Culture - Not Just for the Capital?

By Julia Hudson 

 

Reading this excellent Gramophone blog article over breakfast last week, I found myself agreeing and arguing in equal measure. It is evident that the arts, both in terms of funding and geographical density, are overflowing in London and sadly lacking in parts of the country. “There are seven full-time symphony orchestras in the capital if you include those resident at the two opera houses and there’s always been debate about whether that’s too many”. While I couldn’t help jumping up and down at their attestation that there was no professional symphony orchestra “in the whole of Somerset, Devon and Cornwall…you’re lucky if there’s one concert performance from a professional symphony orchestra in a year”, I had to admit that they are technically correct. However, we are a professional chamber orchestra, and regularly perform sizeable concerts across the south of England, with six performances in the above counties already confirmed in this season alone. 

I wonder why this dearth is there? Some of the comments on Andrew Mellor’s article mention programming; are London audiences more knowledgeable, and thus can cope with more inventive, unusual programming? From my knowledge of our audiences, I think this is unfair; everyone likes to hear a piece they know, but paired with something new and challenging (a common Proms formula). This way, they are comforted and tested in equal measure, as we did in our most recent subscription concert, pairing lovely Brahms 4 with movements from edgy Britten concertos.

I think we are nearing the point, however, here: “the five concert-giving London symphony orchestras increasingly manoeuvre themselves into brand-aware niches catering for the ‘pic n mix’ London concertgoer”. This week I found myself at the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment’s ‘Night Shift’ at 10pm, gin and tonic in hand, as the players explained their way through each movement of Beethoven’s 8^th Symphony, prompted by Alastair Appleton. Lovely as it was to see some familiar players’ faces in a London setting, as I collected my free branded Oyster card holder I felt that it had been a fun, new concert-going experience but that I had, ultimately, been distracted from really comprehending a new piece of music. However, I don’t think the answer is for regional orchestras to trot out the same repertoire and shy away from inventive concepts and programming, especially given that “there’s no longer a quality gap separating London orchestras from their regional counterparts.” With the breadth of activity Southern Sinfonia undertakes, ranging from jazz to educational work to Baroque continuo to al fresco opera, we are living proof that there is scope for progression outside the capital (if we only had the funding to make the most of it).

On a happier note, and because I can’t avoid it any longer, the festive season is approaching, and with it an annual renewed appreciation for music. With Handel’s ‘Messiah’ emanating from so many churches and concert halls around the country (many played by us) and Christmas carols drifting around street corners (this year sung by us, excitingly!), everyone will get a taste of classical music, whether they choose to or not. How can we capitalise on this, and maintain this level of pervasiveness? Is it by offering a badge and a DJ set with your dose of Beethoven, or is it purely by increasing the available quantity (taking quality as a given) of classical music, particularly outside of London? If funding was more widely spread, ticket prices could be kept low and more artistic risks could be taken, broadening the audience base and demographic and, in turn, strengthening the position of existing organisations. As well as the orchestras, “the real winners, of course, would be those south western taxpayers who enjoy live classical music (apparently more than anyone else) and crave a notable local institution to be proud of.”

Millions of people are still suffering in the wake of Typhoon Haiyan which ripped through the Philippines on Friday 8th November. Southern Sinfonia has launched an appeal. Please click here to join us and help save lives.  

If you would like to come and hear us sing carols in aid of this appeal, please join us in Newbury town centre on Thursday 5^th and Thursday 19^th December.

To find out more about Southern Sinfonia, our appeal or upcoming events, please contact us through our website, Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.

Why does music bring us together?

By James Chater 

Directors of ensembles such as the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra or the World Orchestra for Peace often make the claim that music has the power to “bring people together”, both in the literal and metaphorical sense of the word. The name ‘World Orchestra for Peace’ is a fortunate one in that it appears, at first glance, to make total sense; much more sense than say, a ‘World Bird Watching Group for Peace’. Music’s ability to draw people together is of course, not limited to the world of classical music. You could easily ask why 200,000 people annually descend on Worthy Farm in Somerset, for Glastonbury Festival. If you did ask them, I bet they wouldn’t say it is due to the high standard of hygiene and accommodation. Why is it then that music can make living in a field for five days with 200,000 other people worthwhile? Is it naïve to think that music really can “bring people together”? Or could a ‘World Knitting Group for Peace’ be equally as effective?

