A musical contest has celebrities conducting themselves with style, while boosting the profile of classical music, finds James Rampton
SIR Simon Rattle, the principal conductor with the Berlin Philharmonic orchestra, recently reflected on the addictive nature of his work. Conducting, he said, "is an un-kickable drug habit and I'm happy to be a junkie till the end of my days".
It
is a sentiment with which the contestants on Maestro, a new BBC2 reality TV show, would doubtless agree. I am sitting in the front row at St Cyprian's Church in Central London watching a rehearsal for this new series, which begins tonight. A group of celebrities, all mentored by professionals, have gathered to practise conducting the Covent Garden Orchestra through three demanding pieces: Brahms's Academic Overture, the First Movement of Beethoven's First Symphony and the Third Movement of Tchaikovsky's Fifth. Despite the challenging nature of the work, the trainees are having the time of their lives.
In each episode of the six-week series, the eight celebrities – drum and bass star Goldie, actress Jane Asher, comedian Sue Perkins, actor Bradley Walsh, newsreader Katie Derham, TV presenter Peter Snow, actor David Soul and pop musician Alex James – will have to conduct a full orchestra in front of a live studio audience. Each week, one will be voted off by an expert judging panel. The victor will win the chance to conduct the BBC Concert Orchestra in front of an audience of 30,000, live on BBC2 at the Proms in the Park, as part of the Last Night of the Proms celebrations on 13 September.
I watch, fascinated, as Goldie climbs on to the podium at St Cyprian's. A giant, shaven-headed fellow with an imperious demeanour, he is dressed in a yellow T-shirt, tracksuit bottoms and trainers. Gold teeth glint from his mouth. Yet the moment he launches into conducting, I – and the entire orchestra – are spellbound. Eschewing a baton, Goldie communicates the beat through a mesmerising rhythmic dance on the podium. A great slab of a man possessed of a raw physicality, he simply dominates proceedings with his sheer charisma. As he rallies the musicians to a rousing climax in the Brahms and the cymbals and kettledrums crash and pound, I am enveloped by what Phil Spector, in rather different circumstances, called a wall of sound. I'm even more taken aback when the PR leans over and whispers in my ear: "He doesn't read music, you know. He's doing it all on instinct."
As he sits with me afterwards in the pews, sweat pouring from his brow, Goldie expresses the hope that Maestro will help a whole new audience to take an interest in classical music. "People can change, they just need to be introduced to new things. I'm 42. I never used to like green olives, but I love them now. That can apply to all tastes. People shouldn't sneer about classical music: there are only two types of music, good music and bad music.
"My friends are saying to me, 'I can't believe that you're doing this,' and I simply reply, 'Don't knock it till you've tried it!'"
For Perkins, conducting imparts a unique buzz because it bypasses the intellect and connects directly to the emotions.
"Music is about the ever-present now," she says. "You don't question music. It's a sensory overload, and it's mind-blowing to be at the centre of it. As you crank up the strings, you unleash this exceptional power. You think, 'I can't have anything to do with that sound', but you do. All you have to do is gently cajole the orchestra – 'do you mind awfully being great for me?' – and, bam!, it's there."
All the contestants are convinced that Maestro can help to de-mystify classical music and remove some of the elitist aura that surrounds it.
Peter Stark, professor of conducting at the Royal College of Music and a consultant on Maestro, contends that the series will underline the unifying qualities of classical music. "I get very frustrated with the way music is often sidelined. It's one thing that can link everyone across divides of politics, age, race and sex."
Perkins takes up the theme. "Classical music is not alienating, it's inclusive. And just because you listen to one form of music, it doesn't mean you can't listen to any others. It's like pick'n'mix sweets. Sometimes you fancy a cola bottle and sometimes you fancy a pineapple cube. I like a bit of Brahms, but I also like a bit of the Chemical Brothers. You need the full arsenal of mood- shaping aural sensations at your disposal."
So who's going to be the ultimate Maestro? Perkins ventures: "It would be great for the show if some enormous, gold-toothed, beefy, black sex-pot like Goldie won it. That would show that classical music is not merely reserved for fifty-something white males. Goldie is a very passionate person and he communicates the fact that music is music. If you love melody, rhythm and performance, it doesn't matter if you dig drum and bass or Mahler. It's all a form of expression.
"Classical music is exciting to watch and to listen to. And it can touch you in ways that no other art-form can."
• Maestro starts on BBC2 tonight at 9pm.
