London Bridge Live in Zűrich 1990 (double album)
by Mike Westbrook Orchestra
John Cratchley
John Cratchley
Such an all-encompassing work of art…music, poetry, cultural subtext (if you will)…just the sheer life-enhancing elevation of jazz onto a higher plane…this is how Mike and Kate Westbrook have always worked, I think, and it is typical of the high values with which they imbue their output.
yakitoriya
Chris Warburton
Walter Bucheli
Gary McMahon
jjdrew50
Martin Archer
John Bacon-Shone
David Bauckham
Mavis Davis
shortmuse
Rudolf Häuserer
stefanowagner
bobmiller99
lgpo
Softfactor
Alain MIROUFLE
fulvio-chisin
John Nichol
rjagiel
gerbes
Ewan Dale
johndaly15
martyntaylor
thegallery
rhare
babthag
jyboisson
chocolate77
Martin Reh
jazzinbritainmusic
davidgouldstone
paradisoja
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Streaming + DownloadIncludes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
includes cover photo and PDF bookletPurchasable with gift card£10 GBP or more
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Compact Disc (CD) + Digital AlbumIncludes unlimited streaming of London Bridge Live in Zűrich 1990 (double album) via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.ships out within 3 days
£15 GBP or more
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1. |
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2. |
Wenceslas Square
29:00
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3. |
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4. |
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5. |
Berlin Wall: Ein Vogel
08:05
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6. |
Vienna: Viennese Waltz
05:49
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7. |
Vienna: Für Sie
23:09
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8. |
Picardie: Blighters
05:09
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9. |
Picardie: Les Morts
05:17
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10. |
Picardie: Picardie
15:56
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11. |
Picardie: Une Fenêtre
11:33
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12. |
about
London Bridge is Broken Down is a two-and-a-half-hour composition for voice, jazz orchestra and chamber orchestra, some fifty performers.
A collaboration between composer Mike Westbrook and vocalist/librettist Kate Westbrook, the work was inspired by travelling and performing in the mid 1980’s through a Europe at that time divided by the Berlin Wall ‘our personal map of Europe’. It includes settings of poetry in French, German and English. Its five movements are entitled London Bridge, Wenceslas Square, Berlin Wall, Vienna and Picardie.
First performed in Amiens in 1987 with Le Sinfonietta de Picardie, London Bridge was recorded at the Pathé Marconi Studios in Paris and released on Virgin Venture.
The UK premiere of London Bridge took place on November 9th 1990 at St Anne’s Church, Limehouse in the Jazz Lunarcy Festival and involved the Docklands Sinfonietta, directed by Rupert Bond. The following day the ensemble flew to Switzerland to appear in the Zürich International Jazz Festival. The new album London Bridge Live in Zürich 1990 is taken from the ‘live’ recording of that concert made for SRF radio. This was to be the last time that London Bridge was performed in its entirety.
In 1989 the Berlin Wall had been taken down. Europe’s conflicted history is not easily swept away. Richard Williams wrote of London Bridge ‘we are left in little doubt that here is a lament for the endless folly to which man is heir, pierced by the knowledge of his curious resilience and half-buried instinct for good’.
‘A dense, haunting contemplation of irony, ambiguity, courage and love’
(Chris Parker in The Wire)
A collaboration between composer Mike Westbrook and vocalist/librettist Kate Westbrook, the work was inspired by travelling and performing in the mid 1980’s through a Europe at that time divided by the Berlin Wall ‘our personal map of Europe’. It includes settings of poetry in French, German and English. Its five movements are entitled London Bridge, Wenceslas Square, Berlin Wall, Vienna and Picardie.
First performed in Amiens in 1987 with Le Sinfonietta de Picardie, London Bridge was recorded at the Pathé Marconi Studios in Paris and released on Virgin Venture.