So how do these orchestras purport to do it? It is a rather large claim after all, that music can bring about world peace. It seems each orchestra has their own unique manner in which they go about it. In the ‘ World Vision’ on the website of the World Orchestra for Peace, director Charles Kaye states, “[The players] must also accept that positions will be rotated after every work, and therefore there is no room for even one player to say, “But I am concertmaster of my orchestra at home – so I must sit first desk.” In this way we ensure there is no hierarchy.” An admirable sentiment, but I would question this message’s ability to translate to people outside of a musical culture. Would someone with no knowledge of classical music be compelled to act after finding out the person sitting half way back normally sits at the front?

I am a huge fan of Daniel Barenboim as performer, conductor and writer so I may be a little biased. However, his and the late Edward Said’s West-Eastern Divan Orchestra seems to hit upon a concept that is much more easily perceived by a majority. This orchestra brings young musicians together from warring nations all across the Middle East: Israel, Palestine, Iran, Jordan and Syria all feature. The power of this orchestra is not solely the fact that these young people are able to come together in peace; it is what they are able to create together. Truly amazing performances, their cycle of Beethoven Symphonies at the Proms 2011 is evidence enough of that. Yet the unification of these two ideas is where music’s ability to bring people together is crystallised. As an observer, you can’t help but watch in admiration and slight guilt, thinking “as if they haven’t already got enough on their minds.” That guilt soon changes to joy though; you just can’t help but admire the energy of the orchestra, and the evident excitement and delight that the music is bringing them.

James Chater (left) - Photo: Richard Johnson

I recently took part in the Music for Youth Schools Prom at the Royal Albert Hall, an event which, until this year, I had never come across. I approached it with caution, unsure as to what to expect. Yet, when leaving that same night, I felt extremely guilty for ever harbouring doubt. The event brings young musicians together from across the country, between the ages of 8 and 21, for a celebration (and I mean celebration) of music. In the words of the organisation, the music ranges “from Daft Punk to Vaughan Williams, and Elbow to Tchaikovsky.” Impeccably co-ordinated and organised, I have never seen something that summed up exactly why music can bring us together, in a physical way. Everyone, without fail, left the Albert Hall with a buzz of excitement, with many unforgettable memories made. Even I, with the cold heart of one approaching the upper end of the age bracket, was stunned by the occasion. I did not think I would ever get to play ‘Land of Hope and Glory’ at the Albert Hall with a full auditorium shouting back at me, accompanied by fireworks, streamers and balloons falling from the ceiling. Music has the power to bring us together because, more so than anything else, we can create and re-create something that means so much

In this spirit, we are using the power of music to launch an appeal for the victims of Typhoon Haiyan, which ripped through the Philippines on Friday 8th November. We have established an appeal fund and have pledged to dedicate all proceeds from our recent ‘Winter Jazz to Cheer Us’ Café Concert to the appeal.

Why do you think music brings us together? To get in touch and share your thoughts, comment below or join in the discussion on Facebook or Twitter. 

To find out more about Southern Sinfonia, please visit our website or Instagram page

A Writer’s Response to Classical Music

By Chris Billingham 

Three weeks ago, my colleague James posted this fascinating article, examining whether music should be considered a language. Whilst I am certainly not a musicologist or composer, I can relate to the article and the theories it discusses because of my experience as a writer. 

With a background in many forms of writing, from poetry to comedy, the idea of music creating an emotion fascinates me. From conversations with other writers and my own experiences, it is clear that different styles of music cause different emotional reactions, which help or hinder writing in a number of ways. In my opinion, we interact and connect to the language of music with a wide range of responses. 

The most common form of writing I undertake is scriptwriting, an activity that for me at least initially requires complete silence, followed by all-encompassing instrumental music. The silence is needed first, to find the characters and the scene. I find that music can be distracting, or perhaps too leading. For example, Stravinsky’s ‘The Rite of Spring’ is an incredible work, and recently the gentle pace of the opening was perfect when writing a character profile for a shy, quiet character. When the pace of the music increases, however, the images that were conjured up suddenly didn’t fit the character. 

