One of the highlights of the BBC Arena programme The Grateful and the Dead comes when an interviewer asks Brian, “Do you think of yourself as a failed composer” Brian’s reply was quite matter of fact without any trace of emotion or self-doubt. His response was brief, “Failed? I don’t know. What is failure? What is failure? What is success? What’s it all about?”

The original question was one for which there was no simple answer, hence Brian’s initial response. To answer the question, one needs to have an appreciation of where Brian’s compositions stand against some form of benchmark. That is where the problem lies. There isn’t one, and the danger is that if one attempted to utilise an imaginary one, it is likely to be inappropriate. The inference from Brian’s reply is that the public’s perception of what is best in classical music is flawed, and any comparative evaluation like this is pointless. To consider this further, I think that we need to take a diversion and look at classical music market generally before coming back to this question. In many ways, it isn’t a single market, and of course it is possible to break it down in all sorts of ways. However, for simplicity, although there might be many components, I will just look at two relevant parts which I will term Popular and Serious.

Popular classical music refers quite simply to that area of classical music which is most popular. Within this are the recognised masterpieces of the great composers. Enthusiasts of this sector will generally regard other sectors as being second-rate. They also prefer to stick with what they know. They are able to embrace something new, but only if they are convinced that it is worth listening to. Serious classical music is essentially classical music of real substance which hasn’t yet been recognised by the popular sector. Much of this sector is modern or contemporary, and, compared with popular classical music, is much more likely to be pushing the boundaries. Brian’s music would fit into this sector. Enthusiasts of this sector will generally have a good appreciation of the popular sector but to some extent will regard it as the “classical pops” with a dependency on nice tunes rather than substance.

I have used the term “serious” to emphasise that the music of this sector is not inferior. It also reflects the fact much of the music requires a more serious involvement from the listener. This is an aspect I will refer to later with regard to Brian. Although this segment of the market is comparatively small, it is clearly growing. It has been helped enormously by a much lower real cost of recorded music than say a generation ago, and also by the sheer extent of the variety of what is now available.

It is often said that a composer has to be dead before his works become generally accepted. This is natural outcome of the fact that the popular music sector is very slow to adapt to change, and in this respect, lags behind the serious sector, sometimes by a few generations. I often liken classical musical tastes to the frequencies
listened to on an imaginary radio. If one went back to say the Baroque period, the range of musical styles would be comparatively narrow and would be represented on the imaginary radio as a narrow range of frequencies. As time went by, people’s listening skills have become more sophisticated, and the range of frequencies tuned into would have broadened, with a shift of the centre. This process is still continuing and over time, the centre of frequencies which are listened to will continue to move. On the notional radio, Brian’s style of music was sufficiently different that it would have been at a frequency that people had not reached or tuned into yet. The public might eventually discover Brian’s music, but there is no guarantee that this will happen. The survival of music into the future is a very imperfect process and a lot of excellent music is likely to disappear into obscurity.

Change has, and undoubtedly is still occurring, but what drives it? Of course it can be affected by an individual or organisation with a powerful influence and preferences, but otherwise I believe that the answer to this rests with the listeners of serious music. I believe that these are the main driving force in this process. If there is a groundswell of conviction from this sector, listeners generally will start to take note and begin to listen in a positive manner.

This is where we come in as a Society. Although I have no doubts about the quality of Brian’s music, I have doubts that the music alone will ever achieve enough to gain general acceptance. People have to be convinced that Brian was a great composer. Once they start to believe, they will start to listen. One of the problems with Brian’s music is that it isn’t easy to follow initially. I know this from my own experience. This is why I have said that the music needs to be listened to seriously and positively. When I first came across Brian’s music, the style did seem strange and difficult. However, after many years, I now struggle to understand why this was
so. The style now seems completely natural and music is crystal clear.

The 1972 BBC Aquarius programme The Unknown Warrior highlights this difficulty and the process that new listeners will face, quite well. In the programme, James Loughran conducted the 10th Symphony. He commented, “This is the first time that I have really enjoyed this music. When I was asked to do this symphony, I read it through and patches of it appealed to me very much. The difficulty was putting it all together. I couldn’t quite see the continuity and the switches from one style to another, sometimes rather like as happens in Sibelius, but it didn’t appeal to me. I just found it rather difficult to take in. Through working with it I found it more and more challenging, so much so that having now rehearsed it, and worked and recorded it with the orchestra, it has gripped me tremendously.”

Brian knew that his music was ahead of what the general public were able to comprehend, but he knew what he wanted and was unwilling to compromise. The result was that he was able to create substantial works of quality which were unique in style. Of course he also recognised that there were a minority of people who did and would appreciate his music. Over the years, these included the likes of Elgar, Bantock, Simpson amongst others. Brian respected the views of people like these, but wasn’t interested in general popularity.

Robert Simpson had no doubts about Brian and his music when interviewed in the BBC’s programme The Unknown Warrior. Referring to Brian’s 10th symphony, he says, “I think it’s so original. I think that he is one of the most original composers that this country has ever produced and that goes right back. I think that he is a fantastically original composer. He’s quite unpredictable, you never know what’s coming next, and it’s always something stranger and more remarkable than you expect.” So are we any nearer to answering the question, was Brian a failed composer? If becoming popular was everything, then Brian would have to be regarded as a failure. However, if that was the case, and popularity was everything, then classical music in its entirety would be dead. Composers could gain far more success from simply writing rock or pop music songs. In terms of substance, is it possible that Brian’s music is to popular classical music what popular classical music is to pop or rock music?

It must be clear from the opinions of notable figures such as Robert Simpson and James Loughran that Brian’s music is worthy of far better attention than it has received to date. The public’s perception of what is great in classical music is at best muddled, and judgements arising from it flawed. If there is or was a failure, I believe that it was never Brian’s but the public’s in being too insular. I really enjoy popular classical music, but with the passage of time, a decreasing number of my own personal favourites could be regarded as popular. Perhaps this just means that I have become a failed listener, but somehow I doubt it.

NL196 © 2008 Gary Jobsey

BACK TO TITLE PAGE

070312 Havergal Brian - the official website HOME