The amazing story of the Welsh village choir that inspired Pavarotti to take up singing

 

The amazing story of the Welsh village choir that inspired Pavarotti to take up singing. Picture: Courtesy of The Fron Choir

By Maddy Shaw Roberts, ClassicFM London

 

From a local community choir to a worldwide choral sensation – here’s the remarkable history of the tiny Welsh singing ensemble that played a beautiful role in inspiring a young Luciano Pavarotti to deploy his now-legendary pipes.

The Fron Choir is a Welsh village ensemble with an extraordinary history.

Founded in 1947, the all-male chorus has its roots in the Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod, a competition itself started after the Second World War to promote peace and cultural exchange around the world.

And on the day of the festival, who should show up but a young Luciano Pavarotti.

Luciano came with his conductor father, Fernando, whose own male voice choir, the Chorale di Rossini, had travelled from Modena, Italy to take part.

“In those days, competing choirs were lodged with local families,” the choir tells Classic FM. “The mother of two of the Fron Choir choristers, Travis and Vince Griffiths, offered hospitality to two Italian choristers.

“She was allocated a father and son called Fernando and Luciano Pavarotti.”

It was the Chorale di Rossini who took home the Male Voice Choir competition that day. And on hearing all the beautiful music from the Land of Song, young Luciano was inspired to take up singing and joined the Modena choir himself, which he later described as the most important musical experience of his life.

International participants competing at the Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod. Picture: Getty

“Luciano was just a teenager at the time. He apparently enjoyed the experience so much he vowed to return one day,” the choir added.

And, true to his word, he did – some forty years later, in 1995.

“That connection, made in 1955, resulted in his old choir being lodged with members of The Fron Choir,” the choir explains.

“Pavarotti stayed in a local hotel. We had several opportunities to spend time with him and, although we could not share the stage, he requested that we sing a Welsh song for him, which we did – in the car park of the hotel.

“Thus, Fron Choir, Rossini Choir and Pavarotti all came together for a short impromptu performance of about 15 minutes.”

“He was idolised by all the members of his own choir,” a choir member said. “Not even The Pope could have been more revered.

“It was great to watch him rehearse and then to be in the audience at his concert that weekend where all the accolades were fully justified.”

The great Christopher Plummer passed away

 

He was a classical pianist, and played Rachmaninoff between Sound of Music scenes...

Christopher Plummer was a classically trained pianist, and loved Rachmaninov. Picture: Getty/YouTube

By Maddy Shaw Roberts, ClassicFM London

 

The beloved star of stage and screen was an accomplished pianist, and often tickled the ivories to keep his cast mates entertained during breaks on set.

Christopher Plummer, or as he was most famously known, Captain von Trapp from The Sound of Music, died on 5 February and left behind an extraordinary legacy.

With a gloriously resonant voice, a wicked smile and seemingly sculpted features, the Canadian actor was first choice time and time again for the great Shakespearean roles, and he would leave an immeasurable mark on the acting world.

But as a boy, it was the thought of a pianistic career that occupied Plummer’s mind.

As a schoolboy, Plummer began studying to be a concert pianist, training in all the great classical works. Eventually, his love of acting would eclipse all serious thought to the instrument. But he always returned to the ivories.

Read more: The time Princess Diana casually sat at a piano and played Rachmaninov >

Before he became an actor, Christopher Plummer studied to be a concert pianist. Here he is playing between takes on ‘The Sound of Music.’ pic.twitter.com/4u8CyKFzqC

In this wonderful discussion of The Sound of Music with Julie Andrews, the legendary soprano recalls the time the late actor played for the cast.

“You were phenomenal off the set in that you kept us all very jolly,” Andrews tells Plummer. “You would play the piano brilliantly until very, very late at night.”

“Thank you very much but I think you were all very south to be able to say I played brilliantly…” Plummer says, modestly. “But I was constantly at that piano.”

(C) 2021 by ClassicFM London

An organist was put on hold for 70 minutes ...

 

... so she played along with the hold music.

Organist Anna Lapwood plays along with on-hold music. Picture: Twitter/Anna Lapwood

By Maddy Shaw Roberts, ClassicFM London

 

Never leave a musician on hold. Especially not with a relentless, undeveloped loop of Mozart…

Mozart’s arguably most popular symphony, his No.40, has been on a long and beautiful journey since the late 18th century. It was well-liked during the composer’s lifetime, with one of the catchiest opening movements of any symphony.

Then, flash-forward nearly a quarter of a century and its first movement was reincarnated in ‘90s mobile phones, as a now-nostalgically tinny ringtone.

Now, in 2021, it appears the seven-minute movement is being used as an energy company’s on-hold music.

And while on a call to sort her energy bill, one musician was having none of it.

