Just how many do you need for a Symphony of a thousand?

Strangely unsettling picture of the month

Sorry - couldn't resist this. We went to Carcassonne in the south west of France for our hols this summer and, by chance, arrived in the middle of one of the city's many festivals. In addition to many visiting bands there were plenty of local folk groups, many of which included bagpipes. But when I say bagpipes, we're not talking about the tartan-trimmed version used in Scotland, nor the discreet Northumbrian incarnation; no, we're talking about something that leaves little to the imagination regarding the raw materials. When it gets played it looks distinctly odd. It might get you arrested in some countries!

I went to Birmingham this weekend. My wife Deb and I took the opportunity to drop into the Electric Cinema (the UK's oldest, where you can sit on a sofa at the back and have tea and cake whilst you watch) to hear Baba Brinkman's Rap Guide to Evolution (not as mad as it sounds) and to haul ourselves round the Bull Ring in search of autumn clothes.

But the real reason we were there was to hear Mahler's 8th Symphony performed by the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra under their Music Director Andris Nelsons. Those of you who have seen Andris conduct will not be surprised to hear that it was stunning and that the evening had several moments of music that were so overwhelming you had to remember to breathe afterwards.

Whilst we were waiting for the performance to begin I did a quick head count of the performers. The famous 'Symphony of a Thousand' was really about half that number, but that's still a heck of a lot of orchestral players, soloists and choir members and, I had to admit sadly, too many probably for our own hall to accomodate. I wondered about this because in two years time we'll actually be celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Hallé's residency in Nottingham and I'll be beginning discussions with them next week about what should be in the programme. Obviously you'd want Sir Mark Elder (as much as possible) and Markus Stenz, but what pieces of music would do justice not only to the Hallé's achievements here, but also to the close ties between the orchestra, the Royal Concert Hall and the audiences that have taken the Hallé to their hearts.

It looks like Mahler 8 would be out on purely logistic grounds. But what about pieces that show off the Hallé's particular strengths - Elgar, Strauss etc. - or those with whom Sir Mark is closely associated, such as Verdi and Wagner. We might not be able to do Mahler 8 but maybe the Verdi Requiem? If there's going to be a gala event (which I'm sure there will) then what's an appropriately celebratory piece?

So, plenty to mull over during the coming months. In the meantime I'm taking a bigger than usual interest in the ticket sales for the coming season, mainly because I took a bit of a bold step and increased the size of the orchestral season, whilst also adding a piano series. It's possible that the timing could have been better (one look at the newspaper front pages any day of the week will tell you that!) and I'm bracing myself for a long slog up to 27 May next year. Word from other venues is that booking is later this year. Now we have to wait and see if they're just slower...or lower!

Fingers crossed, the positive feedback I've had about next season will translate into big audiences, but you never know in this game. The first time I worked on Nottingham Classics back in 2005 the mighty London Symphony Orchestra had one of the lowest audiences that season whilst in 2009 the Hallé played Nielsen's 5th Symphony to over 2000 people - a concert for which Peter Bolton and I predicted an audience just over half that size. Let's hope that that spirit of adventure continues next year. It'll certainly reduce my stress levels if it does.

Do feel free to send me your suggestions for Hallé 10th anniversary concerts. I can't promise that you'll find them taking pride of place in 2012-2013 but I'd certainly be intersted to hear them.

That's all folks!

Neil

Looking back, looking forward

It feels distinctly odd sitting in my office at the moment. For one thing, it's really quiet. This time last week my head was full of stuff about the last concert - final preparations, big quantities of brochures arriving, last minute tweaks to my pre-concert talk and so on - but now it's back to the more prosaic world of distribution. This week is all about mailing lists, merging and de-duping, vast amounts of photocopying for covering letters, and preparing the ground for several thousand brochures to go out next week.


