Page 67 - ASMF Marriner 100 Coverage Book

The great American violinist and composer Joshua Bell took over as music
director of ASMF when Marriner retired in 2011, just five years before his death
at 92. Bell and the orchestra will mark Marriner’s centennial later this month
with a series of events in London called “Marriner 100,” with a centerpiece of a
new commission by multiple Grammy-winning composer Vince Mendoza. But

first the new work – which features Marriner’s grandson Douglas, a jazz-based
drummer, as soloist – gets its world premiere right here in town when CAMA
brings ASMF back to the Granada on April 2.

Mendoza twice surprised drummer Douglas Marriner (whose father Andrew was
the former longtime principal clarinetist of the London Symphony) when
creating Flight of Moving Days. First by agreeing to the commission – “I thought it
was a longshot, just a dream, but he emailed ASMF’s CEO to say yes in 15
minutes,” Marriner said – and then secondly when he finished the work. “The
score showed up in my inbox on Christmas Eve, with a message from Vince that
said, ‘I was going to buy you a pair of socks for Christmas, but instead I wrote you
a piece.’”

Q. With your family history, was there any way you weren’t going to be a musician?

A. They didn’t have to convince me, because I actually grew up in the apartment
below my grandfather, so I was always surrounded by incredible music and

wonderful musicians, which was more than enough reason. I might be practicing
the piano down in my part of the house, and upstairs I might hear Alfred Brendel
or some other incredible pianist visiting Neville. I managed to absorb an awful lot
of very good music when I was young. Having grown up as the band baby on the
tour bus and in the recording studios, this is a very full circle moment to be
rejoining what really is the family orchestra.

How did you turn towards drums and percussion?

I was impressed by how my grandfather could pull invisible puppet strings of the
orchestra and have influence over the sound. An improvising jazz drummer was
the perfect amalgamation of both a conductor and a composer, because when we
improvise, we compose in real time… I also wanted to broaden the reach (of) and
translate those musical values I’d absorbed, applying my classical sensibility to

help with the architectural decisions in terms of sculpting balance and dynamics.

Did you ever work professionally with Neville?

No, but he did conduct my school choir once when I was 10. It was amazing to
have him facing me whilst he worked, seeing how he communicated with people