Only the Best Song Oscar

Those of you who, like me, follow the Academy Awards and the music categories in particular will probably view with relief the latest news - that only good songs will be nominated next year. According to the BBC website

New rules mean that every song entered must get a minimum score of 8.25 on a scale of six to 10 when voted for by Academy music members. "We're trying to improve the quality," said composer Bruce Broughton, head of the Academy's music branch.

Well about time too. So few songs are written for movies these days (let alone good ones) that it's got to the point where if you have a song in your movie you're practically guaranteed a nomination. There hasn't been a decent song that has won in years. The last 7 winners are:

'Jai Ho' from Slumdog Millionaire (bound to win, despite quality, on the back of film's success)
'Falling Slowly' from Once (wishy-washy but Irish, so Academy liked it)
'I Need to Wake Up' from An Inconvenient Truth (totally directionless and dull)
'It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp' from Hustle and Flow (a total disgrace - how did it win?!)
'On the Other Side of the River' from The Motorcycle Diaries (tinkly and dull but 'ethnic' to LA ears)
'Into the West' from Lord of the Rings (I'm still reeling from this one)
'Lose Yourself' from 8 Mile (every other song nominated was better)

Even 'If I Didn't Have You', which finally won Randy Newman his first Oscar, wasn't Newman's best (everyone knows he should've won 2 years before with 'When She Loved Me' from Toy Story 2 - one of the greatest narrative songs ever written for a movie).

So it's certainly time for a shake-up. Read the whole BBC website article HERE.

Of course, this means there is the distinct possibility of no songs being nominated next year, which would be quite fun. I guess it's a matter of taste. Presumably, Academy members could still give a song a high score if they wanted the film to get some notice (it's often the song that gets a nomination even if the film itself gets nothing else - that way, distributors can take advantage of the words 'Oscar Nominated...' on posters and in trailers).

But the whole situation reflects a general trend - songs aren't used in films much any more. Randy Newman is one of the very few who (a) gets films that ask for songs that are part of the story narrative and (b) is a good enough songwriter to cope with them. His songs always make a mark. But there aren't many others up to the job.

Even Slumdog Millionaire, which had music all over it, didn't actually use its Oscar-winning song within the film - it was a pop video style add-on at the end. Terrific dancing, but the song doesn't stand up to much scrutiny.

You can pour over all the nominations and winners in the Best Song category of the Academy Awards HERE. It makes interesting reading and trips many memories of old.

Ken Russell - Seriously out of touch

For the second time this week I've been shocked by an ignorant, out of touch view from someone who should know better.

First it was Michael White, critic at the Daily Telegraph, who - with astounding stupidity - showed his ignorance of anything beyond classical music by blaming the success of the Britain's Got Talent winners, Diversity, on "the socio-politics of 21st-century Britain, which is far too indulgent towards the vulgar, anti-feminist and homophobic subculture of rap." In his blog, White describes Diversity as a "rap dance troupe". Setting aside the fact that no such dance style exists, if he'd bothered to actually watch the dancing (or at the least knew SOMETHING about the culture from which it's derived) he would have known that rap had absolutely nothing to do with any of the extraordinary routines we saw. Indeed, this group of intelligent boys and young men seemed to me the perfect advert against such ridiculous prejudice (the idea that if they are black, and dance in a style that isn't ballet, they must be involved in rap or some such). Michael makes good points about the runner-up, Susan Boyle, but spoils the article with his silly comments about Diversity, who deserved to win with their creative, brilliantly-executed and fresh routines.

And now there's film director Ken Russell, guest editorial writer this month for the website Classical Source.

The site is home to a huge number of reviews of classical concerts, many of them amateurish in the extreme. I suppose getting someone like Russell, once the king of movie/TV composer biopics, is a bit of a coup. But publishing what is, in essence, an old man's rant is not helpful. And it's a seriously out of touch rant at that. Here's the opening paragraph:

Happy 10th-birthday to Classical Source, and many more!

I’d suggest a night out at a concert in celebration, but the current dumbing-down of our museum concert programming – certainly in London – means too many of the same tired old war-horses are being trotted out. From a London standpoint, the LPO, LSO and the Philharmonia Orchestra are performing (however dedicatedly) almost-identical programmes – the usual-suspect composers sometimes in mediocre renditions, whilst unknown or neglected composers are ignored. Even the early symphonies of Dvořák and Bruckner are rarely heard; and whilst Vaughan Williams, Elgar and Delius are close to my heart, there are many other British composers that never get a look-in and are shamefully forgotten.