When she was about to hear those sweeping, opening notes for the nth consecutive time, organist and conductor Anna Lapwood decided there was only one thing for it – to provide a live accompaniment.

Taking to her electric organ at home, Anna, who is also Director of Music at Pembroke College, Cambridge, added a sprinkling of musical relief to her Mozartian Groundhog Day (watch above).

Anna first tweeted about the incessant musical loop just after 11am on 27 January, which also happened to be the 265th anniversary of Mozart’s birth. 

“I have been on hold with my energy provider for 30 minutes and they are playing the first movement of Mozart 40 in an endless loop,” she tweeted her 14.5k followers.

“Worse than that, it’s just the exposition so we don’t even get any development or recap. AAAAAAAAAAA. Is this what hell feels like?”

I have been on hold with my energy provider for 30 minutes and they are playing the first movement of Mozart 40 in an endless loop. Worse than that, it's just the exposition so we don't even get any development or recap. AAAAAAAAAAA. Is this what hell feels like? 

Quick theory lesson – in Sonata form, which Mozart readily uses in this famous movement, the first section is the Exposition which usually contains two contrasting themes. A Development section, that’s usually full of drama, follows before all is resolved in a Recapitulation of the first themes.

But it seems for their on-hold music, the gas and electricity supplier decided to leave their customers hanging, with just a looping Exposition – with bat-eared listeners like Anna left yearning for the never-arriving harmonic resolution of the Recapitulation.

Finally, as Anna was getting really into her live accompaniment, she was taken off hold.

“Hello?” she answers, turning the camera off, finally alone without the incessant sound of the Molto Allegro...

Yonnex Inc.

 

Did Beethoven give his pieces the wrong tempo?

Musicians have often found it difficult to keep pace with some of Beethoven's maddeningly fast symphonies. But could they be based on a mistake?

    

A copper engraving of Ludwig van Beethoven from 1814

Today's musical successes are subject to a simple yet sophisticated system: Hit producers know what tempo a song must have, how major and minor keys affect listening behavior, and how long the song can and must be at most. Behind the former global successes of the likes of Britney Spears, for example, is an entire hit production machine whose processes always follow the same patterns. What's in the charts is rarely there by chance.

Fortunately, however, not everything can be planned and controlled in advance when it comes to an emotional art form. Take, for instance, Peter Gabriel when he was recording his third solo album in 1979, with his fellow Genesis member Phil Collins on drums. A new technique, discovered by accident, was used for the recordings.

Coincidence shapes the 1980s: An accidentally live microphone picked up Phil Collins' drums and created a new sound

 A microphone hung from the ceiling in the studio, which the musicians used to communicate with the sound engineers during recording breaks. When the microphone was left on during a recording, a new drum sound was created that would shape the pop music of the 1980s: The microphone's compressor reduced the loud sounds and amplified the quiet ones — the result was a dry reverb that abruptly cut off the drums.

Did Beethoven get it right?

Coincidences in music are completely common. It's important to keep that in mind given the current discussion about whether the tempos of the symphonies of one of the greatest composers in history are based on a mishap.

Ludwig van Beethoven, who was extensively honored last year during celebrations marking the anniversary of his 250th birthday, was one of the first composers to use the metronome. Developed in 1815 by Johann Nepomuk Mälzel, the device made precise tempo indications possible by means of the number of beats per minute and a deflecting pointer. 

With a number of beats per minute, the metronome normally simplifies composing

Beethoven was over the moon because he found the simple musical tempo descriptions such as adagio, allegro or presto too imprecise. 

Today, metronomes work electronically and display the number of beats digitally.

With the old, mechanical models, which can still be found sitting on many pianos, composers either had to count the beats by ear or read what they were supposed to be.

Beethoven, who was hard of hearing and then deaf in the last years of his life, had to rely on the latter. But because the metronome instrument and its technology were new, the composer may have made a mistake in employing it properly.

A sigh of relief

For one study, Spanish scientists developed a mathematical model to match Beethoven's metronome. They also analyzed the tempos in 36 recordings of Beethoven's symphonies conducted by 36 different conductors. The result: Even those conductors who had followed Beethoven's instructions to the letter led performances of the compositions that were slower than Beethoven had notated.

Nothing left to chance: With stars like Britney Spears, creating hits is pretty much like math

The researchers speculate that Beethoven may have read the metronome incorrectly — namely below the weight on the pointer of the instrument instead of above it. Beethoven, who had even added the metronome beats to his eight previously written symphonies, noted in the manuscript of the Ninth: "108 or 120 mälzel," referencing the metronome's creator. The composer apparently was not quite sure himself.

