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to Chapter 21
22
No
longer a performer
The
National Centre – Conservatoires around
the world. Hong Kong – orchestral problems.
The Chinese Orchestra. Financial difficulties
at the NCOS. Competitions – opposing
views.
When
I became a member of The Committee of
Enquiry into the Training of Musicians
while I was still in the Philharmonia
it had not crossed my mind that I might
quite soon be ceasing to be a professional
musician. Nor that I would have the
opportunity to be involved in so many
and diverse areas of the music world.
The
National Centre for Orchestral Studies
The
first news that a plan to create a training
orchestra was being considered appeared
in Classical Music in January
1978. Under the headline ‘Training orchestral
musicians for the 1980s’ it stated that
‘Following the publication of the Gulbenkian
Report on Training Musicians,
exciting moves are afoot to establish
a major new training orchestra in London.
The plan is the brainchild of Basil
Tschaikov, Philharmonia clarinettist
(and chairman of the orchestra’s board)
and professor at the Royal College of
Music. He has prepared a paper on the
establishment of a National Centre for
Orchestral Studies at Goldsmiths’ College,
New Cross in south London. This has
been presented to and approved by a
working party (the Advanced Orchestral
Training Working Party) comprising representatives
of the BBC – the demise of whose own
Academy training orchestra was a direct
spur to the new scheme – the Musicians’
Union, The Arts Council, the Association
of British Orchestras and Goldsmiths’.’
Then
in August the Times reported
‘A national centre to bring young
musicians up to the standards of the
leading orchestras will open in September
next year at Goldsmiths’ College, University
of London. The National Centre for Orchestra
Studies (NCOS) will provide a year-long
diploma course for about seventy-five
student musicians at a time. They are
likely to have graduated from music
colleges and universities. There is
little organised training for young
musicians who aspire to join leading
orchestras but need to improve their
skills. A similar organisation, the
Academy of the BBC, closed last year
because of a lack of funds. Students,
who will be coached by leading conductors
and performers, will be eligible for
local authority grants but the cost
of running the course is to be met for
the first five years by such organisations
as the BBC, the Independent Broadcasting
Authority, the Arts Council, the Musicians’
Union and the Performing Rights Society.’
At about
the same time Goldsmiths’ issued a Press
Notice in which the representatives
of the three organisations that provided
support throughout the life of the NCOS
stated their belief in this new enterprise.
Dr Richard Hoggart, Warden of Goldsmiths’
College and Chairman of the NCOS Executive
committee, is quoted as saying: ‘We
think a Centre of this kind is essential
if we are not going to waste the talents
of many of these young musicians and
if the standard of British orchestral
playing is to be maintained and improved
to the highest international level.’
John Morton, General Secretary of the
Musicians’ Union claimed it as: ‘A valuable
step, which will improve the status
and recognition of the music profession.
I hope this initiative will give greater
impetus to music in the state education
system.’ The BBC’s Controller of Music,
Robert Ponsonby, welcomed the scheme:
‘This proposal for the creation of a
centre for orchestral training in Britain
is very exciting indeed and the BBC
is very glad to be involved as a sponsor
of it. The centre deserves enthusiastic
support from every sector of the profession.’
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During
1978 and 1979 the Advanced Orchestral
Training Working Party made great progress
and before long evolved into the NCOS
Executive Committee. Once the National
Centre was established with The Lord
Perry of Walton as Chairman of the Board
of Trustees – he was also the Chairman
of the University of London Goldsmiths’
College Delegacy, its governing body
– the Executive Committee became the
Management Committee. One of the remarkable
aspects of the NCOS was the way representatives
of organisations that normally confronted
each other across the negotiating table
worked happily together on the Management
Committee, made up of representatives
of Goldsmiths’ College, the Independent
Television Companies Association (ITCA),
the Independent Broadcasting Authority
(IBA), the BBC, the Musicians’ Union
(MU) and the Association of British
Orchestras (ABO), with the Warden of
Goldsmiths’ College as Chairman.
The
launch and press conference at the Royal
Festival Hall in December 1978 attracted
a good deal of favourable coverage in
the newspapers and by February 1979
it was possible to insert advertisements
inviting application for the first course
starting in September 1979. There were
a great many applicants and the auditions
in April lasted for several weeks until
an orchestra of 70 was finally selected.
In order
to prepare these young players for the
profession the course provided the opportunity
for them to study and perform the symphonic
and chamber orchestra repertoire from
the baroque, classical, romantic and
contemporary periods, opera, light and
session music, and to do so not only
on the concert platform but also in
the opera pit and in the broadcasting
and recording studio. In a normal week
they would be involved in about 25 hours
of rehearsals, coaching sessions and
concerts. In addition to their normal
daily practise they usually found they
needed to spend time preparing the new
music they were faced with each week
before the first rehearsal. This was
especially the case for the strings.
The NCOS paid for them to have a certain
number of lessons with a teacher of
their own choice. The number of lessons
was determined by how much their teacher
charged.
To
take advantage of the outstanding international
conductors that were attracted to London
by the four London orchestras, the BBC
Symphony Orchestra and two opera houses,
the timetable was kept flexible so as
to accommodate their availability. In
this way the NCOS was able to persuade
a considerable number of them to work
with the orchestra. The orchestra would
prepare the repertoire they were going
to conduct by having sectional rehearsals
with coaches and some full rehearsals,
usually with a talented young conductor.
It was fortunate that George Hurst who
conducted the orchestra several times
each year was not only an excellent
orchestral trainer but had also taught
many of those who later would go on
to have successful conducting careers.
