I find it heartening to see the rise of William Baines - first, Eric Parkin back in the 1970s, then Alan Cuckston (not sure when), and now Duncan Honeybourne - after it seemed he was doomed to irreversible oblivion. William Baines came to my notice some time in the 1970s as a result of my habit of periodically doing the rounds of the various second-hand book-shops which also sold used music, and going through the music and buying anything that seemed interesting. They were inexpensive, and I got really good value for my money - I suspect a lot of that music would now be quite expensive on the second-hand market. This sheet music was a slim volume of three pieces called "Pictures of Light"; and I later found "Twilight Pieces" and "The Lone Wreck" from "Tides". I was fascinated by this music that seemed different from anything else I had encountered, but without being overtly modernistic either; and I must admit his short life followed by apparent oblivion intrigued me, too. I bought the Eric Parkin L.P. some time later, when I became aware of it, and this made me want to get the rest of Baines's music to play myself; but this seemed hopeless, as it seemed I was incredibly lucky just to have found the few scattered pieces of sheet music I had already found (I later found "Paradise Gardens" too), but it seemed improbable that I would find all the rest of the pieces by chance in second-hand book-shops. Maybe they would be available at the British Library, but there was no chance of me visiting that from Australia, and I had no idea whether they would let me make copies anyway, beause of possible copyright issues. I forgot about the quest for a while - but with the growth of the Internet, and in particular the public-domain sheet music archive imslp.org, I found, unexpectedly, that almost all of Baines's works that had been published were available - apparently they were by this time public-domain. I still haven't learned to play many of Baines's pieces: they are difficult, and my life seemed to go in a way that didn't prompt serious study of difficult music, anyway - but I was very glad to be able at least to examine the scores to see from the inside how Baines's music was constructed, and I could at least follow with the sheet music when listening to music - a life-long habit of mine from childhood, when I used to listen to Beethoven sonatas following with the score. It really looks now as if William Baines has been saved from oblivion, with some pionerring pianists taking up his music and thereby plucking him back from the brink of oblivion, and with an interest in his music obviously growing now. Earlier, I might have hoped that the pieces would be brought back into print now - but I can now see that is unlikely, and probably unnecessary with the music freely available on line now. I suppose the publishing of public-domain music is probably dead now, and the music publishing industry must focus on music that is not public domain. As for recordings, it would be good if some performers could unearth yet further Baines works that have not been recorded thus far. I'm not sure I've ever come across a complete catalogue of Baines' works, but it is clear there are still many compositions beyond those that have been recorded so far by the three pianists that I know of who have recorded his work. Thank you for providing this preview of the upcoming release by Duncan Honeybourne.
I'm sorry to raise this, because I do appreciate being able to have access to this video, but I have noticed a couple of problems with it, which I hope can be fixed. First, there are tiny little drop-outs in the sound every few seconds; and second, the sound and vision are not quite synchronized at the beginning, and get more and more unsynchronized towards the end, so that, at the end, you can see people applauding silently while you can still hear music playing. I thought of the possibility that the problem may be at my end, and that I should reboot my computer and try again. But I have not noticed this with RUclips videos generally - just this. Nonetheless, a bit later, when I have the time, I will reboot and try again. But I am inclined to think something went wrong with the video somewhere along the line. If anyone else who plays this video notices the same problems, or, conversely, no problems, could you please leave a comment and say what you found? It would help me decide whether the problem is just on my computer, or in the video itself. I hope you (Forsyth Music Shop) are able to look into this and fix it, because it is a valuable video of William Baines's music, and should be preserved. Thank you.
Thank you for alerting us to the technical issue with the RUclips version of this recording. It was originally broadcast live via Facebook, and it looks like that version is in sync. We will try to correct. Thank you
I find it heartening to see the rise of William Baines - first, Eric Parkin back in the 1970s, then Alan Cuckston (not sure when), and now Duncan Honeybourne - after it seemed he was doomed to irreversible oblivion.
William Baines came to my notice some time in the 1970s as a result of my habit of periodically doing the rounds of the various second-hand book-shops which also sold used music, and going through the music and buying anything that seemed interesting. They were inexpensive, and I got really good value for my money - I suspect a lot of that music would now be quite expensive on the second-hand market. This sheet music was a slim volume of three pieces called "Pictures of Light"; and I later found "Twilight Pieces" and "The Lone Wreck" from "Tides". I was fascinated by this music that seemed different from anything else I had encountered, but without being overtly modernistic either; and I must admit his short life followed by apparent oblivion intrigued me, too.
I bought the Eric Parkin L.P. some time later, when I became aware of it, and this made me want to get the rest of Baines's music to play myself; but this seemed hopeless, as it seemed I was incredibly lucky just to have found the few scattered pieces of sheet music I had already found (I later found "Paradise Gardens" too), but it seemed improbable that I would find all the rest of the pieces by chance in second-hand book-shops. Maybe they would be available at the British Library, but there was no chance of me visiting that from Australia, and I had no idea whether they would let me make copies anyway, beause of possible copyright issues.
I forgot about the quest for a while - but with the growth of the Internet, and in particular the public-domain sheet music archive imslp.org, I found, unexpectedly, that almost all of Baines's works that had been published were available - apparently they were by this time public-domain.
I still haven't learned to play many of Baines's pieces: they are difficult, and my life seemed to go in a way that didn't prompt serious study of difficult music, anyway - but I was very glad to be able at least to examine the scores to see from the inside how Baines's music was constructed, and I could at least follow with the sheet music when listening to music - a life-long habit of mine from childhood, when I used to listen to Beethoven sonatas following with the score.
It really looks now as if William Baines has been saved from oblivion, with some pionerring pianists taking up his music and thereby plucking him back from the brink of oblivion, and with an interest in his music obviously growing now. Earlier, I might have hoped that the pieces would be brought back into print now - but I can now see that is unlikely, and probably unnecessary with the music freely available on line now. I suppose the publishing of public-domain music is probably dead now, and the music publishing industry must focus on music that is not public domain. As for recordings, it would be good if some performers could unearth yet further Baines works that have not been recorded thus far. I'm not sure I've ever come across a complete catalogue of Baines' works, but it is clear there are still many compositions beyond those that have been recorded so far by the three pianists that I know of who have recorded his work.
Thank you for providing this preview of the upcoming release by Duncan Honeybourne.
I'm sorry to raise this, because I do appreciate being able to have access to this video, but I have noticed a couple of problems with it, which I hope can be fixed.
First, there are tiny little drop-outs in the sound every few seconds; and second, the sound and vision are not quite synchronized at the beginning, and get more and more unsynchronized towards the end, so that, at the end, you can see people applauding silently while you can still hear music playing.
I thought of the possibility that the problem may be at my end, and that I should reboot my computer and try again. But I have not noticed this with RUclips videos generally - just this. Nonetheless, a bit later, when I have the time, I will reboot and try again. But I am inclined to think something went wrong with the video somewhere along the line.
If anyone else who plays this video notices the same problems, or, conversely, no problems, could you please leave a comment and say what you found? It would help me decide whether the problem is just on my computer, or in the video itself.
I hope you (Forsyth Music Shop) are able to look into this and fix it, because it is a valuable video of William Baines's music, and should be preserved.
Thank you.
Thank you for alerting us to the technical issue with the RUclips version of this recording. It was originally broadcast live via Facebook, and it looks like that version is in sync. We will try to correct. Thank you