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).

Adventurous audiences and pianistic passion

Have you ever taken part in market research? Over the last few years I've probably been collared a few times in the Market Square and outside M&S and then whisked away to some upstairs office suite to give my opinion on such things as Heineken lager can designs, mobile phone handsets and the comparative strengths of Aero vs. Wispa chocolate bars (Aero every time for me). It's an odd experience, particularly when you've done some market research yourself. Those conducting it always ask you if you work in marketing (which presumably rules you out) but somehow I've still been recruited, possibly because arts marketing doesn't count in the gloves off world of commercial marketing.

Anyway, when I'm busy choosing between colour scheme A vs. colour scheme B, I sometimes wonder how much my opinion will influence the outcome of the research - will I, in my own small way, have stopped a metallic pink mobile phone making it into the shops? And how representative are my views? An I one of a tiny minority whose opinion is distinctly left field?

I mention this because I've recently conducted some qualitative research with two groups of Nottingham Classics subscribers. Often these get called 'focus groups' but these, being more informal testers of opinion, we called 'customer circles', though, really, you could pretty much call them what you like. As ever, I'd prepared far too many questions and barely covered half of the areas that I'd planned, but both sessions were really fascinating and often very surprising. Most striking was the adventurous spirit of many regular concert-goers. Many of you, it appears, are on the look out for the unexpected, the surprising - those concerts that take you off the beaten track. And we're not necessarily talking about cutting edge contemporary pieces here, rather those pieces in the repertoire that occupy a similar sound world to more familiar works. Having asked the two groups to rate seven different programmes from concerts over the last four seasons, it was interesting that the highest rated was the Hallé concert from last January, which included Vaughan Williams' Tallis Fantasia, Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto and Nielsen's 5th Symphony. When Peter Bolton and I were setting audience targets for that concert our prediction was for a modest size audience. In the event it was our biggest audience of the season. So, it just goes to show that it's not just the Beethoven and Rachmaninov that really pull in the crowds - slightly obscure Danish composers can do it, too!

Having said that, all the evidence so far is that Rachmaninov is certainly doing the business for our first concert of the season. The second piano concerto is, of course, one of the most famous in the repertoire but, oddly enough, hasn't been performed at the Royal Concert Hall in several seasons. Its popularity may well be due to it carrying a powerful emotional charge, and this is something that, as you may have noticed, I've pushed quite hard in the various promotional blurb I've written about this concert. It is, after all, the piece that defines David Lean's movie, Brief Encounter, and for that reason I decided, in the most recent Nottingham Classics e-bulletin to include a link to a clip from the film on YouTube. Believe it or not you can watch the entire film, in nine instalments, with Japanese subtitles, which is great if you're lost for something to do when surfing the Net and have an hour and a half to spare. And you can also amuse yourself by reading the comments underneath, which sometimes (as in Instalment Nine of Brief Encounter) turn into some kind of debate, argument, or even an online feud between viewers.

Fascinating stuff, in itself, but looking at the film again it's astonishing how much of a part Rach 2 plays in the film's emotional journey. David Lean/Noel Coward were probably enjoying some kind of joke when they get Laura's husband to ask her to turn down the radio which is blasting out the concerto in their living room. And it was noticeable in Kneehigh Theatre's brilliant sideways look at the play/film (which we enjoyed at the Theatre Royal earlier this year) that Rach 2 was, again, centre stage - quite literally, when Laura sits down at the piano and launches into the concerto's opening.

Which brings me, finally, to the point of all of this meandering stuff. How much of Rach 2's popularity is owed to the fact that it played such a starring role in Brief Encounter? Its passionate and yearning lyricism clearly lent itself perfectly to the story of two lovers tormented by their conflicting desires and family responsibilities but would its emotional force be as great if it hadn't been heard in the film? And are there other concertos that rival (or even surpass) its status as one of the supreme classical tearjerkers?

What do you think? Let me know by responding to this post or emailing me at admin@nottinghamclassics.org.uk.

Bye for now,

Neil

The phoney war is over

We've reached that time in the year when a new season ceases to be a speck on the horizon and you can start to see the dust as the stampede approaches. I often think (forgive the metaphor) that during the middle of the summer that it's a bit like a phoney war, when you know the action is not far off but it all feels a bit too remote to worry about.

Not that it should be a cause for concern, of course. I mean - the start of a new season is cause for celebration, not a reason for diving for cover. Having said that, 2009-2010 has resulted in a rapid shortening of my finger nails because it's my first season as programmer. The initial signs are very positive but when you've invested several months in putting a season together and marketing it then each weekly sales report gets greeted with a bit of apprehension.

