonder how we’ll ever get in, a stretch limo pulls up to us. A windows slides down and a guy says, “Hey, you guys need some tickets?” “Are you kidding?” we exclaim. “How much do you want for them?” we ask. “Nah, kid, take ‘em. Enjoy the show”. And, that we did. Unbelievable.

Looking back on that really cool happening, two things come to mind.

First, I love the idea of living life like Pete did in that example. Sort of a general belief that the universe will make whatever you want to do available for you. What if I lived (just) a bit more like that? Took a few more chances, believed in great outcomes happening. Had some faith that it would all work out. What would I try if I believed like that?

Second, I miss my friend Pete. Pete and I played in a band together at that time. We played a lot of fun Who stuff, some Steely Dan and Donald Fagan stuff, a lot of his original songs too. I remember him insisting that I sing backup vocals with that famous persistence. “You’re singing backup vocals!” You just couldn’t say no to Pete. “OK, I’ll try.” After high school we sort of drifted apart though. He had moved out to Colorado for music school somewhere and become a music teacher from what I heard. I’ll have to look him up and get back in touch. I’m sure he’s got a lot of great stories of his faith being rewarded, and I’d like to thank him again for teaching me such a great lesson years ago.

bentorrey :: Jul.25.2008 :: Stocking the Pond, Filling the Well :: No Comments »

I went to see Wu Man on Wednesday night at NEC. Wow, what a musician!

I was completely blown away by her performance on pipa. From an incredible range of tone and dynamics to the various right-hand techniques (somewhere between flamenco resgaudo and classical tremolo) to blazing fretwork and really cool bends, definitely recommend checking her out. She also had a really amazingly physical grace that is hard to describe. When plucking alternative slow notes, for example, she’d make a very graceful and full circle with her right hand. Almost ‘metal’ in her show-wo-manship.

There’s some good stuff on YouTube, and lots of available recordings.

Really inspiring show.

bentorrey :: Jun.15.2008 :: Stocking the Pond, Filling the Well :: No Comments »

I went to the New Music Festival sponsored by the Boston Classical Guitar Society last Saturday. A wonderful day put together by Frank Wallace and the entire BCGS team. Great job everyone!

The whole day was a highlight really and culminated in an amazing show by Atanas Ourkouzounov and Mie Ogura.

I’ll probably blog about a few topics from the day over the next few weeks, including catching up with my former NEC/Tufts classmate Brad Colten, as well as the great Bartók lecture and demonstration by Daniel Acsadi.

But, for right now I’ll mention one particular highlight, and that was the coaching masterclass by Atanas Ourkouzounov.

There was a really fantastic mandolin player being coached by Mr. Ourkouzounov. She was working on a piece called “A Gleam in Winter” by Yasuo Kuwahara. I wasn’t familiar with the piece, and neither was Atanas at first, but his coaching, within a span of 30 minutes, took the piece to the next level. Parts that had been sort of straight runs took on a conversational character as emphasis of the higher and lower threads was accented. The dynamics became more pronounced, articulation was adjusted to bring out aspects of the phrasing.

Ah, that’s hard stuff to put into words, but the piece went from a piece to a showpiece inside of 30 minutes. Good coaching is great to see and be around. It doesn’t always feel “comfortable” to the person being coached, in fact, that’s when you know you’re getting the good coaching (should feel like sandpaper). I need to get more of that good coaching over the next few years. I know so many great players and teachers in the area, but I have some very real limitations of budget and time to work carefully within.

Anyway, after the masterclass I had the honor to meet Atanas. We chatted a bit about favorite music and musicians. I told him I’m a huge Ivo Papasov fan. Funny enough, there wasn’t any Ivo Papasov tunes on the program, but during his concert he did play one. I wonder if I had a hand in that program addition?

bentorrey :: May.04.2008 :: Stocking the Pond, Filling the Well :: No Comments »

Renaud Garcia-Fons is such an amazing player, an endless source of inspiration.

I was working through Ghazali from Oriental Bass on my EAB. That f minor chord he hits at the end is just amazing.

I figure he must play the low F with the left thumb, then hits the open C string, then hits the Ab harmonic with his right hand, fretting the Ab at the first fret, then playing the harmonic with the right hand second finger after placing his right thumb on the Ab harmonic.

A pretty cool move on an electric, I’ll certainly use it, but the fact that he pulls it off on an upright is just incredible.

Very nice to see him get some coverage in BP magazine in the current issue.

bentorrey :: Apr.20.2008 :: Stocking the Pond, Filling the Well :: No Comments »

The live music budget was a bit blown out this month, but I’ll have to set that aside and be sure to see Brian Bromberg tomorrow night at Sculler’s! Yeah!

Funny because I’ve been listening to a few of his records a lot lately, Wood especially, and the sound of his upright is just unbelievable, and unbelievably recorded.

Really looking forward to the show tomorrow night.

bentorrey :: Mar.25.2008 :: Stocking the Pond, Filling the Well :: No Comments »

I was very fortunate to have seen Pat Metheny with Christian McBride and Antonio Sanchez last night at the Somerville Theater with my brother. What a fantastic show!

There were so many fantastic moments in the show, but one that I’ll mention was a concept we’ve been working on in the Tufts ensemble.

They were coming to the end of a tune, a real burning up-tempo piece from the new record. They then did a perfectly synchronized fade out. As they faded the tune out though, the intensity stayed exactly the same, as did the tempo. It just got softer gradually, until they stopped.

That’s incredibly hard to do. As you get softer its hard not to lose some of the intensity, or slow down. It was so beautifully done.

In general, Antonio Sanchez might be the drummer with the widest dynamic range I’ve ever seen. Right through all those changes in dynamics was this fierce intensity though. He glares at the cymbals as he’s playing, as if they’re a moving target. It was my first time seeing him play, so think I noticed that a lot. I’ve seen Pat and CM so many times with different lineups, so I was more prepared for being blown away by those two.

What a show!

bentorrey :: Mar.17.2008 :: Stocking the Pond, Filling the Well :: No Comments »