Welcome. This colourful issue not only delves into the work of Beethoven and Bach – two of the greatest giants in our musical history – it also explores the joys of conducting the more unusual alternatives!
Our first interview is with the vibrant and entertaining conductor (and teacher) John Carewe. John’s illustrious career spans many decades – he was a student of Walter Goehr and Max Deutsch (both Schoenberg pupils), Messiaen and Pierre Boulez. In 1958 he founded the New Music Ensemble, which gave many British premieres of music by composers including Birtwistle, Boulez, Bennett and Maxwell Davies. Other roles held include Principal Conductor of the BBC Welsh Orchestra, and Music Director of the Brighton Philharmonic Society. In our conversation John chose to focus on one of his favourite subjects: musical structure, with a particular focus on Beethoven. He has taught conducting at both the Royal Academy of Music and the Royal College of Music in London, and is well known as having been a mentor of Sir Simon Rattle. In fact, Sir Simon has already read John’s transcript and said that it was ‘a perfect distillation of so much of your teaching. Love it!’ Very many thanks to Thomas Jung for introducing us.
Following John is one of the world’s leading Baroque specialists: multi-award winning conductor Ton Koopman. Ton studied organ and harpsichord at the Sweelinck Conservatorium and musicology at the University of Amsterdam. He founded the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra in 1979 and the Amsterdam Baroque Choir in 1992, and has been conducting Bach’s music for decades. Ton is also Artistic Director of the French music festival ‘Itinéraire Baroque’, and owns an enormous collection of books, letters and scores, which have recently found a new home at the Orpheus Institute in Ghent, Belgium (the ‘Ton Koopman Collection’). Truly a seasoned veteran, Ton possesses an enormous wealth of knowledge about not only Bach’s life, but also the practicalities of performing his music and the clues that have led us towards a greater understanding of how it was first performed. The focus of our discussion was the Matthäus–Passion, and whether Bach used a multiple singers or soloists for each vocal part. Today is Ton’s 80th birthday, and we at Notes wish him many happy returns!
And finally, I’m delighted that a Notes favourite, conductor John Andrews, has returned with an illuminating and heart warming article entitled ‘Welcome to All The Pleasures: The Joy of Diverse Programming’. John’s experience in conducting and recording hidden musical gems is extensive, and he has won multiple awards for his endeavours, including three BBC Music Magazine Awards for Malcolm Arnold’s The Dancing Master; J.F. Lampe’s The Dragon of Wantley; and British Piano Concertos. His recording of Ethel Smyth’s Der Wald also won Presto Music’s ‘Rediscovery of the Year’ in 2023. Rather than arguing why it is important, John explains how unearthing lesser-known music is so enriching and deeply rewarding. He not only writes about numerous composers that we can investigate for ourselves, but also approaches the subject from interesting and novel perspectives. In John’s words: ‘rather than a line drawing of the last four hundred years we can reveal a variegated landscape of countless swirls and colours. We can therefore also appreciate the composers we already know from an entirely new perspective’.
I can’t believe we’ve made it to 30 issues – thank you all so much for your ongoing support of the project. And as ever, huge thanks to John, Ton and John and I hope you enjoy the issue.
Dr. Hannah Baxter (Editor)