Rattle's Brahms, Prokofiev and Katherine Jenkins - a merry mix

THIS WAS WRITTEN ON THE 30th OF DECEMBER 2010

I have found this blog title and thought it a good one to start the penultimate blog of 2009. At the moment people are busy shopping in the sales - have I been - no. Christmas is over, and yes I did remember to put the baby in the nativity on christmas day - must be a first. If I see another top ten list of 2009 or another ultimate review of the decade....that was the first decade of the 2000's don't you know, then yes I might just burn the Daily Mail.

I have had an amazing autumn, working with ETO and NMECU and planning in all the hours God sends. I have also been fortunate enough to realise just how good the Halle and CBSO are, and how lucky we are to have had the wisdom of Mark Elder and now the enthusiasm of Andris Nelsons. The Midlands are the new London for the next decade, you heard it first, or maybe I read it in Metro...

Rattle's Brahms - his first is the worst, second not the best but actually I prefer it to the Karajan and Berlin Phil or Barenboim and Chicago. It seems to shed a dead weight. That doesn't mean he takes things at rip-roaring speed. I think Rattle is seeing Brahms not as this heavy bearded, anti-Wagner staunch luddite, but someone searching for innovation. Brahms is a genius. He redefines the use of upbeats and meter and purifies and enhances what has been before. He was right when he said no one can better Beethoven but they can certainly join him. I think the 2010's are going to years of better Brahms, so there.

As for what else happens in the 2010's: Katherine Jenkins should sing her first opera. Yes I know she isn't a proper opera singer, but what is proper anyway, and she has made the mistake of going for lessons with Domingo, who himself has only just realised that he has been "cross-dressing" all his life and he is actually a baritone, not a tenor. However, I have faith.

F

P.S Yes my Christmas presents were nice, no you cant have any, and no I haven't written my thank you letters.

Zinman and Aspen reflection...

Having now been back from Aspen for a month, the three months I spent there are starting to merge into a slightly more amorphous collection of memories, ideas and thoughts. One thing is for certain Aspen is a very special place. It certainly developed how I think about music and conducting and I might even go as far as saying that to a certain extent it changed how I think about music. While I have been in the NYO and read about orchestras such as Barenboim’s West Eastern Divan orchestra, I had never truly felt that the music experience could be truly unifying. I had hoped, but not felt, and this is not to say that I didn’t wholeheartedly believe that music is the greatest form of worldwide communication (not that I am biased at all of course). Partly as a sceptic of most things and also as someone who must ‘see’ to believe, in most cases, I had not experienced music bringing so many people together. I am not being specifically clear in what I am saying, maybe because I am still not completely sure what I experienced. It wasn’t just the musicians on stage, or the 700 musicians at the festival - it was also the conductors, managers, technicians, librarians and most importantly the audience and the local community. From the bus drivers to the shop owners, to the local residents and waiters, I felt not only that everyone was immensely proud of what a small (albeit exceptionally rich!) town was available to achieve, but also that it brought everyone closer together and all seemed to benefit from it. I am rambling but never mind. It was powerful and good.

Hearing Zinman at the proms when I came back with his own group, the Zurich Tonhalle, was really special. You don’t go to a Zinman concert to for bravado and swashbuckling fireworks. What is produced is perfection of a different kind, something that I think is rare in the musical world. Balance is perfect, and the sound is embracing. It does not make your heart beat heavily against the wall of your rib cage, but it really does make it race. You come away from the concert not high on adrenaline, but as if you have been given a great big hug. It is satisfying in a very different manner.

I think it is this type of satisfaction that needs to be thought about more in today’s age. As a musician, it is fantastic to see the likes of Dudamel and Petrenko firing up our orchestras. But while quick fix exhilaration may stay with you for a week or two, somehow I find the satisfaction that the Zinman prom, while not immediately as satisfying and enlivening stays with you for longer. There is definitely room for both and more, but it is a satisfaction that is not valued maybe as much as is it should be. Maybe I have this perspective as I find the fire easier to conjure than the wisdom!

F

Earshot Readings with the Colorado Symphony

I am waiting here in Denver international airport for my pick up back to Aspen. The last few days have really flown past in a whirlwind of excitement and incredible experiences.

