Frosty reception for all-singing Snowman
Composer Howard Blake furious at BBC over move to produce a soundtrack with no instruments
THE composer of The Snowman has criticised the BBC’S “vile desecration” of his work after the corporation created a version of it without instruments.
Howard Blake had threatened to withdraw his permission for a BBC remake of the score where the sound of the instruments was replicated by a choir, a concept known as “vocalise”.
While Mr Blake has allowed numerous producers to arrange versions of the score, which accompanies the story of a boy who builds a snowman that comes to life, he has taken exception to the vocalise version by producer Jonathan Manners.
He told The Daily Telegraph: “This lad [Mr Manners] is really trying to make a name for himself but I have told him: ‘What you have done to my music is a desecration, it is absolutely vile.’”
A feature-length show will air on Radio 3 on Christmas Eve at 7.30pm, and a repeat performance is scheduled for Radio 4 on Christmas Day at 1.30pm, narrated by Stephen Fry.
Mr Blake, 82, who was awarded an OBE in 1994 for services to music, added:
“Last August... Jonathan Manners asked me if I would give my approval to a new arrangement of the complete soundtrack of the Snowman.
“He wanted to arrange the entire 26-minute composition in vocalise after he heard my a cappella choral arrangement of Walking in the Air, which I arranged for Peter Auty and the St Albans Cathedral Choir in 2019.”
Initially, Mr Blake refused to allow it. “I said it’s impossible to do it in vocalise, so if you try to do it without instruments I refuse,” he explained. However, he relented when Mr Manners told him the new arrangement had piqued the interest of royalty.
“When I refused, Jonathan told me, ‘It’s very difficult, I’ve already told Prince Charles and the Queen about it’ – how could I refuse?”.
Vocalise is a musical style that has no words, just a capella sounds that replace the noises usually made by the strings, woodwinds, brass and percussion.
The Snowman first aired on Channel 4 in 1982, and has been shown every year on Christmas Day since.
The four-minute song Walking In The Air is the only part of the film with words, but is arguably what rocketed the film to its extraordinary success.
Mr Manners is BBC singers’ chief producer and artistic director, with a long history of working with choirs and orchestras.
This week, rehearsals for the BBC’S version of The Snowman will take place with a full choir at a studio in London. Mr Blake said: “I wouldn’t go because I would kill him on the podium.”
Grammar school-educated Mr Blake, the son of a postman from Brighton, claims the new arrangement is the first time the BBC has recognised his work, which he believes is because “I didn’t have an upper-class upbringing like most classical composers”.
A BBC spokesman said: “The BBC Singers are honoured to work with Howard Blake on a special project as part of our Christmas line up.”