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The Wellspring: Conversations with David Owen Norris
Acclaimed novelist and dramatist Barney Norris conducts a conversation with his father, the pianist and composer David Owen Norris 'quite possibly the most interest'ng pianist in the world' (Toronto Globe and Mail) and 'a famous thinker/philosopher of the keyboard (Seattle Times) about the nature of creativity, of Englishness, and of the changing world.
Divided into three parts 'Listening', 'Playing' and 'Writing' The Wellspring is the first book to explore David Owen Norris's fifty-year career and discover how his background (non-metropolitan, C of E, literary) influenced his choices and his music. The book becomes a study of the relationship between his Englishness and his work, of his inheritance and how it is projected forward into new compositions and new performance. In the process the reader encounters a fascinating world of concerts, prizes, collaborations, and inspirations, in which Norris, always open to the different, has lived. This variety includes Norris's devotion to Parry and Elgar, his musical discoveries made playing the square piano of the nineteenth century, and the opportunities resulting from the pressurized world of competitions.
In addition to exploring the career of this renowned musician, the father-son conversation also reveals Barney Norris's experience of working in English theatre over the last ten years and of his practice as a novelist with a growing reputation. Their combined experience, in two fields, in two different generations, provides a thought-provoking discussion of how a place and a culture inform artistic work, and how England and Englishness have evolved during the past half century.
Divided into three parts 'Listening', 'Playing' and 'Writing' The Wellspring is the first book to explore David Owen Norris's fifty-year career and discover how his background (non-metropolitan, C of E, literary) influenced his choices and his music. The book becomes a study of the relationship between his Englishness and his work, of his inheritance and how it is projected forward into new compositions and new performance. In the process the reader encounters a fascinating world of concerts, prizes, collaborations, and inspirations, in which Norris, always open to the different, has lived. This variety includes Norris's devotion to Parry and Elgar, his musical discoveries made playing the square piano of the nineteenth century, and the opportunities resulting from the pressurized world of competitions.
In addition to exploring the career of this renowned musician, the father-son conversation also reveals Barney Norris's experience of working in English theatre over the last ten years and of his practice as a novelist with a growing reputation. Their combined experience, in two fields, in two different generations, provides a thought-provoking discussion of how a place and a culture inform artistic work, and how England and Englishness have evolved during the past half century.
240 pages, Hardcover
Published June 4, 2018
3 people want to read
About the author
Barney Norris
27 books54 followersBarney Norris is a playwright and novelist. His work has received awards from the International Theatre Institute, the Critics' Circle, the Evening Standard, the Society of Authors and the South Bank Sky Arts Times Breakthrough Awards, among others, and been translated into eight languages. His plays include Visitors, Nightfall and an acclaimed adaptation of Ishiguro's The Remains of the Day; his novels include Five Rivers Met on a Wooded Plain.
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