Issue 15: Conflict and Collaboration

Happy New Year!

I’m delighted to welcome you to Issue 15, which is comprised of three in-depth interviews, one to be published after 18th January (to coincide with Opera Holland Park’s season announcement). This is the widest time span ever covered in a Notes issue (1624 – 2018), which is just how I like it. Collaboration is a central aspect of the conductor’s work in all three cases, with conflict as a central theme.

I was lucky enough to be introduced to Mark Warman in the autumn, and he made the brilliant and novel suggestion of discussing his collaboration with the late great Scott Walker. To explore the work of a 1960s pop star turned composer was a wonderful diversion from the Notes norm, and we focused on Walker’s collaboration with the director Brady Corbet (including the films Childhood of a Leader and Vox Lux). Warman’s bespoke role working alongside Walker included being a conductor, orchestrator and music supervisor. Talking to Mark was a great breath of fresh air and he was hugely generous with his time. I hope you enjoy reading his many insights and experiences.

Having been aware of both her conducting and academic work for so many years, it was such a treat to have some time with Dame Jane Glover ­– huge congratulations to her for making the New Year’s Honours List! I’m delighted by this fantastic news, and was equally delighted by her suggestion to discuss Monteverdi’s Combattimento di Tancredo e Clorinda – a timeless dramatic work from his Eighth Book of Madrigals. As a conductor with such a great wealth of experience in Early Music, she was able to delve into the altered dynamic for the conductor (one that is often even more collaborative than the norm), the instruments, and interpretation of the story, text and score. As the first seventeenth-century work covered by Notes from the Podium, Jane has opened Pandora’s Box and I hope to explore this era more exhaustively in the future.

Finally, after 18th January we have George Jackson. I’ll update this introduction when more information is allowed…

I hope you enjoy them, and have managed to have a nice Christmas break. Wishing everyone a healthy New Year.

Happy Reading!

Hannah

Dr. Hannah Baxter – Editor