MUSIC FOR THE MASSES

JOHN LUBBOCK talks to Bill Newman

<< Continued from page 3

'Originally a singer - in ensembles at the Academy, and as a founder member with John Aldiss of the LSO Chorus - I always regretted I never had any conducting tuition. Feeling uncomfortable on my own, being a conductor with my back to the audience I felt fine. Despite the appalling performances, all my friends were prepared to sing the B minor Mass in darkest Dorset, but I wanted to go to the Royal Festival Hall with a choir of 250 for the best music-making. As a chorister at Windsor from 7, I learnt by emphasis to discover the right results. There were no personalities, no hype, none of the makebelieve that surrounds the profession now. My ambition was based on the quality of the music. I joined Swingle II, then I lived off the orchestra and have been doing it since. This started as a string quartet at the Academy with Richard Deakin, Marcia Crayford, Tony Jenkins, Chris van Kampen, Nicholas Kramer, harpsichord. Norma Burrowes - remember her, and me the baritone! Bach Cantatas, oboe quartets, sonatas, Vaughan Williams songs, Britten Ovid Variations, Kodaly Duo - all sorts of quirky pieces, lots of concerts. I wanted something more interesting, so we went to the Purcell Room and performed Poulenc's Le Bal masqué and Paul Patterson's interesting The Nails of Death, both of which needed a conductor! I went through the Poulenc - all the bars in different metres - didn't know what I was doing, with the players chanting "One, Two, Three!!"

'I also organized a choir at Primrose Hill, and it just worked! The fundamental acorn of my present orchestra, with its atmosphere, has stayed the same. Personnel come in and others leave and they attract people of like kind, but occasionally we get a bloke in who sticks out like a sore thumb, and we don't ask him back. It's horses for courses! I'm so bored with this comparison, you know, of who's the best orchestra in the world, and so on. Our orchestra is different - you can hear it, but a lot of people don't listen, they just read the hype. Not having made a lot of records may be detrimental, and our managers suffer, but those we have made are very good. I have put all my efforts into them, applying myself as best I can, yet I feel there are so many conflicting things about recording. It's like putting a beautiful animal in a cage - a tiger pacing up and down or dogs playing football in a circus - clever, but not what they were put on earth for. For me, spontaneity in music making is more important, and spontaneity when making the record is an art by definition. Repeat it more than once, and it ceases to be. I have a crazy idea with this new concert hall, of facilities built in to record all the concerts. The orchestra get their fee and we have a couple of patch sessions for when someone starts coughing.'

Continue >>