The Earshot Readings, give four young composers the chance to work with a major symphony orchestra, conductor and mentor composers on a piece of theirs that has not received a public performance. In conjunction with American Composers Orchestra, the chosen symphony and other organisations, these composers receive a fantastic experience, something which really needs to happen in England. The Colorado Symphony could not have been better, the amount of effort they put into playing, feedback, and just making us welcome was inspiring. This all sounds very gushy but it was one of my best experiences with new music and the orchestral world. Many questions were raised, some problems were solved and great friends were made. I was lucky enough to be conducting one of the works, a piece by Tim Sullivan, and Delta David Gier conducted the other three (Yotam Haber, Angel Lam, Jeremy Podgursky). It is always interesting to see how composers react to suggestions but in this situation not only was the piece dissected by the orchestral musicians, but also three mentor composers, Rober, Derek Bermel, and Roberto Sierra, and the Vice President of the Colorado Symphony, Alberto Gutierrez as well as David and myself. I learnt a considerable amount, not only about the compositional process but about what the orchestra wants, needs and expects from new music. Hopefully this is a project that will continue to grow and develop over the coming years. It provides a real opportunity for major orchestras to converse with one another about up and coming composers and the needs of new American music in a really positive light.

One quick note about Colorado Symphony's Hall - Boettcher Concert Hall, part of the second largest arts complex in the US. Although the acoustics vary for seat to seat and there are problems with balance between orchestral sections, it is an amazingly intimate space where you feel so close to the stage and the musicians. It is one of the few large concert halls I have been in where modern music really works and where the space contributes to the experience.

Anyway I must catch my ride back to Aspen, and prepare Greensleeves. I'll say more about Aspen soon - I've got an opera scenes masterclass on Handel with Nicholas Kraemer coming up, so lots to look forward to.

F

Messiaen - Part 1

Ok, so I have got my act together and managed to publish my first Messiaen article on the Web.

It is entitled:

How important was orchestral composition (until 1933) in the early compositional career of Olivier Messiaen, and what role did poetry and religion play in the construction of those works?

It is available to read here:

www.issuu.com/ensemblecb3

Hopefully my second article, on Messiaen's influence as a teacher will be available to read on the same site in May.

Yours

Fergus

Things to come....

Ok - so still no Messiaen but that is coming, I might have to link it to a preview sight as my initial piece about Messiaen's early orchestral works is pretty long....but am working on another Messiaen article at the moment concerned with his teaching style and influence!

Also nothing about photos - but have had quite a few done recently for various things - John Batten at www.johnbattenphotography.co.uk is fantastic, I couldn't recommend him highly enough!

Have recently done an interview with Shropshire Life so in the next issue between sheep and cows there will be a bit about music!

Will write more about up and coming projects v soon!!

Ferg

GCSE MUSIC

An article in this months BBC Music magazine about the simple nature of obtaining a GCSE in music without being able to read music has caused discussion of the exam and the broader problem of the teaching of music in our schools.

Reportedly students can now achieve an A in music without being able to read a single note. It comes as no surprise as over recent years A level music has come more and more into disrepute. The situation has become so problematic that the likes of Oxbridge are considering whether an A level in music should be a stipulation tin applying to study music at an undergraduate level. However, it is true also to say that Music as a subject has changed hugely in the way it is studied as a subject at the highest level. No longer do composers learn their trade during a seven year apprenticeship with a senior composer. Nor does fugue or counterpoint play a critical part in a degree from Cambridge. Recently Oxford appointed a professor in music science and music as therapy and as a rehabilitative aid is becoming more accepted in the medical world. Thus should the qualification move with the times?

It is true to say that the qualification needs to adapt, and ensure it is not stuck in the dark ages. Yet it must keep the foundations of what it is trying to advance at the forefront of its teaching. As the cellist, Julian Lloyd Webber said, it is "like trying to study a language without learning the alphabet". The concept of teaching English at GCSE level without the students being able to read would be unthinkable.

Today in the world 'classical' music, accessibility to all are such buzz words that the exam boards seem worried to stretch the students by demanding from them what they should. Although not a theorist at heart and also being one who passed grade 5 theory just (getting the pass mark - all be it at the age of 9) it seems that theoretical knowledge is crucial to an understanding of music and a progression in the subject. It may be difficult to teach or 'boring' to learn yet no one would suggest not teaching times tables or spelling. By enabling people to understand theory not only does it allow them to study a major section of Western culture but opens the door to this 'exclusive' world of classical music, that so many politicians are convinced exists due to those who promote it. As Damon Albarn, the front-man of Gorrliaz and Blur said, "If you don't learn to read music, then there's a whole tradition that becomes very exclusive and shouldn't be."

It is important to be inclusive, and in a world where classical music has an aging population one needs to encourage followers, but not at the risk of loosing what is at the subject's heart. Maybe it is time for a separate GCSE to be developed; 'music appreciation' where one only has to listen and describe one's reaction on tape, therefore stopping the need of having ti be able to write to take the qualification.