One of the most exciting aspects of classical music is when its champions and practitioners fail to live up to their reputation for being as stimulating as a box of two-ply kleenex.
Examples abound from as recently as last year when an audience member was ejected from the Bristol Proms for attempting to crowd surf during Handel’s Messiah; to the famous riot that broke out at the premiere of Stravinsky’s Rite Of Spring, where anything that wasn’t nailed down was thrown into the orchestra pit; to the archaic story of JS Bach drawing his sword on a foul-mouthed bassoonist in the town square.
Stories like these are teased from the slumbering behemoth beneath the tux and tails and remind us that the art form is still made of real human beings who sometimes have real problems being human.
A very special moment occurred at the Vancouver Symphony’s New Music Festival last year when the audience, having just heard The Standing Wave Ensemble perform the first piece in the festival’s run, seemed to realize that they had just been printed a licence to explore new and exciting ways of generating decibels in a concert hall. Spurred on by Maestro Bramwell Tovey, stamping his boots and whooping approval from his seat amongst them, the rest of the patrons followed suit and the tone of the festival was set.
When asked to comment on his rowdy concert hall behavior, Tovey explains that, “Most of the music we play during the year is by composers who are no longer with us and there is a way of responding to the music that is somewhat formal. At the New Music Festival we try and encourage people to have a more blatant or visceral reaction. This is music addressing our time. Some of those pieces can be very powerful indeed”.
One of the works programmed for the festival that Tovey anticipates will leave this powerful impression is Kelly-Marie Murphy’s violin concerto, Blood Upon The Body, Ice Upon The Soul. The piece is at least partially inspired by Kelly-Marie’s experience living next door to someone who later turned out to be a sociopathic murderer.
Perhaps evidenced by the continuing success of the Winnipeg New Music Festival, for which Tovey can claim some credit for starting nearly 15 years ago, there is a lot of confidence going forward with new music when that wasn’t always the case.
The highly-anticipated collaboration between the VSO and the Phoenix Chamber Choir as they tackle Estonian composer Arvo Pärt’s Berliner Messe is expected to attract a large audience. The elder composer enjoys the distinction of being among the most performed and recorded of living composers.
“Composers themselves in the past 20 years have become much more cognizant of wanting to connect with an audience,” says Tovey.
Rather than turning audiences away, the legacy of contemporary classical music is likely to be one of inclusion as composers, performers, and listeners find one another.
• The Vancouver Symphony Orchestra’s New Music Festival runs Jan. 15-18 at the Orpheum Theatre. Tickets and schedule at VancouverSymphony.ca.