Through him the NCOS were introduced
to some of his ex-pupils. Adrian Leaper,
Martyn Brabbins, Peter Stark and Mark
Shanahan all gained valuable experience
at the start of their careers both by
conducting the orchestra and then attending
the rehearsals and concert given by
the conductor for whom they had prepared
the orchestra.
Over
ten years we were fortunate that Richard
Armstrong, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Rudolf
Barshai, Paavo Berglund, Rafael Fruhbeck
de Burgos, Harry Christophers, Nicholas
Cleobury, Colin Davis, Edward Downes,
Mark Ermler, Robert Farnon, John Eliot
Gardiner, Roy Goodman, Charles Groves,
Vernon Handley, Richard Hickox, Lorin
Maazel, Diego Masson, Charles Mackerras,
Norman Del Mar, Yehudi Menuhin, Roger
Norrington, Harry Rabinowitz, Simon
Rattle, Gennadi Rozhdestvensky, Kurt
Sanderling, Vilem Tausky and Barry Wordsworth
all agreed to conduct the NCOS orchestras.
Some of them came back a number of times.
Because of the insight into the performance
of the music that they had gained through
years of conducting great orchestras
all over the world, with so many of
the best instrumentalists, they did
far more than just rehearse and conduct
performances. They gave the young musicians
the benefit of their knowledge and understanding
that turned their visits into wonderful
master-classes in the art of orchestral
playing.
We were
usually able to prevail upon them to
conduct repertoire that from my own
experience I knew they did particularly
well, though on one or two occasions
I had to dissuade, in as diplomatic
a way as possible, a conductor who wanted
to conduct something he would not usually
get the opportunity of conducting or
to tryout a work he might like to add
to his repertoire. From time to time
I was approached by conductors who wanted
to conduct the NCOS orchestra who, again
from my own experience, I felt were
unsuitable. Dealing with them could
be very difficult. But it had to be
done because it was essential that the
young musicians’ time should not be
wasted. It would be bad enough when
they were in the profession and being
paid for their trouble.
Whilst
the young musicians were on the NCOS
course they were given the opportunity
to play as wide a range of music as
possible. I always encouraged conductors
to conduct music they had a particular
interest in, be it contemporary music
or the music of British composers, opera,
light music, or those dedicated to the
‘authenticity’ movement and performance
on period instruments.
Throughout
each year there were sectional coaching
sessions and, after the first year when
we were fortunate to have an American
student who was already quite experienced,
we increasingly had a professional violinist
to lead the orchestra whenever possible.
From 1983 that was virtually all the
time. For several years it was Peter
Thomas, who was later captured by Simon
Rattle to lead the City of Birmingham
Symphony Orchestra and then James Coles,
who had led several orchestras. They
both took enormous pains to help the
string players learn how to play in
an orchestra. Learning to play in an
orchestra is more difficult for string
players, especially violinists. The
concentration on the solo and chamber
music repertoire they will have experienced
at music college and at private lessons,
where individual expressiveness is so
important, does not prepare them for
the discipline required within a violin
section of perhaps anything from 16
to 20 players. It can sometimes be even
more difficult for a very good violinist
to come to terms with the restraints
imposed within a section.
Bearing
in mind the concern expressed in the
Gulbenkian report and by the ABO about
the standard of the string instrumentalists
applying for positions, especially in
the regional orchestras, the NCOS arranged
for regular visits by the leaders of
the London orchestras: Hugh Bean, Iona
Brown, Rodney Friend, Barry Griffiths,
Emmanuel Hurwitz, John Ludlow, Manoug
Parikian, Carl Pini. In addition we
were fortunate that Michel Schwalbé,
Leader Emeritus of the Berlin Philharmonic
Orchestra and Herbert von Karajan’s
leader for 30 years, agreed to work
with the orchestra every year coaching
and conducting the whole orchestra,
concentrating on the string sections.
Another particularly inspirational coach
was the outstanding orchestral, chamber
music and solo violist Frederick Riddle.
Many of the most distinguished string,
woodwind, brass and percussion principals
in the London orchestras were also regular
coaches and examiners.
The
orchestra worked very hard, preparing
the young musicians for life in the
profession. The schedule for the very
first week , in September 1979, is typical
of how intensive the course was:
Monday
2.00 –5.00 full orchestra rehearsal,
conductor John Forster
Brahms Symphony
No. 2 and the Symphony in 3 movements
by Stravinsky
6.00 – 9,00 woodwind, brass and percussion,
piano and harp (cond. Forster)
Tuesday 10.00 - 1.00 strings only with
John Forster
2.00 – 5.00 full
orchestra with Simon Rattle
Wednesday free
Thursday 10.00
– 1.00 strings only and 2.00 – 5.00
woodwind and brass, both with Simon
Rattle
Friday 6.30 –
9.30 full orchestra Simon Rattle
Saturday
2.30 full orchestra with Simon Rattle
preceding a concert at 4.00 in the Great
Hall, Goldsmiths’ College.
As well
as covering the standard classical and
romantic repertoire it was felt that
the orchestra should become acquainted
with and play a good deal of contemporary
music. Edwin Roxburgh, himself a composer,
rehearsed and conducted an extremely
demanding and difficult programme::
s
Goehr
Metamorphosis
Varese Integrales,
Stravinsky Symphonies
of wind instruments
Schoenberg Kammersymphonie,
op.9b
Throughout
the following week the orchestra worked
with Vernon Handley, who was a regular
visitor and particularly helpful to
the orchestra on every occasion. His
programme this time consisted of Leonora
Overture No. 3 by Beethoven, Moeran’s
Symphony in G minor and Dvorak’s Symphony
No. 7. The concert at the end of the
week was in Greenwich Borough Hall,
an excellent hall seating about 1000.
