Classical music: where technology meets tradition

 

By Julia Hudson 

An orchestra clad entirely inbright red, skinny trousers? While unexpected, the National Youth Orchestra of the United States of America bounded onto the Albert Hall stage on Sunday night in anticipation of a thrilling concert. Dressed as teenagers, albeit clearly very talented ones, this slickly-branded new ensemble represents young people aged 16-19 from 42 states brought together for a summer school and tour, this year under the baton of Valery Gergiev and with soloist Joshua Bell.

Beginning with a commission by Sean Shepherd, the orchestra were disciplined and poised, traits which continued for Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto with Joshua Bell, who contributed a stunning performance. In Shostakovich’s Tenth Symphony, however, while the young ensemble may have missed some of the dramatic subtlety and emotion of the composer, you felt their energy, drama and excitement instead. Two rows in front of me, in perfect complement, was a small boy. Perhaps ten years old, he was utterly entranced by the music, sitting forward in his seat and occasionally (and imperceptibly) whispering questions. His bouncing applause at the end of each half – not, unlike much of the audience, between movements – emphasised the sheer power of live music. With 120 players on stage and the promming circle full, the feeling of a shared experience is hard to escape. With cinema ticket prices rising (and certainly eclipsing the £5 promming tickets), there really is no reason not to join in and be a part of a nightly living performance.

Many venues are attempting to increase inclusivity and attract more young people to concerts, introducing schemes such as Glyndebourne’s Under 30’s scheme and English National Opera’s Opera Undressed (tagline: ‘Too pricey? Too pompous? Too posh?’). The former is a gift to young people – the unforgettable experience of dressing in black tie, sitting on a coach for hours and hours and combining your hastily-assembled picnic with stunning music, sets and some of the best seats in the house is a treat for all, without the prohibitive price tag. The latter seems almost unbearably condescending – come to the opera, they are saying, because you can wear jeans and drink beer in the bar. We young people don’t need to be patronised, just included, as Glyndebourne do so well.

This inclusion, to create another generation of culturally literate young people, is key. Concert-going is not just about hearing the notes any longer – we are surrounded by our Bose speaker systems and HD televisions. As with so many industries in this commercialised market, the artist or venue must consider their ‘brand’, their USP, and this starts with their red trousers and ends with champagne on the Glyndebourne lawns. Why buy a ticket? It becomes an immersive experience, and no-one is more aware of this than LSO St Luke’s, with their multi-sensory ‘Eclectica’ concerts, or the Bristol Proms, where no concert is just about the music. In both cases, although in different ways, the integration of technology into the concert-going experience is being tentatively explored. Techniques range from ‘tweet seats’ in some of the world’s leading venues to ‘digital hacks’, where media technologies are used to help the audience listen more actively and achieve a deeper understanding of the activities taking place in front of them. Of course, these ideas are only suitable in certain environments; Gergiev would not have taken kindly to a heat map of his various bodily positions. However, provided these innovations are being used to complement and explore rather than to subvert or distract, they undoubtedly open the world of classical music to a wider audience. The repeatedly full Albert Hall might suggest that there is no need for this, but in five years’ time, when the small boy in front is a teenager in a generation increasingly dependent on constant interaction and peer validation through technology and social media, it might just make his day if Joshua Bell gave him a retweet.

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100 years of Britten

"Composing is like driving down a foggy road toward a house. Slowly you see more details of the house - the colour of the slates and bricks, the shape of the windows. The notes are the bricks and the mortar of the house".

The above quote comes from English composer Benjamin Britten. With this quote in mind, Southern Sinfonia is thrilled to be able to say that on Saturday 20^th July, it shall be playing some of the finest bricks and mortar ever built; the works of Britten himself!

Taking place in the enchanting Chichester Cathedral as part of the Southern Cathedrals Festival, Southern Sinfonia will be celebrating the centenary of Benjamin Britten with a number of pieces including ‘St Nicolas’, conducted by Sarah Baldock and David Halls and performed with the combined boy choristers and lay clerks of the Southern Cathedrals Festival.  

This concert joins a number of concerts taking place this year to mark 100 years since Britten’s birth on 22^nd November 1913, but why is Britten so fondly remembered? Potentially because of the sheer volume and range of work he created. With over 100 pieces of work, including operas, songs and a ballet, written for everyone from professionals to school children, Britten showered the classical music landscape with his name and compositions over four decades.

St. Nicolas was originally written for amateur musicians, being performed as part of the centennial celebrations for Lancing College in Sussex, the school once attended by close friend and collaborator, the tenor Peter Pears. The only professional musicians originally required were the tenor soloist, string quartet and percussionists. The text that accompanies the piece was written about the life of Saint Nicolas, Bishop of Myra, Lycia (otherwise known as the original Santa Claus!) by Eric Crozier after extensive research into his legendary life. The text and the music are both incredibly dramatic, painting a bold picture of Saint Nicolas with contrasting instrumentation, textures and vocal style.

