ARTHUR
BUTTERWORTH’s
Desert
Island Discs
The
notion of that famous desert island,
first visited, with a chosen guest in
tow, by Roy Plomley, that most excellent
of radio hosts, has ever remained an
intriguing prospect for musicians.
The
programme, it seems to me, has never
really been about "music"
but rather is a show-case for celebrities
of all walks of life to show off, talk
about all the world-shattering things
hey have achieved, and how superior
they are to ordinary people. There have,
of course been exceptions, modest people
who have been genuinely interesting
to listen to. The music they have chosen
has been nothing more than a peg to
carry the narrative forward, since no-one
could really believe that the chosen
music – in most cases such ephemeral
stuff – could form the basis of a permanent
consolation to a castaway. However,
I have to confess to having asked dozens
of musical people what their choice
just might be. The choice at least gives
some indication of their cultural attitude
overall.
How
impossible it would be for most of us
to choose just eight, since there are
probably hundreds of things we cherish.
All this is obvious. My own choices
could be legion, but for the sake of
some notion as to how my musical leanings
go here is a list. The idea behind it
being that some variety would be essential
and there would have to be a reflection
of some contrasting interests that have
intrigued me over the past fifty years
or more; some of them having been, for
one reason or another, especially influential,
such as, for example, the Brahms Academic
Festival Overture.
Now,
for me this is the kind of interesting
point about all this: Way back in 1937,
at the age of 14, I chanced to see on
a bill-board in Manchester, the annual
advertisement for the Belle Vue championship
brass band contest to be held on the
first Monday in September – the first
day back at school in the new year.
I hurried from school that afternoon
just in time to get into the hall before
the famous Besses o’ th’ Barn Band took
the stage under its distinguished conductor
William Wood and heard, for the first
time in my life the Brahms overture.
I
was spell-bound by this incredible experience;
it was simply stunning ... A few weeks
later I chanced to notice that this
same work was to be played at a Hallé
concert the following week. Now, I had
already been to Hallé concerts,
the ones promoted by Manchester Education
Committee for school pupils, but the
brass band still held a prior interest.
However, going to this latest concert
when the Brahms was played by a large
– and very fine – orchestra was a turning
point in my musical life. It demonstrated
the really essential link that brass
band transcriptions could lead otherwise
uncultured brass band types to appreciate
what one might call "the real thing".
So it has been ever since: band transcriptions
can still lead those who have not "seen
the light" – the unfortunate point
is that nowadays most brass band types
just do not want to be led to better
things. As the saying goes: "you
can lead the horse to the trough but
you cannot make it drink". However,
the Brahms Academic Festival Overture
became a talisman for me for the rest
of my life, and it still is.. I have
conducted this piece scores of times
– with orchestras – but relatively few
times with bands - they just don’t want
to know, for the most part. I chose
this as the opening work in my farewell
concert with Huddersfield Philharmonic
after being conductor there for thirty
one years. But it is more than that:
it sums up for me a whole European culture:
the essential classic-romantic way of
German music. So this would certainly
be an essential part of any desert island
choice for me.
It
would be possible, I suppose, to give
similar lengthy reasons for each of
the following choices, but that would
be far too tedious for anyone to read
and would be akin to inviting them to
sit as an observer while a psychiatrist
sorted me out on his interviewing couch.
Here is the list (such as it is, bearing
in mind I could offer maybe a dozen
or more such lists):
Bach;
Fantasia & Fugue in G minor for
organ
Beethoven:
Symphony No. 3 "Eroica"
Brahms:
Academic Festival Overture
Elgar:
Symphony No. 1 in A-flat
Sibelius:
Symphony No. 6 in D minor
Sibelius:
Tapiola
Schumann:
Piano Quintet in E flat
Cesar
Franck: Chorale No 3 in A minor for
organ
None
of my own music, since it is all too
familiar in my head anyway. (Unlike
Malcolm Sargent, who is reputed to have
chosen only recordings that he had himself
made! ). I could, say, have chosen something
by: Monteverdi, Mozart, Vaughan Williams,
Bax, Bliss, Moeran, Franck, and many
other things of Brahms, Sibelius ...
.maybe even some Russian music.
Equally
other things would never find room in
my collection. It is all very well asking
people what they LIKE, but just as revealing
is what they do NOT like.
I
could never willingly hear a note of
Mahler for instance. It would be possible
to investigate a whole set of attitudes
to a person’s culture and outlook were
one to write a thesis on the kind of
music that attracts – and equally repels
– them. The trivial choices made by
some celebrities indicates that probably
they have not really thought about what
motivates them. They have not considered
the ephemeral nature of much trivial
music, or a shallow sentiment casually
suggests itself for the moment. Really
deep and long-lasting musical emotions
can never be eradicated from the psyche.
Arthur
Butterworth
2006