This is the hall where the orchestra
rehearsed and gave the majority of their
concerts.
A week
or so later, because on this occasion
Colin Davis could only come for two
days, the orchestra had several preparatory
rehearsals before he arrived to conduct
Sibelius Symphony No. 1 and the Symphonic
Variations by Dvorak.
The
orchestra’s first Concert in the Goldsmiths’
Great Hall was given before an invited
audience at the end of the seventh week.
There had been three days of full orchestra
and sectional rehearsals with John Forster,
and two days when the strings worked
with Manoug Parikian and the wind with
Jack Brymer, before Charles Mackerras
arrived. He then had three more rehearsals
with the full orchestra followed by
the concert:
Walton
Overture Portsmouth Point
Elgar Enigma Variations
Brahms Symphony No.1
During
that first year the orchestra played
a repertoire ranging from Handel to
Lutoslawski and Messiaen, including
opera in collaboration with the National
Opera Studio and the Guildhall School
of Music and light music. It recorded
for broadcasting in the BBC studios
at Maida Vale with Gennadi
Rozhdestvensky, and a concert in the
Greenwich Festival conducted by Sir
Charles Groves was recorded for Capital
Radio.
An exciting element in the final term
was when the orchestra went to France
to take part in the Saintes Music Festival,
where they gave two performances and
recorded the Brahms German Requiem.
They then went to Angoulême to
give another performance of the Requiem
in the Cathedral and to Royan to play
an orchestral programme.
Every
year, in the second half of the last
term we held the Diploma exams. There
were four elements: the performance
of a piece of one’s own choice – a movement
from a sonata or concerto, or some other
suitable piece; the performance of any
of the passages for their instrument
from a number of extracts from the orchestral
repertoire performed during the year,
received a few weeks before the exam,
as selected by the examiners, and some
sight reading. This was a demanding
experience for the students. They had
to face two of the very best players
of their instrument, just as they would
when auditioning for one of the orchestras,
as well as myself.
The
fourth element was a 5000 word essay
on any topic concerned with music, or
a five-minute composition or arrangement.
The 5000 word essay was the cause of
a good deal of unhappiness to the students
and a good deal of trouble to me. Many
of the students who had been to music
college objected to what they felt was
an imposition and quite unnecessary
for someone taking a course preparing
them for the orchestral profession.
The students who had been to university
(always a minority) had no difficulty
in writing an essay, but the majority
of the students at the NCOS had been
to a music college where the curriculum
does not as a rule require any written
work and had not done any for the past
four years since they had left school.
They were therefore quite unprepared
for this element of the diploma. Even
at school they had never had to write
a self-motivated piece of this length.
However, the University of London Delegacy
insisted on this academic element if
they were to award the Diploma. Assistance
from lecturers in the large and excellent
Goldsmiths’ College music department
was available, but the difference between
their much more academic approach to
music and the usually wholly practical
performance orientated attitude of the
members of the orchestra did not often
lead to a very collaborative relationship.
Despite
my warnings, every year one or two students,
finding they had nothing original to
say themselves, resorted, often in desperation,
to copying fairly lengthy passages from
books on their chosen topic. Of course,
the well-read lecturers quickly recognised
the source of their plagiarism. In academia
this was considered a capital offence
and could well lead to the dismissal
of the guilty student. Within a culture
in which to speak and write well is
considered far more valuable than any
manual skill, however much artistry
is involved, the status of musicians
has suffered. A good many of the most
outstanding artists, used to expressing
themselves through music, often have
considerable difficulty in expressing
their feelings in words. This has been
more of a problem in Britain than in
some other countries where there are
courses within the universities for
those wanting to become performing musicians.
It was
generally recognised that it would have
been absurd for a student who had done
extremely well in all the practical
elements to fail the Diploma because
of failure in the written element. Equally,
it would be ridiculous if a student
whose practical work had been poor,
but whose written work had been excellent,
received a Diploma. In the end I was
able to persuade the University that
neither failure nor success in the written
element should be a deciding factor
in obtaining the Diploma.
During
the first term of year two, on the 4th
and 5th December 1980, the
NCOS faced its most severe test. Her
Majesty’s Inspectors from the Department
of Education and Science (DES) arrived.
If the University of London was to continue
to validate the Diploma it was essential
that the Inspectors gave the NCOS a
satisfactory report. Fortunately they
did. Their conclusion was:
It
is gratifying to be able to record the
successful launching of this enterprise,
brought into being in the face of considerable
odds. In these early days, the main
emphasis has been upon securing adequate
recruitment, establishing vocational
credibility and maintaining financial
solvency. No doubt, as the Centre develops,
and as the profession learns to accept
better trained entrants into orchestral
work, it will prove possible to extend
some more of the educational aspects
of the course without changing its essentially
vocational nature. Meanwhile, the formation
of the Centre is seen as an ambitious
and imaginative initiative which deserves
continuing support; even in the fourth
term of its life, the results already
achieved must be particularly encouraging
to those whose faith and vision have
followed this venture through to fruition.
Naturally,
every one was delighted. Coupled with
the enthusiasm of the conductors who
came to work with the orchestra everyone
was happy. Simon Rattle in a video interview
made for Goldsmiths’ said, ‘At the colleges
playing in the orchestra seems to be
something to be avoided …. Here, for
the first time people leaving college
will get a proper orchestral background
instead of having to make mistakes …
the people they’ve got working here
and the schedule is absolutely marvellous.
Any orchestra that has any sense would
take a good deal of notice that students
have been here. It is very exciting.
There’s no other training anywhere else
in the world like this.’ Colin Davis
said ‘To give these kids this kind of
opportunity seems to me to be invaluable.