This is the reason that music is only introduced to the process when the direction of a scene and the characters within that scene are clearly seen in my mind’s eye. At this stage, orchestral music especially is an incredible aid, the sadness and tragedy of a piece like Mahler’s 9th Symphony bringing such vivid imagery to life that immediately translates to the page. This process takes place with instrumental music in particular; I tend to find that vocals, or more specifically lyrics, lead thoughts in a certain direction, causing me to imagine the specific scenario the singer is describing, not the one I need to portray in the script. 

It goes without saying that the process described above is completely personal, and all writers and lovers of classical music will have different experiences, taking in a number of other internal and external factors. There will be those that react physically to music, the ones that cheer and stamp their feet directly opposing those that sit in a refined manner and take in the piece (another blog article for another day). There will be those that feel that the composer should decide your thoughts when you hear a piece; logical, one might think, but what about when guidance from the composer is limited? Are listeners then dependent on the author of the programme? 

Recently, a newly-musical friend mentioned that they were attending a concert of Mahler 2, the “Resurrection” Symphony. At 90 minutes, it wasn’t exactly an ‘accessible’ entry into the world of orchestral music, so at our suggestion he took some emotive, rather than technical, notes into the concert. Illuminative, or restrictive? Should he have been able to make up his own mind about what he heard? He responds: “The notes helped provide an extra dimension and understanding of the performance. This was the first classical concert performed by a symphony orchestra I had attended. The notes guided me through each movement, allowing a fascinating insight in to the mind and motivation of the composer. A truly memorable performance by the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra." 

For my own writing process, then, and for consistency’s sake, how can someone who wants to write and make people think about their chosen subject matter turn to a piece of music that is clearly about another subject for inspiration? Perhaps it’s the many responses to the language of music that makes music so powerful as an art form; my initial, literal response might be entirely different to my deeper, cerebral one. 

How do you react to music? Do you work to classical music? To get in touch and share your thoughts, comment below or join in the discussion on Facebook or Twitter. 

To find out more about Southern Sinfonia, please visit our website or Instagram page. 

To find out more about tomorrow evening’s concert with the brilliant City of Bath Bach Choir, click here. Next Friday sees Chris Hill, Dave Newton and Heather Cairncross perform ’Winter Jazz to Cheer Us’, in a Café Concert not to be missed. To find out more, click here.

I Wanna Hold Your Hand - Beehives and Berio at the Festival Hall

By Julia Hudson 

I’m the only girl on this blogging team, so in this post I’m going to talk about toasters, cushions, vintage, and almost certainly fashion. Consider yourselves duly warned.

If you venture into any trendy retail establishment or hip cocktail bar, you will find a smorgasbord of “retro”. Gatsby-inspired beaded flapper dresses, Smeg fridges, beehives (not the buzzing kind), and endless looks back towards a bygone era. Vintage is in, and many trendsetters are rejecting progressive design in favour of authentic or faithfully reproduced pieces of history which are permeating our daily lives.

Last week, I went to the Royal Festival Hall for the eagerly-anticipated Sao Paolo Symphony Orchestra Brazilian-themed concert, conducted by Marin Alsop. The programme was close to Alsop’s heart, mentored as she was by Bernstein, who was in turn a close supporter of Guarnieri, and who commissioned Berio’s Sinfonia, which was performed with the Swingle Singers in the second half. Introducing the pieces with a friendly, collaborative air, Alsop seemed comfortable and the orchestra responded beautifully.

Mad Men's stylish Joan Holloway

As Nick Breckenfield mentions: “Born out of post-war austerity, and conceived from the very beginning as the only permanent fixture marking the 1951 Festival of Britain, the Royal Festival Hall was always set to become the capital’s – and therefore the country’s – main music venue.” Having undergone a multi-million pound restoration in recent years, the RFH still stands as “an astounding architectural statement” in the heart of the city. To be the venue for this kind of programming, surely, showed it at its most authentic – indeed, one could have stepped back in time. As Alsop said, “all we needed was the Beatles”, or, indeed, a Dualit kettle. Mad Men's stylish Joan Holloway

But, with our embrace (on this blog, and throughout much of the classical music world) of all things forward-looking and innovative, of music fused with technology and progressive thinking, was this concert dated, out of touch and (dare we say it) passé? Surprisingly, the music still had the power to shock, and shock it did – six of my neighbours had walked out by the end of the first movement of the Berio, with its vocal grunting and squeaking and constant referencing of other works. This, considering how much has passed in society since this music was conceived – Miley’s twerking, clearly, has nothing on this.

