BBC National Orchestra of Wales
As the BBC National Orchestra of Wales celebrates its 90th anniversary, Steph Power tells the story of an ensemble that has become a much-loved institution well beyond its home country
Steph Power explores the ensemble’s 90-year history
On 6 April 1928, in a full-page article for the Radio Times, Sir Henry Walford Davies announced ‘A New Orchestra for Wales’: ‘a compact but classically complete little orchestra of 30 players appointed no longer as merely a studio orchestra, but brought into being expressly to function both nationally and civically.’
It was the fulfilment of a long-held ambition in Wales, for which Sir Henry became a robust advocate as chairman of the National Council for Music. Two attempts to establish a national orchestra came to nothing. But in 1925, Sir
Henry was appointed to the nascent British Broadcasting Company’s Advisory Committee for Music, seizing an opportunity for his home nation as plans were hatched for orchestras in London and Manchester.
The inaugural concert of the then National Orchestra of Wales took place on 12 April at the Assembly Rooms of Cardiff’s City Hall. With an ambitious programme of Berlioz, Mozart, Wagner, Welsh folk songs and more, the first half was conducted by Sir Henry Wood, no less, fresh from the first ever Bbc-run Promenade Concerts of 1927. It was a triumphant occasion, and massively oversubscribed.
Further success followed and, a year later, halfway through an initial two-year funding period, The Musical Times reported that,
‘Although the orchestra is located at Cardiff, it is intended to make it increasingly available for general purposes in the Principality … its disbandment now would be a great loss to the national culture.’ Despite financial qualms, the BBC agreed to spearhead further support. Since then, activities have only paused for World War II. Indeed, what felt a risky gamble for the BBC (itself formed in 1922) continues today to reap rewards at home and abroad as the now
BBC National Orchestra of Wales has risen to become one of the nation’s most loved and admired cultural flagships.
Remarkably, the orchestra continues to uphold its founding principles of being, in the words of Michael Garvey, director of the
BBC NOW since 2013, ‘an orchestra both for the BBC and the country’: fulfilling a dual role as a BBC ensemble with a busy broadcast schedule, and a national orchestra with a special responsibility to the people of Wales. Hence activities are extraordinarily varied. These include pioneering education projects, not least the first ever Relaxed Prom in 2017; film and TV work, increasingly so since the BBC NOW became Doctor Who in-house band in 2005; and tours as far afield as South America, including 2015’s groundbreaking visit to Welshspeaking Patagonia. These add to broadcasts, CD recordings and a wealth of concerts in Cardiff, Swansea and other cities – but also regular tours to smaller venues throughout rural Wales.
From the start, the BBC NOW has been committed to performing and commissioning Welsh composers. In 1967, Grace Williams (1906-77) remembered her youth: ‘There were no professional Welsh choirs, but there was a professional orchestra at the BBC, and Welsh composers were actually encouraged to write for it.’ She was echoed in 1988 by Daniel Jones (191293) who, some 40 years earlier, had conducted a broadcast of his epic Symphony No. 1: ‘[The players] sightread brilliantly from manuscript parts that were often worse than mediocre, and gave me excellent support.’
As a younger generation of composers emerged, they were spearheaded by William Mathias (1934-92) and Alun Hoddinott (19292008), who once remarked that the orchestra ‘seems always to have been there with me.’
These two figures would prove giants of Welsh music, and it was alongside them in particular that the BBC NOW played a pivotal role in professionalising music-making in a nation whose nonetheless fervent musical culture was, in the early 20th century, based on a network of choral societies, brass bands and chapels.
Today, the orchestra works with contemporary composers in various ways, notably through the posts of resident composer and composer-inassociation. The latter is currently Huw Watkins, born near Caerphilly. ‘I grew up listening to BBC NOW,’ he remembers. ‘I was very lucky to work with an orchestra early, and regularly. Absolutely nothing fazes the players.’
