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Founded in 1923 by Sir Compton Mackenzie and Christopher Stone as ‘an organ of candid opinion for the numerous possessors of gramophones’
Naming an airport after Sibelius is no bad thing
According to reports, a campaign is underway to have Helsinki Airport renamed after the country’s most famous composer, Sibelius, to mark his 150th anniversary. The idea is not without precedence. Poland offers travellers the Warsaw Chopin Airport, while you can fly in and out of the Czech Republic from the Ostrava Leo≈ Janá∂ek Airport, or from Italy via Parma’s Giuseppe Verdi Airport. And, for that matter, from New Orleans through an airport named after Louis Armstrong, or from Liverpool through the John Lennon Airport. These are of course just a fraction of the people whose names are destined to be forever entwined in the traveller’s mind with early starts, snaking security queues and duty-free.
It’s not a bad idea. Aside from a capital city itself, few locations see as many international visitors as an airport, so it’s a useful way to pique the interest of the curious and to embed a favourite son’s (and thus far, sadly, they almost are all sons) name in the vocabulary of the wider world. Which isn’t unimportant, as unlike many other art forms, the chance for someone to accidentally encounter a classical composer’s work is increasingly limited, invariably requiring an active choice to listen to a recording or attend a concert.
‘Nobody has ever put up a statue to a critic,’ Sibelius famously said. And while it’s true that many a composer has been immortalised in bronze or stone, plinths are often passed by easily without so much as a sideways gaze. There’s no statue of Benjamin Britten in Lowestoft, where he was born (and I grew up), but I’d venture that having one of the town’s high schools named after him is a far more powerful way of inspiring the next generation. There’s a Thomas Tallis school in Greenwich, and if there aren’t other examples of schools named after local composers, there should be.
For obvious reasons, architecture is very visibly woven into the tapestry of our cultural awareness (though even this can’t be taken for granted: think of the battles Britain’s Victorian Society had to fight just 50 years ago, or the controversy today every time a Brutalist building is given listed status). The ubiquity of fine art reproduction helps ensure crowds continue to flock to our galleries. The place of great writers in our heritage is rightly revered without question. Composers: less so. I would strongly suspect the works, perhaps even the names, of Tallis and Britten, or for that matter Janá∂ek and, outside of Finland, Sibelius, are less familiar to those who do not already know and love classical music than, say, Sir Christopher Wren, Jane Austen or Pablo Picasso.
Naming an airport – or school, or even, for that matter, a shopping centre, as Lowestoft also did in honour of Britten – after a composer might seem an oddly modern gesture, but let’s take every opportunity we can to highlight the importance of our art form’s most significant figures. And in the meantime, while the Finnish airport authorities ponder the matter of a new name, Helsinki airport is offering a Sibelius photography exhibition alongside gate 37, should you find yourself in its departure lounge with some time to spare. martin.cullingford@markallengroup.com
THIS MONTH’S CONTRIBUTORS
‘It’s always a pleasure to learn from others on a subject as detailed as how we came to have a modern
‘The symphonies of Carl Nielsen are always an adventure into his personal, often enigmatic world,’ says gramophone industry,’ says MIKE ASHMAN, author of our feature on the hi-“i revolution. ‘I’m eternally intrigued by the link between RAF aerial reconnaissance and capturing Stravinsky’s orchestra in a recording studio.’
DAVID PATRICK STEARNS, whose Collection on the Third Symphony features in this issue. ‘In exploring this discography, I have enjoyed a constantly unfolding understanding of what this marvel of a piece needs from its performers.’
For regular critic PHILIP CLARK, preparing for this issue’s feature on Schumann was a hugely enjoyable process. ‘Writing about the Schumann symphonies? File under labour of love!’ he says. ‘Talking to Heinz Holliger and Sir Simon Rattle, in particular, made me realise how the world behind the notes is as fascinating as those notes are themselves.’
THE REVIEWERS Andrew Achenbach • Nalen Anthoni • Mike Ashman • Philip Clark • Alexandra Coghlan • Rob Cowan (consultant reviewer) • Jeremy Dibble • Peter Dickinson • Jed Distler • Duncan Druce • Adrian Edwards Richard Fairman • David Fallows • David Fanning • Iain Fenlon • Fabrice Fitch • Jonathan Freeman-Attwood Caroline Gill • Edward Green“ield • David Gutman • Lindsay Kemp • Philip Kennicott • Tess Knighton • Richard Lawrence • Ivan March • Ivan Moody • Bryce Morrison • Jeremy Nicholas • Christopher Nickol • Geo“frey Norris Richard Osborne • Stephen Plaistow • Peter Quantrill • Guy Rickards • Malcolm Riley • Marc Rochester • Julie Anne Sadie • Edward Seckerson • Hugo Shirley • Pwyll ap Siôn • Harriet Smith • Ken Smith • David Patrick Stearns • David Threasher • David Vickers • John Warrack • Richard Whitehouse • Arnold Whittall • Richard Wigmore • William Yeoman gramophone.co.uk
Gramophone, which has been serving the classical music world since 1923, is irst and foremost a monthly review magazine, delivered today in both print and digital formats. It boasts an eminent and knowledgeable panel of experts, which reviews the full range of classical music recordings. Its reviews are completely independent. In addition to reviews, its interviews and features help readers to explore in greater depth the recordings that the magazine covers, as well as o fer insight into the work of composers and performers. It is the magazine for the classical record collector, as well as for the enthusiast starting a voyage of discovery.
GRAMOPHONE MARCH 2015 3