Today conductors and orchestras tend to find it easy to bash out what they know well, rather than take the time required to perform unplayed and unknown works. Orchestral standards in London now seem lower than in previous times, contemporary recordings of the classics sounding like dull and bland ghosts of the same orchestras from previous generations. If Otto Klemperer were around today, he certainly wouldn’t allow such low standards nor tolerate such lacklustre playing.

Pardon? Is he serious? Has Ken Russell actually been to a concert in London in the last 30 years? "Orchestral standards in London now seem lower than in previous times". That's quite a statement, and has no relation to what I experience in the capital on a weekly basis. The LSO is still one of the greatest orchestras in the world. The LPO, with a couple of exciting new conductors, is playing better than ever. The Philharmonia is also producing stunning performances. The BBC Symphony Orchestra continues to lead the way in innovative programming.

Sadly, Ken goes on...

Today the global culture industry manufactures and markets sexy stereotypical conductors and standardised-sounding orchestras, producing a homogenised, streamlined smoothness. The genius-tyrant conductor, such as Toscanini and Klemperer, would never be allowed today – and would never survive in our politically-correct culture, which celebrates glossiness and superficiality. Conducting is now about acting and appearance...

If real conductors – Klemperer, Toscanini, Cantelli, Koussevitzky, Reiner, Szell, Monteux and Mravinsky – were around today, standards would undoubtedly be so much higher...

Political-correctness has destroyed the authoritarian art of conducting and lowered orchestral standards – weak conductors allow lazy orchestras to get away with sloppiness. Today’s conductors are far too accommodating, appeasing, conciliatory, compatible, deferential, negotiable, obsequious, servile, subservient and pusillanimous: all the very things a conductor should not be!

Anyone who goes regularly to concerts in this country will not recognise this bizarre description. It's true to say that orchestras have managed to rid themselves of the tyrannical bullying that so often marked out some of those names Russell is keen to mention through his rose-tinted spectacles. But to describe Valery Gergiev, Colin Davis, Daniel Barenboim, Michael Tilson Thomas, Vladimir Jurowski, Mark Elder, Zubin Mehta, Kurt Masur, Kristjan Jarvi, Esa Pekka Salonen, Andre Previn, Tony Pappano, Yan Pascal Tortelier, Andris Nelsons - to name just a few - as 'too accommodating, appeasing...obsequious, servile...etc etc' is simply insulting.

There's more...

...instead of hearing yet more war-horses conducted badly, why not play our neglected British composers – Robert Simpson, Alan Rawsthorne, George Benjamin, Ernest John Moeran, William Mathias, Colin Matthews, Alan Bush, Arthur Bliss, Granville Bantock, Edmund Rubbra, Thea Musgrave, John Ireland, Alun Hoddinott and Humphrey Searle?

I take his point that some of those names are a bit neglected, but that's more to do with fashion than anything else. And a few of those composers really aren't up to much anyway. But to say that George Benjamin and Colin Matthews (two of our finest living composers) are neglected shows just how little Russell actually bothers to scan the programmes of the UK orchestras.

I'm not sure which London Russell is referring to, but the one I spend most of my life in has a jaw-dropping amount of world-class classical music performances every single day, and hardly a week goes by without a premiere. No other city in the world offers such depth in repertoire, from the old war-horse to the most recent commission. Even the most casual glance at the brochures of the Barbican, SouthBank Centre, King's Place, Royal Albert Hall (lets not forget the Proms), Linbury Studio, Sadlers Wells and dozens of other venues around the capital supports this.

I have always thought of Ken Russell as a visionary film-maker who was simply allowed to be too indulgent - with a few wonderful exceptions, like Song of Summer (the story of Delius) and the Elgar film for Monitor (and I have a soft spot for The Devils, with its Peter Maxwell Davies score). He always had a great feel for music. But sadly, with this article, he appears out of touch and ill-informed.

Seriously, is there anyone out there who shares his views on this?

Karl Jenkins film (and other news)

The first of my films about Karl Jenkins (above) is now available to watch on the Boosey & Hawkes website. Although I made another version of the film some time ago, it was only seen by delegates at the American Choral Directors Association conference earlier this year. Now this new version is available for all to see.

