It was an auspicious occasion. November 22nd 2013. The tremendous Docklands Sinfonia, with their founder-conductor Spencer Down, were performing in the beautiful St Anne’s Church in Limehouse. The church was absolutely packed with people looking forward to a celebration of Britten on his 100th birthday, with Tchaikovsky’s 4th Symphony for good measure. And I was there to bring words and pictures to the music by Britten. A very great honour and a very special evening.
There were some heartstopping moments. A least one player was stuck in traffic problems on the M25. The camera responsible for transmitting my paintings to a big screen lost power minutes before we began. But the orchestra made a terrific sound despite being one man down. And somehow the camera issues were resolved, and in a whirlwind of music and pictures I whizzed through The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra – more or less the same version given in Cheltenham and Hatfield earlier this year. This was followed by the glorious and extremely visual Four Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes. Memories of open skies and cold seas off Lowestoft surge back into my mind when I hear this wonderfully evocative music. Memories of my family and growing up in Suffolk too. It is music that HAS to be painted to.
There are four movements, each lasting between 3 and 4 minutes. They are: Dawn; Sunday Morning; Moonlight; Storm.
Sunday morning (a slightly wobbly practise version) is shown here. The music vividly describes seagulls and church bells. So this is what I whipped up in 4 minutes with a bit of emulsion paint. And I’m surprised at how much I like it!
All the art – ten pieces in all – were auctioned after the concert to raise funds for the Docklands Sinfonia outreach and education plans, and over £1000 was raised! My thanks to all the Docklands Sinfonia team for a wonderful evening.
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