The opportunity to find out about themselves
– whether they really want to do this.
The good ones will get tremendous confidence
from doing this kind of thing. Speaking
about string players in particular he
said, ‘It will help them accommodate
themselves not only musically but humanly.’
However,
as Director I was already grappling
with insufficient financial resources
and a lack of co-operation from the
managements of the orchestras and the
organisation to which they belonged.
These problems were to plague the NCOS
throughout its existence.
Another
problem was finding somewhere for the
orchestra to rehearse and give concerts
as Goldsmiths’ Great Hall was in constant
use. The Orchestra gave about three
or four concerts a year there. Fortunately
Lewisham Council came to our rescue
by making Greenwich Borough Hall, always
referred to as GBH, available. This
provided the NCOS with a ‘home’ where
the orchestra could rehearse and give
concerts and where it also had a room
that doubled as the office for the personnel
manager and librarian. However, it had
the disadvantage that there were no
other rooms in which sectional rehearsals
could take place. The rooms really needed
to be in the same building as the hall
so that after each section – the violins,
violas, cellos and basses – had been
with their individual coach they could
come together to rehearse in the hall.
The same applied to the woodwind and
brass sections. Accommodation in other
places was found , but it was never
entirely satisfactory.
The
NCOS thought that it had solved the
problem when I learned about the Blackheath
Halls, only a mile or two away, in a
much more salubrious neighbourhood.
From 1939, throughout the war and until
1960, it had served as offices for various
government departments and then for
a further 16 years it did no more than
house thousands of National Insurance
cards. In fact it had not been used
as a concert hall for more than 40 years.
When I first saw the Hall it was empty
and in a state of serious neglect. Vandals
had taken the lead off the roof and
removed, with some violence, the central
heating radiators. Evidence of pigeons
was thick throughout the building.
The
Hall, a fine 19th century
building, had been opened in 1895 by
Lord Hugh Cecil. It had a main concert
hall seating about 850, a recital room
seating 300, a music room, excellent
for lectures and a number of smaller
rooms in which small groups could rehearse.
From 1895 until the outbreak of the
First World War, many major artists
had appeared there; Sir Edward Elgar,
Mark Hambourg, Clara Butt, Mischa Elman,
Vladimir de Pachmann, Fritz Kreisler,
Wilhelm Backhaus, Coleridge-Taylor and
many others.
It
was clear this building would provide
all the accommodation the NCOS needed
for rehearsal and performance and there
would also be enough suitable rooms
for the occasions when the orchestra
divided into a number of groups for
sectional rehearsals. Additionally,
the offices, library and storage of
instruments, as well as some social
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facilities
for the orchestra could be in the same
building. By 1985 the NCOS had reclaimed
the Hall from the derelict condition
in which they had found it, and it was
widely reported that they would be taking
up residence in 1987.
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However
it was not to be. There were
too many objections from local residents
that it would not be sufficiently available
to them for a wide variety of activities
to take place, such as art exhibitions,
workshops, film shows and several other
activities, because of the amount of
use the NCOS required. This severely
restricted fund raising and the whole
project collapsed.
Some
years later the money was found to open
the halls to the public. Though for
a time chamber concerts were given there
and sometimes the main hall was used
for recording sessions by the London
orchestras, it was never available to
the local residents as they had wished
and the venture proved to be uneconomic.
The hall again became empty. It has
now been acquired by Trinity College
of Music, which after leaving London
is resident in the truly splendid Old
Royal Naval College in nearby Greenwich.
So,
the NCOS remained in GBH, rehearsing
and giving concerts. But, in order to
give those on the course an overall
experience of the life of a professional
orchestral musician, they were also
given the opportunity of playing in
the opera pit, in the broadcasting studio
and of experiencing the tension felt
when the red light goes on in the recording
studio and having to play the same difficult
passage over and over again.
Playing
in the orchestra did not yet usually
require an orchestral musicians to have
to stand up and play as a soloist –
since then educational work has played
an increasingly important part in maintaining
many orchestra’s finances and so this
has become very much more common. Now
the musicians in a symphony orchestra,
and not only the principals, frequently
go into schools in small groups and
are often required also to play a solo
role. Back in the 1980s it was only
the principals who would be asked to
demonstrate the sound and range of their
instrument and perhaps play a short
solo passage in a work to be performed
in the programme. The need to assume
a soloist’s stance, if only for a very
short time, only really occurred at
children’s concerts when introducing
the instruments of the orchestra. The
NCOS established a relationship with
several schools in the neighbourhood
and gave regular concerts especially
devised for them. For part of the concert
some of the children were encouraged
to come and sit in the orchestra next
to the musicians. At the end of the
concert the children had the opportunity
of meeting members of the orchestra
and have a closer look at the instruments
and be shown how they worked. Sometimes
a few of the braver musicians allowed
the children to handle and even try
to play a few notes on their instruments.
To
play in the orchestra pit is quite a
different experience from playing on
the concert platform, both musically
and psychologically. I never came to
enjoy it as much as playing on the concert
platform or in the studio. Some musicians
prefer it. For the first few years the
NCOS could only give the student the
impression of playing in the opera pit.
The orchestra would be joined by students
at the National Opera Studio to perform
a concert version of extracts from the
operatic repertoire – arias, duets,
trios, etc. on stage – while the orchestra
were assembled on the floor below the
level of the stage.
From
1983 onwards the orchestra was invited
each year to take part in the Brighton
Festival to play for a production put
on by the New Sussex Opera Company.