And things are going to get busier, too. We now have a new Managing Director, Robert Sanderson, which has meant that we can now move ahead with actioning all those plans we've been harbouring for several weeks and months. The first for me is a series of short lunchtime concerts that will take place every month from the Autumn to the Spring. We haven't done something like this before so I know it's going to take a fair amount of time to establish it. And we're also looking at creating another performance space in the top level bar area of the concert hall - now there's a challenge! Add to that the new After:Hours performances (tied to four of the main Classics concerts) and some new strands of music - blues, jazz and world music - and it looks like being a busy year ahead.

And this means that my job title will change, too. From now on I'm the Music Programme Manager, which reflects the wider range of music I'll be working on. But in case that's a cause for concern, I can assure you that Nottingham Classics will still be the main focus of my work and I'll be looking at ways in which the series could develop over the coming seasons.

Mmm. I can definitely hear the hoards approaching over the horizon now (or was that the Tram?) so that's all for now. Now where did I put that Muddy Waters CD?

After Amsterdam, Kari the complete clarinettist and a few thoughts on next season

I've just got back from a short break in Amsterdam with my wife, Deb. The timing was less a matter of wanting to see the city in the early spring and more a case of which week could I practically take off during the busiest part of the season whilst using up my remaining holiday entitlement before the end of the financial year.

However, we couldn't have timed it much better. Most days had clear skies bathing Amsterdam in the kind of radiant light you only get at this time of year. It was our first visit to the city and it won't be our last. What a change not to be deafened by traffic. And to be looking out for the hazard posed by bikes, rather than cars. Having said that, the bikes can be pretty scary - they seem to come at you from all directions and with barely a whisper of warning. It's also a sobering thought that many of them rely on back pedalling rather than brakes to stop!

Amsterdam is well-known, of course, for being one of the great cultural destinations in Europe. The Rijksmuseum, Van Goch Museum and the Stedelijk form a kind of golden triangle in the heart of the city but it's almost reassuring to discover that Amsterdam suffers from the same kinds of planning problems and project overruns that we tend to hear about in relation to cultural builds in this country. The consequence of these as far as Amsterdam goes is that the Stedelijk extension, which should have been completed by the end of 2008, is still not finished and has overrun to such an extent that the temporary exhibition space that had been allocated to the greatest works in the collection - in the city's old central post office - has now also been demolished (as we discovered when we spent an hour forlornly looking round the harbour area). The Rijksmuseum is still only partly open, too, which means that Amsterdam is running on only 2 cylinders, galleries-speaking, at the moment.

However, there's always the music to enjoy, and we certainly did that. The Netherlands Opera company is a key player in the city - its heavy-hitting Shostakovich's Lady MacBeth of Mtsensk got huge acclaim in 2006 - and we were lucky enough to be able to get a couple of the few remaining tickets for the Sunday matinee of Mozart's Cosi fan Tutte. I've always had a a soft spot for this decidedly un-PC comic opera from when I got the chance to be in a Glyndebourne production when I was a twelve-year old (my secondary school was just two miles away from the opera house and often provided the children for various crowd scenes and so on). Netherlands Opera's take on it was very different, though. Mozart's Naples became a sixties beach resort complete with weed-smoking busker providing the continuo on his mandolin. There were countless imaginative touches,the gangly Guglielmo's Elvis-like attempts at seduction a particular treat in an irreverent and racy production. A couple of people walked out when Ferrando's conquering of the hitherto steadfast Fiordiligi got a bit full on for their taste, but at the end it got a huge ovation with everyone on their feet.

This got me thinking. Several times in the last couple of season's we've had some breathtakingly good performances - Mark Elder's Elgar No.2, the BBC Phil's Mahler 6 for example - and a few brave souls have risen to their feet to show their appreciation. And I watch and wonder if we'll reach a tipping point and everyone else will get to their feet. But it never happens. Is it British reserve or am I overestimating the effect of these performances. I'd be interested to know your thoughts on this.