There's a lot more going on at Red Ted Films and with me generally. Here's a quick overview:

EMI - We spent a day at Potton Hall in Suffolk filming the pianist Ingrid Fliter as she recorded Chopin Waltzes for EMI Classics. So I'm currently editing the footage for the official EPK. Next month we're back at Potton Hall to capture the Belcea Quartet (+1) recording Schubert's C major quintet, also for EMI Classics.

Robert Cohen - my project with the cellist Robert Cohen is nearly complete. Robert, in conversation with Sir John Tusa, Tariq Ali, Gillian Moore, Sir Mark Elder and Michael Berkeley will be released soon. I also recorded Robert playing an incredible solo cello piece by Kodaly which will be the theme music for the series.

Film Music - On the 8th May I hosted the annual Filmharmonic concert at the Royal Albert Hall with the Royal Philharmonnic Orchestra. It's always great fun, packed to the rafters, and this year added pleasure because my old mate David Arnold conducted his music from Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace - with a red pencil. And Debbie Wiseman conducted a suite from Lesbian Vampire Killers, which gave me the opportunity to make the obvious jokes.

I've also been preparing for a concert with the London Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican on 7th June, when film and TV composer George Fenton will be conducting his own music. You can see info on the concert (and buy tickets) HERE. I will be hosting a pre-concert talk with George and one of his regular collaborators, the director Stephen Frears. That's at 6.15pm and free to all concert ticket-holders. Should be a terrific night.
And I'm currently producing a huge, star-studded film music concert which will be held later this year. Can't talk about that one at the moment...

Conductors - I've been working with the conductor Joseph Wolfe, son of Sir Colin Davis. I've worked on stage with Joseph before, with the CBSO; I'm now editing together some footage of Joseph's recent appearance with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic for a promo DVD.
And this week I was also filming with Andris Nelsons up in Birmingham, for a little film promoting the CBSO's 2009/10 season. That will be on the CBSO site in late July.

Podcasts - The latest CBSO podcast has been on the site since the beginning of May, with a feature on the City of Birmingham Young Voices, celebrating their 10th birthday, and a new regular feature - an A-Z of musical terms/phrases presented by the brilliant Richard Bratby. The June podcast is coming up next week - Andris Nelsons looks back on his first season as CBSO Music Director, there's a special interview with soprano Claire Booth, and Stephen Johnson discusses Haydn's Nelson Mass. You can hear all past podcasts on the Podcast page of the CBSO website.

Concerts - On the 19th June I'll once again be presenting the CBSO school concerts at Symphony Hall, Birmingham. Andris Nelsons conducts the Romeo and Juliet fantasy by Tchaikovsky and I'll be taking the orchestra apart and putting it back together again for about 4000 nine year olds - always fantastic fun, and very noisy.

There's more, but it will have to wait!

RPS v Classical Brit - No Competition

Last year I wrote about the crass and meaningless Classical Brits, mentioning that not a single album in the 'Album of the Year' nominations featured any classical music. This year's awards, held earlier in the week, excelled themselves - with Album of the Year won by (I'm not making this up) the Band of the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards. Howard Goodall, a tremendous TV theme writer and even better TV presenter, writes deeply dull 'serious' music but nevertheless won 'Composer of the Year'. Trumpeter Alison Balsom won 'Best Female' or something.

I agree with Michael White, who writes about it all with suitable disdain in his Telegraph blog.

Much better to mention, as Michael does in an earlier blog, the award ceremonies that actually count. The Royal Philharmonic Society awards, also held this week, have integrity and honour; they are created out of knowledge and craft, not sales and commercialism. So, George Benjamin rightly received an award for his beautiful chamber opera, Into the Little Hill; Hackney Music Development Trust won an award for its work with under-privileged children in East London; Thomas Quasthoff got a special award; conductor Yannick Nezet-Seguin won the newcomer award; the late Richard Hickox was honoured. A proper reflection of what classical music was up to last year.

Unfortunately, all the press will be about the Classical Brits with its pretty, glitzy stars and once again the general public will be fed an entirely false image of classical music. Nothing in the Classical Brits reflects the great vitality and energy of British classical music at the moment: the fact that we have a good number of terrific young conductors coming through; that our best composers are producing fascinating and challenging work; that we continue to produce world-class orchestral musicians; that fine community projects are bringing serious music to many thousands of people, young and old, without apology.

It's a shame, because that's something of which we can be truly proud.

