On the 6th September 2018 Roger Waters celebrates his 75th birthday.
Unknown to those in the audience at Lucius’s concert at the Union Chapel in London, Roger decided to get up on stage with th rest of the band to perform Mother and Goodnight Irene..
Nick Masons A Saucerful Of Secrets Tour Debuted Tonight In Cirkus, Stockholm we have been sent in some exclusive footage of the brand new stage show. With thanks to Stevie Klasson
Pictures Courtesy Of Åsa Helleberg
The Soldier’s Tale is a music theater work for small ensemble, created by the Russian composer Igor Stravinsky in collaboration with the Vaud poet Charles-Ferdinand Ramuz.
The work was written for a traveling theater consisting of a reader, two actors, a dancer and seven musicians. For the theater text Ramuz used two stories from a collection of Russian fairy tales by Alexander Afanasyev. The text is partly declamated rhythmically in poem form by the reader (Roger Waters) together with the music, partly spoken by the reader and the actors (soldier, devil) as a drama (with the reader mostly in rhymes and the devil only in dialogue with the soldier speaks).
The first German poetry (The History of the Soldier) comes from Hans Reinhart, the brother of the Winterthur music patron Werner Reinhart, who premiered the work (on September 28 and after Stravinsky’s memoirs on September 29, 1918 in the Théâtre Municipal de Lausanne under the direction of Ernest Ansermet) and to which this work is also dedicated.
In 1919 Stravinsky edited five movements of Histoire du soldat for violin, clarinet and piano, which appeared under the title Suite from ‘The Soldier’s Tale’.
The basis of the story consists of a soldier that exchanges his violin with the devil for a book promising great riches. He also has to teach the devil to play the violin within three days. In truth, however, pass three years, so that the soldier is considered a refugee. Back at home, he is no longer recognized, and his bride is married. With the help of the book, he becomes a rich merchant, but the money does not make him happy. Instead, he wishes to heal the sick princess through playing the violin. In a lost card game with the drunken devil, he gets the violin again, but he must not enter his home country. When he does, he is already expected by the devil. Again in possession of his violin, he heals by his play the princess, and they become a couple. Whether the soldier in the end follows the devil into his kingdom, remains open.
The moral of this simple fairy tale is: “One should not desire what one possesses, which was before. At the same time, one can not be who one is and who one was. You can not have everything. What was, does not return. “
In this brand new release Roger Waters took the part of narrator as well as that of the Devil and the Soldier when Stravinsky’s “The Soldier’s Tale” which is subsequently an addaption of when the story was performed by a host of artists including Roger live in 2008.
From a review of the 2008 show, The concert consisted of a 7 piece orchestra including an oboe, a bassoon, a trumpet, an trombone, a violin and viola, a cello (or bass – not sure which) and an assortment of percussion instruments including timpani. There were two performances before Roger’s, which were very technical and well done. The last performance was Igor Stravinsky’s “The Soldier’s Tale” in which Roger Waters was the narrator and played the voices of the devil and soldier.
We fully hope a full press release will be available shortly and are very excited to get our paws on this. This marks Rogers 2nd Classical release with the first being 2005’s Ca Ira.
The Soldiers Tale will be released on the 26th October 2018 On Sony Classical,
More information to follow as we get closer to the release.
The brand new issue of the UK’s Classic Rock magazine September 2018, with Issue number 253 is a detailed four page article that takes a close look at Nick Mason’s new project – Saucerful Of Secrets – in which for the first time speaks to all five members of the band.
For those wondering where the idea came from, and how the band members were assembled, the details are revealed by the men themselves. With the European tour starting in just over a week in Stockholm, Sweden, and the Unattended Luggage limited edition box set coming out next Friday, it is little surprise that there is a strong focus on all things Nick at present.
Elsewhere in the magazine is a review of the box set, and a large review of the BST Hyde Park festival, which of course started with Roger Waters headlining the first day, presenting an outdoor version of his current Us + Them tour. There’s also a large interview with Slash about Guns n’ Roses, plus plenty of other articles to keep you busy.
Released Today is ‘Unattended Luggage‘, a three album CD or vinyl box set Nick’s albums ‘Fictitious Sports‘, ‘Profiles‘ and ‘White of the Eye‘.
These limited edition box sets will be available shortly before our acclaimed new band Saucerful Of Secrets begin their European tour at Cirkus in Stockholm on September 2nd.
“‘Profiles‘ and ‘White of the Eye‘ were an extension of working with Rick Fenn on some advertising and short documentary film soundtracks, which then developed into something more.
