JOHN WILSON CONDUCTS RODGERS AND
HAMMERSTEIN AT SYMPHONY HALL
By Christopher Morley
Anyone
who loves the classic stage musicals will have been delighted at the recent CD
releases on the Chandos label from John Wilson, conducting the Sinfonia of
London in ultra-complete versions of two of the world’s greatest shows,
Oklahoma! and Carousel, by Rodgers and Hammerstein
Now
he and his wonderful orchestra, plus a glittering lineup of soloists, are
preparing to bring an evening of those great creators to Symphony Hall. When I
speak to him he is recovering from breaking his left arm whilst cycling (stick
to the car, I always say), but it will all be all right on the night. I ask him
how he would describe the greatness of Richard Rodgers.
“I think Rodgers might be the most
abundantly gifted of the great songwriters. His work with Lorenz Hart is so
completely different to the songs he produced in collaboration with Oscar Hammerstein
that you effectively get two composers in one, it’s almost as if he changed his
style overnight from a composer of pop songs to a writer of quasi-operatic
melodies. With both lyricists, the level of Rodgers’ invention is
astonishingly high.”
And how would Wilson describe the gifts
of Rodgers’ great collaborators, Lorenz Hart and Oscar Hammerstein II?
“Hart was a dazzling genius, no
question - just listen to the wordplay in To Keep My Love Alive - but it wasn’t all verbal acrobatics, he penned some of the
most touching and tender love songs ever written. Hammerstein was a
revolutionary who changed the very nature of the musical comedy, transforming
it from a song and dance entertainment to a narrative driven musical play in
which the songs developed both plot and character. We take it for granted
now but before Oklahoma! in 1943 the integrated musical play didn’t
exist.”
John Wilson then goes on to tell me how
he became attracted into this wonderful territory (which also claimed me as a
conductor before reviewing took over).
“Seeing the films on television as a
kid and playing in amateur theatricals when I was teenager in the North East of
England. I knew then that this was important music.!”
The musicals of Rodgers and Hammerstein
are classics, but worlds removed from the two-a-penny musicals of today. Does
Wilson have any inclination to conduct them? He turns the question round and bowls me a googly,
giving me an answer with which I entirely concur.
“Does Sondheim count? If so, yes.
I’d like to conduct everything he’s written.”
Which leaves me wondering whether
Sondheim might not be the next stage in John Wilson’s recording odyssey.
I remind John that he told me many
years ago that he would like to be asked to conduct a Bruckner symphony instead
of being pigeonholed into “light” music. His reply is both moving and
revealing.
“Oh, there are plenty of of things I’d
liked to have been asked to do in the past but it was probably for the best
that I wasn't! I’m working my way up to and through the music that I feel
I really must do.”
The interview ends with my usual
question, is there anything else the interviewee would like to tell me?
“I love coming to Symphony Hall
Birmingham, I have so many happy memories there of concerts with my own
orchestra and CBSO. It’s one of the great venues of the world and the
audiences are so warm-hearted, knowledgeable and appreciative. I can’t
wait to be back there on June 27th.”
*John Wilson conducts the Sinfonia of
London and vocal soloists in an evening of Rodgers and Hammerstein on June 27
(7.30pm).