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Sakari Oramo on the last instalment of his BBC Symphony Orchestra Nielsen cycle

2015-05-20T14:03:35+00:00

Carl Nielsen at his piano. Photo: The Royal Library, Copenhagen

Most of the BBC Symphony Orchestra’s cycle of Carl Nielsen symphonies is now complete, and I am hugely looking forward to completing this fascinating survey of the great Danish composer’s music mirrored by that of his contemporaries.

This year's other great birthday hero, Jean Sibelius, is an obvious companion, despite the almost diametrically opposed nature of the two composers' musical styles and philosophies. Tapiola (1926) is the Finnish composer's last significant symphonic statement, and here serves the purpose of showing how distant he had become to his Danish counterpart. Tapiola is an incredibly powerful, hypnotic piece of music which, when performed properly, makes a human feel very small indeed at the feet of the great God of the forests of Finnish mythology.

Sergey Rachmaninov is yet another composer who poses interesting possibilities for comparison with Nielsen. The 4th Piano Concerto (1926) is his most intimate, honest and self-revealing piece of music. Composed in a very long timespan of about ten years, it contains both destabilising uncertainty and a similar kind of simplification of musical means that Nielsen and Sibelius also went through in their later composing years.

John Foulds brings a welcome English sidestep to this programme. Categorised as 'a composer of light music’, the English musical establishment almost completely ignored the great skill and power of invention shown in his preserved larger-scale works, although in 2007 the BBC revived his heartfelt memorial to the dead of all nations ‒ A World Requiem ‒ once the centrepiece of the Royal British Legion's original Festivals of Remembrance. Most of Foulds’ scores were destroyed in India where the composer emigrated and later died of cholera. April-England (1926/32) is a reworking of a piano piece for orchestra, quintessentially English and very spring-like indeed, showing the composer's enormous skill in orchestration and harmony.

Finally, Carl Nielsen's Symphony No. 6 (named by the composer as 'semplice' ['simple'] but in fact anything but) is his brilliant final milestone in symphonic art. Consisting of four movements, it looks and feels like a classical work, yet the contents all seem to be upside down. To me this music is incredibly emotional in its stylistic restraint and anti-Romantic feeling. The toy-music in the 'Humoresque', the almost impenetrable seriousness of the 'Proposta Seria' and the unbuttoned anarchy of the final Variations provide a musical merry-go-round without any boundaries. What exactly does Nielsen mean by finishing his towering symphonic output with two bassoons playing alone in their lowest register? 'It all wasn't so serious after all', perhaps?

Sakari Oramo conducts the BBC Symphony Orchestra in Sibelius’s Tapiola, Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No.4 in G minor, (soloist: Denis Kozhukin), Foulds’s April-England, and Nielsen’s Symphony No.6 (‘Sinfonia semplice’) at the Barbican Hall on Saturday 23 May at 7.30pm. The concert will be broadcast live on BBC Radio 3.

Sakari Oramo conducts the BBC Symphony Orchestra in the Barbican Concert Hall.

BBC Symphony Orchestra ‒ casting new light on Smetana's tragic opera, Dalibor

2015-05-14T11:31:22+00:00

Dalibor at the Barbican Hall. Photo: Mark Allan/BBC

In the past the BBC Symphony Orchestra's former chief conductor Jiří Bělohlávek has conducted a number of Czech operas by Dvořák, Smetana, Janáček and Martinů in highly successful concert performances.

A few years ago we performed Dvořák's The Jacobin which was huge fun for everybody and I remember being surprised to learn that Dvořák had actually written nine others. Yet, surprisingly, his most popular opera, Rusalka, was not staged in London until English National Opera performed it in 1983. The Met in New York waited until 1993 to premiere it and Covent Garden (amazingly) as recently as 2003!

Smetana's jolly The Bartered Bride fared better (reaching London in 1907) and is regularly staged, yet we scarcely hear a semi-quaver of his other eight operas. Part of the problem (as one who has struggled even to pronounced 'Jiří' correctly) is the Czech language: for most people it is very difficult to get your tongue around.

Two weeks ago the BBCSO performed Smetana's third opera, Dalibor. It is a romantic tragedy similar in story to Beethoven's Fidelio. While the story is unlikely (the sister of the murdered Burgrave falls in love with his murderer, Dalibor), the music is wonderfully fluent, and typical of Smetana. Despite the gruesome story, Smetana includes the folk elements that he loved so much ‒ polkas, fanfares and even a March in 3/4 time! But there is much warmth and beauty in the score too.

Notable amongst all of our opera performances has been the uniformly excellent Czech cast, many of whom have positions at the National Opera house in Prague. As Czech is a notoriously difficult language to sing in, and given that composers such as Smetana and Janáček relied heavily on the sound and rhythm of the language in their music, it makes perfect sense to use native speakers. It has always been a privilege to work alongside them.