The BBC NOW journey has not always been easy, however. From 1931-35, when it was relaunched as the BBC Welsh Orchestra under director Idris Lewis, survival hung by a thread, with the ensemble reduced to just nine players during the depression. Four decades later, further hard times and a shake-up of thinking in London saw the BBC consider ending funding altogether. Fortunately, in 1973 – following the orchestra’s acclaimed BBC Proms debut in 1971 under conductor Irwin Hoffman – the Welsh Arts Council stepped in with a co-funding scheme devised by its energetic music director, Roy Bahana. It continues in essence today, underpinning the orchestra’s dual role as both a BBC and national ensemble.
With the BBC Welsh duly expanded to 60 players, this proved a vital turning point.
‘The players sightread brilliantly from parts that were often worse than mediocre’
‘Having our own space has brought us together personally and professionally’
But it was only fair reward for the visionary managers and conductors – not to mention the players – who had battled to consolidate and expand the orchestra post-war. Conductor, composer and broadcaster Mansel Thomas was perhaps the greatest such figure. As orchestra director and BBC Head of Music (1950-65) he navigated sometimes choppy waters with skill, and encouraged the embracing of new technology which led to the orchestra’s first ever televised concert in 1961. Six years on, the BBC Welsh moved into Studio 1 at the new, purposebuilt Broadcasting House in Llandaff, Cardiff.
Throughout this period, innovative programming attracted a swathe of eminent composer-conductors, including Walton and Tippett, who picked up the baton, as it were, from Elgar – the great man is immortalised in Wales not just for his music, but for his response on being asked during rehearsals in Swansea if there was anything he needed: ‘Could you please find out who won the 2.30 at Worcester?’
By the 1980s, the BBC Welsh had become the most televised orchestra in Britain, but it was yet to reach full symphonic proportions. In 1985, Huw Tregelles Williams was appointed head of music at BBC Cymru Wales. He recalls how the opening of St David’s Hall in Cardiff in 1982 was ‘a huge game-changer’, not least since the increased number of visiting orchestras boosted the Welsh case for expansion as they moved into their new home.
This was finally achieved in 1987 with a complement of 88 players. That same year, what would prove another watershed came with the appointment of Tadaaki Otaka as principal conductor (see p45). It was the Japanese maestro who, with brilliant, consensual musicianship, blazed a trail into the modern era for distinguished successors: the young
Mark Wigglesworth (1996-2000), thence Richard Hickox (2000-06), Thierry Fischer (2006-12) and current principal conductor Thomas Søndergård. Under Otaka’s baton, the expanded orchestra relished tackling for the first time large-scale repertoire such as Mahler symphonies, and the increased opportunities that brought for international touring.
In 1993, the orchestra was re-named BBC National Orchestra of Wales. Then ten years after that, it moved into its current home at Cardiff’s Wales Millennium Centre – named BBC Hoddinott Hall in honour of the composer, who had died the previous year. For the first time, BBC NOW took occupancy of a venue expressly designed around its rehearsal and broadcast needs. Today, this remains key for the players, as David Buckland, principal contrabassoon, explains: ‘It felt like people really cared about the orchestra – and having our own space has brought us closer together personally and professionally. The orchestra now is on an artistic high, and we’ve become a real family.’
Michael Garvey is proud of that sense of belonging, and determined to rise to the challenge of ‘building on the legacy of wonderful quality whilst embracing new technologies and developing new activities for people new to classical music.’ He is also alert to opportunities for exercising so-called ‘soft power’ on behalf of the Welsh and UK cultural sectors.
In 2016, for example, the orchestra welcomed Chinese-american Xian Zhang as principal guest conductor; the first ever woman to hold a titled position at a BBC orchestra. This autumn, Zhang will lead a tour of China, following a BBC Proms season that, on 20 July, includes music by Welsh composer Morfydd Owen, 100 years after her death. As ever, the BBC NOW flies far while remaining true to its roots, looking forward to the next 90 years of top-level music-making. Sir Henry Walford Davies would be proud.
The BBC National Orchestra of Wales appears at the BBC Proms on 20, 22 & 27 July and 1 August.