There were always four performances
during the Festival which were performed
in the Dome, a large hall where I had
played many times in the past with the
Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra. Over
the years the NCOS took part in productions
of two Verdi operas, Aida and
The Masked Ball, The Flying
Dutchman by Wagner, Gounod’s Faust,
Andrea Chenier by Giordano and Benvenuto
Cellini by Berlioz.
The
orchestra stayed in Brighton for a week
taking part in other events as well
as playing for the opera. As well as
the experience of being away from ‘home’
for a week and so as to prepare the
young musicians for the joys of touring
the orchestra went on a short tour in
England or abroad each year and did
several ‘one night stands’ giving concerts
some distance from London. This meant
leaving quite early in the morning travelling
by coach, a short rehearsal, a concert
and then returning home at midnight
or later. This gave rise to some complaining.
During their professional life they
were likely to find they would do perhaps
three or four or more of these ‘out
of town’ engagements on succeeding days,
often much less enjoyable.
The
most demanding performances the orchestra
gave were those that were broadcast
either in the BBC studios or relayed
from one of their concerts. These were
fully professional in the sense that
they had to stand comparison with the
BBC orchestras and relays of concerts
by the major orchestras. As a rule the
BBC chose unusual repertoire so as not
to clash with or create too great a
comparison with other orchestras. The
broadcasts were usually with very good
conductors. There were a number with
Gennadi Rozhdestvensky, Sir Charles
Groves and George Hurst, but probably
the most exciting was the broadcast
of Sir Michael Tippett’s 4th
Symphony, conducted by Sir Colin Davis.
With
financial assistance from the Holst
Foundation it was possible to instigate
a composer-in residence scheme. Each
year from 1983 onwards a composer had
the opportunity of working with the
orchestra. Their compositions were included
in NCOS concerts and at least one was
always broadcast. Mark-Anthony Turnage
related particularly well with the orchestra,
perhaps because he was not much older
than the players at that time. He dedicated
his Ekaya to Adrian Leaper and
‘my friends at NCOS’. He said, ‘I think
this course has changed a lot of my
attitudes and prejudices towards players,
and vice versa. This was part of the
intention of the scheme though it was
not always as successful as it was with
Turnage. A few of the young composers
behaved as if the members of the orchestra
were keys on a piano and could be treated
as unfortunate necessities. For their
part the orchestra did not always show
sufficient understanding of the compositions
that were still immature and perhaps
contained impractical or impossible
passages. Another composer who did have
a good relationship with the orchestra
was John Woolrich. Both Turnage and
Woolrich have gone on to have very successful
composing careers.
I was
very keen that the young musicians at
the NCOS should have the opportunity
to experience the music of other cultures
– Chinese, Indian, Asian, and African
– at first hand. I especially remember
an outstanding Chinese musician from
Hong Kong who came to play to us. She
was a virtuoso on the pipa, a
beautiful Chinese pear-shaped fretted
lute that sounds like a very delicate
guitar. On another occasion two fine
Indian musicians came to play to the
members of the orchestra. For me the
best of all was when we were allowed
to play and receive instruction on the
Gamelan at the Royal Festival Hall.
This was a wonderful experience and
an insight into a quite different kind
of orchestra. It is made up of gongs,
metallophones, xylophones, cymbals and
drums and involves a different way of
making music collectively.
It was
a great disappointment to me that on
every occasion when there was an event
of this kind or when I had invited someone
to give a talk on various aspects of
music – jazz, changes in performance
style, the music of other cultures and
times – a number of those on the course
were so disinterested that they did
not attend. Between 1979 and 1990 their
number increased. When I asked them
why they had not taken advantage of
learning more about other kinds of music
they replied that they did not think
these events furthered their future
professional prospects and that they
could spend their time more profitably
by practising their instrument. I was
sad to see a less vocational and a more
commercial approach to being a musician
develop as we progressed through the
1980s. On one occasion, when I was complaining
to Philip Jones, the very distinguished
trumpet player and Head of the Wind
department at the Guildhall School of
Music, that only about sixty percent
of the students attended these events,
he said that I was very fortunate and
that he was lucky if twenty percent
of his students attended similar events.
Friends in other professions told me
they were experiencing the same thing.
By 1986
I realised that the fees to conductors
and coaches were continuing to rise
as were staff salaries. Unless the income
the NCOS was receiving could be increased
it would be impossible to maintain the
course at an acceptable standard for
more than a couple of years. I knew
that the colleges of music had already
found that students from overseas were
keen to come to Britain to study and
that the fees they could be charged
could be higher than those for British
students.
When
I expressed my fears for the future
to the NCOS management committee and
suggested that perhaps we should follow
the colleges’ lead I met with considerable
opposition from the BBC, the MU and
the ABO representatives. They had always
been opposed to the NCOS accepting more
than one or two overseas students each
year, and then only if there was not
a suitable British student. I felt I
had to persist, as unless they could
propose another method by which our
income could be increased, the future
looked very bleak. Perhaps the BBC,
MU and the TV companies could increase
their financial support for the Centre?
Or the committee knew of some other
source of funding that might be available.
Otherwise the only solution seemed to
be to try to attract more students from
other countries. In the end it was reluctantly
agreed that I should visit a number
of conservatoires to find out what orchestral
training was being provided elsewhere
and what demand there might be for the
course we were offering and if possible
to encourage that demand.
Visiting
Conservatoires
I already
knew about the situation in many of
the European countries but little about
the Scandinavian countries so I decided
I should begin by visiting four, Denmark,
Sweden, Finland and Norway, and then
return to base for two weeks to see
that everything was going well with
the course before setting off for the
next four and a half weeks to visit
the USA, Canada, New Zealand, Australia,
Hong Kong, China, Japan and Taiwan.