As usual, Jiří sang along (very quietly) all the way through with the soloists and the BBC Singers, but managed to balance the orchestra perfectly so that we would not overwhelm the singers, sometimes a risk when orchestras come out of the opera theatre pit and accompany casts on stage.

Dalibor drew excellent reviews in the Press and you can listen to the broadcast at 2pm on Thursday 14 May, or for thirty days on the BBC iPlayer.

Na zdravi!

Photo Mark Allan/BBC

BBC Proms 2015 ‒ It’s that time of year again!

2015-04-23T12:54:05+00:00

(L-R) Dame Evelyn Glennie, Danielle de Niese, Katie Derham, Nicholas Collon and pupils from Luton Music Service celebrate the launch of the 2015 BBC Proms ©BBC / Andrew Hayes-Watkins

This is always an exciting day for Radio 3: the moment when the truly salivating line-up of concerts and events that make up the world’s biggest classical music festival is revealed, and we begin in earnest the incredibly detailed planning that goes into broadcasting every Prom live. The technical challenges are huge ‒ in the course of a single day the team of highly skilled studio managers might be called upon to capture anything from a solo violin to a brand new contemporary work for a 100-piece orchestra ‒ and things like how many microphones, how many miles of cable, and exactly how long it’s going to take to reset the stage between the main evening Proms and complicated late night events need to be thought about now.

For the production team it’s a case of working out how best to provide that all-important context for our listeners: why you really should tune in to this performance of Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique, why the Aurora orchestra’s performance of Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony is going to be unlike any you’ve ever heard before (it really is), what fresh insights come to light as a result of hearing all of Prokofiev’s piano concertos in the course of one evening, and why the work of Pierre Boulez is so visionary and vital to our understanding of today’s musical world. A crucial part of this context is of course the fantastic line-up of Proms Extra events over at the Royal College of Music, where every day a carefully chosen panel of experts is there to guide you through that night’s offering; these are then edited straight afterwards and broadcast in the interval of the Prom. It’s a neat idea, but as with all these things, planning is everything.

There’s a sense in which you could say the Proms are all in a day’s work for us – Radio 3 broadcasts a concert live pretty much every night of the week, after all – but there’s something very special about de-camping to Kensington for the summer. There’s nothing quite like the excitement of the first night, the famous queue snaking all the way down the steps and probably round the corner too, the sight of our BBC trucks parked outside Door 9, the familiar smell back-stage at the Royal Albert Hall, the incredible air of anticipation in the Hall itself… and above all, the knowledge that you’ve got a whole eight magical weeks of world-class music-making to look forward to. It’s a huge amount of work, for sure, but a challenge each and every one of us relishes. Bring it on.

Preview a summer of music at the 2015 Proms - watch the 2015 BBC Proms Launch Film.

Composing A Violence of Gifts - Part 4

2015-04-15T10:51:27+00:00

Time to Write

The orchestra rehearsals are about to begin in advance of the premiere of A Violence of Gifts. I find the days immediately before rehearsals an unsettling time – a strange mixture of disquiet and anticipation. I think it’s due to the imminent transition from having a new work exist only in your mind to having it brought suddenly and vividly to life by musicians. As I prepare for this experience, I find thinking back to the solitude of the early stages of writing the music helps to calm my nerves…

I hadn’t paid much attention to the North Polar Vortex until the day before I flew to Boston. It had been a few months since Owen and I returned from CERN. Armed with the first draft of Owen’s text, I was getting ready to travel to New Hampshire, in the USA, to the MacDowell Colony to undertake an artist residency and start writing the piece. Just before setting off I received an email: an arctic cold blast was due to drop around 10 inches of snow overnight. I packed a couple of extra jumpers. Arriving at the Colony a few hours before the snow came, I was shown to my room where I unpacked and fell asleep. In the morning, the 450-acres of woodlands and fields, which make up the Colony, had been transformed. It was a striking, glittering landscape covered in snow, worlds away from my usual environment in South East London. I felt excited about the weeks of writing stretching before me.

The MacDowell Colony

After settling in and getting my bearings I stuck Owen’s text up on a huge, freestanding pinboard, spread out some of my initial sketches on the piano, and stared down at the blank manuscript paper. But nothing came. I started to feel worried. What if I had developed writer’s block? At home I often have the feeling there is never enough time in the day to get things done, but here the morning stretched on forever. They say a week at MacDowell is equivalent to four in the real world. Without the usual distractions of home there seemed to be endless hours to fill. But after a day or so adjusting to this new rhythm, it struck me: time was exactly what I needed and what I was here for. I quickly adjusted to life at MacDowell and began working on the piece in earnest.