“Listening back after 30 odd years, I’m delighted they are getting the reissue treatment. I’m rather hoping that sales will be sufficient to damage the market in the original rare vinyl versions!” – Nick Mason
The three individual albums will all be available as a download and through streaming platforms.
Last night, 24th August 2018 at Arena Riga, Latvia. Roger surprised 14,000 fans by resurrected “The Bravery Of Being Out Of Range“ from his 1992 solo album “Amused to Death“
Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason is the latest musician to face a grilling by the readers in the new issue of Uncut.
In a candid and wide-ranging chat, he discusses his soon-to-be re-released solo projects, producing The Damned, what’s in the Pink Floyd archives, and the formation of his new ‘early Floyd’ band Saucerful Of Secrets
“What I didn’t really want to do was go out as another version of Pink Floyd and play the best of Dark Side and so on,” says Mason. “All this other material was there, lying dormant, and could be interpreted in a slightly different way… No, I didn’t ask [Roger Waters and David Gilmour] to join in, because that would be Pink Floyd. But I did tell them what I was proposing to do, as good manners, and I have to say both of them were supportive – which I found slightly disturbing! ‘Yeah, go ahead, make a fool of yourself…’ I know David has looked at a lot of it online.”
Asked if there’s anything left in the Pink Floyd vault, Mason replies: “Not much! I think there’s a re-release of Animals planned – it’s a record that would benefit from remastering. After many years of Abbey Road and Air Studios, this was done on a much more funky level, in our own studio. So it perhaps lacked a bit of that sharpness and sparkle you get from Abbey Road.”
Another reader wonders why Pink Floyd snubbed Stanley Kubrick when he asked to use some of “Atom Heart Mother” in A Clockwork Orange. “Probably because he wouldn’t let us do anything for 2001,” says Mason. “It sounds a bit petulant! I don’t remember whether he did ask for something from Atom Heart Mother. We’d have loved to have got involved with 2001 – we thought it was exactly the sort of thing we should be doing the soundtrack for.”
Naturally the questioning eventually turns to the subject of potential Floyd reunions. “You’re asking the wrong person!” claims Mason, although he refused to rule anything out. “I saw a quote where someone said, ‘On my tombstone it’ll say: I’m still not sure it’s quite over…”
The October 2018 issue of Uncut is now on sale in the UK – with Jimi Hendrix on the cover. Elsewhere in the issue, you’ll find exclusive features on Spiritualized, Aretha Franklin, Richard Thompson, Soft Cell, Pink Floyd, Candi Staton, Garcia Peoples, Beach Boys, Mudhoney, Big Red Machine and many more. Our free CD showcases 15 tracks of this month’s best new music, including Beak>, Low, Christine And The Queens, Marissa Nadler and Eric Bachman.
Ticket Sales Are Flying Out The Window!!
We highly recommend picking up a ticket before the tourfully sells out.
Tickets can be purchased via www.thesaucerfulofsecrets.com
Sunday 2nd September – Cirkus, Stockholm, Sweden
Monday 3rd September – Forum Black Box, Copenhagen, Denmark
Tuesday 4th September – Moya, Rostock, Germany
Thursday 6th September – Royal Theatre Carré, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Saturday 8th September – Stadsschouwburg, Antwerp, Belgium
Sunday 9th September – Den Atelier, Luxembourg City, Luxembourg
Monday 10th September – Olympia, Paris, France
Tuesday 11th September – Mitsubishi Electric Halle, Dusseldorf, Germany
Thursday 13th September – Laeiszhalle, Hamburg, Germany
Saturday 15th September – Beethovensaal, Stuttgart, Germany
Sunday 16th September – Tempodrom, Berlin, Germany
Monday 17th September – Haus Auensee, Leipzig, Germany
Wednesday 19th September – Weiner Stadthalle F, Vienna, Austria
Thursday 20th September – Teatro Arcimboldi, Milan, Italy
Friday 21st September – Samsung Hall, Zurich, Switzerland
Sunday 23rd September – Portsmouth Guildhall, Portsmouth, UK
Monday 24th September – Roundhouse, Camden Town, London, UK
Tuesday 25th September – Birmingham Symphony Hall, Birmingham, UK
Thursday 27th September – O2 Apollo Manchester, Manchester, UK
Friday 28th September – SEC Armadillo, Glasgow, UK
Saturday 29th September – Royal Concert Hall, Nottingham, UK