All for love: a new orchestra sets out

The UK's newest orchestra is off on its inaugural tour on 13 April. The Pro Youth Philharmonia is the brainchild of flautist and conductor Wissam Boustany and takes in a collection of emerging musicians in their twenties and early thirties. The method, says Boustany, is a bit unusual - see logo above. I asked him to tell us more...

JD: Why is the Pro Youth Philharmonia different from other youth orchestras? Please tell us about its USPs?

WB: We are not out to be different just for its own sake… but we have set ourselves up as a training/youth/professional orchestra for emerging musicians aged 22-32 and will tour approximately three times per year. There are some very fine training and youth orchestras around, of course, but we have pinpointed quite a wide definition of ‘youth’ and ‘’professional’ for ourselves, and central to our ethos is my ‘Method Called Love’, a distillation of 30 years of teaching and performance as a flute soloist. I believe that Love elevates any deed into a transformative experience - both in the way the deed is executed and in the way it is perceived - and this in not addressed enough in institutional education and in the profession. This is what is going to light up our music as well as our audiences hearts, as well as the educational outreach programme that we are in the process of activating. 

Simple, but powerful.      

As a flute soloist born in Lebanon, I will be bringing a special focus on Middle Eastern composers and soloists, over the next years. We are bombarded with some much negativity about that part of the world - I would like to facilitate inspired links and develop cultural ties that nurture talent and build opportunities, goodwill and trust between the UK and that part of the world.

JD: How and why did the idea for it emerge?

WB: In 2015 I was invited to conduct Poulenc’s Piano Concerto “Aubade” at the Australian National Academy of Music in Melbourne. This proved to be a transformative experience for me and my wife Shermine encouraged me to pursue conducting seriously. It is all in the breathing… I have a connection my breathing is at the root of my playing and will be the foundation of my conducting. I have been studying with the astonishingly gifted conductor George Pehlivanian in Madrid (how stimulating and refreshing it has been, to study again, at age 57!!). 

This new focus on conducting has also brought up such vivid memories from my days with Claudio Abbado and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe - Claudio’s approach, the combination of his his soft-spoken nature yet devastatingly powerful conducting have left a deep mark on me… and I believe the secret to Claudio’s success was in the way he chose to work with young people through the European Union Youth Orchestra, the Mahler Youth Orchestra and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe; this is how he built up his approach and his repertoire, and how he was able to preserve and nurture his musical and human passion.     

JD: How have you gone about turning the idea into reality?

WB: The simple answer: where love lives, so does empowerment and the Will to overcome.

I was lucky enough to meet Derek Warby, who had worked with EUYO and other orchestras. His knowledge and pragmatism, passion for music, understanding of the orchestral scene and the inner workings of the music industry have been invaluable. He is spearheading our campaign, as PYP fast  approaches its inaugural tour, as our Head of Marketing and Strategy (besides a lot more).

I also met Mathilde Agoustari when I performed with the Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra several years ago, when she was in charge of their Public Relations… Mathilde has been really instrumental in spreading the word about PYP, as our Head of PR/Communications and Outreach. 

I have been overwhelmed by the goodwill shown by many friends, supporters and colleagues, when they heard about the orchestra and the motivation behind it. Our Trustees Hussein Dbouk and Aleksander Szram, as well as  Nicky Goulder (Create Arts) have been a great source of information, advice and encouragement.

JD: What’s been the most challenging thing about creating it?…

WB: When a project like this is being born from scratch, you have zero reputation, so the tendency is for people to wait and see the result (or whether the project will happen at all) before they commit to supporting you, financially or otherwise. The risks of starting a venture like are enormous - financially, emotionally and creatively; but I have always taught my students that you learn in direct proportion to the risks you are prepared to take; so I am humbly walking the talk. 

Luckily, Derek Warby is by my side and has a great overview of the logistical challenges that we face every step of the way; this has helped us stay on track. After this first tour, organising subsequent projects will be much easier.

  
JD:...And the most exciting and rewarding thing?

Boustany and furry friend

WB: I have single-handedly auditioned every single musician (69 players on this inaugural tour). The human dimension of music, after all the hard and often lonely work, is very rewarding. I have been particularly proud of the auditions, because they were designed to be as empowering and conducive to creativity as possible. Candidates chose their own repertoire and improvisation was one of the key determining factors in revealing the inner potential of the musicians. 

On a personal level, I feel that my whole body and brain are undergoing a fundamental rewiring… for 35 years I have been channelling my creativity into my flute - I am now expanding and using my body and mind in a different way, to connect with people and the great symphonic repertoire, after having vowed never to play in an orchestra again, when I stood down from Chamber Orchestra of Europe in the mid 80’s. This whole process has woken me up and I even hold my old friend, the flute, with renewed love. 

