Mr Ralph Moore and interviewer at Sir Edward Elgar’s grave, Little Malvern.
Mr Moore, you are a very experienced classical music reviewer - you contribution to the industry is a real labor of love. What qualities in music have made you tick?
RM: A number of people have been credited with the aphorism, "Writing (or talking) about music is like dancing about architecture" but the reason I write about music is that I enjoy using words and sharing my accumulated knowledge and enthusiasm with like-minded people is a pleasure in itself. If I can inspire, direct or merely advise others about how and where to find the greatest music - music which moves me most - that is its own reward. I must also confess that the inadequacy of some modern reviewing and the demonstrative ignorance of some critics have convinced me that I could contribute to the field of music-reviewing. I model my writing on those who inspired me and whose opinions I learned to trust: critics like John Steane and Alan Blyth, whose books and contributions to fora like Gramophone, particularly in the field of my specialism, which is the human voice, were my models for critical appreciation. I have loved opera since a great friend first introduced me to it in my first year of university forty-seven years ago and I have felt especially motivated to produce surveys which aim to guide listeners towards acquiring the best recordings of operatic masterworks.
I have heard some hopes that eventually classical music will kill coronavirus. When staying indoors, what are your tips for a beginner, to get a proper start with classical music?
RM: From my point of view, despite its many lamentable consequences, the recent coronavirus lockdown formed an opportunity to concentrate more on the enjoyment and sharing of great music via online listening sessions with friends and the provision of more time to devote to music.
One cannot speak of English music without Elgar. We Finns should be grateful to Britons - you have promoted Sibelius so well. Can you explain why they are so darling composers to the UK?
RM: I cannot claim to be able to explain the popularity of Elgar and Sibelius in England but despite their superficially phlegmatic nature, the English are a soulful nation and those are two deep, mystical and profoundly melancholy composers. I quote E. M. Forster's Notes on the "English Character" here:
The trouble is that the English nature is not at all easy to understand. It has a great air of simplicity, it advertises itself as simple, but the more we consider it, the greater the problems we shall encounter. People talk of the mysterious East, but the West also is mysterious. It has depths that do not reveal themselves at the first gaze. We know what the sea looks like from a distance: it is of one color, and level, and obviously cannot contain such creatures as fish. But if we look into the sea over the edge of a boat, we see a dozen colors, and depth below depth, and fish swimming in them. That sea is the English character—apparently imperturbable and even. These depths and the colors are the English romanticism and the English sensitiveness—we do not expect to find such things, but they exist. And—to continue my metaphor—the fish are the English emotions, which are always trying to get up to the surface, but don’t quite know how. For the most part we see them moving far below, distorted and obscure. Now and then they succeed and we exclaim, “Why, the Englishman has emotions! He actually can feel!” And occasionally we see that beautiful creature the flying fish, which rises out of the water altogether into the air and the sunlight. English literature is a flying fish. It is a sample of the life that goes on day after day beneath the surface; it is a proof that beauty and emotion exist in the salt, inhospitable sea.
Furthermore, both composers enjoyed the advocacy of some very influential and charismatic conductors such as Beecham and Colin Davis, who tirelessly promoted their music, alongside the works of another of my great loves, Berlioz.
Your forte is vocal music. Britain has a very strong tradition of great singers - please tell us a little bit of your past favorites: Is there any hope in the younger generation of singers?
RM: Some have labelled Britain with the sarcastic epithet "Das Land ohne Musik" which is obviously a slander, as we have long welcomed artists from all over the world as well as nurturing our own, native talent. Apart from composers of the stature of Elgar and Vaughan Williams, there has been a succession of great singers headed by the likes of Dame Janet Baker, Alfred Piccaver, Dame Eva Turner, Sir Thomas Allen, Dame Margaret Price and many others. I do indeed fear for the next generation of singers, as they possess every advantage regarding training in languages, dramaturgy and musicality but have little grasp of correct technique based on pharyngeal resonance. The dearth of big-voiced singers able to cope with Wagner and Verdi provides ample evidence of the decline.
Many of your reviews appear on the MusicWeb - please tell us a little bit more of this site? What are its aims?
RM: Here is the background to the MusicWeb site, now the most widely read on the web:
You have done really massive reviewing effort and so-called ”mega-surveys” - your personal views of the best recordings in the market - are extensive and very deeply informative documents. I have learnt a lot from them. For a beginner, they are a real chest of treasures, guiding with style and humour. They are the apex of your reviewing work and most easily to find here:
Mr Moore, thank you very much for your time. Would you like to send special greetings to Finnish people who anxiously want to get back to normality and visiting all British cultural delights again?
