Evolve or Die?

Classical Music’s image problem.

Recently, I went to a Nonclassical club night in Leeds for the first time. If you’ve never experienced one before, it’s a little like going to a rock concert, but instead of the usual crunchy guitars, the performers wield a more traditional choice of axes: flutes, cellos and recorders are a mainstay. These nights are a far cry away from traditional however. Never before have I been to a classical concert, and stood with a pint in one hand while ten foot speakers shake the rafters. The night showcased contemporary classical pieces, mainly a combination of acoustic instruments accompanied by or manipulated with some form of electronics, interspersed with quirky DJ sets comprised of remixes of pieces from the label’s back catalogue. It wasn’t quite like anything I’d seen before. It was certainly unapologetic and it suited perfectly the Belgrave Music Hall’s gritty gig room. This is the mantra behind Nonclassical: to deliver contemporary classical music in an environment away from the concert hall.

  Compare the experience to watching a symphony orchestra play at Leeds Town Hall for example. Simply the age of the audience says a lot. Complete silence is kept during the performance. You could hardly cough without being met with disapproving side glances. I like the music! Why am I not allowed to clap when I want? I’ve also been to see Lieder recently. A beautiful soprano in a red dress sang a few songs before coming on and off stage seventeen times and being presented with a large bunch of flowers and a bottle of wine. 

  I should point out that I am in no way against classical music itself, or indeed its typical audience. It’s been a large part of my musical education since I started learning the trumpet at age 11. There are works of almost unimaginable beauty in the classical repertoire. There’s passion, drama, heartache and definitely excitement if you look in the right places. But the music has a serious lasting image problem. (Take the recent Lexus advert for example.) But it isn’t cool, and the tailcoats aren’t helping.

 Part of the problem is that classical music seems to give off an unpleasant aroma of elitism. Perhaps this is because music lessons are typically a fairly expensive pursuit leaving them only open to the middle classes. The typical performance space of a concert venue or recital room tends to give off an air of unfriendliness too. Max Hole, the CEO of Universal Music Group really nailed down what it is about this kind of performance that has this effect when he said of a recent concert, ‘There were no screens to show the musicians up close, the conductor had his back to you, he didn't speak to you. I thought this was all wrong.’ Hole has come up with a concept to try and counter this at the Bristol Proms, using lighting, video screens and other technology to enhance the experience. This of course isn’t anything new, rock music caught onto it a long time ago. 

  It’s possible to go the other way as well. Take the classical brits for example. It’s so dressed up in schmaltzy bullshit that it isn’t really about music at all anymore so much as appealing to the X-factor loving 3 minute attention span of the general public, or so it would seem. Then again it has a tenuous relationship to classical music at best anyway, pushing it aside in favour of giving the stage to Gary Barlow and Andrew Lloyd Webber. No, this just isn’t the way forward. If anything, it probably only serves to confirm to people who might have become interested in classical music that there is indeed, nothing here for them.

  There certainly are examples of how classical music can be presented differently without cheapening it. Radiohead’s Johnny Greenwood is a bit of a crusader for live classical music. He’s written several pretty successful works with orchestras around the world and recently said in an interview for Radio 5 that classical music concerts have had the excitement ‘squeezed out of them’. Greenwood has also said that classical music needs to be performed in different places that are less ‘uptight’, that setlists need to be less rigid and that people should be able to show their appreciation during the performance instead of the standard frosty silence.

Classical music has to embrace change to stay alive. Nonclassical and Johnny Greenwood are proving that we can present classical music in an accessible way without ruining its integrity.