For that very simple reason, this blog is going to be a short one. But I couldn't let the final concert go without a couple of comments. It's great to finish on such a high note and I trust those who heard it will have enjoyed the Saint-Saens Organ Symphony as much as I did. Though in my case the feeling was mixed with one of relief that our electronic organ had really delivered the kind of awe-inspiring experience that you'd expect of a Romantic titan like the Saint-Saens. The finale was every bit as exciting as I could have hoped but actually it was the calm of the second movement that held the most fascination for me. The deep-breathing sounds of the organ pedals had a wonderfully physical impact and I enjoyed watching several members of the audience in the front left of Tier 1 leaning over to see what Jonathan was doing. As the Widor encore really revealed, he's a fabulous organist and I don't think I've ever heard such a range of expression (including a magical whispered quiet section) in this spectacular favourite. It's really got me thinking about what opportunities there would be to get Jonathan back here soon.

As I say, it was a really great way to end the season and it was also good to see how many people styed to hear the Halle's tango Frambuesas after the concert. All in all it felt like we'd ended the season in just the right way. The feedback I've had is that 2009-2010 has been really successful and it's been hugely encouraging to get the kind of positive comments that we've had throughout the season.

But what were your highlights? I'd really love to know. There are several for me and it's difficult for me to choose. Mahler 2 is an obvious candidate, but what about Nielsen 4 or Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez? Very different pieces, evoking different responses, but all wonderfully played. If you've got a particular memory, why not let me know by posting a response? - it's always fascinating to hear your thoughts on this.

Looking ahead I'd also love to know what you make of 2010-2011. The last season's going to be a difficult act to follow, and getting the blend between the popular and more adventurous elements in the programme continues to be the biggest challenge we face. Have we got it right? And how do you view the new piano series - the biggest development in the programme for several years and, dare I say it, a bit of a calculated risk on our part?

I'm sure that gives you plenty to think about. If you've got a couple of minutes, fire me a quick reply. You can be as brief, expansive and as candid as you like.

Looking forward to hearing your views.

See you in the autumn!


Neil

Nottingham's spirit of adventure

I’ve just recently returned from hearing the London Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican in London. I hadn't seen them in quite a while but the programme in this instance really appealed to me – enough to drag me out of my brochure-numbed state and get myself organized to trek down to London.

I’m very glad I did. After the easygoing opener (Liadov’s The Enchanted Lake – a bit of a take it or leave it piece for me if I’m honest) we got a gripping performance of Rachmaninov’s 4th Piano Concerto from Lief Ove Andsnes. And it got a great reception, too – which is interesting because it’s the concerto that seems not to get programmed as often as the composer’s other three. It certainly got my mind whirring about when we might get it into a future season. So that’s at least tipped you off that, whatever is in next season, Rach 4 isn’t.

Anyway, I digress. The other work in the LSO programme – the main reason I went – was Copland’s 3rd Symphony. In many ways it’s an amalgam of his various styles – the serenity of Appalachian Spring, the energy (and almost the sense of the wild frontier) of his ballets, Rodeo and Billy the Kid, and the gentle dissonance of his more avant garde pieces. If that sounds like a piece that can’t make up its mind then I should say that I found it utterly convincing – and also hugely exciting. I’m a bit biased because, as a brass player, there’s nothing quite like hearing the LSO brass section in full cry (this is the orchestra that put the fire into Luke Skywalker’s light sabre). And it must be said Copland 3 is a real roasting for the brass. Even the esteemed LSO principals couldn’t get through it entirely unscathed. But no occasional split note can detract from the thrilling experience overall.

So what’s this got to do with Nottingham Classics, you might be asking. Well, a couple of things, really. One is that it made me wonder whether this might be a viable item for a future concert at the RCH. The other is that I found it fascinating that where I was sitting there were quite a few empty seats in the second half. The chap sitting next to me told me that he couldn’t follow the Rachmaninov with something else because it would impair the pleasure he’d got from it. I thought this was pretty extraordinary – does hearing a really powerful final work really have that kind of impact on what’s gone before? It would never occur to me, but I do know that it’s not that untypical. I went to hear Strauss’s Ein Heldenleben in Leicester a couple of seasons ago and, again, was surprised to see how many people weren’t there to hear it, having only gone for the Brahms 2nd Piano Concerto that preceded it.

But what this is all leading up to is an observation about audiences in Nottingham. In the 2008-2009 season it would have been very easy for the second half of the Halle’s concert on 30 January (Vaughan Williams’ Tallis Fantasia/Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto/Nielsen Symphony No.5) for there to have been quite an exodus after the first half. And yet, as far as I could see, you all stayed – took a chance, held your nerve, and were rewarded with a fabulous performance – still one of the highlights of my time working on Nottingham Classics.

