On 1 Oct 2008, at 14:46, Ormston, Chris wrote:
Francis sent me an old clip from the Times, reviewing a Clough
performance in London. I don't have it to hand, but the reviewer
commented on Tom's absorption in his music, and his sense of
phrasing - can you elighten us, Francis?
Hi Chris and others,
Here's the notice about the Tom Clough performance given as part of a
concert of Northumbrian music in London. from The Times of 07.03.28.
The comments are nice (if a little patronising) and very relevant to
the present discussions.
Francis (with thanks to Maureen Davison for typing the text)
The one instrumental performance in this engaging programme, filled
with too many good things for all to be noticed separately, was a
complete novelty for a London audience, and the London audience was a
complete novelty for the performer. Mr. Tom Clough is a member of a
family who have been performers on small Northumbrian pipes for
generations, and he played a number of tunes with the variations on
them which belonged to his family tradition. The Northumbrian pipes,
with their clarinet-like quality of tone, sound more civilized in the
concert room than the more famous Scottish pipes. Mr. Clough, who's
normal working day begins at 3am by cycling five miles to the mine at
which he is employed, faced his audience composedly, seemed as
completely absorbed in his music as Senor Casals, and his phrasing had
something of the quiet mastery of Casals. He has a large repertory,
learnt entirely without notes, (though we understand that he has
learned enough of notation to be able to write out some of his tunes),
and his playing was absorbingly interesting as it evidently was to
himself.
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