One performance that I've just seen undoubtedly earned a standing ovation. it didn't get one, though there were plenty of cheers. I'm talking about Finnish clarinettist, Kari Kriikku, performing 'Missa' by compatriot, Jukka Tiensuu, with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, at the Barbican in London. It's an odd kind of hybrid - a clarinet concerto based on the order of the Mass, and one which contains five moments where the soloist improvises the cadenzas. Like the acclaimed, award-winning Clarinet Concerto by Tiensuu's fellow Finn, Magnus Lindberg, Tiensuu's piece has immediate appeal and could, I'm sure, be enjoyed by even those audience members normally sceptical of contemporary music. Part of this is down to the soloist, Kari Kriiku. Just make a mental note of that name - Kari Kriiku - because he is a quite extraordinary performer. He doesn't just play the notes (brilliantly, of course), rather he acts them. One moment he's leaning back like Benny Goodman, firing his high notes into the firmament, the other he's probing the floor, sucking up the low notes like a straw. And sometimes he's hopping around on one leg before ducking and diving like a boxer (probably a flyweight, given Kari's slight physique). I don't think I've ever seen a more astonishing performer. The only parallel I can think of is the German reed-player, Michael Riessler, who has graced Lakeside Arts Centre on a couple of occasions and whose phenomenal breath control and ability to play chords through singing through his instrument Kari's performance reminded me of. Anyway, if we get the chance to have him here - and we can afford to have him - then I doubt I'll be saying no. So, that's Kari Kriiku - go and see him if you ever get the opportunity.

Finally, I've reached the point where I'm clearing the decks for an assault on the next season brochure. All the orchestras and repertoire are in place and I think (and hope) that it'll be as compelling as the last two. Hopefully you'll agree that it builds on Peter's wonderful work here and that you'll be spoilt for choice. There are a couple of new developments, too, and a quick word or two on these.

The BBC Philharmonic are going to be here in the Autumn with the first of what I hope will be many BBC Radio 3 Discovering Music concerts, where you get the chance to hear a major work in the repertoire and have it pulled apart, probed, interpreted and then reassembled by one of the BBC's leading presenters. We don't yet know who it'll be, but the work? Well, I don't suppose it'll do any harm to name it. Bruckner 6 - and how long is it since we've had a Bruckner symphony here? Too long, probably, but it's good to be able to rectify it with such a great orchestra as the BBC Phil.

The other big development is going to be a late night performance which, with reference to Bartok, Mahler and Mozart (take your pick), we've called NIGHTmusic. It'll be a FREE short slot after a number of main concerts in the season that will allow us to offer you some contemporary music (and not just contemporary) in an informal and welcoming format. So, if you've bemoaned the scarcity of contemporary voices in the season then here you are - new music with a new slot at the Royal Concert Hall.

That's a pretty big post. Time to go, I think - I've got a Drivetime Concert in June that's needing some attention.

Neil

PS If you're wondering why I didn't mention the Concertgebouw when rambling on about Amsterdam it's because they weren't at home when we were there. They were in London. Timing has always been a bit of a problem for me!

Back from Wales

I've just got back from Cardiff where I've been attending the Association of British Orchestras annual conference at the fabulous Millennium Centre, the home of Welsh National Opera . This was my first full conference, in fact. It's a great way to get to know the orchestral profession, thrown together with a couple of hundred delegates representing all the major orchestras in the country, a number of whom we work with pretty regularly. Apart from all the presentations it's a big opportunity to meet some potential future partners and explore some possibilities for future concerts.

And being a representative of a venue puts you in an interesting position, too. Most of the delegates at the conference are from organisations that represent musicians in one shape or form so working for a concert hall gives you a kind of special status - a couple of delegates told me that it was rare to see venue people there at all. From one of the sessions I attended it's clear that the relationship between venues and orchestras isn't always plain sailing so I'm glad that we generally get on very well with our visiting bands.

I was also in the unusual position of being sought out by a few people - mainly agents who recognised a potential hirer! These conference are, of course, business opportunities, too, so I shouldn't have been surprised. And I've been made aware of a couple of interesting artists who I'm going to go and see over the next couple of months. There's a young cellist, for instance, who might find his way into a future Nottingham Classics season and I'll be off to Cadogan Hall in May to go and hear him.

On the subject of future seasons, I'm delighted to say that I've got all the concerts in place now and have only got a couple of pieces to finalise and then it will all be in place. I'll breathe a sigh of relief because it's been quite a long haul and getting a good balance between popular core repertoire and slightly more adventurous works has been quite a challenge. However, I'm quietly confident that you'll find plenty to inspire you. There are also a few new developments which I trust you'll enjoy, including some late night concerts and a BBC Radio 3 Discovering Music concert - a first for us here in Nottingham.

I'm going to be getting my head down over the next couple of months putting the new brochure together and then, in June, all will be revealed, when the new brochure will be available at the last concert in the season. I'll also be presenting the new season in the pre-concert talk slot on 18 June so if you want to know about how the season was put together then I hope you'll join me then.

Bye for now.

Neil