JD: How did you choose the programme for the inaugural tour? It’s wonderfully challenging.

WB: Derek and I consulted on this.

The first choice was the Bartok Concerto for Orchestra. What a feast of colour, folklore and internal revelations. Emerging from dark internal depths, Bartok reaches into the external world, putting expression to the 'people's voice', revealing so much colour, optimism, sensuality and humanity - not to mention the convulsions of Nature. And what brilliant orchestration, giving each individual instrument it's voice and character, while allowing a cohesive universality to take root. 

I also love the Prokofiev Violin Concerto No 2 and am delighted that Stephanie Gonley will be our soloist… I am  seeing so many similarities with his great flute sonata. What an enigmatic combination of threat, wit, virtuosity, scintillating rhythm and utterly clever orchestration. He seems to know exactly what emotional symbolism each single instrument carries with it, which brings such colour and character to his music.

I was immediately fascinated with James MacMillan’s The Confession of Isobel Gowdie when I heard it and thought it would balance well with the other works. MacMillan’s chosen theme of the witch-hunt, although relating to historic Scottish events, is something that I think is very relevant to our lives today, as there is always some sort of ongoing witch hunt happening in the media… it seems to be a national sport, to isolate and prey on people who don’t fit with the established and accepted norms of society.  

JD: Where will it go from here - and where would you like it to go eventually?

WB: I need to start reaching out to composers and soloists from the Middle East, and to approach the big movers and shakers to support these projects. 

I also look forward to planning our first full season of tours for  2019 and beyond. We are conceived as a touring orchestra, so I really want to develop these within the the UK and abroad. Once the next tours are set up, I will want to consolidate our educational outreach programme, so that our “Method Called Love” can run rampant among school children, while involving our PYP members in this important dimension of what the orchestra does. We plan to initiate Art & Poetry Competitions in school, so that schoolchildren can voice their feelings about the state of our world - these poems will be recited in our concerts and the paintings will become the artwork for our poster campaigns. 

JD: What is the message you want it to bring to us all?

May love prevail.

The Pro Youth Philharmonia's inaugural tour begins on 13 April at Cadogan Hall, London, then goes to the Sheldonian Theatre, Oxford (14 April) and Victoria Hall, Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent (15 April). More details here.

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Not Messiah

It's not Handel's Messiah. It's a playlist from a very naughty music-lover.

I've been listening to the thing again - it's hard to avoid it at this time of year - and OK, yes, it does have that certain je ne sais quoi. It's a great piece. He wrote a good old tune or several. But just every so often, wouldn't you like to hear something else instead, or even as well? Leave aside obvious substitutes like Bach’s Christmas Cantata, Britten’s A Ceremony of Carols and much nice music by John Rutter; as for The Nutcracker or The Four Seasons – Tchaikovsky and Vivaldi are great, but enough’s enough. My list features some seasonal music that rarely gets a look in, having been shouldered aside by wall-to-wall Hallelujah Choruses.

Elizabethan Christmas music

If ideal Christmas music is decorative, celebratory and sumptuous on one hand, and intimate, domestic and fun on the other, then the Elizabethan era had it all. Families with space and cash tended to be musically literate in those days, and they might have gathered on winter evenings to sing madrigals or play music for viol consort. Red Byrd and the Rose Consort of Viols recorded their selection of Elizabethan Christmas Music in 1989, complete with a quirky attempt at ‘authentic’ pronunciation. Composers include William Byrd, Orlando Gibbons, Thomas Tomkins and more.

Recommended recording: Elizabethan Christmas Anthems, Red Byrd, Rose Consort of Viols, AMON RA CD-SAR46

Praetorius: Renaissance Christmas Music

Michael Praetorius (1571-1621) was a Lutheran from North Germany. His works are characterised by rich and sympathetic choral writing, similar at times to his greatest contemporary, Claudio Monteverdi – but Praetorius’s music remains rooted in Lutheran chorales, so the effect is gentler, simpler and more streamlined than that of the musical lion of Venice. His most often-performed work is probably the gorgeous carol ‘Es ist ein Ros’ entsprungen’, but I’ve picked a recording of some Christmas-friendly choral pieces that doesn’t include it.

