I heard the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra play at a classical music festival in Dorset quite a few years ago. The setting was spectacular looking down to Studland Bay and a group of us camped. The whole thing was made even more enjoyable because very few people turned up – only about 800 the night we were there.
It was all rather different to Glastonbury. No crowds, no mud, uncrowded bars and we were quite close to the music. The problem was that ticket sales did not cover costs and the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and others were left unpaid; another Ginger & Pickles story. Katherine Jenkins sang one evening but her agent made sure she was paid in advance.
Anyway, I heard the BSO again on Radio 3 on Monday morning. They were accompanying Sarah Connolly in Elgar’s Sea Pictures. This piece was unfamiliar to me but is jolly good. It led me to muse on how much music is inspired by the sea. Is it because the changes of colour, shape, mood, can be reflected in a musical composition? In Peter Grimes, Four Sea Interludes is the best bit. Is it because we are, or were, a maritime nation; Rule Britannia and all that. But it is not only British composers; think of Debussy and La mer, Mendelssohn and Fingal’s Cave, Tchaikovsky’s The Tempest which was on Radio 3 last night from the Proms.