I think it says a great deal about the commitment of the British people that we have such a wonderful variety of arts festivals happening around the country, even in challenging financial times. We at the BBC National Orchestra of Wales are so proud to be involved in many of these festivals and we kick off our summer season with a visit to the Cheltenham Festival this week.
Under the baton of Martyn Brabbins, we will be performing Holst's The Planets and a new work by Richard Blackford titled The Great Animal Orchestra. I do hope that is not a veiled slight aimed at our brass players.
Martyn Brabbins. Photograph by Chris Christodoulou
I always enjoy playing The Planets - it has a wonderful viola part and there are wee tricky bits in each movement that are fun to conquer. However, while you are (hopefully) enjoying The Planets, do spare a thought for our organist, Rob Court.
The organ of Cheltenham Town Hall is currently out of action. So Rob will be over in Cheltenham's All Saints' Church on his lonesome, blasting out Mars' apocalyptic chords, and it will then be relayed to the Town Hall. Not ideal, but these things are sent to try us! Poor Rob will be valiantly battling with a time delay and hoping that Skype adequately bring Martyn's beat to him. Technology, eh?! Fingers crossed there is no wifi failure…
Cheltenham Town Hall
And what can you expect from Blackford's Great Animal Orchestra? The work's full title is The Great Animal Orchestra: Symphony for Orchestra and Wild Soundscapes. The music, as already mentioned, is by Richard Blackford, but the wild soundscapes are by Bernie Krause who is an author and natural sounds expert. The work integrates pre-recorded natural sounds into the orchestral texture.
The Great Animal Orchestra
Krause is a very interesting character. He talks a lot about 'biophony' and 'anthrophony', terms he coined to describe the sounds created by animals within a given habitat. He has been recording, archiving and writing about natural soundscapes for over 45 years, and has therefore been able to capture the impact of human activity (for example, deforestation) on the habitats of animals in the wild. If you want to get a flavour of his work, you can catch his fascinating lecture 'The Voice of The Natural World' on TEDTalks (I love TEDTalks!).
On the day of the concert, in the Parabola Arts Centre at 3pm you can get into the zone by attending an afternoon symposium 'The Planets: A 360 View'. The event is led by Stephen Johnson (I loved him on Discovering Music), Marek Kukula, Public Astronomer at the Royal Observatory Greenwich, and Raymond Head, Composer and Holst Scholar.
Tickets for both events, on Saturday 12 July in Cheltenham, are available through the Festival website and box office.
It will also be broadcast live on BBC Radio 3.
If you want to know more about The Great Animal Orchestra in advance, you can watch the preview on YouTube or visit the work's own website.