The UK premiere of London Bridge took place on November 9th 1990 at St Anne’s Church, Limehouse in the Jazz Lunarcy Festival and involved the Docklands Sinfonietta, directed by Rupert Bond. The following day the ensemble flew to Switzerland to appear in the Zürich International Jazz Festival. The new album London Bridge Live in Zürich 1990 is taken from the ‘live’ recording of that concert made for SRF radio. This was to be the last time that London Bridge was performed in its entirety.
In 1989 the Berlin Wall had been taken down. Europe’s conflicted history is not easily swept away. Richard Williams wrote of London Bridge ‘we are left in little doubt that here is a lament for the endless folly to which man is heir, pierced by the knowledge of his curious resilience and half-buried instinct for good’.
‘A dense, haunting contemplation of irony, ambiguity, courage and love’
(Chris Parker in The Wire)
credits
released November 3, 2022
Kate Westbrook voice, Mike Westbrook piano
Mike Westbrook Orchestra
Graham Russell trumpet, Paul Nieman trombone,
Pete Whyman, Alan Wakeman, Chris Biscoe saxophones
Andy Grappy tuba, Brian Godding guitar,
Tim Harries bass guitar, Peter Fairclough drums
Docklands Sinfonietta
conductor Rupert Bond, leader Alison Kelly
music composed by Mike Westbrook
texts by René Arcos, Wilhelm Busch, Andrée Chedid, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Bernard Lassahn, Siegfried Sassoon, Kate Westbrook.
text selected by Kate Westbrook in collaboration with Anne Marie Le Pape-Dior and Tommy Bodmer
with thanks to Petra Gehrmann
Zűrich International Jazz Festival
Festival Director Susanna Tanner
Recorded by SRF (Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen)
in concert at Theaterhaus Gessneralle Zűrich
Saturday 10th November 1990
executive producer Laurence Aston
associate musical director Fiachra Trench
Album produced by Jay Auborn of dBs Pro Bristol
additional recording, editing and mastering by Jay Auborn July / August 2022
assistant engineers Amber Grieve, Benjamin Kashani, Louis Marcell
cover photograph from Hotel Bellevue, Berlin Wall 1986 by Mike Westbrook
design by Sam Whitney-Morris
supported by Airshaft Trust with special thanks to Adrian and Julia Mann
Worldwide distribution by Proper Music Distribution
Mike Westbrook management Peter Conway
Kate Westbrook voice, Mike Westbrook piano
Mike Westbrook Orchestra
Graham Russell trumpet, Paul Nieman trombone,
Pete Whyman, Alan Wakeman, Chris Biscoe saxophones
Andy Grappy tuba, Brian Godding guitar,
Tim Harries bass guitar, Peter Fairclough drums
Docklands Sinfonietta
conductor Rupert Bond, leader Alison Kelly
music composed by Mike Westbrook
texts by René Arcos, Wilhelm Busch, Andrée Chedid, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Bernard Lassahn, Siegfried Sassoon, Kate Westbrook.
text selected by Kate Westbrook in collaboration with Anne Marie Le Pape-Dior and Tommy Bodmer
with thanks to Petra Gehrmann
Zűrich International Jazz Festival
Festival Director Susanna Tanner
Recorded by SRF (Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen)
in concert at Theaterhaus Gessneralle Zűrich
Saturday 10th November 1990
executive producer Laurence Aston
associate musical director Fiachra Trench
Album produced by Jay Auborn of dBs Pro Bristol
additional recording, editing and mastering by Jay Auborn July / August 2022
assistant engineers Amber Grieve, Benjamin Kashani, Louis Marcell
cover photograph from Hotel Bellevue, Berlin Wall 1986 by Mike Westbrook
design by Sam Whitney-Morris
supported by Airshaft Trust with special thanks to Adrian and Julia Mann
Worldwide distribution by Proper Music Distribution
Mike Westbrook management Peter Conway
license
all rights reserved
tags
about
Mike Westbrook London, UK
Mike Westbrook, composer and pianist, has received many honours and his outpouring of work in a career stretching over 50 years, ranges from scores for full orchestra to solo piano improvisation.
discography
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