There are
other
orchestras
Sir, Some of your correspondents are unhappy
about the new and more
varied style of program-.
ming shown in the GPO’s
brochure for 1998-99; not
enough symphonies and
concertos, they say. As far
as we are concerned, if the
GPO’s
new
approach
“brings more people into
contact with good live
music, we're all for it.
There are still plenty of
opportunities -for
the
music-lovers
of
the
Guildford area to enjoy
their
symphonies
and
concertos, however. This
autumn, for example, the
Surrey Mozart Players are
performing
Brahms’s
Second Symphony and
Beethoven’s Fourth Piano
Concerto at the Farnham
Maltings on September
26, and the Guildford
Symphony Orchestra will
be offering Sibelius’s First
Symphony at the Civic
Hall on November 15,
with Andrew Haveron
playing the Brahms Violin
Concerto. Local musicians
i
__providing. great mus?cfor
the local community.
Yes, they are amateurs,
but ask any of our regular
audiences about the standard achieved.
:
We believe that the
Guildford area remains
well served with the full
range of live music performances, and that the
Guildford
Symphony
Orchestra and the Surrey
Mozart Players deserve
the support of your readers — as does the GPO, of
course.
JOHN DANIEL
(Chairman, Guildford
Symphony Orchestra)
1 Orchard Road,
Shalford.
ALAN DEWEY
(Orchestral manager,
Surrey Mozart Players)
Flint Cottage,
2 Stoke Road,
Guildford.
Fax your view: 01483 532843
GPO manager has
worked wonders
Sir, I was disappointed to read the comments in your letters column last week
(August 21) about the forthcoming season of the Guildford Philharmonic
Orchestra. The article by Jane Garrett
on the same subject which featured our
brilliant new orchestra manager, Nicola
Goold, did much to redress the balance.
_ Your correspondents seem to have
missed the point completely. At the time
of going to press on the brochure (a year
before some of the concerts), some of
the detail of individual concerts was not
available. Therefore to assume that there
will be “only one symphony per year” is
clearly a rash assumption.
In fact, this is not the case. I am not
sure how many symphonies, concertos
and overtures your correspondents
require per season, but my requirement,
and that of the thousands of people who
enjoyed the concerts last year, is that we
enjoy a season of varied music from different styles, periods, countries and composers, all played to the highest possible
standard. This was achievedin last year s
season.
Peter Andrews then complains that
the symphony mentioned is the “already
over-exposed New World”. Surely a great
work is always great however often it is
played. As an English specialist I do not
avoid seeing productions of Hamlet on
the grounds that I have been known to
see the odd production before.
Guildford Borough Council is quite
justifiably proud of its orchestra. Indeed
we are almost the only local authority to
maintain an orchestra with very little
outside grant aid. We have to move and
adapt, however, in common with almost
everything else in life. To stand still is to
decline and to die.
Our audiences were getting smaller
and the age profile was becoming. higher
a few years ago. This is happening to
concert audiences all over the country.
Two years ago we engaged Nicola Goold
to redress this decline. This she has done
superbly, together with her very hardworking and knowledgeable staff in the
music office. She has given us more
music for less money. We have greatly
reduced the subsidy per capita, and
many of last year’s concerts were sold
out. Indeed an average audience capacity
of 92% has been achieved. Guildford is
now in the vanguard of the new thinking
on classical concerts and a model for
other parts of the country.
I am looking forward to the new season with keen anticipation. Within my
own borough, in a variety of attractive
venues, I can experience concerts of
medieval music, Baroque, romantic,
operatic, contemporary and much more.
How fortunate to be a classical music
lover living in Guildford.
'LYNDA STRUDWICK
(Vice-chairman arts and recreation
committee, GBC)
9 The Crossways, Onslow Village.
R
T
What would
Handley think?
Sir, May I reply to Jane
Garrett’s summary of the
Guildford Philharmonic’s
programmes for the new
season, under its manager
Nicola Goold?
I agree that the problems facing orchestras are
“universal”. I donot agree
that an audience of 3,600
signifies that it was automatically “the orchestra’s
most successful concert”.
If you judge success -by
quantity alone, the Spice
Girls are much more successful.
When I reviewed concerts for many years,
Vernon Handley wrote
that I was the first media
person to understand and
reflect what he and the
GPO were trying to do in
Guildford. Nicola Goold
and Jane Garrett may not
even have been born then.
How dare they say dismissively: “But now it is time
to do something differentsd
I detect that Jane
Garrett’s comments are
peppered with derogatory
insinuations. I “mourn the
passing of this traditional
~diet”, -1 am_‘“‘somewhat
snide” because I refer to
the Dvorak’s New World
Symphony as the symphony of the whole season. It
is a great work admittedly,
but it is the only symphony
listed.
Then
there
is
the
inevitable reference to the
“expensive and elitist
drain” on public funds.
The way appears to be to
attract “new punters’.
Concerts are not betting
shops. Nor can candlelight or laser lights be substitutes for great music —
or aids to their appreciation.
By today’s standards,
Nicola Goold and Jane
Garrett may both be right.
All I can say is that I have
been listening to music in
Guildford and elsewhere
for six decades. In future, it
will have to be increasingly
elsewhere. I wonder what
Vernon Handley thinks?
JOHN FRAYN
TURNER
16 Church Street,
Leatherhead.