The MacDowell Colony is a very special place. In 1896, composer Edward MacDowell and pianist Marian MacDowell bought a farm where they spent summers working in the peaceful surroundings. Shortly afterwards, Edward fell ill and talked to Marian about his wish to give other artists the same creative experience they enjoyed. Marian set about building a community on the estate where writers, artists, composers and filmmakers from all over the world could come to work. All the studios at MacDowell have names. Mine was called Watson and was one of the first studios Marian had built. It was initially used as a concert space, so had the dimensions of a small recital hall. Today, being a live-in studio, it is furnished with a bed, small kitchen, bathroom and giant wooden desk in front of a beautiful open fire. Artists are invited to inscribe their name on to wooden ‘tombstones’ hanging on the walls of each studio following their stay as a record of all those who pass through. On closer inspection of this lovely tradition, I discovered my studio had hosted Leonard Bernstein several times. He had composed his Mass there during a residency. Other composers included Aaron Copland and Meredith Monk. I was in good company!

My existence became a happy cycle of writing from morning until evening, punctuated with long walks in the woods and building fires to keep warm. Lunch was delivered in a picnic basket to the doorstep each day to minimize interruptions. In the evenings, the day’s work could be shared with other colony fellows over hearty home cooked meals and table tennis in Colony Hall. By the end of my residency I had written more than I could have hoped for. I had a full structure planned out with almost all of the vocal music written and about a third of the work completed in full score. Back in the UK, I was lucky enough to find time and space in Wales and at Aldeburgh Music to continue working, until I eventually completed the piece.

Now, just before rehearsals begin, I look back to my first blog and Lawrence M. Krauss’s idea: everything comes from nothing. He explains in his book, A Universe from Nothing, how a vacuum is not really empty at all but full of matter and antimatter being continually created and destroyed. The infinitesimally small spot the universe would have occupied in its first moments would have been bursting with particles and energy that just had to go somewhere, and so they did. On reflection, I think the act of writing poetry or composing music is in some sense making something from nothing. And in a concert, there is silence and then the music starts. So, on some level Krauss’s idea could be a metaphor for all music and all art.

I hope you’ll join me and the BBC National Chorus and Orchestra of Wales for the premiere of A Violence of Gifts on Saturday 18 April at 7.30pm, either at St David’s Hall in Cardiff or by tuning in to BBC Radio 3 for the live broadcast.

The BBC National Orchestra and Chorus of Wales will perform A Violence of Gifts on Saturday 18 April, 7.30pm at St David’s Hall, Cardiff. It will also be broadcast live on BBC Radio 3.

Discovering Composers on Radio 3

2015-01-21T15:06:37+00:00

Roger Philbrick

The number of Composer Collections on the Radio 3 website has reached a milestone of 40. Roger Philbrick is the senior content producer behind this long-running piece of in-depth curation, which has led to some 2000 archive composer programmes being made permanently available to listeners. As he prepares to leave the BBC after nearly 30 years’ service, Roger opens the composer jewel-box to show off the treasures inside ….

In 2002 I was working as Science producer for the Radio 4 website when it occurred to me that it might be possible to keep recordings of radio programmes online beyond the normal 7 day limit. This was fairly radical in the days before iPlayer or podcasts, but our audience approved and the idea quickly caught on with Arts and History programmes. Music broadcasts were trickier because we were only allowed to archive musical excerpts, rather than full performances. But this still allowed us to offer music documentaries and features with short musical illustrations.

A few years later, I moved to the Radio 3 online team and revelled in the wealth of music analysis programmes, presented with passion and in-depth knowledge by some of the best communicators in the business. The benefits of preserving these programmes were obvious: they had timeless value and provided encyclopaedic audio guides to the most popular composers and their works, perfectly complementing our concert broadcasts. So we started archiving Composer of the Week and Discovering Music on a weekly basis; later additions included editions of Music Matters, Proms Plus and finally CD Review’s Building a Library, which broadened the core composer/works menu to include comparisons of performance styles.

As I write, we are now able to offer almost 2000 programmes via the comprehensive Composers A to Z, plus less intimidating individual collections celebrating the 40 composers for whom we have most content. The formats range from short, bite-sized reviews of favourite works from Tom Service and Howard Goodall, through to complete biographical guides, delivered by Donald Macleod in his inimitable style. Among my personal favourites are the older, long-format editions of Discovering Music, in which Charles Hazlewood and Stephen Johnson take the audience on guided tours of the crown jewels of classical music, with extracts performed live by the BBC orchestras.

Assembling and curating this unique archive has been a privilege and pleasure, and I hope you find the contents as fascinating and entertaining as I have.

