Composer Robert Smedley to perform at Durham Cathedral

Jul 26 2010 by David Whetstone, The Journal

Sir Bobby Robson preferred "a bit of Frank" but surely he would have been chuffed for his one-time neighbour who is to have a world premiere in Durham Cathedral. David Whetstone meets composer Robert Smedley.

THE next concerts by Orchestra North East will feature music by Vaughan Williams, Rimsky-Korsakov and ... Robert Smedley.

At The Sage Gateshead on Friday, one of the three expressed delight at being in such exalted company.

“Vaughan Williams is a huge influence on my music and Rimsky- Korsakov, for me, is one of the greatest orchestrators of that period (late 19th Century),” enthused Robert.

The October concerts – in Durham Cathedral and St George’s Church, Jesmond – will feature the Russian composer’s Scheherazade, based on The Arabian Knights, and two pieces by Ralph Vaughan Williams, The Lark Ascending and Five Variants on Dives & Lazarus.

All these deal with the latter half of the concert title, World Premières & Mystical Tales.

The first part relates to Robert’s piece The Slipways which, he explains, is the fourth movement of an orchestral suite called Dunelmia.

Robert, County Durham born and bred, is patently proud of his home county. “I’ve travelled all over the world but whenever I return home to Durham on the train, I have to stand as it goes over the viaduct to look at the cathedral.

“It’s a ritual. At that point I know I’m home. It is fantastic that this piece is going to be performed in the cathedral.”

Dunelmia is Robert’s homage to Durham and the four movements all deal with different aspects of its history and traditions.

They are Land of the Prince Bishops, Quiet Waters, The Legend of the Mist (it is said that St Cuthbert whipped up a mist to thwart German bombers out to destroy the cathedral during the Second World War) and The Slipways, inspired by the shipbuilding tradition on the Wear but also in the wider region.

Robert, who is originally from Ferryhill, began his working life as a teacher but has been composing in a range of musical genres for the best part of 30 years.

“I used to be in lots of bands in the area and that’s how it started,” he said.

“I began getting commissions from the BBC and independent radio stations in the North East , anything from a theme tune to some incidental music for one of their programmes.”

For a time he was the keyboard player in a six-piece folk band called The Fourun. He also co-founded a band called Bulldog. The Eagles and Crosby, Stills & Nash were influences.

“I started writing orchestra music about six years ago. Another of my early influences were film scores.

“As a kid I remember my mother taking me to see Lawrence of Arabia at the Odeon in Middlesbrough.

“I must have been about eight or nine at the time and Maurice Jarre’s score coming out of the speakers sent a shiver down the spine.”

Later, when undergoing teacher training in Leeds, he would sit “for hours” in the university library listening to classical music through headphones.

“I loved the Russian composers, Borodin, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov, Glinka, and also the English ones, Elgar, Delius and the lesser-known ones like Malcolm Arnold.”

Robert regularly attended the concerts of Orchestra North East (formerly Durham Sinfonia) in Durham Cathedral and a relationship developed leading to this autumn’s world premiere.

It will be the first time Robert has heard one of his orchestral compositions performed by a full orchestra.

Geoff Wright, of Orchestra North East, says one of the recently- renamed orchestra’s aims is to champion local talent. Like Robert, all the musicians live and work in the region, as does violinist Iona Brown, soloist in the autumn concerts, and the conductor, David Murray.

Geoff is pleased that a good relationship has developed between the orchestra and The Sage Gateshead, where it performed for the first time earlier this year and which has made its box office services available.

“They really couldn’t have been more helpful,” said Geoff, who plays cello in the orchestra and is also a director of the sponsor, Fentimans.

Robert, incidentally, is a former next-door neighbour of the late Sir Bobby Robson and remains on good terms with the family. He said Sir Bobby, although football was his life and passion, also had time for a tune, albeit Frank Sinatra was more to his taste than Vaughan Williams.

“He used to say, ‘I like a bit of Frank’,” remembered Robert affectionately.

:: Tickets go on sale today for the two concerts at Durham Cathedral on October 9 and St George’s Church, Jesmond, Newcastle, on October 10. Box office: 0191 443 4661 or www.thesagegateshead.org