Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra
The Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra (BSO[1]) is an English orchestra, founded in 1893 and originally based in Bournemouth. With a remit to serve the South and South West of England, the BSO is administratively based in the adjacent town of Poole, since 1979.[2] The orchestra is resident at Lighthouse in Poole, with other major concert series given at Portsmouth Guildhall, the Great Hall of Exeter University and Bristol Beacon. Shorter series are also given in Bournemouth (Pavilion Theatre) and Basingstoke.
Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra (BSO)
Principal conductors of the orchestra have included Sir Dan Godfrey, Rudolf Schwarz, Constantin Silvestri, Paavo Berglund, Andrew Litton and Marin Alsop. The current principal conductor is Kirill Karabits, since 2009. The orchestra's current chief executive is Dougie Scarfe.
History[edit]
Origins to 1934: The Godfrey era[edit]
The Bournemouth Municipal Orchestra was founded in 1893 by Dan Godfrey as a group of 30 wind players and a drummer, though several of the instrumentalists – as is the current practice with military musicians – were proficient in both wind and string instruments.[3] This flexible approach meant that the musicians could form a military band for open-air concerts (playing on Bournemouth Pier) or a more formal classical ensemble for indoor programmes. The group gave its first concert on Whit Monday 1893 at the Winter Gardens, with its first classical concert in October that year.
The band quickly expanded to become a full orchestra, gaining a reputation for championing British music. Edward Elgar and Gustav Holst (among others) conducted the orchestra in their own works. The orchestra gave the UK premieres of major works by Richard Strauss, Camille Saint-Saëns and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. On 14 December 1903, the Orchestra gave its 500th symphony concert, conducted by Godfrey; a souvenir booklet listed all the works played by the orchestra since its inception, noting any first performances.[4] The Bournemouth Municipal Choir, founded by Godfrey in 1911, sang regularly with the orchestra.
From 1922 to 1940, an Easter Festival was an important feature in the Bournemouth calendar. In 1927, the Festival was devoted to music of British women composers. In 1934, Godfrey retired as principal conductor, having conducted over 2,000 symphony concerts.[5]
The first recording by the Bournemouth Municipal Orchestra was made in 1914 and occasional records were issued during Godfrey's tenure: Godfrey's recordings included works such as Ferdinand Hérold's overture to Zampa, Daniel Auber's overtures The Bronze Horse and The Crown Diamonds, or Samuel Coleridge-Taylor's Petite Suite de Concert, along with "novelty items" with titles such as 'Slippery Sticks' and 'Whispering Pines' by members of the orchestra and featuring them as soloists.
Godfrey remains the longest serving principal conductor of the orchestra, and his stewardship ensured that, unlike many of the seaside orchestras that functioned from the end of the 19th century up until the outbreak of World War II, the Bournemouth Municipal Orchestra established an ongoing tradition of music making. Godfrey's programmes mixed populist elements, such as variety acts and light music, with extracts from more serious pieces. Alongside these, he instituted a series of symphony concerts which introduced diverse repertoire. He cultivated connections with most of the prominent British composers of the day including Edward Elgar, Hamilton Harty, Alexander Mackenzie, Hubert Parry, Charles Villiers Stanford, Ethel Smyth, Gustav Holst and the Australian Percy Grainger.[6]
From the very beginning, Godfrey had a difficult relationship with the Bournemouth Borough Council who saw the orchestra as a commercial concern which needed to pay its way. As part of Bournemouth's visitor attractions, any request for expansion of the orchestra or changes to their contracts were the subject of exhaustive debates in the Council chamber.[3] However, in general, Godfrey was successful at balancing both high artistic standards and box-office success.
1934–1947: Austin, Birch and wartime austerity[edit]
Between 1929 and 1934 Stanley Wilson became a regular guest conductor.[6] After Godfrey's retirement, the task of sustaining the orchestra fell to Richard Austin. Radio broadcasts took place from the Pavilion and a number of celebrated composers visited during this time, including Igor Stravinsky, William Walton, Ernest John Moeran, Sergei Rachmaninov, Roger Quilter, Balfour Gardiner and Percy Grainger. At the outbreak of war, the orchestra was cut from 61 to 35, and then in 1940 to only 24 players. Austin resigned in the same year and Montague Birch helped keep the orchestra going during the war, giving many 'popular' concerts. Whilst the Municipal Orchestra struggled in a depleted state, the war years saw concerts in the town by the Wessex Philharmonic, a freelance orchestra conducted by Reginald Goodall, which included some ex-members of the BMO.
1947–1954: Schwarz and Groves[edit]
After the end of the war, the orchestra found a new home at the 'new' Winter Gardens. In 1947, Rudolf Schwarz was appointed musical director of a re-formed orchestra of 60. He conducted the orchestra in its first concert in London since 1911, at the Royal Albert Hall in 1948, and in two concerts at the Royal Festival Hall during the Festival of Britain in 1951. Schwarz's tenure was marked by artistic consolidation, but also financial troubles.