Composers A-Z
Discovering the Great Composers
The Story of Music in 50 Pieces - with Howard Goodall and Suzy Klein
Building a Library
Opera Guides
Roger Philbrick Music (personal website)

A Violence of Gifts

2014-11-12T15:05:50+00:00

Mark Bowden and Owen Sheers at CERN

In the first of a series of blogs, Mark Bowden, resident composer at the BBC National Orchestra and Chorus of Wales, writes about the journey from initial idea to world premiere – as he prepares to write a new work for the crchestra and chorus

Everything came from nothing. Time, space and matter. Life. Ideas, even. This simple yet devastating scientific concept, put forward by the physicist Lawrence M. Krauss, is the starting point for my current project: a new work for soprano, baritone, chorus and orchestra on the theme of creation. The piece is for the BBC National Orchestra and Chorus of Wales, and is created in collaboration with the poet Owen Sheers.

William Herschel

Since Plato suggested music and astronomy ought to be studied together as part of a classical education, many composers have been influenced by harmony’s relation to cosmology and the origins of the universe. A famous example is Haydn’s oratorio The Creation. Haydn claimed a visit to William Herschel ‒ composer, astronomer and discoverer of Uranus ‒ in Slough in 1792 helped him to write his most famous work. After looking through Herschel’s telescope, Haydn was reported to have been dumbstruck for 20 minutes eventually exclaiming, ‘So high, so far’.

To prepare for writing our piece, Owen and I read many books on the subject of origins: origins of matter, time, the universe and life here on Earth, but we didn’t feel as though we were getting close enough to the latest ideas in the way that Haydn had in the 18th century. So we arranged a trip to the Large Hadron Collider at CERN on the Franco-Swiss border, where we met particle physicists who introduced us to their latest research into the early universe. Talking to the scientists stretched our minds between extremes of scale – from the inconceivable vastness of the observable universe to the unimaginable quantum world of quark-gluon plasma (basic building blocks of matter) – and provided the springboard for the piece.

It’s important to say the piece will not be a didactic musical lecture but rather, more in the spirit of Haydn, a personal response to the new mind-expanding scientific knowledge of our own time.

The piece has a title already – A Violence of Gifts – and as I write I am very close to completing the first full draft of the score. So this blog will not be a diary documenting my writing experiences and ideas as they occur but rather a series of reflections upon the discussions with Owen, our trip to CERN, my self-imposed periods of variously snowy and sunny solitude, and my thoughts on music’s relationship to science. Through the blog I hope to reveal a little about the intangible process of writing music, brimming as it does with creative uncertainties and constantly shifting ground, the experience of collaboration between music, poetry and science and, ultimately, what it might mean to say that something, everything, could have come from nothing.

A Violence of Gifts will be performed by BBC National Orchestra and Chorus of Wales at St David’s Hall, Cardiff, on Saturday 18 April 2015.

BBC National Orchestra and Chorus of Wales
Mark Bowden
Owen Sheers
Read parts two, three and four of this series of blog posts.

Planes, trains and mobiles - the BBC Symphony Orchestra on tour

2014-11-04T12:59:34+00:00

BBC Symphony Orchestra sub-principal viola Phil Hall reports from Spain

The tour did not begin well ‒ I left home with my wife's car keys in my pocket and no passport. Fortunately I realised these blunders just before boarding the train to Heathrow. The orchestra has been split into two groups for travelling to Alicante and my second group arrives at the hotel at midnight after 2 flights and a G&T stop in Madrid airport in between.

After the cool of London, Alicante is deliciously warm in the balmy night air and we check-in to the luminously-named Eurostars Lucentum hotel, opposite the wonderful central food market. There is time in the morning to climb the ancient Citadel and a quick dip in the crowded Mediterranean after lunch before the general rehearsal.

The Auditorio de la Disputacion

This is the first time the BBCSO has played in the new 1200-seater Auditorio de la Disputación de Alicante. The Hall is only three years old and privately built by a petrol tycoon. The acoustics are bright with a strange echo which makes the noisy Infernal Dance bounce back at us a quaver later! The concert is sold out and I feel sorry for a disconsolate man outside, queuing for a return ticket ‒ ‘The problem is you are the best...’ ‒ he complains to me in bittersweet tones.

Our soloist for the tour is the Spanish pianist Javier Perianes who plays the Ravel G major concerto quite wonderfully. Unfortunately a mobile phone joins in with the close of his encore, Debussy's Girl with the flaxen hair. This is to become an unwelcome feature of all the concerts unfortunately, despite the public address announcements.

Stravinsky's 1945 suite for The Firebird takes wing and brings the house down and after encores of Khatchaturian's Maskerade Waltz and Grieg's Morning we decamp to the hotel where our wonderful friend and tour promoter Gonzalo Augosto lays on a post-concert reception for the whole orchestra.

