Portsmouth Sinfonia

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The Portsmouth Sinfonia Orchestra , founded in 1970 by a group of students at the British Portsmouth School of Art, was characterized by its special composition: anyone who did not master a musical instrument could play along - and those who were already familiar with an instrument had to choose one that did they didn't master. Among the founding members was Gavin Bryars , who was more interested in playing with the nature of music than creating a traditional orchestra. The founding members Michael Nyman and Brian Eno were previously on the Scratch Orchestra of Cornelius Cardew been involved, based on the same philosophy, but had disbanded because of political disputes.

Portsmouth Sinfonia started out as a one-off, self-deprecating performance art ensemble, but over the next ten years it evolved into a cultural phenomenon. There were concerts (for example in the sold-out Royal Albert Hall in London), albums, a film and a hit single . The medley, entitled Classical Muddly , reached the top 40 of the British charts in 1981. The last public performance was in 1979. Eno, known for the ambient music he influenced , played the clarinet in this ensemble . Nyman ( euphonium ), Steve Beresford and Brian Reffin Smith (clarinet) were other notable participants.

Gavin Bryars encouraged everyone - regardless of talent, ability or experience - to play along. Attending rehearsals was compulsory, and the musicians also had to make an effort to play as well as possible - deliberately playing incorrectly was frowned upon. The orchestra's early repertoire consisted of well-known classics such as On the Beautiful Blue Danube by Johann Strauss and Also Spoke Zarathustra by Richard Strauss , so that even the less experienced musicians knew how the piece should sound. In the later years the repertoire expanded to include pop music and rock 'n' roll .

In recent years, Portsmouth Sinfonia performances have become part of internet culture , particularly on YouTube , where the pieces have often been misunderstood as Orchestra Fail .

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Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Michael White: Lousy Is the Best They Can Ever Be . nytimes.com, August 26, 2007, accessed June 12, 2016
  2. ↑ Portsmouth Sinfonia in the Official Charts Archives, viewed June 13, 2016