So, although maybe I’m not always aware of it, there’s something just a bit special about the concert-going community here. Artists regularly comment on it – Northern Sinfonia did so only a couple of weeks ago – and it really does make a difference. And knowing that you’ve got more staying power than the fair concert-goers of London is very encouraging for me!

The last thing that was memorable about Thursday night's concert was, in the interval, being asked, quite genuinely, by a member of the audience, whether I was The Times’ critic Hugh Canning! I’ve actually no idea what he looks like, though I suspect he’s a tad older than me. The other thing that would distinguish us is that it's probably been many years since he heard a concert in Nottingham – his loss!

Bye for now,

Neil

The new season looms large

It's that time of year when I start to find my sleep interrupted by restless thoughts. The reason for this is that we're now into the time when I spend much of my time working on the next season brochure. It absorbs most of my attention but it also takes place when we still have a number fo concerts in the current season which also require attention, so the pressure on the time available is quite tight.

But there's also some relief in getting to this point because at least it means that the concerts are in place for next season. For some reason it's been a slightly more fraught process than normal but I'm reasonably pleased with the end result - the blend of repertoire (popular and less familiar) and the range of orchestras and soloists. Time will tell of course. It wasn't really until we got to March this year that it became clear how well the 2009-2010 season had done, but it's been hugely satisfying to see how much the audiences have grown over the last six months. It's not going to be easy to match it next season but, fingers crossed, I'm hoping to get somewhere near it at least.

So what's in it you may ask? Well, I don't want to steal the thunder from the last concert on 5 June when the new brochure will be available but I can tell you that the season is going to be slightly bigger and that there will be another related series of concerts that will, I hope, satisfy another need. And since AFTER:hours has established itself quickly, this will continue, too, enabling us to hear a little more contemporary music and less familar repertoire. Andre de Ridder has clearly found his niche in the season here and is the ideal 'front man' for the late night events - it's been great to see the rapport he's got with the audience for these events.

So, for the moment, it's on with the show - three more concerts, all of which look like doing really well. The most prominent is obviously the RPO Gala concert with Pinchas Zukerman on 7 May and, not surprisingly, he's going to have a packed house to perform to - if you were planning to go it's worth getting your tickets now for this. I don't think there will be many left by the time we get to May. And then we've got the season finale on 5 June - a real spectacular if ever there was one. Personally, I can't wait - not just because of what we're going to hear but because it'll mean I've got a chance to catch my breath again.

A tale of two, or should that be three(?), dances

I had a feeling that something was going to happen. This season had been going so well, with brilliant back-to-back performances from the Hallé (31 January) and City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (4 February) that I was half expecting something to come unstuck.

And, on Tuesday 16 February, it duly did, when the Czech National Symphony Orchestra came to Nottingham to give its final performance of its UK tour. Advance ticket sales had been very good, we had a charismatic young soloist for a performance of Bruch's 1st Violin Concerto, and we were even going to get a performance of Taras Bulba by Janacek - a twentieth century masterpiece and one of my personal favourites - so what could go wrong?

As it happened, the M1 went wrong. An accident forced the Czech NSO coaches to find an alternative route, which put its rehearsal of Taras Bulba (we were the only venue on the tour taking it) back by nearly half an hour. This had a knock-on effect on the schedule (which was already tight) with the result that the pre-concert talk overran, causing an uncomfortable squeeze as our concert-goers(which would normally have filtered into the concert hall from 7pm) filled up the restricted space on Level One. I don't need to tell anyone who was there that this wasn't the ideal way to begin a concert - and for this, on behalf of the Royal Concert Hall, I can only apologise. We do have some lessons to learn from the experience and, rest assured, we are looking at ways to avoid this happening again in future, whilst bearing in mind the constraints of our venue. Hopefully you will see some positive outcomes in the near future.

The other thing that caused some bewilderment was the omission of one of the items in the programme. When I booked this concert I was happy to take three of Dvorak's Slavonic Dances because I felt that, together with Taras Bulba, this would make a substantial enough second half, roughly equivalent in length to a standard Romantic symphony. However, for some reason that is unknown to me (and which I will be taking up with the promoter), only two of the dances were performed, not only leaving many of you uncertain whether to applaud but also significantly shifting the balance of the second half.