The Kursaal, San Sebastian

Early the next morning we climb aboard a charter flight to Biarritz and then it's a bus back across the border to nearby San Sebastián (or Donostia as it is called in Basque). Happily the good weather has followed us northwards, although my broken air-conditioning means I have the hottest hotel room in Christendom. After lunch by the cathedral we rehearse at the Kursaal, a fantastic setting, located hard by the Bay of Biscay.

It is quite a loud hall and takes a little bit of getting used to. Our conductor Sakari Oramo runs to the back of the hall to listen while we carry on playing, in order to hear the balance. He comments that the acoustics cause the trumpets to sound as if they are coming from the other side of the stage from where they are sitting! We start the concert with Sibelius's dramatic tone poem En Saga, which gets whipped into a Finnish frenzy. It is always revealing performing any Sibelius with a Finnish conductor and Sakari brings many insights to the score, notably that nobody really knows how fast Sibelius wanted the opening string arpeggios, other than we know he admired Thomas Beecham's 1930s recording of the work. Javier plays an exquisite Grieg piano concerto and we finish with the Stravinsky which
sounds amazing in the hall but is marred only by some expert coughing and another mobile phone ring.

The Auditorio di Zaragoza

Afterwards we do our bit for international relations and try and learn some Basque from the waiter. An ancient Pre-Indo-European language, the best we can do is: ‘Eskerrik asko’, the Basque for 'thank you'. I go for a run to the sea at sunrise before three buses transport us to Zaragoza. Half way there we stop for coffee at an unlikely Wild West saloon cafe by the roadside. Unfortunately one of the drivers manages to reverse into an air-conditioning unit, shattering the rear windscreen. Amazingly a replacement bus arrives in only 20 minutes and we reach Zaragoza just a few minutes behind schedule. The glorious weather continues and it's a joy to return here as the Auditorio di Zaragoza is arguably the best hall in Spain. All the more remarkable since, as with Alicante, there is no resident orchestra here. Now 20 years old, it is modelled on the Philharmonie in Berlin and has exemplary acoustics. Sakari drives the orchestra hard in rehearsals for Shostakovich 5 and gets great results in the concert with a scarily quiet 3rd movement and a terrific finale.

AVE high-speed train near Zaragoza

It's a leisurely 11 o'clock departure to Zaragoza's deliciously named Delicias station for an AVE high speed train to Madrid. It is a VERY fast train indeed as the indicator screen tells me the speed which is 253kph – or 157mph. We arrive at Madrid's Atocha station after one-and-a-half hours, having covered a distance of 195 miles. We have played in the Auditorio Nacional many times before and it has good acoustics with the added bonus of the audience sitting all around us. Speeches of thanks are given from Sakari and management and everyone agrees it has been a highly successful tour. But Sakari urges us on to greater heights of spontaneity and excitement in the Stravinsky. Strauss's Don Juan erupts on stage and there is an end-of-tour feel, a spring in our collective step. Javier shows no sign of wear-and-tear either as he launches into the Grieg with gusto. It has been a joy to work with him and observe the good nature between him and Sakari. But it was his warm, poetic playing that will linger in the memory banks. Happily we will perform the Grieg Concerto at the Barbican with him upon our return ‒ Live in Concert on BBC Radio 3, and recorded for CD... mobile phones permitting...

Sarah Walker talks to Camila Batmanghelidjh

2014-10-17T14:00:15+00:00

I confess that, before interviewing Camila Batmanghelidjh, I was not aware of her strong background in the performing arts. As it turns out, this leading charity worker and businesswoman is one of the most creative people I've ever met.

This week's guest Camila Batmanghelidjh

Her love of colour is pretty apparent - anyone who's seen Camila talking about her work on TV cannot have failed to notice her amazing dress sense – but only during the interview did I learn that the children she works with often source the fabrics used to make her amazing outfits, from all sorts of places including skips! They rush back to Camila bearing their gifts, knowing that she can incorporate this treasure (with the help of a seamstress) into one of her stunningly vibrant kaftans; I've seen one close-up now and can attest that they're created with incredible attention to detail, beautifully pleated and draped.

I was delighted when Camila referred to her love of felt-tipped pens, wondering if she was alone in her obsession. No! The other felt-tip obsessive is me (especially pink and mint green), a shared interest that made us both laugh. Camila is the sort of person who brings joy into a room. I apologised for possibly infecting her with my cold, but she wouldn't hear any of it. She was simply happy to sit, listen to music, and talk openly about her life, and all of its challenges.

I tried to understand how she maintains her calm and happy outlook as I felt fascinated, admiring and even a little envious of it, but that seems to be a mystery even to Camila herself. One thing that's for sure, great music helps, and that's something that I think we can all tap into.

