Celebration at LSO St Luke’s
The
Celebration on September 13th of the
50th anniversary of the foundation of the BSMT together with
the 40th anniversary of the foundation of Juliette Alvin’s Training
Course at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama was a highly successful event
from every viewpoint. For me,
personally it was a particularly memorable occasion, because I had the
opportunity to meet up with so many old friends and colleagues whom I had not
seen for many years.
It
was extremely well organised from the opening in the afternoon when refreshments
were provided with a background of light music, to the Concert in the LSO
Jerwood Hall followed by a Reception.
Perhaps
the most remarkable aspect of the performance was that practically every
musician in the full symphony orchestra and two of the soloists were all music
therapists. Nonetheless they gave
performances that any major orchestra would have been proud to present.
The
concert opened with a new composition by Gillian Stevens, Sound
from Silence, a very interesting work written for the occasion with singing
bowls (Susan Nares), voice (Sarah Verney Caird) and drum (Dylan Fowler).
The composer explained that all music therapists work from silence and
she wanted to create a piece of music which would call on the special abilities
of music therapists to listen and respond. In
this she certainly succeeded and the audience were rapt throughout.
Then
came the Cello concerto No 1 in C major by Haydn which was given a very
sensitive performance by Deirdre Bencsik, with Leslie Bunt conducting.
It was clear from the first that his conducting skills are quite
astonishing and I can say that several times during his performance I was
reminded more than once of the great John Barbirolli.
This
was followed by the rarely heard Concerto in A minor for oboe and strings by
Ralph Vaughan Williams with Stella Compton Dickinson as the very accomplished
soloist. This is a very difficult
work to play and demands tremendous skill on the part of the soloist, but there
were no doubts on this score.
After
the interval, there was another piece written for the occasion by Christopher
Walker to the text by Susan Pontin called A
Constant Hum. This was an
interesting and original work in which the audience is divided into two parts
and is directed to sing five bars repeatedly, directed by Sarah Verney Caird and
Susan Nares. Again, a very unusual
experience to which the audience really responded.
For
me, the pièce résistance was the performance of the Beethoven Piano concerto No 5
in E flat major, with Malcolm Troup as soloist which ended the concert.
The combined efforts of orchestra, soloist and conductor brought about a
performance that any top musicians would find hard to beat.
From the opening phrase to the gloriously colourful finale, the audience
were rapt. For me, it was an
experience I shall never forget.
At
the reception which followed, we had the opportunity to meet old friends and
colleagues and relax over a glass of wine. There
were four presentations and tributes. Dr
Helen Odell-Miller
and Professor Tony Wigram paid tribute to Juliette Alvin.
Auriel Warwick and Claire Flower spoke about the BSMT, Ann Sloboda
discussed the music therapy course at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in
London
and Dr Wendy Magee (BSMT Chair) and Stephen Sandford (APMT Chair) spoke on
future directions. A presentation
was made to Denize Christophers for her contribution as Administrator for 35
years. Malcolm Troup also paid
tribute to some of the other people who had contributed to the Society and was
kind enough to mention me as editor of the BSMT Journal (1974-1990), for which I
was very grateful.
Margaret
Campbell
