Robert brought down some beautiful music in All Saints
Church in Broad Chalke on Saturday. The event was advertised as being from 12:30
till 2pm and these were the specific
times that Robert entered and exited the church.
On leaving he left the last piece reverberating around the church and within
our memory.
The first piece was a carillon of bells, and this was a motif throughout the
session. It was a framing piece (a la Scheherazade) it recurred and finished
the set. Most of the pieces were diatonic and seemed to me principally in the
major scale. The penultimate piece included resolutions similar to "The
Heavenly Music Corporation" but this time from the leading note to the
tonic (through three octaves).
There were four speakers around the church. Robert set up orchestral sounding
loops, which moved to the back, and then he further improvised around them with
(almost) conventional guitar sounds. This was not what I expected.
Unfortunately I spent some of the first part of the concert worrying about whether
I had switched the car lights off and wondering whether I could sneak out
unnoticed (this was not possible). But then a calm descended on me and I could
feel the love in the music.
My daughter, Felicity, attended with me and we agreed afterwards that listening
to this music was hard work! We enjoyed it nevertheless!
After Robert's departure, the headteacher of the local school thanked everyone
for attending and thanked everyone for coming and "Mr Robert Fripp - I'm
not sure where he's gone" (a long way from photos and autographs I
suspect) and David Singleton for organising the event.
I note that David's single is apparently in the Virgin Megastore chart in Salisbury!
Thanks everyone.
Kim Griffiths