Speaking Musically: Great Artists in Conversation at the Royal Academy of Music
Editor: Raymond Holden
856 pages, including index.
First published 2023
ISBN-10: 1915635314
ISBN-13: 978-1915635310
Hardback
Royal Academy of Music Press
The present book –a weighty and far-striding one– stands in the company of other printed collections of interviews. The lineage of these volumes of steered conversations with musicians and their satellites stretches back quite a way. The internet is home to many of these, but if for the moment we stick with books I think of two in particular. They happen to focus on composers: Murray Schafer’s British Composers in Interview (Faber, 1963) and more recently Encounters with British Composers by Andrew Palmer (Boydell, 2021). Other swimmers in the sea of surveys of musicians of the age include, looking back to the post World War II period, Donald Brook (whatever became of him?) and his Rockliff Press series of vignettes: his Violinists, Pianists and Singers of Today and his Conductors and Composers Galleries are useful sources even now. In addition, online interviews abound, including the extremely valuable ones by Bruce Duffie. Add to these distinguished one-offs including that by Richard Adams in conversation with Vernon Handley.
How did the present book come about? The Royal Academy of Music in London has, over the last decade or so, hosted some forty public interviews with eminent international musical presences. This process began in 2009 and, so far as this collection is concerned, ended in 2018. Doing this in public might perhaps have cramped the style of the interviewees but there is little sign of that.
Sixteen of the Academy’s programme of interviews were undertaken by the Academy’s Principal, Jonathan Freeman-Attwood. The rest, with some exceptions, were under the tutelage of Raymond Holden a writer (and much else) who will always be associated with Barbirolli and with John Pritchard. Holden was assistant to Pritchard between 1978 and 1989.
Those interviewed publicly as part of the RAM’s bigger scheme and whose interviews are represented in this book include Charles Mackerras, Mark Elder, Neville Marriner, Edward Gardner, Vladimir Jurowski, Jane Glover, Sian Edwards, Joanna MacGregor, Leon Fleisher, Denis O’Neill, Ryland Davies, Paul Badura-Skoda, Anne Evans, Gwyneth Jones, Yvonne Minton, Yvonne Kenny, Ann Murray, Sarah Walker, Sheila Armstrong, John Williams, Stephen Hough, Steven Isserlis, György Pauk (he played the Brahms at my first real-life concert at University Great Hall, Exeter, Bournemouth SO/Paavo Berglund in 1970), James Ehnes, Tony Palmer, Humphrey Burton and Bruno Monsaingeon. For a full list of people figuring here go to the end of this review. Inevitably readers will be pleased to see so many, but disappointed at the non-inclusion of some, although much is to be learnt of people such as Solti and Menuhin as part and parcel of the interviews which have been used. Some people interviewed as part of the RAM programme have not been included in this admittedly already capacious book. They are Erich Grunberg (a particular pity given that another BBC Radio 3 ‘trooper’, György Pauk did “make the cut”), Ian Partridge, Leif Segerstam, Eric Schulz and John Suchet (review ~ review).
Among the last and potentially most intriguing category there must be hosts of people who could have been invited but either declined or never had the opportunity. One person that comes to mind is Simon Webb the wise, personable and enterprising manager of the BBC Philharmonic in Salford. Having his life story and insights, personal and organisational, could well have been especially helpful and enriching. There will be others. Perhaps in the future?
The interviews used are substantial offerings, offering opened doors to detailed reminiscence and imparting experience and wisdom. There’s nothing of the media-thin trivia and endless vapid loop of the weekly media magazines. Each interview is flagged at the start of its chapter with date and location – it is clear that was provenance.
The book has received the best editorial treatment. That trumpets itself, not least, in the attention to spelling. These pages are bursting with opportunities for spelling errors in names and technicalities but, in fact, in the whole 800+ pages I found only two ‘trips’. On page 531 we get “primus inter parus” instead of the correct “primus inter pares”. On page 781 “gesammtkunstwerk” should be “gesamtkunstwerk”. Hats off to the proofing and editorial teams. By contrast, there are small but significant touches such as one small but delightfully notable thing and that is a most flamboyantly-tailed Q character. Have a look on p 821: a lovely paraph. On the other hand, it would have helped the reader if each page had incorporated in the repeat header the full name of the artist being interviewed.
Now to the substance. Variety of style and approach is a given but each does collude in the short question and long answer template. Variety of essence goes with the range of interviewees and the small band of brother interviewers. Whenever Mr Holden is the interviewer the door is left ajar for others to reflect on Barbirolli. Fourteen out of the forty interviews are not by Mr Holden. As to diversity, note that there are two British women conductors out of 15. Two men – and unusually they share an interview – out of 11 singers. The shared interview is good trick to “pull off”; it needs the right people to avoid one of the interviewees dominating and another going quiet. There’s one female instrumentalist and the rest in that group of 8 are men. All the record producers, administrators etc are men. By the way, credit to Holden and his co-workers for kicking in the stained glass doors and having a category of record producers, film-makers and administrators at all, even if it is in the final substantive section of the book. For the most part the people interviewed are currently still alive.
This is definitely not one of those pictures-over-words coffee table books; in fact there are no photographs. It’s a true source book and one that gives every appearance of presenting the musicians who laid themselves in plain sight in the process with nothing through a glass darkly.
