Harry Moments

We’ve been doing a lot of Sir Harrison Birtwistle’s music recently – because it is fantastic – and because it is his 75th birthday. So, two experiences in the last few weeks that I will remember for a long time.

Last weekend – went to Bregenz for the last performance of Semper Dowland/The Corridor (the new music theatre piece that London Sinfonietta premiered at Aldeburgh and then Southbank – both of whom commissioned it). Amazing place for one, and great to find the band, cast and crew on great form. Everyone has enjoyed this one because it’s been a real ‘company’ project. The musicians never get to rehearse for long on any performance, but with this they had a great lead in for the premiere in Aldeburgh, and then several performances. Mark van de Wiel (clarinet) convinced that last Saturday in Bregenz was the best perf of the lot. Mark Padmore and Liz Atherton stunning. Performance was in the Werkstattbühne – audience very close to the action and could hear lots of new things in the text and the music. Post concert Bregenz banana-split incredible! Can’t do 3.00am in the morning much more though.

Tuesday night – Harry’s 75th birthday concert at the PROMS. Late night London Sinfonietta performance of Carmen Arcadiae, Silbury Air and Verses for Ensembles. Before the concert, we hosted a meal for Harry at Café Anglais to say happy birthday. At the end he said some kind things about the Sinfonietta musicians, and also some amazing things about his composition and his work in general. One idea in particular that stuck with me was about tradition – not about worrying about how to keep something going, but perhaps more about creating something new that then makes the tradition. And then the music…compelling stuff, and a performance that makes the admin work worthwhile.

Andrew Burke

A visit to Birtwistle’s house

UPDATE: The Birtwistle Podcast is now available to hear and download.
Click here for an insight into one of Britain’s greatest modern composers.

As the London Sinfonietta’s new Digital Projects Intern, I am responsible for creating the majority of new audio and video content for our website. This work often takes me to far-flung, exotic locations in order to capture the magic on film or tape. In yesterday’s case, it swept me off to the tropical paradise of Wiltshire to interview a composer with a very long and fascinating history working with the London Sinfonietta: Sir Harrison Birtwistle.

Christoph Trestler, one of our board of directors who kindly lends us very expensive equipment to record with, joined me for the trip, as did his wife Marion, who documented it with numerous photos. At 10am we set off for the long drive through west London, down the M3, away from the hustle and bustle of city life and into the countryside.

The trip was punctuated by some unpleasant weather, followed by a very enjoyable trip to Stonehenge (for professional purposes, of course!) where the sky finally cleared, so we took photos and video footage. As some of you may know, Stonehenge and the nearby Silbury Hill (an equally mysterious man-made mound) have both inspired Birtwistle’s compositions in the past including ‘Silbury Air’ and ‘Ritual Fragment’.

We arrived in the village in the early afternoon where we met the interviewer, Sara Mohr-Pietsch, and took a light lunch at a very quaint little tea room next to the clock tower in the village square. Then it was on to Sir Harry’s house and down to business. He lives in a beautiful converted building, with a fantastically well designed and kept garden which contained, among other things, many different flowers, a water feature complete with carp, and of course the shed at the bottom of the garden where he composes the majority of his work.

Birtwistle was very kind and accommodating throughout our time there, allowing Christoph and I to film not just an interview but also footage of him composing, walking through his house and garden and various other shots, despite the fact that he was probably a bit tired having had his birthday celebrations the night before! Both he and Sara Mohr-Pietsch, who has only just joined us as the new voice of our upcoming podcast series, were wonderful to work with, and the interview was fascinating: Christoph, Marion and I all agreed we could have listened to them talk for hours.

All in all, not a bad day at the office, and there will be plenty for followers of the London Sinfonietta to enjoy as a result: expect an audio podcast of the interview very soon, followed by a video feature on Sir Harry later in the year!

Ben Saxon

London Sinfonietta Academy

It’s always exciting to be involved with something new and so I was thrilled to help with the planning and running of London Sinfonietta’s first ever Academy. From 2 – 4 July 2009, London Sinfonietta held an intensive three-day course of rehearsals and workshops for auditioned instrumentalists which culminated in a performance of Birtwistle’s Silbury Air and Takemitsu’s Rain Coming. The course was an opportunity for young musicians to gain key experience and training in core contemporary repertoire, with coaching from some of the London Sinfonietta’s Principal Players and renowned conductor Elgar Howarth. As the Graduate Trainee in the office, I helped out Judith, our project manager with the organisation of the three days.

Although our timing may not have been perfect, it came hot on the heels of student end of year exams and, as one of our principal players pointed out, it clashed with Wimbledon! –there was a real buzz in the office about this project and the response from everyone involved had been extremely enthusiastic.

After many weeks of planning, preparation, phone calls and emails it was fantastic to finally meet all the Academy students on the first of 3 days of rehearsals and workshops. Everyone was incredibly friendly and all were delighted to be working with Elgar Howarth and a number of London Sinfonietta principal players, who were constantly on hand to advise, answer questions and lead sectionals. A particular highlight for me was watching a percussion workshop led by LS Principal percussionist David Hockings – learning about the process of preparing for a concert as a percussionist was a real eye-opener!

 I looked forward to the culminating performance of Birtwistle’s Silbury Air and Takemitsu’s Rain Coming with much anticipation having watched the extraordinary work that had gone into rehearsals. I wasn’t disappointed – it was simply electrifying! The general feeling afterwards was that this had been a unique, valuable and unforgettable experience – we all just wish it had been longer…

Sarah Harvey