This piece will be accompanied with a performance of ‘O be joyful in the Lord' by another renowned English composer, Ralph Vaughan Williams, and the fiery 'Organ Concerto' from the French composer Francis Poulenc. Combinations that will no doubt produce a thrilling concert.

After the concert… will we be inspired by his ideas and thoughts? Well, as Britten is also quoted as saying…

“The idea of a composer suddenly having a terrific idea and sitting up all night to write it is nonsense. Night-time is for sleeping.”

For further event and ticket information, please click here.

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Vivaldi’s Four Seasons… The Essential Facts

Those of you following our Facebook and Twitter pages may have seen that last weekend, some members of the Southern Sinfonia team were determined to listen to The Four Seasons by Vivaldi.

The Four Seasons is a piece that has become embedded in our collective consciousness, it’s loved by those invested in classical music and recognised by those that aren’t. If you went outside now and asked 10 people if they knew the piece (a task that may earn you some strange looks) they wouldn’t all say yes. If however, you hummed those first, famous notes (something that would possibly would lead to even stranger looks!) you would hear more people say yes.

Below is the essential information about the piece; perfect for expanding the knowledge of those that only recognise the first few notes:

• In 1725, The Four Seasons was published in a set of twelve concerti entitled Il cimento dell'armonia e dell'inventione (The Test of Harmony and Invention).
• Vivaldi wanted the music to portray the events and emotions of the seasons, dividing the piece into concertos representing spring, summer, autumn and winter. Now known as “program music”, The Four Seasons was arguably the first piece to focus on this style, doing so in strong, illustrative detail.
• The music is an interpretation of 4 sonnets, whilst it is not specifically stated that Vivaldi wrote these sonnets as well, it is widely believed that he did because the words and music are so entwined.
• King Louis XV became very fond of the spring concerto, ordering it to be performed on numerous occasions.
• It has been debated often, but a recording of violinist Alfredo Campoli performing during a French radio broadcast in 1939 is widely considered to be the first recording of the piece.
• Recordings by Bernardino Molinari, Louis Kaufman and Felix Ayo followed, with a 1989 recording by Nigel Kennedy and the English Chamber Orchestra going on to sell over two million copies.
• Extracts from the Four Seasons have appeared numerous times in popular culture. It can be heard in popular television shows such as The Simpsons, The Big Bang Theory and Grey’s Anatomy as well as films such as Halloween II, What Lies Beneath and A View to Kill.

Why did we want to listen to the piece over the last weekend? The answer is also the most essential piece of information - a truly stunning piece of music never leaves your consciousness, no matter how many times you’ve heard it or discussed it. When someone mentions The Four Seasons, you can close your eyes and hear the fierce thunder and the birds celebrating spring’s return, making you want to select your choice recording and listen again!

To see a series of visual images representing The Four Seasons, click here to explore a collection uploaded to our blog last year. 

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Ten Top Facts about the Recorder

Southern Sinfonia is very excited about this week’s Café Concert, taking place at Newbury Corn Exchange on Friday 5^th July at 1.00pm. The event will feature the UK’s leading recorder ensemble, ‘The Flautadors’. Formed in 1997, this award winning quartet have appeared at major festivals, been played on various radio stations, released a number of recordings and undertaken a series of established education projects.

The group aspire to recreate the 15^th-18^th centuries, playing on a number of recorders of various designs, choosing the perfect design style to match the music being performed.

In honour of The Flautadors’ upcoming performance and chosen instrument, Southern Sinfonia would like to present its Ten Top facts about the beautiful woodwind instrument that is the recorder:

1. Most commonly, the smallest recorder played is the ‘Sopranino’, which is usually 24cm long. The largest is the ‘Contra Bass’, which is often 152cm. Both are played in the key of F.
2. The largest fully functioning recorder ever made was 5m long. Each hole was 8.5 cm wide and it was created from specially treated pine. The finished product was as tall as a giraffe!
3. Learning to play the recorder is very popular in schools because it teaches children about coordination.
4. The first English reference to the word recorder meaning a musical instrument appeared in 1388, when it was spelled ‘Recourdour’.
5. One of the oldest surviving wooden recorders is a 14^th century renaissance descant recorder found in Holland.
6. The Italian word for the recorder is ‘flauto dolce' which translates as ‘soft, sweet flute’.
7. King Henry VIII played and collected recorders; he had 76 in his collection when he died. 
8. Shakespeare used a recorder to produce incidental music for ‘Hamlet’ and ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’.
9. Musicians Paul McCartney, Dido and Bruce Spingsteen can all play the recorder. James Dean is also supposed to have learnt to play Bach on the instrument.
10. 3.5 million plastic recorders are produced each year. 

Our Café Concert on Friday 5^th July is the perfect opportunity to see this wonderful instrument expertly played. Click here to buy tickets for the event and see The Flautadors bring the 16^th Century to life.

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