And if you’d like to catch up with the complete interviews you can do so via the Essential Classics podcast

Meeting John Humphrys

2014-09-17T06:38:55+00:00

Sarah's guest this week is the journalist, broadcaster and author, John Humphrys.

When guests arrive in the yellow studio, my first question after greeting them is usually along the lines of “Have you travelled far?” Author Douglas Kennedy wins the prize for having travelled the furthest (he flew in from America), but my latest guest arrived in a state of advanced fatigue, despite having come just a few yards from a nearby studio in Broadcasting House. He’s John Humphrys, and he had a darn good excuse to be tired after getting up at 3.30am to do his regular stint presenting Radio 4’s Today programme. John came straight round to meet me at 9am, and I felt a flicker of anxiety as to whether his patience might be at a low ebb – would I be the next victim of the “Rottweiler of Radio 4”? I needn’t have worried. John made my job very easy by regaling me with interesting and amusing stories about his love of music – the pride he feels for his cellist son Christopher, his wonder and awe at the music of Beethoven, and his willingness to expand his musical boundaries. He did admit to having a mental block with atonal music, and as he described his frustration I was able to empathise by considering my own bewilderment with John’s area of expertise: politics! He also opened up about his deeply emotional response to classical music (we learn which piece of music was the first to make him cry), which might make people see him in a more balanced light – not just a great professional but a rounded human being.

History man - 30 years with the BBC National Chorus of Wales

2014-06-12T13:05:06+00:00

BBC National Chorus of Wales - 30th anniversary (Betina Skovbro)

The BBC Welsh Chorus, as it was then known, first performed Brahms’s Requiem in December 1983, in their first public concert at St David’s Hall, Cardiff. Now called the BBC National Chorus of Wales, the 120-strong amateur Chorus revisits Brahms’ masterpiece on Friday 13 June, live on BBC Radio 3.

In this blog, Founder member Jeff Davies writes of some of the highlights of 30 years of music-making.

BBC National Chorus of Wales at St David's Hall, 2012 (Betina Skovbro)

I’ve always enjoyed singing - my dad ran a youth choir in Tredegar, and I joined when I was about 7. After singing for many years, I vividly remember the audition for the BBC National Chorus of Wales back in 1983 - never thinking I would get in. I’m glad I did though, and I’ve had such a wonderful time singing with them for the past 30 years.

When I first joined the choir in 1983, I was Head of PE at Radyr Comprehensive School in Cardiff. Perhaps it was an unusual hobby for a PE teacher – and it wasn’t easy looking after the voice when teaching gymnastics or out on the games field.

I’ve now retired, and keep busy with plenty of hobbies, but I always fit them around the Chorus. I’ve always tried to give the choir 100% commitment. When I retired I was a deputy head, but the governors knew not to call a meeting on a Tuesday night - that was choir night!

Recording O Come All Ye Faithful - Shepherds' Field, Bethlehem - 1984

There have been many highlights over the years – I’ve sung in over 25 BBC Proms, and worked with some fantastic conductors. I’ve also been lucky enough to tour with the Chorus – including concerts in the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, and a tour to the Holy Land as part of a BBC Television recording in 1984.

What’s wonderful about the Chorus is working with top class professionals – every concert is a special occasion. I’m particularly looking forward to performing alongside the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus for the First Night of the Proms this year in July. Broadcasting live on BBC Two at the Proms isn’t a bad gig for an amateur singer, but it is what you get with BBC National Chorus of Wales!

BBC National Orchestra and Chorus of Wales, conducted by Thomas Søndergård, perform Brahms’s Requiem on Friday, 7.30pm at St David’s Hall, Cardiff. It will be broadcast on Live in Concert on BBC Radio 3, and will be available for seven days after broadcast via BBC iPlayer Radio.

Meeting Marina Lewycka

2014-05-26T07:13:24+00:00

Sarah's guest this week is the author, Marina Lewycka.

What a pleasure it was, to interview Marina Lewycka: a lively voice, a self-effacing manner and great sense of humour…and a very interesting way of listening to music. Marina listens like a writer, with an ear for drama, pace and structure: “Why did he choose to do that there?” is a question she often asks, and she told me how she’s picked up ideas from listening to music in that way. I learnt from Marina, too: she reminded me that Prokofiev was a Ukrainian composer, and introduced me to his Symphonic Song, which highlighted a different, more sombre aspect of his personality than we often encounter. I was also intrigued to hear a recording by a singer with Ukrainian roots, Kvitka Cisik (often known as Kasey) who sadly died in 1998 aged just 44. She was an artist with a beautifully fresh and unaffected soprano voice, perfect for the Ukrainian folk song which Marina requested…I’d certainly like to hear more of her work. And last but not least, I was delighted to encounter Marina’s own novels: I started with the second one, Two Caravans, on the recommendation of my producer Sarah Devonald, who’s also a fan. The book creates a truthful, sometimes harrowing, yet ultimately optimistic portrait of the current job market, especially as it affects immigrants; but more than that, it’s a love story, and one with some incredibly colourful characters. I loved Rock, who hails from Barnsley, and who makes many references to his mentor, a certain Jimmy Binbag whom we never actually meet. Is it the percussive, rhythmic quality of that name that makes it so authentic that I could believe I went to school with him?! Marina Lewycka is definitely a writer with a musical ear. Hope you enjoy our interviews.