Where is the line, then, between dated and retro? Is it down to quality, authenticity, consistency? The young, beautiful, trendy incarnation of Swingles, though, were key, as was the vibrant orchestra. However, there is something about the past which unsettles my (Eighties) generation. To pull the girl card again, I’ve just started watching Mad Men, and am finding the flagrant sexism and disregard for female intelligence disturbing. I enjoy vintage clothing, music from bygone eras and am partial to the occasional beehive, but a “real” authenticity of values and belief systems doesn’t sit well with my contemporary ones.

So, where does this leave music?  Nick Breckenfield suggests that “there are derisory claims as to the Royal Festival Hall’s plain, even austere, functionality…[but that it is] just as much a product of its times as the spirit of hope that gave birth to the Festival of Britain.” Perhaps this is the key – we don’t have to disparage or dismiss more contemporary music, with its pared-down, Bauhaus-esque aesthetic, if we view Friday’s exciting and still powerful music as a product of its times. When one considers that Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring was written less than 40 years earlier, this suddenly isn’t so hard to do.

What are your thoughts? Comment below or join in the discussion on our Facebook or Twitter pages. To see more images or find out more about Southern Sinfonia, please visit our website and Instagram! 

When Rock meets Classical

By Chris Billingham 

Responsible for Southern Sinfonia in the world of social media, I have to start this particular article with a confession; classical music was not my first musical love. My first was the music of British rock band Queen; without a doubt, this is my dad’s fault. To this day, their music still brings back incredible memories of my childhood. From driving along and blaring out the ‘Night at the Opera’ album in the sunshine (for night time drives the band of choice became Pink Floyd) to my mum’s joy at us doing the housework being crushed when it became apparent we were actually just singing with feather dusters. 

The seeds for a love of classical music were of course sewn throughout Queen’s music; the band’s diverse style and range of talents led to a number of songs having classical music elements, in particular orchestral and operatic. It was, however, considered a risky move when Freddie Mercury decided to release an album that was very clearly a “classical crossover”. When record companies were approached about 1988’s ‘Barcelona’ (released with operatic soprano Montserrat Caballé) they “completely freaked” and claimed the album wouldn’t work. What was considered more acceptable was the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra releasing a stunning collection of Queen covers, a CD dad would also play at an incredibly loud volume. This performance of ‘I Want It All’ (my favourite Queen song) was a highlight for my younger self, allowing that love of classical music to begin to flourish: 

The RPO has continued to release fantastic orchestral versions of the music of bands such as Oasis and Coldplay. Is it fair, however, to suggest that the lines between rock music and orchestral music have merged further? Are we now in a position where it wouldn’t be considered odd to have an act perform in an orchestral setting? Arguably, the modern day equivalent to Queen is the equally grand and diverse Muse, their acclaimed 2013 Brit Award performance with a full orchestra and choir suggesting that it is far from odd to see classical music and rock music combine. It is in fact, stunning: 

For me, orchestral performances of other genres such as rock and indie have helped us reach this point. In a recent Classic FM web chat with Gareth Malone, Southern Sinfonia asked the extraordinary choirmaster how he thinks classical music can be brought to a wider cross-section of society. He explains that, in his view, “demystifying is important and just showing people that this is GREAT MUSIC”. Orchestral covers are a great tool to demystify and get people to listen to classical music. I know that, as a teenager, I wouldn’t have listened to violinist David Garret perform Mozart’s violin concertos. What I would have listened to, though, was his brilliant cover of Nirvana’s ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’: 

I would then have investigated further and found his more traditional recordings. The beauty of modern technology means that it is no longer just the professional recordings of Garret with the RPO available: 

This type of video and performance makes classical music accessible to all, allowing people to find it through any other genre. Then, they will hopefully end up in the position I’m in, listening to Britten and thinking about many new musical memories; from driving through country roads whilst playing Mendelssohn at full volume, to sitting in St Nicolas Church and being blown away by Southern Sinfonia’s performance of Brahms’ Symphony No. 4. 

What are your favourite orchestral versions of rock or pop songs? There are so many to choose from and we would love to hear your suggestions in the comments below or on our Facebook or Twitter pages.  

To see images from the concerts referenced above, please visit our Instagram profile, to learn more about Southern Sinfonia, please visit our website.