JD
Upping the
Tempo
Jack Pepper
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| Portrait of Rattle by Sheila Rock (licensed to Warner Classics) |
Say what you will about the PR drive surrounding Sir Simon
Rattle’s return to London. We need classical musicians who can grab the
headlines and capture the imagination of the public. Let’s just hope we ride
the crest of this wave
Exhibitions of “photos and memorabilia covering Sir Simon
Rattle’s musical life to date”. A “large-scale projected artwork” that reduces
his form “to a series of animated dots”. And even a screening of Henry V, with
the score performed by the maestro himself. If you were an alien landing in
London today, you might wonder whether you were encountering the propaganda of
some vast autocratic state, or perhaps be fooled into thinking that classical
music had produced its own A-List Hollywood movie. But even with eyes that are
so myopic they won’t allow me to see my feet from where I stand, I can see that
the London Symphony Orchestra is making the most of its new Music Director. And
why not?
Rarely has the classical music world seemed so feverishly
excited in my 18 years on the planet. As a young teenager tentatively
exploring classical music for myself, everything seemed just a tad sterile.
Serious, even. Perhaps it would be going too far to say that everyone seemed
bored, but to a ten-year-old the classical world appeared, well, indifferent. In
reality, classical musicians and music-lovers are never indifferent, but
appearances count for a lot when it comes to engaging new audiences. Despite
numerous scandals and intriguing personalities, the public rarely hear of
classical musicians from the mainstream news. This contributes to an image of
sterility, of distance, even if it is far from true.
Whilst my friends would be hyper at the release of a new
iPhone, ecstatic at the thought of a new Bond, and positively overwhelmed by
the prospect of a wireless speaker, I
looked at the classical world and found that its own most publicised stirrings
consisted of an elderly female pianist pirating old records and the frequently
acerbic response of audiences to the latest opera production that happened to
show a nude singer. Whilst a 1920s silent movie would never have shown such
exposure, it would be hard to avoid it in the latest Bond release; yet
classical audiences seem consistently irritated by similar things.
Of course, the
news hadn’t made me aware of Darmstadt, or of any of the other seismic
revolutions that rocked classical music as a force for change. Old habits seemed to die hard, and with its penchant for
tradition – constantly wearing dinner jackets and sure to hiss the latest opera
production - the classical world on the surface seemed rather glued to routine.
But it is true that some constants have damaged classical
music for too long. If horror at the pettiest of nude ‘outrages’ was regular,
genuine excitement seemed equally regularly hard to come by at first glance. I
would watch the latest BBC coverage of the Proms to find the presenter
insisting that they were all having “a great party”, whilst looking more like
they were at a wake. Dig deep and you find huge excitement in classical
circles, but this was not regularly communicated on the surface level that any
new audience would first see. To a newcomer, didn’t it all seem just a tad rigid?
We seemed so busy insisting that we were excited by a new piece that we forgot
to appear genuinely excited. To a young person surrounded by glaring digital
billboards advertising the latest Tom Cruise blockbuster, the classical music
world seemed – to judge by its sparse mainstream coverage alone – decidedly
fixed in its ways.
Rattle could not have come at a better time. Not only can he
change public perceptions of classical music, nor can he only change the way
seasoned music-lovers view their art form, but he can also tackle political
indifference. It is disturbing that the arts seem so often to be a mere feather
in a national cap, and not the cap itself; for too long, we have been reading
articles crying despair at British cuts to arts funding, seen images of the
latest American orchestra to close, and (most likely didn’t) read how most UK political
parties entirely overlooked the arts in their manifestos in the 2017 General
Election. When so many public personalities – faces we see every day on the
news, and who influence everything from arts funding to public perceptions –
seem so adamantly against the arts, we need a cultural figurehead who can take
a stand. If politics are indifferent to music, then music must never appear
indifferent to itself. It must never just ‘accept’. Classical music needs a
politician, but if it can’t have one in politics, why can’t it have one in
music?
The problem is clear. The world of classical music seemed
indifferent to itself when I first started exploring its treasures not because
it genuinely was ambivalent, but
because its public image was stuffy,
traditional and old-fashioned. Of course it has its peculiarities, like an
audience’s strange aversion to sniffing, sneezing and any other sign of human
life at a concert. We should be willing to admit this. But the classical music
world is not stuffy. It was only my subsequent experience of meeting musicians,
going backstage and getting involved that showed me nothing could be further
from the truth. But we need someone out there saying it.
With Simon Rattle, we have a fantastic opportunity to present
a rejuvenated image of classical music to new audiences who, like I was as a
young child, may be intrigued by the wonders of this genre but hesitant to go
further simply because it seems so daunting. If politicians and the mainstream
media seem indifferent to the arts, the arts world must redouble its efforts to
demonstrate the passion that it
undoubtedly has. Rattle should be a kick up not just our own classical derrières,
encouraging us to spread our passion to all, but also up the political rear as
a reminder that this genre does have its own powerful figureheads. Yes,
Rattle’s return has been coupled with a strangely omnipresent and marketing-speak
PR campaign, but if it gets people talking about classical music, then consider
it a job well done.
Our passion and our determination to open the arts to all
must never be restricted to purely musical circles, where we are at risk of
preaching solely to the converted. Someone like Sir Simon Rattle can remind us
all why we adore this genre, and bring our love of classical music to everyone.
That’s worth a PR campaign.
Jack Pepper
