Region in Figures East Midlands Winter 2004 5 No. 9

Eschewing the maritime folk synonymous with their East Canadian surroundings, In-Flight Safety are a four-piece indie outfit – formed in Halifax, Nova Scotia in 2003 – influenced by the sweeping piano-based rock of Coldplay, Travis, and Radiohead.

A 3-CD, four-hour celebration of the post-Brumbeat late ‘60s/early ‘70s rock scene in the West Midlands. Tracing the evolution and development of that scene as local musicians embarked on an epic journey that embraced mod pop, psychedelia, blues, progressive rock, glam-rock and heavy metal, inspired by the emergence of chief catalysts The Move.

Described in the notes as "comprehensively forgotten," Peter von Winter was born three years before and died two years before Ludwig van Beethoven. He started as a member of the Mannheim Orchestra when that ensemble was creating the Classical style and he became the kapellmeister of the Munich Court and was later made a Knight. When he died, the streets were lined with people in mourning as his coffin was carried through the city to the cemetery. And with his internment, the music of Peter von Winter fell into oblivion and his reputation faded into obscurity.

This collection of ten Classical symphonies concertantes was recorded (quadraphonically!) in 1977 and issued as a five-record set by EMI Electrola. Now it has been licensed by CPO and reissued economically on just three CDs.

Any album titled "East Meets West" may raise suspicions of crossover commercialism, and purists may reject this disc as a contrived hybrid of classical and international genres. But violinist Daniel Hope presents a program that is much more than a superficial exercise in multiculturalism, and his selections reveal the exotic impulses that touched many composers in the twentieth century. While Ravi Shankar's Raga Piloo and Swara-Kakali overtly reach westward, particularly in the employment of a violin with the Indian sitar, tabla, and tanpura, Ravel's Tzigane, de Falla's Suite populaire espagnol, and Bartók's Romanian Folk Dances are more dispersed in their regional influences and certainly suggest no connections with Asia.