BBC Radio 3 - UK Station of the Year (finally)

Congratulations to everyone at BBC Radio 3 for winning UK Station of the Year at the Sonys - finally. It's about time the network got some recognition for all the quality programmes it broadcasts, and some credit for the incredibly hard-working producers who mostly put together consistently interesting and challenging programmes under great pressure and with totally ridiculous, miniscule budgets that barely cover the presenter's fee and a cup of tea in the break.
It's very satisfying to report that the Sony jury did not, as I fully expected them to do in a previous blog, let down Radio 3 after all. I still think the jury selection needs a total overhaul but lets settle in the warm glow of success just for a moment (and I should say that I have nothing whatever to do with Radio 3 these days - I've had no official connection with the network for over 3 years).

I'm particularly pleased that the programme 'Vaughan Williams: Valiant for Truth' won a Gold Sony in the Music Special category. Stephen Johnson (above), the presenter, is always brilliant and this was absolutely his area in which to shine; the producer, Jeremy Evans, is one of the Radio 3's treasures who quietly goes about making excellent programmes that have shape, movement and compelling content. This is the kind of programme we should have more often; it rewards the listener by being challenging, thoughtful, intelligent and - very important this - it was in no rush. The story and the journey unfolded naturally. I hope it gets a repeat to mark its success.

Radio 3 is not the perfect station - there's no such thing - and, of course, there are programmes I love and others I can't stand. But with quality presenters like Rob Cowan, Donald Macleod, Stephen Johnson, Michael Berkeley and Geoff Smith - the very best at what they do - and the many very talented producers, sound engineers and assistants the network can boast, it's about bloody time Radio 3 won station of the year. Whether this year, more than any other, was particularly special is up for debate but that's beside the point. The important thing is that, as a result of this award, Radio 3 might just get some publicity for what it is actually rather good at - classical music broadcasting that treats the listener as intelligent.

Listen to Composer of the Week, day in, day out, and tell me that's not public service broadcasting at its best.

Death of South Bank Show

It's been a while, for which I apologise. Things have been so busy, and I was away in Florida with the London Symphony Orchestra for 2 weeks, I've hardly had time to think.

Still, nothing stirs me more than reading about the continuing demise of decent arts programming on British television. This week, the inevitable was announced - when Melvyn Bragg retires, his beloved South Bank Show will go with him.

Frankly, ITV has been waiting for this moment for years. It was clear the channel didn't really want SBS - shoving the programme later and later in the schedule, apart from the odd celebrity-led edition at maybe 1045pm. The only person that kept it on the air, bullishly fighting his corner, was Melvyn. It's true that many SBS in recent years had been little more than publicity puff-pieces; certainly not the historic portraits of old, anyway (Francis Bacon, Dennis Potter etc). But no-one understood how to survive on the modern ITV better than Melvyn and it's hard to blame him for resorting to the 'popular stuff' once in a while. I can imagine his meetings with dunderhead executives, trying to persuade them into another series, were quite tiresome after 30 years.

The great shame is that it is unimaginable that ITV will replace SBS with another arts-based show, especially now Michael Grade (who originally commissioned the programme when at LWT) is off too. If ITV decided to make distinctive, quality programmes instead of watered-down, populist crap all the time, it might have a better future. Alas it ain't going to happen. And as Charlotte Higgins points out in her Guardian blog, the BBC doesn't have an alternative either.

The arts on television has been desperate for a while now. The demise of SBS is one more nail in the coffin.

There's a lot being written about the cancelling of the South Bank Show (a lot more than when it's on the air...). I nominate Mark Lawson as having the last word, since Mark now presides over just about the only serious arts programme on the BBC, Front Row - on radio, of course.

Read Mark's article here.

David Lister blames Proms, not his own paper

Was someone in the news editorial department of the Independent having a laugh yesterday?
Or is Arts Editor David Lister just being a typical journalist?

On page 5 of the paper yesterday was a full page report on the launch of this year's Proms. About four-fifths of the page was a general report on the season, and at the bottom a 'Comment' article by Lister. Nothing too bothersome so far. Lister's comment was a moan about how the Proms executives, including Roger Wright, spend far too much time talking about what Lister calls 'the sideshows', rather than the main classical music events. This year, that means a piece by drum 'n' bass star Goldie, another by Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood and songs from Bollywood. Lister dreams of a day when the headlines will be about

"...Brahms, Rattle, Barenboim. A little fanciful, I know...[The Proms] doesn't actually need Goldie to make it world-beating, nor even to make it newsworthy. Those who run the Proms should have faith in the Proms and the power of classical music."