Charles Groves took over as musical director in 1951, but a rising annual deficit and termination of players' contracts caused a crisis, averted only by support from the Winter Gardens Society. In 1952, a plan to merge the BMO with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra was avoided by an arrangement with the Arts Council for the orchestra to accompany Welsh National Opera for several weeks. The continuation of the orchestra was only secured by the formation of the Western Orchestral Society. In 1954, the orchestra changed its name to the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. At the inaugural concert, Groves and Sir Thomas Beecham shared the podium.[7]
1954–1969: The Silvestri years[edit]
From 1954 the BSO developed its present role of giving concerts at more venues in the southwest of England. Other work included accompanying the Bolshoi Ballet on their first British tour in 1956.
In 1957 Groves and the orchestra made commercial recordings, for Classics Club, (with a local engineer from Ronaldsons of Southbourne), of Beethoven's 4th Symphony, Brahms's Academic Festival Overture and Bizet's L'Arlésienne Suite.
In 1962, Constantin Silvestri became Principal Conductor and raised the standard and profile of the orchestra, with an appearance at the Edinburgh Festival in 1963, a first European tour in 1965, notable recordings and regular radio broadcasts. The orchestra gained its first international recognition during Silvestri's tenure, such as in a joint performance with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra in the Winter Gardens by the combined string sections of both orchestras, playing Edward Elgar's Introduction and Allegro. His tenure was cut short by his death from cancer in 1969. His recorded legacy includes Vaughan Williams's Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis, Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade, and a 1966 recording of Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture with the additional forces of the Band of HM Royal Marines.
Recent releases on BBC Legends, transferred from recordings of live concerts given at the Winter Gardens and elsewhere during Silvestri's tenure, provide a vivid record of the orchestra's style in this era. These include accounts of Tchaikovsky's Manfred Symphony and Elgar's Enigma Variations.
1969–1972: Hurst[edit]
In addition to its roster of principal conductors, other conductors affiliated with the orchestra have included George Hurst, who served as de facto principal conductor from 1969 to 1972, between the tenures of Silvestri and Paavo Berglund, without having been formally appointed to the post. Hurst ensured continuity during that conductorial interregnum.
1972–1979: Berglund[edit]
Paavo Berglund's tenure as principal conductor from 1972 to 1979 included commercial recordings such as the complete symphonies of Jean Sibelius for EMI. The Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and Paavo Berglund made the world premiere recording of the Kullervo by Jean Sibelius. Berglund led Sibelius Centenary Concerts with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra in 1965, and became the principal conductor in 1972, concluding his tenure in 1979. Berglund led the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra with distinction, significantly raising the performing standards, as can be heard from the many recordings made by it for EMI. During this period, Nordic repertoire became a staple of the orchestra.
Roger Preston, co-principal Cello, who worked with Berglund on many occasions, has said:
Offshoots[edit]
In 1968, the Bournemouth Sinfonietta was founded, with a complementary remit to tour the smaller towns of the south and west, as well as concentrating on classical repertoire. Despite artistic acclaim throughout its history, financial difficulties and funding withdrawals led to its sudden closure in November 1999.[26][27] Since then, sections of the BSO occasionally tour to smaller venues in the south and west.
Kokoro is a contemporary music ensemble of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, consisting of players from the orchestra and freelance musicians (formed 1994).
Community projects[edit]
A core part of the Orchestra's mission is its work beyond the concert hall. Reaching communities throughout the South and South West, the Orchestra organises activities ranging from workshops in schools to special performances in care homes.
Media[edit]
In addition to the first acoustic recordings by the Bournemouth Municipal Orchestra in 1914, early mass media activities included radio broadcasts from the original Winter Gardens on 2LO in the 1920s. Subsequently, the BMO gave regular concerts on the BBC, including Godfrey's farewell concert. The Pathé archive contains short films of the orchestra conducted by Dan Godfrey and Richard Austin made at the Pavilion Theatre in 1930 and 1937.
In 1963, the nave of Winchester Cathedral was cleared for the first time in several hundred years to enable a live television broadcast of the orchestra, conducted by Constantin Silvestri, performing Wagner's "Good Friday Music" from Parsifal.[3]
In the 1970s the orchestra appeared in Southern Television's Music in Camera series, conducted by Owain Arwel Hughes. The Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra recording of Gustav Holst's The Planets, conducted by George Hurst, was used on the soundtrack of Nicolas Roeg's film The Man Who Fell to Earth.
The orchestra were featured in a short-lived series of programmes on the local commercial radio station 2CR. Members of the orchestra and Bournemouth Symphony Chorus recorded a jingle for the Yellow Buses, Bournemouth's local bus company.