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Newent Orchestral
Society Bill's Musical Notes, April, 2009 Newent and a Very Peculiar Musical Mix There are more than a couple of famous musical people just over Newent's horizon: Elgar, Finzi, Britten and Vaughan Williams, to name four. There is also a brace of them much closer to home, two who could not be more different in their musical interests, but who share the word "controversial" in their CVs. Joe Meek was born in Newent in 1929 and became a household name in the early sixties, when "Telstar" went to the top of the pop music charts. Joe was a musical rebel, Britain's first truly independent record producer, who "invented" a sound that became ubiquitously influential, producing material for numerous luminaries, including jazz star, Humphrey Littleton. His last major chart success was with The Honeycombs ("Have I The Right"). Joe Meek died young and was buried in Newent in 1967. Remember Heinz, another pop idol from the 60s? Joe confiscated Heinz's shotgun (yes, that's right, his shotgun!), while on tour. Later, when living upstairs in a flat on the Holloway Road, London, Joe got so annoyed with his "interfering" landlady, that he went downstairs with that gun and shot her; then turned the other barrel on himself. Hollywood has acknowledged the incredible story of Newent's Joe Meek - look out for "Telstar, The Movie", with Kevin Spacey, now on release. Rutland Boughton (1878 - 1960), lived in Kilcot, just outside Newent in the '50s, composing some of his finest orchestral music. At one time Boughton was more popular in the UK than Vaughan Williams. His output included a wide range of orchestral and vocal music, including, "The Immortal Hour" an Arthurian opera which to this day holds the record for the longest running opera in the West End. Boughton inaugurated the Glastonbury Festival (no, not that one, the original one...). At meetings in Glastonbury, music critic, Bernard Shaw, would attend and heckle Boughton. Why did his popularity wain? Complex reasons probably, but a root cause was his pre-war membership of the Communist Party, a fact which went down not well at all with the powers that were at the BBC. In terms of exposure of artists like Boughton, the BBC had a monopoly. Vaughan Williams was favoured and Boughton not, so that was the end of that. I have the score of a Boughton string quartet at home and, believe me, it is a great piece of music. To bring things right up to date, some readers of this column will remember the Broadbent family, if not for their running of the local health food shop, but for Steven Broadbent, violist with the Welsh National Opera Orchestra, who is now sadly deceased. However, his sons and other family members, all immensely talented string players, have formed "String Fever" an electric and electrifying string ensemble, which is making a real name for itself. Check them out (and the history of music in three minutes) at www.stringfever.co.uk . Joe Meek, Rutland Boughton and String Fever: what is in the Newent air that attracts such musical diversity? There is clearly more to come...
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Bill Anderton, April, 2009