Pink Floyd's 1970 epic, Atom Heart Mother, composed in conjunction with our friend Ron Geesin (check out our three-part exclusive interview with Ron from 2008), is to be performed in Paris, France, next month. We caught up with Ron who told us:
"The French National Education Authority ["le Ministère français de l'Education nationale"] decided some time earlier this year that AHM should be studied (in company with Bach and Varèse!) for the Baccalauréat in 2012 – that’s the equivalent of UK 'A' Levels. The students will not study the score visually (partly because of involved copyright negotiations) but aurally. A 64pp book has already been written by Philippe Gonin to accompany the study: I provided him with a good deal of information from my side. To launch the focus on Atom Heart Mother, there will be a live concert at the Théatre du Châtelet, Paris, on the 12th January. The musicians and choir will be from the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France and the Pink Floyd part will be played by musicians under the direction of the conducter, Jean-Jacques Justafré. I will provide the necessary piano and voice parts. This concert will be broadcast by Radio France.
"As I have said to Paul Loasby, Pink Floyd's manager, "The fact is that, despite the individuals' misgivings about the outcome of this awkward amalgam of them an' me, it has caught on and should be allowed to run its course. The full story should be clearly projected."
"Separately from all this, I have been asked by a UK publisher to write my side of the Atom Heart Mother story. I'm thinking about it!"
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