Why is music so resistant to crossing borders? – Telegraph Blogs

Wednesday 28 January 2015 | Blog Feed | All feeds

James MacMillan


Why is music so resistant to crossing borders?

The Munich Philharmonic hadn't heard Britten's Violin Concerto a few years ago

The Munich Philharmonic hadn't heard Britten's Violin Concerto a few years ago

I attended an interesting concert last night in Poole, given by the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra conducted by David Hill. The concept of their "living tradition" series is taken up in three concerts in which they pay tribute to the early years under their founder, Sir Dan Godfrey, when the Bournemouth Municipal Orchestra enjoyed a reputation for its adventurous programming of then new music from Europe, for its support of British music, and for inviting composers to conduct their own music.

Last night’s concert began with Tintagel by Arnold Bax, followed by Elgar’s Violin Concerto (premiered exactly a century ago last night) played by the stunning Dutch virtuoso, Simone Lamsma, and topped off by Walton’s still outrageous Belshazzar’s Feast. The Symphony Chorus were clearly in impressively rude health. It made me reflect on why I have become so fascinated by British music of the last century, and also why it can be difficult explaining the importance and beauties of this tradition to people in other countries.

There does seem to be a gulf in understanding and appreciation when British music goes abroad. Things may be better with the present generation, and in new music circles, where British contemporary music hold its own quite well, but so far that is still a comparatively minority pursuit. It is alarming to encounter such ignorance on the continent when the music of Britten, Tippett, Vaughan Williams and even Elgar is concerned. I have conducted these composers’ work in Germany and Belgium, where the players had never come across the music in their careers at all, until then. The Belgian players were aware of the iconically English Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis (by Vaughan Williams) but had never had the chance to play it. They loved it. The string writing is so sumptuous and idiomatic, and yet so poignant.

Similarly, when Daniel Hope and I took Britten’s war-ravaged Violin Concerto to the Munich Philharmonic a few years ago, the players were clearly impressed with the music, and moved at making this discovery. To be honest, though, the Germans have a number of strange and surprising blind spots. I was conducting the Third Symphony of Sibelius in Karlsruhe a few years ago, and both orchestra and audience were encountering the work for the first time!

It does work the other way too, though. We may have grown up with the great German composers of the past, but we never hear much of the music of the present generation – Wolfgang Rihm and Detlev Glanert, for example. Why is music so resistant to crossing borders?

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