Unlike the many years I was in an orchestra
and at the mercy of orchestral managements,
this time I made all the travel and
hotel arrangements myself. Though my
schedule included visiting as many conservatoires
and meeting as many people as possible
in a short time (the NCOS management
committee were naturally anxious that
I should not turn these trips into an
extended holiday), it was the most enjoyable
and stress-free foreign travel I have
ever undertaken. This was partly because
I had decided to take my wife with me,
at my own expense. Not only would this
be a wonderful opportunity for her but
I would be spared the loneliness so
often experienced by soloists and conductors
when travelling and having to stay in
many hotels on their own.
In 1987,
in mid-January, we set off for Denmark.
I had not been to Scandinavia before
and though I knew it would be cold at
this time of year I was unprepared for
just how cold it proved to be. I was
surprised when I looked out of the hotel
bedroom window in Copenhagen to see
a ferryboat stranded, stuck in the ice
on a canal near the hotel. In fact,
a couple of days later it was my intention
to take the hydrofoil to Malmo in Sweden,
a short sea journey. But when we arrived
at the hydrofoil we found that because
it was so cold the sea was completely
frozen over and we had instead to go
on a ferryboat with two ice-breaking
tugs dragging us through the ice. It
was a wonderful, magical journey. During
the two weeks in Scandinavia we experienced
snowstorms and blizzards – on the train
journey from Stockholm to Gavle the
wind was so strong that it brought the
overhead wires down and we were stuck
there for several hours. Norway and
Finland proved to be just as cold –
not the dreadful damp cold we experience
in Britain, generally accompanied by
grey overcast skies, but bracing and
with blue sky and the bright sunlight
making the snow sparkle.
While
I was making the arrangements for the
tour I had been to the British Council
Office in London to discuss the possibility
of receiving assistance from their officers
in the countries I was about to visit.
Until then I had not had any dealings
with the British Council and was delighted
to find that I was met by charming,
well-informed and extremely helpful
members of the Council wherever I went.
The first time I experienced this was
in Copenhagen. I had had a meeting with
the vice-principal of the conservatoire
and been disappointed to find that there
did not appear to be much enthusiasm
for sending any of their students to
the NCOS. However, James Moore the British
Council Officer in Copenhagen raised
my spirits. He was keen that the NCOS
orchestra should visit Denmark and said
he would help if our programmes included
some music by younger British composers.
He introduced me to an agent who was
also keen the orchestra should visit
and thought that some funding for an
NCOS tour could be achieved. It would
be wonderful if this could be arranged
and this might well lead to the orchestra’s
performances inspiring some of the best
students in Denmark deciding to come
to the NCOS.
I found
the conditions in the concert halls
and conservatoires in the Scandinavia
countries I visited to be excellent,
especially so in Sweden. The Music School
in Malmo, where I met the Assistant
Director Martin Mastinson, was new and
purpose built. The very fine concert
hall, seating about 450, had a sound/vision
control-room and was fully ‘miked’ as
well as being extremely comfortable.
But for me, used to the less than satisfactory
teaching accommodation in the conservatoires
in Britain, it was the teaching rooms
that were most impressive. Each room
had been built to acoustic principles
with a sloping ceiling and non-symmetrical
walls. The acoustics could be easily
adjusted electronically; the floating
ceiling panels could be moved to suit
whichever instrument was being taught
– making it less resonant for a trumpet
lesson than one for the guitar. Each
room had state of the art recording
facilities. Equally valuable was the
complete sound separation between the
rooms and the corridors. In addition
there were many practise rooms for the
450 students who also had the use of
a good library, canteen and storage
for the larger instruments.
The
beautiful concert hall in Malmo seating
1300 was only a year old in 1988 when
we were there. The conditions for the
orchestra on the platform and back stage
are quite remarkable. On the stage the
height, angle of the back and seat of
each player’s chair was adjustable and
there were Perspex, transparent baffles
for those sitting in front of the brass
and percussion players, at that time
only used at rehearsals. Backstage the
members of the orchestra had ample room
for changing and resting.
In Gothenburg,
a four-hour train journey from Malmo,
we were met at the station and whisked
off to the University for lunch. The
teachers in Gothenburg already knew
about the NCOS as several of their students
had gained entry to the NCOS course
in previous years and they were keen
for us to hear some more of their pupils.
I auditioned several who would come
the following year to audition again
in England for a place on the course.
The
co-principal clarinet in the Gothenburg
Orchestra Urban Claesson who had been
at the NCOS only a couple of years before
invited us to the orchestra’s rehearsal
the following morning. After the rehearsal
he and another ex-NCOS student Roger
Carlssen, now the principal percussionist
in the orchestra took us out for a splendid
lunch. It was most rewarding for me
to meet these two young men again, now
established and well regarded, so soon
after I had known them only as students.
In Stockholm
I auditioned a number of potential students
who later gained places at the NCOS.
Several are now working in one or other
of the orchestras – one is now the principal
clarinet in the very good radio orchestra
that also regularly gives concerts in
Stockholm. The next day to Gavle a town
several hours by train from Stockholm
to meet an ex-pupil of mine who was
now principal clarinet in the Gavle
Orchestra. That evening we went to one
of their concerts. Again, a delightful
concert hall, and a good, though small
orchestra. After the concert we had
to return to Stockholm. It was well
after midnight by the time we arrived
back; the streets were deserted and
there was a blizzard that made being
able to see where you were going extremely
difficult. As we did not know Stockholm
and have no sense of direction, we wondered
if we would ever find our hotel. By
chance we did, which was fortunate as
the next morning I had arranged to listen
to some more student auditions before
we left in the afternoon for Helsinki.