Read his article HERE.

So what is the headline in the main article about the Proms in the Independent, directly above Lister's article? 'THE PROMS ARE TAKING A WALK ON THE WILD SIDE OF MUSIC - Goldie, Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood and Bollywood included in this year's line-up at the Albert Hall', accompanied by large pictures of Greenwood, Goldie and the Bollywood dancers. Read the whole article by Arifa Akbar, an 'arts correspondent' who appears to know very little about music, HERE. It mentions that there are 100 concerts this year, but Akbar only concerns himself with about 4 of them - the ones featuring the artists above.

So on the one hand, Lister - the Arts Editor - moans about the Proms people talking about the novelty stuff, but then on the other sees his own paper, on the very same page, do exactly the same. It would have been very easy for the Independent to talk more about the incredible diversity of classical music performance that is promised at this year's Proms, and mention a little about the Goldie and Greenwood pieces. But no, it's as bad as everyone else. Newspaper journalists can't possibly be expected to take an ounce of responsibility; it's clearly everyone else's fault. Lister's big quote, the most prominent in the article, is "Why does there seem to be such a reluctance to trumpet the glories of classical music?" Well quite. That question needs to be put to the Independent itself.
It's as if The Independent is saying 'It's not our fault our article concentrates on Goldie, we're just reporting the press conference.'

But actually, according to at least three people I know who were at the Proms launch, most of the talk WAS about the classical music performances. Perhaps Lister had already decided what the story was going to be, regardless. It means that people like Roger Wright cannot possibly win. Talk about all the unusual stuff, the newspapers report that; talk about the classical stuff for 90% of the time, the newpapers will write about the other 10% anyway.

The most galling thing is that the Independent chose to run a comment piece that was entirely contradicted by a huge article ON THE SAME PAGE!

As I say, someone must've been having a laugh. But I didn't find it very funny.

Proms 2009 Announced

This year's Proms season was announced yesterday, an exciting moment for any of us that love the greatest classical music festival in the world (by far). Once again I will desperately miss presenting the concerts on Radio 3 or BBC Four and I'll probably be too busy to go to many this year (last year I managed a pathetic three) but I will still look forward to thumbing through the Proms Guide, an annual ritual I have been carrying out for as long as I can remember.

I'll be giving my over-view of the season and nominating some highlights in the coming days, once I've got the Proms Guide in my hands. I thought Roger Wright's first season in charge, last year, was extremely strong; the inclusion of more contemporary music, the return of international orchestras, fewer season 'themes'. Much of that season would have been in place before Roger got started, but this year is presumably more 'him'.

I'm not going to get an idea of the season proper until I have a copy of the Guide; the massive Proms website certainly isn't going to help me. The full concert listing is confusing and messy. And many of the links from the 'Proms by Artist' page take you to the wrong concert (clicking on Bernard Haitink, for example, takes you to info on the English Consort's prom).

I get my information on nearly everything online these days, but sometimes there's no substitute for a book or brochure to hold and in the case of the Proms it's essential. The website listings are horrible. Why didn't they notice the brilliant online brochures of, say, ENO or the LSO? They have digital versions of their brochures, which have multi-media content (like films, audio etc) embedded within a design that's exactly the same as the print version. All extra content is accessible from one central design. They are easy to use and a much more satisfying, user-friendly experience for us punters. Anyone from BBC Online reading this should check them out immediately.

Maybe they didn't want to replicate it online because, unlike absolutely everybody else's season brochures, you have to actually buy a print version of the Proms Guide (£6 rrp!).

Still, there are some things online that will be worth looking at during the season: I particularly enjoy the reviews section, where anybody can post their thoughts on a concert; and the regular podcasts from Sean Rafferty and Petroc Trelawny will be a nice addition.

The only thing that has so far made my heart sink can be found in the broadcast pages of the proms site, and the promise of a 'Maestro Cam'. "During certain Proms, digital viewers can press the red button to see a close-up of the conductor and hear expert commentary." I like the idea of a camera locked onto the conductor (a bit like the option you get in sports coverage sometimes, when you can follow a single player) but 'expert commentary'?! Yikes.

Please, please BBC, I'm begging you, please don't give the job to the person I assume you're asking (the only person the BBC can think of when it comes to classical music broadcasting these days). Please?

Anyway, more on the actual concerts soon.