11 April 2023
30 March 2023
Classical Music: funding and support - Parliamentary debate
Message from the composer James MacMillan:
An Adjournment Debate
has been scheduled today [29 March] for Parliament on funding and support for
classical music. I was asked for a quote by BASCA [the British Academy of Songwriters,
Composers and Authors]:
“The damage being done
to classical music by people who should know better – at the BBC and the Arts
Council – could impact disastrously on the musical culture of this country in
the coming years. Musicians have been nurtured by these organisations over the
years and the UK has earned an enviable international reputation for its music
as a result. To see these erstwhile allies of culture now turn on us for short
term mean-mindedness or ideological prejudice is a body blow for British music.
Those responsible need to step back and reassess why they have had any
involvement in music and culture in their lives. Let them see the bigger
picture – British music is a success story. Please don’t ruin it.”
Here’s
a link to the debate:
https://www.theyworkforyou.com/debates/?id=2023-03-29a.1112.0&p=10648
18 March 2023
BBC music cuts: responses consolidated
Here’s a link to a collection of the various
objections to the BBC music cuts:
https://www.change.org/p/stop-the-planned-closure-of-the-bbc-singers/u/31411886?recruiter=217560781&utm_source=share_update&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=share_twitter_responsive&recruited_by_id=ff294560-a26c-11e4-b710-cbeac53b4f99
In addition, the composer John Adams has written:
‘As an American conductor and composer my
admiration for British musical culture knows no bounds. For all my life the BBC
has been the go-to access for its phenomenal orchestras and choruses, its
commitment to opera and new music ensembles and for providing a platform for
generations of brilliant and imaginative composers. But now we Americans hear
only the worst stories coming from the UK, as if the country is on a determined
self-destruct freefall. The BBC now apparently wants to join the march to the
bottom by cutting its invaluable institutions. Like the crazed character in the
movie The Banshees of Inisherin, it is determined to lop off its
own fingers, one by one. I am honored to add my name to this list of composers
to ask the BBC to come to its senses and cease trashing the best thing it
possesses.’
John Adams, 14 March 2023
11 March 2023
BBC music cuts: interesting comment on Slipped Disc
There was once a culture of Directors General and
heads of departments being members of the company that ascended through the
ranks. By the time they reached the top, they had learned the value of the
entire organization and would seek to further its excellence. This is no more.
Davie, Webb, Moore, et al are suits
who have been hired for one reason and one reason only: they’re really really
good at filling balance sheets. No appreciation for the cultural importance of
the BBC, they simply exist to fill a spreadsheet and log expenses and revenue.
They’re simply machines designed to make the automatic cuts that justify
maintaining their outrageous ExCo salaries whilst the workers underneath them
max out at 20-40k a year.
It’s a crime against humanity that
these ensembles are being hacked to the bone but still expected to deliver top
quality results. It’s a crime against humanity that the BBC Concert Orchestra
and Symphony Orchestra will be merged under one management, whilst being
expected to maintain the current output of vastly differing repertoire. It’s a
crime against humanity that workforces within the BBC are being forced into
voluntary redundancy and their positions are being closed, yet the workload
doesn’t get thinner. And it’s especially a crime against humanity that Simon
Webb will not be getting a pay cut for his now dwindling responsibilities, he
may even get to keep the 'choirs' part of his title despite the BBC Singers
being gone.
And what was the response to this? A
strongly worded letter? From conductors who hold either chief or principal
guest positions elsewhere and will have no issue maintaining active diaries in
the wake of this loss?
Or how about a protest in front of
Broadcasting House? Surely we don’t really expect Simon Webb and Tim Davie to
actually be present in their offices when these protests might occur. Do we
really think that this will change their minds?
I hear that change.org petition is
gaining traction, but do you really think Webb, Moore, Davie et al will be
bothered by it? They have no humanity, they don’t care. They get their salaries
and piss off to the Bahamas periodically during the winter on private jets.
Nothing that is currently being done
about this will have any real impact. I would expect that the conductors in
that letter have some kind of moral high ground and choose to boycott the
Proms. Would any of the guest orchestras from outside the UK do the same in
solidarity? How about whichever famous soloist they line up for the Last Night?
Furthermore, how come there doesn’t
seem to be any solidarity on the part of non-music BBC branches? We don’t hear
a peep from the newscasters, the producers, the artists affiliated with the
BBC’s mass output of television series. Would the stars of the new Dr Who
series care to speak out? Maybe they can hold off on airing the 60th
anniversary special until Webb gets his head back on right and undoes this
damage?
09 March 2023
Proposed BBC music cuts
The letter below was delivered last night to Tim Davie, the
BBC’s director-general. The signatories are the BBC’s leading conductors:
To Tim Davie, Charlotte Moore, Lorna Clarke
and Simon Webb:
We, the undersigned, read with disbelief Tuesday’s press
release outlining the BBC’s plans to disband the BBC Singers and instigate 20%
cuts across the English BBC orchestras.
