THE SCOTTISH BALLET ORCHESTRA
The Water's Edge
March ??, 1979
Exact date not known
Glasgow, Scotland
Theatre Royal
None of this has ever been officially released.
Apparently Ian wasn't that pleased with the results.
This is only Jethro Tull-related.
No member of the band plays on this.
A performance of orchestral music
as composed and arranged by
Ian Anderson, David Palmer, and Martin Barre
The Ballet opened March 7, 1979.
I have no idea how many performances.
I have no idea at which performance this was recorded.
I know there MUST be a better sounding and/or longer version of this out there.
Come on folks.
Somebody please bump this one with an upgrade
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THE SONGS:
It's just one long track, about 31 minutes long.
You will hear bits of familiar pieces, including Elegy.
Bits of this were played live in April 1979 on the U.S. tour (See April 10, 1979 Seattle)
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THE SOUND:
Yet another, as if it were a surprise, GMR
thats's a
Genuine Monophonic Recording
It's centered
it's Mono-rific
An audience recording
OK sound.
LISTEN TO A SAMPLE BELOW
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THE LINEAGE:
audience > to me on cassette (unknown number of generations from Master) > Nakamichi BX-2 with azimuth adjustment done for playback > digitize with audacity > FLAC 8 via xAct
My usual "raw" transfer
Nothing has been done to the tape to "improve" it.
What you have is what I have.
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HEY GANG:
I offer what I have, with ALL the information known to me.
If you've got a better version, seed it.
If you have more accurate information, please add it in a comment.
If anyone would like to attempt a remastering job, go right ahead.
Let's try and keep it positive and make DIME as good an experience for all as possible.
.
thirduncle
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Here's some info about this that I found on the web:
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from http://www.tullpress.com/biog80.htm
In 1979 the Scottish Ballet Company celebrated its 10th Anniversary by including a specially commissioned piece from Anderson and fellow Jethro Tull members Martin Barre and David Palmer. Titled 'The Water's Edge' it dealt with the extraordinary world of Scottish legend and was premiered in Glasgow at the Theatre Royal in August 1979 and was also performed at the Sadler's Wells Theatre in London the following November.
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from: http://www.tullpress.com/dp19oct79.htm
DUNFERMLINE PRESS
19 October 1979
THE ENTERTAINERS
Brothers score stage success
Seldom can the phrase "local boy makes good" be more aptly applied than in the case of Dunfermline-born Robin Anderson. Unless, of course, one applies it to his brothers, Ian and Alistair. For all three have achieved notable success in their chosen fields.
Robin, at 49, the eldest, is the administrator of the Scottish Ballet, which visits Dunfermline's Carnegie Hall on Thursday, during this year's Ballet for Scotland tour.
Alistair (44) is an expert hydraulic engineer, whose work takes him all over the world.
And Ian, in his early 30s, is a distinguished rock musician with the group Jethro Tull. As a flautist, one of his greatest admirers is James Galway.
No one who knew the brothers, when they lived with their parents in Dunfermline, could have guessed what paths their careers would take — one concludes, in fact, that they also gave themselves something of a shock.
TRAINED
For Robin trained as a pharmaceutical chemist; Alistair trained as a marine engineer, and Ian went to Art College.
Home for the Andersons was originally in Headwell Road and later in Aberdour Road, until the family moved to Edinburgh, while Robin was studying at Heriot Watt University.
Until his retirement, their father Mr James Anderson ran the family business, the RSA Boiler Fluid Company in East Port, Dunfermline.
Robin and Alistair attended Canmore Primary and Dunfermline High Schools. Ian, being a good deal younger than his brothers, went to school in Edinburgh and later in Lancashire, where the family eventually settled.
LESSONS
Much has happened since those days, but Robin well remembers having piano lessons in Dunfermline's Music Institute. And he laughingly recalls Ian's first musical offerings in local youth clubs!
Of the three, it is Robin who has perhaps the strangest story to tell, for it was not until he was 39 years old that he decided to give up work as a chemist in exchange for a career in the theatre. He had been actively interested in dance and the theatre in general for many years, but the crunch came with the opportunity of an Arts Council bursary to study theatre administration.
He toured Britain, spending time at various theatres, and eventually became theatre manager at the Phoenix Theatre, Leicester. In 1973 he became administrator of the Scottish Ballet and has never looked back since.
This was the job of a lifetime, as far as I was concerned. It's been an exciting job and worthwhile. And there are still new things to do.
He is responsible for the whole operation of the Company as a commercial enterprise, and, with a turnover approaching £1 million each year, it is no bed of roses.
When he joined the Company, it had been formed a mere four years and still retained its original title, Scottish Theatre Ballet.
The first project in which he became involved was the ballet's tour to Australia and New Zealand, with Margot Fonteyn as guest artist.
He proudly explains how, when the Company embarked upon the tour, it was a small struggling group of dancers. When they returned, they brought with them a stature that has since grown into a national identity. Since then, performances in Madrid (with Rudolph Nureyev), Barcelona, Paris (again with Nureyev), San Sebastian, Biarritz, St Veande Luz and Sautander have all helped establish the company on an international level.
UNIQUE
In a way they are unique, for as well as fulfilling the functions of a national company they split in half to undertake their popular Ballet for Scotland tours in order to perform in as many places as possible.
Last year they acquired new Headquarters in Glasgow, and Robin is looking forward to the setting-up of a ballet school associated with the Company.
They prided themselves on a commonsense approach to ballet.
We have always believed that not everyone sets out in life with a passionate interest in swans and sylphs, and these mysterious and eccentric fauna of the ballet world may sometimes alienate audiences as well as attract them.
WORKS
So, alongside the Classics, they like to present more modern, more familiar works which are accessible to a wider audience.
To celebrate the beginning of its 10th anniversary year, the Company performed an unusual triple bill — 'Underground Rumours' — a fusion of rock music and jazz with classical and contemporary dance.
And one might justifiably hazard a guess as to who was responsible for some of the rock music — brother Ian!
Ian contacted Jon Anderson (no relation) of the group Yes who also wrote a special piece of music for the Company.
THEME
Ian Anderson produced 'The Water's Edge', choreographed by Robert North, on the theme of Scottish sea legends, and Jon Anderson wrote 'Ursprung', a work concerned with the world of nature.
Ian, like his two brothers, has been travelling throughout his life.
Having left College and deciding to seek his fame and fortune in London, he once worked as a cinema cleaner in Luton to earn some money! He now combines his long-standing success in the pop world with the more down-to-earth pleasures of farming his estate in Skye and spending time with his family at their home in Buckinghamshire.
SUCCESS
In Robin's view, Ian's success has been due to his continually lifting his music above popular taste, rather than aiming at the popular market.
You have got to be slightly ahead of popular taste so you can lift it, but no so far ahead that you antagonise it (says Robin).
One may like the music or hate it, but Ian, in his way, is always striving for new effects.
This constant striving seems to be a characteristic shared by the brothers — a characteristic that has happily brought them both personal and public success.
Thanks to Bruce Carribine for this article