Recommended recording: Viva Voce, BIS, BISCD1035

Bach transcriptions for piano

The term ‘Baroque’ was originally coined to evoke something extravagant, irregular, complex and extraordinary. If you enjoy musical pearls at their most baroque in every sense, then try transcriptions for solo piano of movements from Bach’s cantatas, violin works and concertos, made by some of the finest virtuoso composer-pianists of the 19^th and early 20th centuries. There are hundreds, and Hyperion has been releasing a substantial series of CDs of them. The latest disc features transcriptions by Saint-Saëns and Isidor Philipp: life-enhancing, high-spirited triumphs of virtuosity that would spice up any Christmas.

Recommended recording: Bach transcriptions, Vol 10: Saint-Saëns and Isidor Philipp, Nadejda Vlaeva (piano), Hyperion CDA76873.

Liszt: Weinachtsbaum (Christmas Tree Suite)

Franz Liszt’s bicentenary is nearly over, but not quite. It’s a good excuse to seek out his Christmas Tree Suite, a set of 12 short piano pieces based on carols and lullabies, including ‘In dulci jubilo’ and ‘Adeste Fideles’. Written in 1866, they are tender, charming and lyrical, far indeed from the barnstorming heft of the Hungarian Rhapsodies and the romantic tumult of his B minor Sonata. Instead, this is Liszt as besotted grandfather: he dedicated the suite to his five-year-old granddaughter, Daniela. Coincidentally, her mother – Liszt’s daughter, Cosima, who later eloped with Wagner – had been born on Christmas Eve in 1837.

Recommended recording: Alfred Brendel (piano), Regis RRC1378

Saint-Saëns: Christmas Oratorio

This is a real buried treasure. Possessing extraordinary gifts himself, maybe the 23-year-old Saint-Saëns, writing in 1858, also expected much from his performers: the solo parts are extremely demanding to sing, which might be why the ten-movement work doesn’t pop up often enough. Involving chorus, five soloists, organ and a small orchestra with prominent role for the harp, it strikes a lovely balance between Bach-inspired churchliness and the boulevardier charm that came so easily to Saint-Saëns. Christmas with the French bourgeoisie at its tasty best.

Recommended recording: Noël, French Romantic Music for Christmas – Bachchor Mainz, L’Arpa Festante München/Ralf Otto, Deutsche HM 88697366582

Honegger: Une cantate de Noël

The Swiss-born Arthur Honegger (1892-1955) was among Gabriel Fauré’s last pupils at the Paris Conservatoire. This short Christmas cantata was his final composition and has proved one of his most popular – not that that is saying much, since his works remain shamefully neglected. Written in 1953, it captured something of the spirit of the times. The opening section, on the words ‘De profundis clamavi’, seems a postwar evocation of an existential ‘dark night of the soul’. But from there the music opens out, as if candlelit by the succession of carol fragments that flicker through the musical fabric, weaving a spell of increasing enchantment. Combining texts in French and German, it’s perhaps a message of hope for lasting peace.

Recommended recording: James Rutherford (baritone), Robert Court (organ), Tewkesbury Abbey Schola Cantorum, Dean Close School Chamber Choir, BBC National Orchestra & Chorus of Wales/Thierry Fischer, Hyperion CDA67688

Messiaen Vingt Regards sur l’enfant Jésus

Messiaen’s most famous piano work – 20 ‘regards’, or meditations, on the image of Baby Jesus – includes a movement entitled ‘Noël’, but there is far more to this pianistic tour-de-force than that; more, too, than the vivid colours, crunchy textures and dizzying intricacies of the French composer’s unmistakeable style. Messiaen, a devout Catholic, wrote these astonishing pieces for Yvonne Loriod, whom he later married: she was a virtuoso pianist whose abilities inspired him to new heights of invention. His passion for her, for God and for music unite in a kind of mystical celebration that has rarely been matched. Super-demanding yet also super-rewarding, Messiaen’s music can cast Christmas in a whole new light.

Recommended recording: Steven Osborne (piano), Hyperion CDA67351/2

Piazzolla: Cuarto Estaciones Portenas (Four Seasons of Buenos Aires)

Who needs Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons when you can have Astor Piazzolla’s? The Argentinian composer, who would have been 90 this year, studied in Paris with the eminent professor Nadia Boulanger. He aspired to haut-classical grandeur, but Boulanger spotted that his heart lay in the music of his homeland and advised him to go home to Buenos Aires and explore it. His personal sound-cocktail mingles sophisticated classical expertise with the sultry flavour of the tango.  His Four Seasons were inspired by Vivaldi’s; the ‘Winter’ Tango is a wonderful example of vintage Piazzolla.