In a
country with a population of only 5
million Finland has a remarkable number
of orchestras: twelve are professional
and about the same number are semi-professional.
I had hoped that we might be able to
recruit a number of students, but it
seemed that at that time some of those
who did not go to the Sibelius Academy
probably went to Russia to study. The
standard of the players in the Academy
Orchestra, which the Rector Ellen Urho,
in charge at the Sibelius Academy, took
me to listen to, was good. (Recently
Finland has produced an astonishing
number of very talented young conductors).
That
same evening we left Helsinki to fly
to Oslo. The next morning, before meeting
the Dean of Studies Einer Solbu at the
Conservatoire there was time to explore
this charming city. I already knew Solbu
from my involvement in ISME, the International
Society for Music in Education. In 1986
the NCOS orchestra gave two concerts
at their Biennial Conference held that
year in Innsbruck. During the two days
I spent in Oslo I heard a number of
the students. Again the standard of
performance was generally very good.
My last day in Norway was in Bergen
where it proved impossible to arrange
to hear any students in the short time
I was able to stay there. As a consolation
the Principal of the conservatoire Rolf
Davidson took us to lunch at a wonderful
fish restaurant in the Old City before
we caught a plane back to London.
It had
been a hectic but enjoyable two weeks
during which as well as going to the
conservatoires and concert halls I had
also visited a number of the Music Information
Centres. These were all very well appointed
with informed and helpful staff and
had a wealth of sheet music and scores
as well as many recordings of solo,
chamber and orchestral music, jazz and
popular music, particularly by contemporary
Scandinavian composers. I felt I had
made some very useful contacts that
could lead to an increasing number of
young musicians applying to the NCOS
after they had completed their conservatoire
courses, but who still needed to hone
their orchestral skills.
On the
second leg of my travels I was looking
forward to learning more about the conditions
in conservatoires and finding out what
degree of preparation for the orchestra
was available around the world. Equally
important, perhaps even more so, I wanted
to learn to what extent it might be
possible to interest those who might
influence suitable students to apply
to spend a year at the NCOS.
In New
York I met the members of the National
Orchestra Association who expressed
interest in the NCOS. It seemed that
the opportunities for gaining some experience
was greater in the music faculties within
the universities than in some of the
conservatoires. This was confirmed when
I met the President of the San Francisco
Conservatory of Music. His views on
preparing musicians for an orchestral
career was very similar to that held
in Britain at that time: though not
expressed openly, in fact, the orchestra
was really seen as the last refuge for
those not good enough to be soloists,
chamber music players or teachers.
My visit
to the wonderful Banff Centre for Continuing
Education was delightful and inspiring.
An arts, cultural and education institution,
usually just referred to as the Banff
Centre is situated in the Banff National
Park in the Canadian Rockies. Here,
in beautiful, peaceful surroundings
(the first morning we were there I opened
the bedroom curtains to find two moose
quietly browsing just outside) there
are facilities for writers and composers
to stay for a while, away from the stress
of city life. There were also courses
for classical and jazz musicians, orchestral
and ensemble courses under the direction
of outstanding musicians. Tom Ralston
and his wife, in charge of all the music
activities introduced me to a number
of performers and teachers that enabled
me to make contacts that would be valuable
in the future.
We then
flew down to Los Angeles, before flying
to Auckland, New Zealand, a twenty-hour
flight, the longest I have ever undertaken.
We spent four days in New Zealand meeting
musicians and administrators in Auckland,
Wellington and Christchurch in the universities
and music colleges. I found that they
were making an effort to provide some
orchestral training and had a small
post-conservatoire orchestra in Wellington
supported by the radio authorities.
Unfortunately, a lack of sufficient
funds only allowed for a small orchestra
that could really only tackle the chamber
orchestra repertoire satisfactorily,
and not long after my visit this brave
attempt was obliged to close.
My next
stop was Sydney, Australia. At that
time there were ABC (Australian Broadcasting
Company) symphony orchestras in the
main cities – Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide,
Perth, Queensland – and smaller orchestras
elsewhere. A few British musicians had
gone out to join some of these orchestras
and quite a number of Australian musicians
had come to Britain, either to study
or join the profession. As a result
I already had contacts with teachers
in the university, conservatoire and
within the profession. It seemed that
there might be a good chance that some
young musicians wanting to become orchestral
musicians would be interested in coming
to the NCOS.
We had
some free time in Sydney and as the
weather was very warm we took the opportunity
to take the ferry across to Manley,
about a half-hour journey. In the evening
we went to the Sydney Opera House to
see Eugene Onegin for which the
principal of the Conservatoire had booked
us the best seats in the house – his.
But the very fine building that is called
the Sydney Opera House turned out, in
fact, to contain an excellent, large
concert hall and a small theatre where
the opera performances took place. The
performance was rather a disappointment
(Eugene Onegin is one of my favourite
operas). The acoustic was not good and
some of the singing was not of a very
high standard.
Hong
Kong
From
Sydney we flew to Hong Kong where we
stayed for just one night on the way
to China. I had been to Hong Kong on
two previous occasions. The first time
in April 1981 was when I was invited
by the Royal Hong Kong Jockey Club Music
Fund to audition some young musicians
with a view to them coming to the NCOS.
The Jockey Club was incredibly rich
and supported many charities. One was
to pay for young Chinese musicians to
go on to advanced music education not
available in Hong Kong at that time.
Several students did come to the NCOS.
I realised that unlike the conservatoires
that could accept a student on the recommendation
of a distinguished teacher in another
country, the NCOS had to take much greater
care in selecting which students it
could accept. A student accepted by
a music college may prove to be less
talented than expected or even not satisfactory
in other ways. Accepting someone into
an orchestra is very different. It only
needs one player to wreck a whole string
section; two or three can have a profound
effect on the standard of the whole
orchestra.
