Journal ~ Barrow-in-Furness and Liverpool

Journal

Barrow-in-Furness

and

Liverpool

Some might say that to write frivolously in these dark and dangerous times – some would say even evil, and I’m not inclined to disagree – is wrong. Nevertheless, life must move. Regress in one quarter does not demand regress in the other three quarters. Even when regress consumes the whole, the chink of light soon shows.

The greatest generation has gone. Their children, those who, as infants or young primary, can remember the battles overhead, the bombs, the planes crashing into houses, well, many of them are still here and in their nineties now.

In Liverpool we have our Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic (RLPO). And we’re very proud of this.

What joy to read this morning that the RLPO  is entering into a three-year Project with one of our famous towns in Cumbria and whose deep root remains the historical county of Lancashire, namely, Barrow-in-Furness.

The Orchestra’s aim?

“to bring the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and much more to the town and its residents.”

— Royal Philharmonic Release 31 October 2023

 Under the brilliant leadership of our Chief Conductor Domingo Hindoyan, I see that the planned concerts are, as the announcement reports, ‘quite spectacular’:

“a performance of music by Bizet and Beethoven on 20 January at The Forum;
Claire Henry will lead a dementia-friendly performance on 26 March and a fun-tastic Under 5s concert on 27 March;
Artist in Residence Simone Lamsma will head north to perform stunning works by Bach, Piazzolla and Sarasate on 7 June;
the Orchestra perform works by Bach and Mozart on 21 June;
and Domingo Hindoyan returns to lead a programme made up of Rossini, Tchaikovsky and Bizet on 30 June.”

— ibid

As Shakespeare wrote in his opening line of Twelfth Night,

‘If music be the food of love, play on’.

I studied Twelfth Night at school in my teens, and it was made even better by our English Literature teacher. A tall, large and quite fearsome character, we learned that there were many sides to Mr Lloyd when he read to us all Twelfth Night.

No, not with us, rather to us. He did all the characters himself. All the voices. All the mannerisms. Mr Lloyd most certainly played to his audience and for an entire term he kept us well in check with English Language because we knew that if we behaved ourselves we’d have another instalment of Twelfth night in English Lit. Now, keep in mind that we were all teens - who’s going out with whom, classroom romances, and I don’t know what, and, well! do you know what they do behind the bicycle sheds?! - I take my hat off to Mr Lloyd.

Music is vital. In all its forms.

If we find ourselves living in a society that forbids us to listen to, participate in or perform certain types of music, then we have that uncomfortable barometer of human nature. Finland knows much about this. Finlandia by Sibelius was an outlawed symphony. Defiance to the Soviet decree was brutal. But it did not stop the BBC performing Finlandia on the World Service. If Finns were caught tuning in, retribution was terrifying, but tune in they did.

And if we find ourselves living in a society or within a community that has ruled that all music is an afront to their god, then we know the world is in very deep trouble, and we will yet again see that which humankind always rejects false, namely, that all people are fundamentally good.

Here, Finlandia is performed by the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic in 2009 in Liverpool under the Baton of the then RLPO Chief Conductor, Vasily Petrenko. Mr Petrenko remained in that role for fifteen years and, as all of us in Liverpool will openly say with great pride, that Mr Petrenko occasionally frequently returns to conduct major works as Conductor Laureate.

31 October 2023
All Rights Reserved


LIVERPOOL


© 2023 Kenneth Thomas Webb

 Banner Image Chief Conductor Dimingo Hindoyan by kind permission of the RLPO ©RLPO

Sources

1 Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra October 2023 release
2 Barrow-in-Furness ~ ‘Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopaedia’ (I subscribe a monthly financial donation)