Meeting Chris Beardshaw

2014-05-21T09:28:48+00:00

Sarah's guest this week is the garden designer and TV presenter, Chris Beardshaw.

When I glanced at Chris Beardshaw's musical choices for the week, I knew we were in for some interesting interviews. On the first day we had Vaughan Williams' Tallis Fantasia - music that's deeply rooted in tradition, just like Chris's own work in landscape and horticulture. The Rachmaninov Vespers, too, have a timeless quality. I bore this in mind when hunting for my Personal Shopper choice for the Friday programme: can't tell you what I chose, but the details will be up on the EC homepage from Friday (the words soulful, deep, and atmospheric were in my mind as I made my selection!) Chris impressed me with the amount of knowledge at his fingertips. I brought my copy of his book, 100 plants that nearly changed the world, into the studio, and he elaborated enthusiastically on many of the entries long after we stopped recording. His story about why witches are believed to gad about on broomsticks held us (me, producer Dominic, and studio manager James) enthralled...it's to do with hallucinogenic herbs bound together with goose fat and smeared onto the broomstick...sending the owner of the broom on a weird trip where they are convinced they've been flying. I highly recommend the book, in fact I was almost in a position to offer free copies, as the book warehouse sent me a hundred of them by mistake. I returned them and kept just one, which Chris kindly signed with the message "Happy gardening!" So that's my motto this week - I'm even being more tolerant towards Basil's infernal digging and frog-catching habits. Hope you enjoy our interviews...and maybe a bit of outdoor listening too, if you can take your radio into the garden. As Chris reveals in our Friday interview, your plants will thank you for it!

Basil patiently waits for frogs...

Stewart Copeland talks to Rob Cowan

2014-05-16T14:48:25+00:00

Drummer and composer Stewart Copeland

This week on Essential Classics, Rob’s guest has been drummer extraordinaire, Stewart Copeland. As a producer on this programme I’m fortunate to meet many fascinating people from all walks of life, but as a (somewhat lapsed) percussionist, getting Stewart on the show was a particular thrill. Ask any drummer and they’d agree that Stewart is one of the very greatest there has ever been. Period. Just watch this clip from the heyday of The Police. As someone commented under the clip “Perhaps the most inventive drummer in history. I could just listen to the drums and still be entertained.”

As it happened, we couldn’t manage to find a time to interview Stewart in London, so it was recorded via ISDN in a studio in his hometown of Los Angeles. Given the 8 hour time difference, we were initially concerned that even with a late shift here in London, asking a rock god to start an interview by 9am might be a tall order. However we needn’t have worried as a fully caffeinated and very charismatic Stewart appeared on the line at 8.30 sharp and recorded a fantastic set of interviews with Rob.

A multi-faceted musician, Stewart has spent the past 30 years since The Police split up working as a composer across a very wide range of genres including opera, film and TV. One of the many topics of discussion was the upcoming world premiere of his new percussion concerto on May 23^rd in Liverpool. There’s a nice interview in the Liverpool Echo in which Stewart tells all.

If you missed any of the interviews from Essential Classics this week the complete set are available here until Monday. They really are a great listen and Stewart was refreshingly upfront with some of his opinions – try this clip and you’ll see what I mean. If you are pressed for time we have also created our regular guest interview podcast which contains highlights from across the week.

Finally, I thought I’d compile a few video clips that I hope prove interesting:

- Want to know what rock stars private studios look like? – Stewart’s looks like this

- An interview with Jools Holland from his time in The Police. One for drummers in particular.

- Amazing drum solo from 2012 when Stewart appeared on The David Letterman show

- More outrageous drumming skills with bassist Stanley Clarke

If you have any comments please do leave them below, or you can get in touch via email or Twitter:

Email: essentialclassics@bbc.co.uk

Twitter: #essentialclassics

When rain didn't stop play - the BBCSO 2014 Swiss tour

2014-05-01T12:55:00+00:00

BBC SO sub-principal viola Phil Hall reports from the orchestra's tour of Switzerland ...