Conductors and orchestras have struggled for ages with the mad tempo indications stemming from Beethoven's pen. For them, the study by Spanish researchers should soothe their nerves. They have been playing Beethoven's symphonies more slowly anyway, and now they may have clear confirmation that they are not committing a mortal sin.

Regardless, the various interpretations of Ludwig van Beethoven's works make them as lively as ever to this day.

This article was adapted from German by Louisa Schaefer.

Musicians who train from a young age have more ‘connected’ brains, study finds

Musicians who train from a young age have ‘super connected’ brains, study finds. Picture: Getty

By Maddy Shaw Roberts, ClassicFM London

 

Scientists discover the “robust” effects of musicianship on brain networks.

Musicians who started young, and continued with their training, have more ‘connected’ brains, a new large-scale study has found.

The research, led by experts from the Stanford University School of Medicine, used a sample pool of 153 musicians and non-musicians.

Among the musicians, 52 had perfect pitch – the ability to name a note without reference – and 51 did not. The other 50 participants in the study were non-musicians.

Scientists found a significant difference in brain structure in musicians who trained young, whether on piano, clarinet, trumpet or violin (or indeed, any other instruments within those families).

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Specifically, the team discovered that those who started young had stronger brain connections than those who started making music in later life.

Study author Dr Simon Leipold explained that the longer musicians train, the greater the impact on their mind. “Musicians that began their training at a younger age had stronger structural connections than musicians with a later start,” he said. 

“These results demonstrate how experience shapes the brain, especially early in life, and how enhanced musical skills are represented in our brain,” Dr Leipold added.

The team also found that musicians, whether or not they had perfect pitch, had stronger structural and functional connections than non-musicians.

Published in the journal J Neurosci, the paper used the biggest sample to-date to compare the brains of musicians with and without perfect pitch, but found no strong differences.

“Instead,” Dr Leipold says, “Absolute pitch may shape the brain in more subtle ways.”

Read more: Studying music makes your brain more efficient, study reveals >

Both groups of musicians showed sounder functional connectivity, and stronger white matter connections between their brain’s auditory regions and the areas involved in high-level processing.

“Our results suggest that long-term musical training is associated with robust changes in large-scale brain networks,” the team wrote in their paper.

Children, on average, start playing at 7.6 years of age – and popular thought says that children are more likely to pick up a musical instrument, and continue to play it, if they are introduced to it while at primary school age.

But, this doesn’t mean to say there’s ever an age limit on beginning your music-making journey. Here are some wise words from Classic FM’s John Suchet and Alexander Armstrong, who both took up an instrument on the other side of 30.

Seven in 10 people say orchestral music improved their ‘mood and well being’ in lock down

Seven in 10 people say orchestral music improved their ‘mood and wellbeing’ in lockdown. Picture: Chris Christodoulou

By Rosie Pentreath, ClassicFM London

@rosiepentreath

 

Classical music can be a calming, positive presence when times are tough, this study shows.

Seven in 10 people surveyed have said that orchestral music has been improving their ‘mood and well being’ in lock down, since various forms of restrictions began in March 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Reminding us of classical music’s power to calm and soothe, as well as uplift us, in our toughest times, the result is from a new study from the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO) which explores engagement with orchestral music in 2020.

The study asked a nationally-representative sample of 8,000 people in the UK various questions about their music habits, including if they had been listening to orchestral music at various points in the year, if instrument learners have practiced more, and how corona virus lock downs, and then the news of the vaccines, have impacted respondents’ overall music habits and interests.

Read more: Classical music boosts mental health and wellbeing in isolation >

Toronto Symphony Orchestra perform Appalachian Spring virtually amid coronavirus outbreak

Facebook, Toronto Symphony Orchestra

As well as the 71 percent of people discovering the positive impact of orchestral music on their mood, 85 percent responded that they ‘actively broadened their cultural horizons’, a third of them through learning more about orchestral, opera and chamber music, while 66 percent said they had a child doing more music practice since lock down started.

And it seems lock down helped more people discover classical music for the long term: one in six people (16 percent) said they intended to continue exploring the music they discovered during lock down, while, when asked, respondents indicated they’d be willing to donate money to arts organisations or become members in the future.

The vaccine seems to have increased people’s confidence in attending large events as well. 83 percent of those surveyed said news of the vaccine made them more comfortable with social activities in 2021, and 29 percent of people indicated they felt it would be safe to attend concerts, and 31 percent for theatres, once the vaccines had been announced.

The survey is an overarching view of 2020, and is based on four main periods last year: pre-pandemic times, the first lock down (March until July), the lifting of lock down from July onwards, and following the news of the arrival of the vaccine towards the end of the year.

The national research is coupled with views from industry partners and anecdotal feedback from RPO players and audiences. Click here to read the RPO’s full report on engagement with orchestral music in 2020.