CREATING 'THE EMPEROR'S ORCHESTRA'

PATRIC STANDFORD's diary for this recent commission

<< Continued from last week

22 October 2000

After last night's performance of Gerontius I'm not sure what is good or bad. Phoned in my review, then spent a couple of hours writing about a minute and a half of what seemed, in retrospect, rubbish. However, this story has a place for that too, so it probably isn't time wasted.

1 November 2000

Phone call from Ian K. Barrie has definitely stepped down. Have I any ideas for a narrator? Decided to scrap everything but the three-bar fanfare I began with last September and start again. Real structural business this time, dividing up the story into sections, each of which might instigate a musical response. Design becoming clearer, though still not enough time to think about it. Need a holiday over which to concentrate.

17 November 2000

Orchestra most likely to be double woodwind, horns and trumpets, harp, piano, percussion and strings. Will confirm later when programme is decided, but expect Falla El Amor Brujo and Stravinsky Pulcinella. The first performances are going to be part of educational residencies, lots of GCSE and Performing Arts students, so I am asked if I like the idea of local footballers for the narration; does the narrator need to be musical? I suggest the narrator needs to be able to read, act, project! In short, no to the footballers. They clearly want to appeal to young local audiences. Appeal yes, but not sink!

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