A feast for the senses: Britten Sinfonia’s Surround Sound playlist concerts shine
No surprise that Meurig Bowen and the rest of the phenomenally hard-working team at Britten Sinfonia has come up trumps with the opening of its Surround Sound concert series this week. It was standing room only at a packed Chelmsford Cathedral for the first of three playlist events performed by musicians dotted around the interior of the building playing to audience members sitting or lying on the cathedral floor.
Musically, the programme mixes old and new, familiar and unfamiliar, each work fitting together effortlessly to provide a solid 50 minutes of music in each half. There’s a mix of styles, treatments and moods. In the second half, mixing Ligeti’s Six Bagatelles with Bartok’s Romanian Folk Dances was a deft and pleasing contrast. Zadok the Priest and the Prokofiev’s Dance of the Knights from Romeo and Juliet nestled in comfortably alongside music by Susato, Tawadros, and a new work for both orchestra and brass band called The Thread by David John Roche. Caroline Shaw’s comforting and the swallow from Tenebrae directed by Nigel Short was a gratifying inclusion too. Saxophonist Amy Dickson and oud player Joseph Tawadros shared familiar classics with improvisation in a satisfying mix.
Introduced from the pulpit at the beginning of the concert, this event had a clear goal: to make those who perhaps wouldn’t have considered classical music before to feel welcome. Easily achieved before a single note was played.
That it sold to capacity drawing some audience members from North Essex an hour away on the train is yet another demonstration of what the Britten Sinfonia does so well — meeting audience head-on, focussing on action rather than discourse. Innovation doesn’t mean having to reinvent the wheel. This is about building trust with the very people you want to build a connection with, demonstrating the orchestra’s value to and for the community it serves.
Part of the draw for some was to see friends who were performing in the various amateur groups who appeared alongside — Chelmsford Singers, Waltham Singers, Thundersley Brass Band, and the Cathedral Choristers. Real life collaborations that not only draw in the crowd but see a beautifully infectious buzz amongst curious and engaged people of all ages. Community coming together to hear music swirl all around it.