No interview is all one thing and not another. Differences in “weighting” are to be expected and welcomed. The variations add to readability and the great marathon of life impressions and life lessons ensures the mind and heart are fully clasped. Cliché or not, variety is the spice of learning and entertainment.
Recordings play a frequently large part in the interviews so this should extend the appeal to the great audience for recorded music. Great play is made of Isserlis for among other things his CD sleeve-notes. The late Oliver Knussen relates how important record collections were to him. Likewise, James Ehnes, one of whose key contacts in ‘backwoods’ Brandon had a record collection that seemed to represent every violinist who had recorded at all. In general, there is little or no disdain for recording. Well done, Gramophone for giving permission for the use of the extended version of the Nikolaus Harnoncourt interview and credit to Mr Holden for wanting to let us have the whole of this interview. Any profits of the sale of this book go to the Students Hardship Fund.
The Janet Baker item is less life-journal and more philosophical and reflective. The Gwyneth Jones piece takes wing with reminiscences and impressions. Anne Evans talks lots about Wagner and she is one of the few to be year and date precise. There are references aplenty to the great names: Lilian Nordica for one. Many another denizen of the EMI Record of Singing appear as exemplars and there are not a few names who are known only as teachers.
Violinist Ehnes makes considerable play of his life in Brandon as a Canadian backwater: it’s not even Winnipeg. Maxim Vengerov relates how imperious but useful Barenboim was when the violinist conferred with him about particular works including the Sibelius concerto. Nice little vignettes abound. John Williams mentions Julian Bream playing at Tottenham Municipal Baths. Williams refers to the importance of proselytising to millions courtesy of low brow television shows in which he appeared, such as the Billy Cotton Band Show and shows by Val Doonican and Eric Sykes. Sarah Walker relates how, such was her regard for the voice teacher Vera Rózsa, that she transferred some antiquated VHS recordings of Finnish TV programmes about Vera to DVD and thence to YouTube. Among celebrity singers, Kiri Te Kanawa emerges smilingly humanised and down to earth. Pianist Paul Badura-Skoda recalls his early accordion skills and how these came in very handy when relating to the Soviet Forces of Occupation in post-war Vienna. Russian State experiences of Bychkov (concert review) and Jurowski take their place in history. Roger Wright speaks, seemingly unguardedly, about life and creativity in the BBC and about his respect for the severe John Pritchard. Britten’s aversion or guardedness in relation to the BBC and the composer keeping the BBC out of Aldeburgh are also mentioned. Good on Wright – a most all-encompassing Launcelot for British music – for singling out Barenboim’s way with Elgar Symphony No. 2 with the Berlin Staatskapelle.
Maxim Vengerov shows himself open-minded and recalls performing a work Viola Tango Rock Concerto by Yusupov, playing a five-string sea-blue violectra. Record producer Christopher Raeburn, when invited to proffer some left-field recommendations, praised Régine Crespin to the skies, citing her Bizet, Wagner, Berlioz and Ravel. He also makes an entertaining comparison between singers Del Monaco as against Pavarotti; Pavarotti comes out of it well. Tony Palmer mentions his work with Ben Kingsley in Testimony, the Shostakovich film. Palmer was sued no fewer than four times by Mary Whitehouse and also relates his experiences in making a documentary about the life of Liberace. Humphrey Burton affords us a chuckle with his anecdote from the life of Nelson Mandela; try page 706. Monsaingeon, who made such a name for his himself for his Richter documentaries, dwells to good effect on the history of film making, and on how important film was to Karajan
Two of the interviewers are sui generis outliers disrupting, to good effect, whatever uniformity there is in the interview life-and-wisdom mix. Burton’s is really an encomium to Yehudi Menuhin while Thielemann’s is a fairly systematic study of the Bruckner Symphony editions in a Viennese context.
This generously proportioned book is to be read as a reference and is made all the more useable by a good detailed index. It also puts in good service as a sort of Christmas annual – to be read at any time of the year – for the grown-up music lover.
Rob Barnett
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Contents
Introduction
Interviewees – brief profiles
Interviewers – brief profiles
Part One: Conductors
Neville Marriner * Charles Mackerras * Colin Davis * Christoph von Dohnanyi * Nikolaus Harnoncourt * John Eliot Gardiner * Trevor Pinnock * Mark Elder * Jane Glover * Oliver Knussen * Semyon Bychkov * Masaaki Suzuki * Sian Edwards * Vladimir Jurowski * Edward Gardner
Part Two: Singers
* Janet Baker * Gwyneth Jones * Yvonne Minton * Anne Evans * Sheila Armstrong * Ryland Davies and Dennis O’Neill * Sarah Walker * Kiri Te Kanawa * Felicity Lott * Dame Ann Murray * Yvonne Kenny
Part Three: Instrumentalists
* Paul Badura-Skoda * Leon Fleisher * György Pauk * John Williams * Steven Isserlis * Joanna MacGregor * Maxim Vengerov * James Ehnes
Part Four: Record Producers, Film-makers, Arts Administrators
* Christopher Raeburn * Humphrey Burton * Tony Palmer * Bruno Monsaingeon * Roger Wright
Part Five A Bicentennial Postlude: Revisiting Bruckner in Vienna
* Christian Thielemann
Index