Recommended recording: Tianwa Yang (violin), Nashville Symphony Orchestra/Giancarlo Guerrero, Naxos 8572271

Elgar: A Christmas Greeting

A gentle parlour song accompanied by a piano and two violins, this is the most intimate of all these Christmas suggestions: a setting by Elgar of a poem by his wife, Alice. It seems to conjure a cosy and very British type of Christmas in its domestic, hearthside greeting from one partner to the other and back again. And it is heartrendingly Elgarian, with those wonderful arched melodic contours and sense of yearning characteristic of his finest music.

Recommended recording: Worcester Cathedral Choir, Donald Hunt (conductor), Jeremy Ballard (violin), Robin Thurlby (violin), Keith Swallow (piano), Hyperion CDA66271/2

MacMillan: Veni, veni, Emmanuel

James MacMillan’s percussion concerto, taking its title from the medieval plainchant for Advent on which it’s based, was written for Dame Evelyn Glennie in 1991-1992. It is possibly the celebrated Scottish composer’s biggest hit, clocking up hundreds of performances. Structured in one arch-shaped movement, it lasts some 25 minutes, fills with mesmerising rhythmic trickery and marvellously imagined noises, with percussion instruments both pitched and unpitched, from vibraphone to cowbells. Impress your Christmas guests with your contemporary music savviness by playing it full blast.

Recommended recording: Evelyn Glennie (percussion), Scottish Chamber Orchestra /James MacMillan, RCA 828766428520

After the outage...

Our host site was down all yesterday and there's a lot to catch up on now. (Is the John Lewis warranty system also powered by Blogger? Today their system is down...as I know because our fridge is bust...)

First, the 'Classic Brits'. Whatever you think about their abandonment of those two little letters '-al', they had a handful of really good winners the other night. Best of all, Tasmin Little won the Critic's Award for her CD of the Elgar Violin Concerto (on Chandos). As you will know, dear readers, she also got a JDCMB Ginger Stripe Award for it last winter solstice. The disc is seriously, highly recommended. And since other awards went to Tony Pappano and Alison Balsom, things can't be quite so dreadful and doom-laden without those two little letters as many would have us think.

Next, James MacMillan's new chamber opera, Clemency. Fascinating to hear this so soon after the Berlioz Damnation of Faust, since it proves that less really can be more. A co-commission between the ROH, the Britten Sinfonia and Scottish Opera, it's spare, concentrated, highly characterised, and packs an extraordinary number of difficult questions into just 45 minutes of music. My review is in The Independent.

Over in Hungary, JDCMB favourite conductor Iván Fischer has given a warm endorsement to JDCMB other favourite conductor, Gábor Takács-Nagy, who has just been appointed principal guest conductor of the Budapest Festival Orchestra. The news comes via the lucky old Manchester Camerata, where Gabor takes over as principal conductor in the season ahead. Iván says: "There will be a very important change in the life of the BFO from next season onwards. Gábor Takács-Nagy, who was our former concert master, has been nominated Principal Guest Conductor of the orchestra. There are many conductors in the world who can get orchestras to play together but there are very few who can profoundly inspire. Gábor Takács-Nagy is one of them."

TODAY there's a live cinecast from The Met of Die Walkure starring Jonas Kaufmann as Siegmund. Coming soon to a cinema near you, but if you can't get in there are a few 'encore' showings tomorrow and even Monday. Oh, and it also stars Deborah Voigt as Brunnhilde, Bryn Terfel as Wotan and Eva-Maria Westbroek (aka Anna Nicole) as Sieglinde. Playbill Arts has 20 Questions with Jonas Kaufmann, in which our tenor says rather charmingly that "every composer has weak und strong points". Intermezzo disapproves of his admission that he likes Dire Straits.

Faure fans who play the piano will be very glad to see Roy Howat's spanking new Urtext edition of Glorious Gabriel's Beautiful Barcarolles, all 13 of them, clearly and readably presented by Peters Edition and correcting all manner of mistakes, misreadings and misapprehensions that apparently crept into earlier publications. Roy's Faure editions have been arriving thick and fast over the past - well, probably a decade, come to think of it - and they're evidently a labour of love. This one may well tempt me back to the piano for a long-overdue wallow. Read more about it here.

And last but absolutely not least, my interview with the lovely South African soprano Pumeza Matshikiza was in The Independent yesterday. Pumeza grew up in the townships of the Cape Town area in the last decade of apartheid. Next week she'll be singing at the Wigmore Hall in a showcase concert of the Classical Opera Company, and will be doing a duet with white South African soprano Sarah-Jane Brandon. That wouldn't have been possible in South Africa a couple of decades ago. Go hear them.

Now, about that fridge...