As the headboard of my bed in Bern's Holiday Inn knocks me awake, (why did my neighbour have to bang his door so early?) I notice that it is STILL raining. This is day three of a potentially scenic and delightful Swiss tour - the first tour with our new(ish) chief conductor Sakari Oramo. But it has barely stopped precipitating since we boarded the flight to Zürich. I can't even make out the Toblerone factory next door!

Sakari Oramo and Anu Komsi

Joining us for four concerts are the Greek violinist Leonidas Kavakos and Finnish soprano Anu Komsi, aka Mrs Oramo. She is singing in Mahler's fourth symphony and Leonidas (a popular touring soloist with us) is playing Brahms and Sibelius concertos. He dashes off both of these masterpieces with his customary virtuosity and broad slow movements. He is fond of the orchestra and has many friends here so he is happy to oblige when someone asks him to play the mind-bogglingly difficult Recuerdos de la Alhambra, as an encore. This involves feats of unbelievably nimble bow control and every string player is glued to his bow, trying to work out how on earth he does it.

Anu similarly wows audience and orchestra alike with her glowing but pure voice, conjuring up Mahler's child's view of heaven so beautifully. She is amiable at breakfast too as I try my basic Finnish out on her.

The only piece played in every concert is a contemporary one - Boost by Swiss composer Dieter Amman. He joins us for the performances in Zürich and Bern and seems thrilled with our efforts, hugging the conductor and bowing deeply to the orchestra. The piece fizzes for most of its 15 minutes and puts me in mind of Magnus Lindberg in terms of its energy and harmony.

Viola part for Elgar's Enigma Variations

For the final two concerts in Bern and Geneva we fly the flag for Blighty with Elgar's Enigma Variations. It occurs to me in rehearsal that the orchestral parts we use for this piece are very old; you can still see the imprint of the copper printing plates and even some comments about bowing made by such eminent conductors as Pierre Monteux. Nice to think we still use these original parts.

We toured this piece recently with Sir Andrew Davis but Sakari's take is quite different. He has a unique way of describing the music: 'This passage is like your grandmother dancing... not like electronic music, not Pokemon...'

As we arrive in Montreux finally the clouds lift and our spirits too, and I am afforded this not-too-shabby view of Evian from my hotel room. Word spreads in the final concert in Geneva that we have already been invited back in 2017; let's hope the weather is better.

Storming Laugharne Castle

2014-04-28T14:25:04+00:00

Laugharne Castle BBC Production Team

BBC Wales project manager Nick Andrews describes the daunting task of mounting a radio festival in a Welsh castle without touching any of the walls ...

From the 2-5 May we really wanted to commission ‘Laugharne Live’ - a BBC radio festival saluting the stunning works of poet Dylan Thomas. And we really, really wanted to host it in Laugharne castle, South Wales.

But getting into a castle can be tricky. Even for the BBC.

The archaeologists eyed me up and down suspiciously. Could a marquee with full broadcast capabilities really, truly, honestly be attached to the grounds of their beloved Laugharne Castle without any pegs at all? Promise? Breathing deeply I replied: ‘With water weighted rigs, my friends, anything is possible.’

And with that (and some paperwork), we’d semi-stormed the castle.

I say semi-stormed because as well as the grounds being considered an archeologically rich environment, the fabric of the building is too.

The first recce of the castle took place more than five months ago: the team has been meeting regularly ever since. The logistics have been mind-boggling. And we’ve been scheduling, re-scheduling and re-re-scheduling the weekend - a huge amount of work, but worth every complexity!

This week an army of engineers and technical wizards are set to complete the storming of the castle and build our broadcast village. Unfortunately, the portcullis was a little too low for our trucks to squeeze through, meaning that much of the kit will have to be carried in by hand.

And so, here we are, a few days out from ‘Laugharne Live’: access to Laugharne Castle secured. Tickets sold out (almost). And shows, so many, many shows stacked, racked and packed ready for action. Alongside a host of BBC Radio Networks, BBC Radio 3 will be there in force with Ian McMillan presenting flagship poetry show The Verb, and In Tune will be bringing its exciting mix of great music to the castle. Find out more about Radio 3’s Dylan Thomas Day.

It’s set to be a glorious celebration of a wonderful poet. And Laugharne - a setting described by Dylan as a ‘timeless, mild, beguiling island of a town’ - is a poignant backdrop for the event. Laugharne was hardly rest to Dylan Thomas. Nowhere really was, as the bills came in and his marriage disintegrated. But the atmosphere of the estuary which is the backdrop of the castle still carries the atmosphere which certainly inspired some at least of the great writing. This will infuse all of our broadcasting too.

Everything’s in place, so please come along and be part of the experience from our water weighted marquee, Laugharne Castle. Now, where are my pegs ...