Two recent conversations have caused me to remember an interview between Christopher Hampson & his long-term notator Caroline Palmer about his ballet Canciones that I transcribed and posted on the web 12 years ago (see full interview here). If you were around, you may remember that at the last moment, he had to pull the intended score by Manuel de Falla and replace it with something else, because of an issue over rights. It seems like 12 minutes ago. At the time, I thought the following tale was quite funny – with the passage of time, it seems really rather sad…
CH: I know that people use videos, but a good example of why not to use a video is…
CP: (laughs) Do we have to go down this route?!
CH: We do, because a good example of why not to use a video is that there is one version, which is a rehearsal tape of the Manuel de Falla version
CP: The only one
CH: The only tape, and you know, I just love it dearly because it’s what it was what it was meant to be. I went round, and took Caroline out for her birthday, which… I don’t know if I’ll do again [laughter], because half way through the last section, the jota, she’d taped Lorraine Kelly, GMTV…
CP: Over it…
CH: … interviewing someone from Coronation Street over it. But you know, because the notation is there, that puts my mind at ease.
