Tippett's Tearoom

[Karl Henning]

Cross-post

[Scion7]

One of my work colleagues, as a boy, did gardening for Tippet. One day Tippet found him asleep in a wheelbarrow.

And did Tippet give him a sound thrashing for taking a lie-down on the job?!?!? 

[Pohjolas Daughter]

One of my work colleagues, as a boy, did gardening for Tippet. One day Tippet found him asleep in a wheelbarrow.

Asleep on the job...and in a wheelbarrow!  Sounds like he was really young (to be able to fit into a wheelbarrow) and perhaps hard-pressed for money and struggling to balance school work with maybe needed income?  Just some thoughts.  Do you know more?

PD

[vandermolen]

Asleep on the job...and in a wheelbarrow!  Sounds like he was really young (to be able to fit into a wheelbarrow) and perhaps hard-pressed for money and struggling to balance school work with maybe needed income?  Just some thoughts.  Do you know more?

PD

Come to think of it my friend was gardening for Tippett's mother (Mrs Kemp I think) who lived locally. My friend was probably a teenager (I'll ask him when I next see him). I think that Mrs Kemp told my friend that he could have a rest whenever he wanted to. It was unfortunate that one of his 'wheelbarrow naps' coincided with a visit from Tippett to see his mother.

[Irons]

Asleep on the job...and in a wheelbarrow!  Sounds like he was really young (to be able to fit into a wheelbarrow) and perhaps hard-pressed for money and struggling to balance school work with maybe needed income?  Just some thoughts.  Do you know more?

PD

This little chap wide awake in my wheelbarrow! No trouble fitting him in either.

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Come to think of it my friend was gardening for Tippett's mother (Mrs Kemp I think) who lived locally. My friend was probably a teenager (I'll ask him when I next see him). I think that Mrs Kemp told my friend that he could have a rest whenever he wanted to. It was unfortunate that one of his 'wheelbarrow naps' coincided with a visit from Tippett to see his mother.

PD

[Pohjolas Daughter]

This little chap wide awake in my wheelbarrow! No trouble fitting him in either.

Cute!  Is he one of your children's pets?

PD

[Karl Henning]

Come to think of it my friend was gardening for Tippett's mother (Mrs Kemp I think) who lived locally. My friend was probably a teenager (I'll ask him when I next see him). I think that Mrs Kemp told my friend that he could have a rest whenever he wanted to. It was unfortunate that one of his 'wheelbarrow naps' coincided with a visit from Tippett to see his mother.

It was another lesson to the composer that timing is everything. 

[Pohjolas Daughter]

It was another lesson to the composer that timing is everything.

lol 

PD

[Luke]

This wheelbarrow story interests me, because I remember, when I was growing up, a family friend who, working at Dartington one year, had found Harrison Birtwistle slumbering in a wheelbarrow in exactly the same way.

[Pohjolas Daughter]

This wheelbarrow story interests me, because I remember, when I was growing up, a family friend who, working at Dartington one year, had found Harrison Birtwistle slumbering in a wheelbarrow in exactly the same way.

lol!  Thinking about wheelbarrows a bit more, I realized that some can be quite big (mine isn't).  Is it still a wheelbarrow--or maybe a cart--if it's flat, fairly big (thinking of ones with wooden bottoms)?

PD

[Luke]

The Philosopher's Wheelbarrow



(Karl, I have a title for you...)

[lordlance]

Heard Tippett 1 for the first time:


Unlike some other Tippett I heard this was not inaccessible/anxiety-inducing. Kind of nice actually.

[foxandpeng]

Heard Tippett 1 for the first time:


Unlike some other Tippett I heard this was not inaccessible/anxiety-inducing. Kind of nice actually.

Tippett rewards repeat listening, in my experience. Not with cash or anything, but you can't have everything.

[Irons]

Tippett rewards repeat listening, in my experience. Not with cash or anything, but you can't have everything.

Listening to his first three quartets recently my feeling is this is serious music by a serious composer. Wish he would lighten up now and again.

[DaveF]

Heard Tippett 1 for the first time.

Unlike some other Tippett I heard this was not inaccessible/anxiety-inducing. Kind of nice actually.

Much the best of the 3 recordings of this symphony, to my ears.  I found the "Shostakovich" passacaglia (whisper it: better than DSCH) 2nd movement absolutely shattering.

The companion disc (actually 2 discs) of nos. 3 & 4 plus the early Symphony in B flat is fascinating for this early piece - Tippett in his hitherto undocumented Sibelius period.

[foxandpeng]

Listening to his first three quartets recently my feeling is this is serious music by a serious composer. Wish he would lighten up now and again.

I can see why you would say that. A 10k run can be amazing, but sometimes stopping to take a breath stops you getting a stitch.

[Luke]

There's plenty of 'lighter' Tippett, though, from the 1st Piano Sonata (particularly the last movement) and the delicious Sonata for Four Horns, to Crown of the Year, the Concerto for Double String Orchestra and the Suite for the Birthday of Prince Charles.

[foxandpeng]

the Concerto for Double String Orchestra 

What a great piece of music. Also, the Triple Concerto for Violin, Viola, Cello. The Rose Lake.

[Albion]

Most of the Tippett that I actually enjoy comes from quite early in his career: the Concerto for Double String Orchestra, "Suite for the Birthday of Prince Charles", Symphony No.1, the Piano Concerto and "The Midsummer Marriage". I don't much care for "A Child of Our Time" which seems to me worthy but largely unmemorable apart from the spirituals. As to many of his later works, having endured live performances of "The Vision of St Augustine" and "King Priam", no thanks...