I've had a few emails from concert-goers about this and I have to agree that it did make the second half feel short but I do want to take this opportunity to clarify something else which has concerned a couple of people who have contacted me. This concerns the presence of an After Hours performance on the evening of the 16th February and which has been put forward by some as a reason for the shortness of the main concert.

Whilst acknowledging the feedback about the concert on 16 February I want to reassure all concert-goers that After Hours concerts have not been scheduled at the expense of any of the main concert programmes. In fact all of them were scheduled after the main concert programmes were agreed. This is clear, I hope, from the other three concerts in the season that are (or were) followed by an After Hours performance and which are at least of a standard size. Indeed, the Northern Sinfonia programme on 15 April is particularly generous in terms of length and that's with a 30 minute After Hours performance following it.

Where there was some effect on the Czech NSO concert was in the fact that there were no encores. In this case, to allow us to begin the After Hours performance at a reasonable time, I did request that there should be no encores. These are usually quite common following Eastern European orchestra visits and I do understand that they are quite popular, but they aren't everyone's cup of tea (I do get messages occasionally from some patrons saying that they detract from their enjoyment of what's come before) and I felt that it wouldn't do any harm not to have them on this occasion. With the short second half, though, I can see why some people felt a little short-changed.

When we began the After Hours concerts this season I was aware that there could be some rough edges since we'd never done them before. On the whole I'm really happy with the way they've been received and I do intend to continue them in future seasons, as a way of offering contemporary music and less well-known repertoire in an appropriate context and without forcing them on those who don't want to hear them in a main concert. However, they won't ever be scheduled at the expense of the main concerts (in terms of timing or quality) because that really would be a spectacular own goal given how well the main series is going. It's my intention only to give Nottingham Classics audiences the best concerts we can get, with a wide variety of repertoire and to offer more, rather than less, great music each season.

However, I do admit that, in retrospect, and for several practical reasons, it would have been wise to avoid having After Hours performances after European orchestra concerts, which involve more complicated logistics. And for this reason we'll be restricting After Hours to those concerts that feature UK orchestras. Not only will it be less stressful to the Royal Concert Hall's hard-worked stage crew but it'll also mean that you get your full quota of encores!

I hope that's clarified the position about late night performances. Weather-permitting, I'm off to the Association of British Orchestras conference in Glasgow next week, but do feel free to respond to this blog if there are any issues you want to take up. I'll get back to you when I return on Monday 1 March. Will it feel like Spring then? After another 3 inches of snow today I really hope so!

Scanning the skies

I've been looking at the heavens and checking the five day forecast more than usual recently. And the reason for this unusual meteorological interest? Well, it's just that tomorrow - Sunday 31 January - we could well have our first sell-out concert in the time that I've been working on Nottingham Classics. A momentous occasion, particularly given that it's Mahler's massive 2nd Symphony, but one that could - my pessimistic side keeps telling me - be hampered by the arrival of snow. Heaven knows we ought to have had our quota this January but cast your mind back a year and you may remember the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra concert being afflicted by a sudden, though brief, blizzard.

The effect was to dissuade quite a few people from making the trip to the Royal Concert Hall, meaning that they missed out on Andrew Litton's' fabulous interpretation of Walton's 1st Symphony. I know that quite a few of our Newark and Lincoln regulars didn't make it here which, I'm sure, was a big disappointment to them, and I can't help worrying (or at least my over-anxious alter ego does) that something might happen to rain (or rather) snow on our parade.

And all the more disappointing it would be given that this is the biggest audience that Mahler's had in Nottingham for many a year - well before I came to live here, I'd imagine. And I'd certainly not predicted such a high level of interest. To be honest I'd actually earmarked the CBSO on 4 February as our star performer and yet, very well though it's doing, it's certainly not going to overhaul the Mahler. It just goes to show that you just can't predict how your audience is going to react to a particular programme. I started to wonder whether the presence of Shostakovich in the CBSO's all-Russian programme might be the factor that prevents the CBSO from topping 2000 attenders. Until this year, Shostakovich tended to attract very similar audiences to Mahler - a sign that he's very popular in a certain constituent of attenders but a bit scary for more traditional tastes. Maybe it's the intensity of his sound-world, or at least a perception that he's a tad forceful. What do you reckon?

