Page 944 - Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Coverage Book 2023-24

Local roots

The problem

Even in the Victorian era, when Britain was supposedly a “land without music”, we had terrific

regional institutions — the Hallé Orchestra and Liverpool Philharmonic, for instance, or the

Three Choirs Festival. Many still exist but, as we’ve already seen in Birmingham, their future is

threatened by the dire financial circumstances in which local authorities find themselves, and by

the apparent dearth of rich donors and business sponsors outside London.

The solution

Shouting about “levelling up”, and throwing public money at ephemeral jollies such as the “city

of culture” gravy train, is pathetic window-dressing. The only long-term answer is for towns and

cities to foster a new civic pride in their real cultural assets — the sort of pride that makes

ordinary people happy to see a (relatively tiny) proportion of their council tax spent on the arts,

and persuades wealthy local individuals and businesses to invest serious money in local arts
organisations.

Musicians should play their part too, embedding themselves much more thoroughly in their own

communities. In my Radio 3 series MacMillan describes his achievement in establishing a music

festival in Cumnock (the far-from-prosperous Ayrshire town where he lives) as his “most

important work”. Coming from a composer who has written some of the finest music of our

time, that’s saying something. But it follows in a longstanding British tradition of top musicians

— Britten, Vaughan Williams, Holst, Benedetti, Menuhin — serving the community rather than
just their own careers.

During the pandemic, when musicians had no other choice, many devised admirably resourceful
ways to bring music to their local areas, as well as through the internet to people in far-off

places. Since normal life resumed, much of that enterprise has disappeared. I regret that.

Musicians made a lot of new friends during those horrible lockdowns. They badly need new

friends now.

Music Matters: The Land Without Music? starts on BBC Radio 3 at 1pm on April 6 and on
BBC Sounds