Are we all happy, now?
Allison
Thanks for your comments and compliments.....keep them coming!....well, only if they can be genuine.... Actually, I've been following a thread, needling away in my usual way: there has always been criticism about the stuffiness of some of our concerts, sometimes specific and sometimes aimed at classical music in general. However, I've no grumbles against our audience. All our recent concerts seemed to stir up the right feelings, even the squeaky gate Osborne one - very satisfying. I worry (I always worry....that's me) that classical music is getting all dusty stuck in a cupboard up in some ivory tower. It's not. Having spent my life in a studio band paddock, I'm now looking over the hedge and wondering if enough people are really enjoying 'doing' music - playing an instrument and going to concerts. (You, very obviously, are.) If they're not, then we have to make concerts more attractive - without diluting anything. In China and at the Proms, I was struck more than ever by what a huge difference the audience can make to a performance, and to the piece of music itself, and I've been obsessing about that since. Maybe I'm more tuned in to the audience now, but it feels a lot better here in Glasgow than ever before. And, yes, the hall itself has its own important part to play.......and presentation.......you wouldn't slap a beautifully prepared meal down on any old plate and leave it in the back court in the hope that someone might wander by and enjoy it. And the programmes need to be attractive - this season's are brilliant. The music market is changing shape, and nobody is sure, in this brave new digital world, what shape it's changing to. When I came to Glasgow the SNO could regularly fill the City Hall two nights a week; at which time 90% of our work was 'dry' studio recordings. Now we rarely do a dry recording (except CD sessions). I like the informality of our afternoon concerts - whether it's Discovering Music or straight concerts, like next week - and, considering the limited market for daytime audiences, a goodly number of people turn up. I feel that nowadays there is a better overall sense (politically speaking) of the importance of orchestras. My daughter was in Bremen during the October week, with some members of the Glasgow Schools Symphony Orchestra, playing in an international youth orchestra. She returned overwhelmed by the sheer buzz of being part of an orchestra - the people, the music, the cultural bridges, the whole performance thing. How many people can look back on these events as some of the greatest fun they ever had? There are equivalents in the likes of sport and drama; so the essential ingredient X seems to be in the 'group' bit of the whole thing. And, by the way, amateur pianists and orchestras on Radio 3 this month? What a great idea - the ´óÏó´«Ã½ (aka your licence money) building the base of the cultural pyramid on which it depends. No judgement, no competition - just doing it. Mind you, over there in China, they've realised what our government hasn't realised yet: if you want to improve literacy and numeracy then you do music first.........shucks, my record's stuck in a groove, just read my blog of the 21st January.
Anthony
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