Whatever the reason, it seems that some of our regulars are going to miss Andris Nelsons this year - a great shame because he's certainly the most exciting conductor I've seen in many years - and he's still only 31. The CBSO must find it hard not to smile to themselves every day, knowing that they pipped several other orchestras when they signed him up.

I'll leave it up to you to decide whether he's Latvia's most exciting export this century. I need to wind this up because it's Saturday and I'd like to get out of the RCH office, where I'm catching up on a few things caused by somehow scheduling the busiest two weeks for live classical msuic here in a very long while. The most unusual of these is the Pianothon, a completely new venture, which was sparked by one of my City Council colleagues, Sharon Scaniglia, who wanted some live music as part of Light Night on 12 February. We're always keen to try something a bit out of the ordinary but this one really is a bit different, with ten pianists (of all types, not all classical, in fact) taking it in turns to play the Concert Hall's Bosendorfer from 6pm till midnight. Who knows how it'll turn out? But there are some very special talents taking part so it'll definitely be worth you dropping in to hear some of them, particularly given that it's free. You can find out more by visiting www.nottinghamclassics.org.uk/pianothon, where there's a schedule, a list fo programmes and short biogs of each performer.

That's it from me. One more task and then I'm off home - probably to check the weather forecast again.

How long has it been!

Oh dear! I've gone the way of several bloggers and have very quiet for a number of months. Plenty of reasons why, of course - largely to do with the widening of my role here at the Royal Concert Hall - but really that's not much of an excuse. So here's a New Year's Resolution - at least one post every fortnight and we'll see if I can stick to it!

So what's been happening over the last three months? The first bit of good news is that despite all the economic gloom, Nottingham Classics audiences are still going up. So far we are ahead of target on every concert, which is a reassuring position to be in during times like these. And, touch wood, this looks like continuing into 2010. Most striking is the response to Mahler's Second Symphony. In previous seasons Mahler has performed very creditably, thank you, with audiences around 1500 but from sales so far it looks like we could have a full house on 31 January. A campaign to recruit new Mahler audiences from our regular concert-goers has been enthusiastically received, so much so that we might not be able to offer quite so many standby seats on the day of the concert - a situation that I've not encountered in my time working for Nottingham Classics.

Having just been away for three weeks in New Zealand the scenes of snow-engulfed cars and skating rink pavements when Deb and I returned last Sunday were an unwelcome start to the New Year but now that the jet lag has worn off the next few months look a lot more exciting. Almost immediately after the Mahler performance we welcome one of the most astonishing young conducting talents in the world when Andris Nelsons visits Nottingham for the first time with the CBSO. If you haven't seen him before then, whatever you do, don't miss the all-Russian concert on 4 February - he's a phenomenal talent and has the most extraordinary chemistry with an orchestra that I've ever seen (you can find out more about him in Richard Morrison's article for The Times - click here to read it). The very next day we'll be welcoming over 3500 Nottinghamshire schoolkids for Now Hear This, the Nottingham Classics Schools' Concert with the Hallé, now so popular that we're now running two performances the same day. And then, just a couple of weeks later we've got the Czech National Symphony Orchestra here with legendary conductor, Libor Pesek.

Whilst all of this is going on, I'll be finalising next season's programme. As ever, there are a few concert items being negotiated but much of it is now in place and I think it's looking pretty strong, though time will tell, of course. There are some new developments, too, which I can't mention just yet but which will definitely add another dimension to the series. AFTER:hours will continue, too - the success of our opening event (with ViVA performing Adams, Vivaldi and Glass to a large and lively crowd) has encouraged us to go boldly on with offering more music beyond the mainstream in an informal ambience.

Oh, and the Beeb will be back with another instalment of Radio 3's Discovering Music. Our audience for Bruckner 6 was the largest that the BBC Phil have played to in one of these concerts, so thanks to everyone for supporting it and putting us on the broadcasting map. No news yet of a transmission date for the programme but I'll let you know when I get it.

Right - I've got several hundred posters that need sending out, so that's my afternoon sorted. Watch out for the next blog in a fortnight (otherwise I'll be inflicting some kind of forfeit on myself).