The
day after I had returned to the National
Centre, after the auditions at the Jockey
Club, I received a telegram from the
Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra (HKPO)
asking me to return as soon as possible
as they were experiencing some major
problems in the orchestra. The most
serious was that the orchestra were
refusing to play for their principal
conductor. He was Ling Tung, a Chinese-American
who had been a violinist in the Philadelphia
Orchestra. He later decided to be a
conductor and for many years from 1968
until 1996 was the conductor of the
Grand Teton Music Festival, held each
summer in Wyoming. As about a third
of the Hong Kong Philharmonic were Americans
and another third Hong Kong Chinese
he must have seemed to those making
the appointment a good choice of conductor.
I already
knew Ling Tung because it was with his
co-operation that the New Philharmonia
was able to regain the use of its original
name, Philharmonia. When in 1964 Walter
Legge decided to disband the Philharmonia
and take the orchestra’s name as well,
for reasons that remain obscure the
name was acquired by Mr Tung. Many years
later when the orchestra learnt about
this it negotiated with him and in 1977,
in return for being engaged by the orchestra
to do a Royal Festival Hall concert
and make two recordings, the Rakhmaninov
Second Symphony and Don Juan
by Richard Strauss, it was agreed that
we could have our old name back. As
a conductor he was competent enough
but uninspiring.
In 1980
he was appointed the principal conductor
of the HKPO. However by the following
year it seems he had upset both the
Chinese and the American musicians to
such an extent that they were refusing
to play for him and demanding his immediate
dismissal. None of the members of the
General Committee of the Hong Kong Philharmonic
Society Committee had either the experience
or the understanding needed to manage
an orchestra, particularly in a crisis
of this kind and did not feel sufficiently
confident in their General Manager.
In desperation they invited me to Hong
Kong to try to sort things out.
The
members of the Committee, which unusually
combined both administrative and executive
powers, were mainly appointed by the
Hong Kong Government, (at that time
Hong Kong was still a British Crown
Colony) and the Hong Kong Urban Council,
plus several wealthy British and Chinese
directors of large companies. Nearly
all the funding for the orchestra was
provided by the Urban Council and the
Government.
It was
not until July that I was able to respond
to their request and return to Hong
Kong. The brief they sent me was, to
say the least, somewhat daunting.
1.
To review the day-to-day operation of
the orchestra.
2.
To assess the problems which have arisen
at the player’s level and to put forward
proposals for solutions.
3.
To review the management structure and
responsibilities in respect of the operation
of the orchestra
4.
To review the salary structure within
the orchestra and put forward proposals
for simplifying the
structure and eliminating the anomalies.
5.
To advise on the inter-relationship
between the General Committee, General
Manager and Music
Director, and on the role that a new
Music Director should be expected to
play.
6.
To advise on the terms of reference
for the International Music Advisory
Panel.
7.
To give an assessment of the present
standard of the orchestra in international
terms and its strengths
and weaknesses.
8.
To examine: a). the role and contribution
of the Philharmonic in the development
of music in Hong
Kong at all levels; b). the orchestra’s
declared policy of encouraging local
players and to discuss
with the Music Office and the Conservatory
how this policy can best be achieved.
I soon
found that John Duffus, their General
Manager was both charming and extremely
capable but not strong enough to deal
with the high-powered members of the
Committee. They were all used to exercising
authority. and wanted to make the decisions
as to how the orchestra should be run.
They were unwilling to let their manager
do his job without interfering, believing
that their ability to be successful
in their particular field of administration
gave them the skills required to run
an orchestra. This attitude has at times
created similar problems for orchestras
and opera houses elsewhere over the
years.
It was
only going to be a year after my visit
that talks were to begin between the
British Government and the People’s
Republic of China that would lead to
Hong Kong ceasing to be a British Crown
Colony and those on the Committee representing
the Urban Council were already keen
to start exercising increased control
of everything in Hong Kong. In the past,
when I had been in discussion with politicians,
both Conservative and Labour, such as
Edward Heath (later Sir Edward), Sebastian
Coe (now Lord Coe), Edward Short and
Tony Banks, I had sheltered to some
extent within a group. Now, in Hong
Kong I was in a much trickier political
situation and having to deal with conflicting
cultures and the political aspirations
of the Chinese and British government
representatives on my own. My meetings
with Sir Murray MacLehose the Governor
(now Lord Murray), and the other civil
servants were relatively straightforward,
but when I met members of the Legislative
Council and especially the Urban Council
I needed to take much more care.
As usual,
the discontent in the orchestra was
not only their feelings about the conductor,
though I have always found that if members
of an orchestra are happy in their music
making – and that most often depends
on the conductor – other problems can
be dealt with fairly easily. This was
a classic case, containing all the problems
I had seen in other orchestras (but
never altogether in one orchestra),
in a tiny country with two cultures.
The
orchestra complained that the principal
conductor had far too many rehearsals
during which he kept repeating the same
passages over and over for no apparent
purpose and without improving the performance.
Also that the guest conductors were
not of a standard the orchestra felt
was suitable. Though the orchestra was
capable of giving satisfactory performances
with a good conductor who understood
the standard he could get from a smallish
regional orchestra where some players
were of modest accomplishment, Ling
Tung seemed to have arrived with expectations
far beyond what was possible and without
the skill to make the best of what was
available
They
also complained that player/management
communication was poor, which was not
surprising as the librarian and the
orchestral/personnel manager were both
also playing members of the orchestra.
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