The
worldwide renown of the BBC Singers – the UK’s only full-time, professional
choir – has been built over 99 years of groundbreaking, innovative work. To
kill it off takes no time at all, but the ramifications of such
short-sightedness are incalculable. This decision, if carried out, will be
devastating not just to the choir’s present, uniquely-skilled members, but also
to future generations of singers. And even a quick glance at the list of
world premieres given by the group begs the question – for which professional
choir will our composers now compose? Wherever culture is taken seriously the
BBC Singers are regarded as exemplars of what dedication, versatility and
slowly-built foundations can achieve. To be willing to consign all this to the
dustheap in favour of greater 'agility' and 'flexibility' displays a shocking
disregard not only of how artistic excellence takes root but, furthermore, how
the BBC’s great legacy across the arts is viewed and envied around the world.
Rewarding the outstanding work of our
orchestras with bit-by-bit erosion is equally calamitous. Aside from the
jargon, to claim that by cutting jobs you are somehow 'reinforcing the
distinctiveness of the BBC’s unique orchestras' is nonsensical. And what is the
use of 'doubling funding for music education and launching new training
initiatives' if at the same time you reduce the number of secure jobs available?
Telling our best young instrumentalists that hard graft will gain them only
freelance scraps is to misunderstand both their aspirations as well as the
nature of a top-class symphony orchestra. The latter can only produce its best
work in a stable environment – an environment forged by mutual understanding
and a shared vision. To perform the widest repertoire to the highest standard
cannot be achieved otherwise. And so we beg you to reconsider making these
irreversible, catastrophically damaging cuts.
Excellence must be fought for, and lovers of
classical music must be prepared to fight with fierce determination for what
they hold dear. Hence we would greatly welcome the opportunity to discuss the
proposed plans in person and to enter into a real and genuine dialogue.
Together, as guardians of the BBC’s legacy, we can surely forge a path forward
– a path which secures the ability of the BBC’s
ensembles to deliver excellence for our present and future
audiences. This is no less than they expect and deserve.
(signed)
Ryan Bancroft – Principal Conductor, BBC National Orchestra
of Wales
Jules Buckley – Creative Artist in Residence, BBC Symphony
Orchestra
Semyon Bychkov – Günter Wand Conducting Chair, BBC Symphony
Orchestra
Alpesh Chauhan OBE – Associate Conductor, BBC Scottish
Symphony Orchestra
Bob Chilcott – Principal Guest Conductor, BBC Singers
Sofi Jeannin – Chief Conductor, BBC Singers
Anna Lapwood – Artist in Association, BBC Singers
Sakari Oramo OBE – Chief Conductor, BBC Symphony Orchestra
(pictured)
Dalia Stasevska – Principal Guest Conductor, BBC Symphony
Orchestra
Ilan
Volkov – Principal Guest Conductor, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
Ryan
Wigglesworth – Chief Conductor, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
15 January 2023
Ronald Blythe
I
missed Akenfield when it came
out in 1969 but, of course, since moving to Suffolk it has become of
particular interest. I first came to notice and appreciate Ronnie’s work when I
started to subscribe to the Church Times,
as the only way of getting a copy of my own reviews when I started writing for
it, and read – usually before anything else – his weekly back-page column, ‘Word
from Wormingford’, which I invariably enjoyed. I once wrote to tell him so, and
received a lovely reply. His memories of working for Britten and Pears were
also very fascinating, especially as told in his book The Time by the Sea (2013). He did well to reach his centenary
while still living independently at home.
I
never met him, but I thank him for his wonderful evocations of Suffolk life,
never sentimental, but always with the ring of truth. May he rest in peace and rise in
glory!
01 January 2023
New Year’s fireworks
It
was an absolutely stunning fireworks display to welcome 2023 in London, and it
cost £1.5 million!
I’m
sure homeless people on the streets, those at home cold from trying to save
energy, people forced to use foodbanks, would have really loved this
demonstration of so much money going up in smoke that could have eased their
burdens somewhat (and repeated at various venues around the country).
Not
to mention the pollution being thrown into the atmosphere at a time when carbon
emissions have already done irreparable damage to our climate and to curb which we are
making sacrifices in the hope of easing the situation.
The
estimated 100,000 people watching at £15 a head would of course cover the cost,
but the pollution problem would still be there, and there would be no benefit
to others on whom such a sum of money might have been spent. (And how many new Covid cases will result from so many people in close proximity to each other?)
Sorry
to be a killjoy but the country is in a very serious situation and this simply won’t
do. The mayor has questions to answer.