Orchestra on Tour Organising an international tour by a large orchestra is noi an easy project. Robin Laurence has been talking to the people involved. EY Globetrotting adventure ‘The London Symphony Orchestra (ISO) has been travelling since it was formed almost a contury ago. ‘A bunch of 60 rebellious musicians who had left Sir Henry Wood's orchestra in high dudgeon over pay and principle set up the LSO in 1904 and were quick toestablish the spirit of globetrotting adventure. In 1912 they set sail for Amoriea to become the first British orchestra to play the concert halls of the New World. In so doing, they just missed certain oblivion when a typically last-minute alteration to the itinerary led to the cancellation of their booking on that famously ill-fated ship, tho Titanie, EI international reputation On that first American tour, the orchestra played 23 concerts in 21 days. Today that kind of programme would be unthinkable. ‘It’s just not good for the tusio} enya Clive Gillinson, a former cellist with the orchestra and now its Managing Director Glllingon Spares the orchestra such gruelling trips by keeping tours down to & maximam of two weeks. Nonetheless, be is enthusiastic about their value, both t the orchestra and to its individael members. ‘Aggreatincernational orehes:ra needs to work with the greatest conductors and soloists. No recording company will record a conductor or soloist if he or the doos nothave an international repatation, So for the recording side you need to visit the Key markets? Not easily forgotten Gillinson aims to create an event, not just a series of concerts, and so his tours aro wholo projects and. festivals on a particular focus. ‘And then you have a story around which you can build public relations campaign. It is more costly to do, but when you leave town you are not so easily forgotten. It is simply matter of good business practice. The audience might not forget, but others do. When the freight handlers left the instruments on the tarmac at Atlanta airport, under the heat of the southern sun, the varnish melted on two of the double-bassos among the most expensive items in the orchestre 1 Dangerous equipment Airport security can present problems for the orchestra's chairman, John Lawley, who pleys the aboe. He carries with him a couple of rather dangerous knives and a set of razor blades to prepare the reeds for the oboe. Strangely enough, everything oes smoothly if he remembers to pack them in his suiteace. Ifhe forgets and has to earry them as hand luggage, he invariably has them confiscated. They promise to give them back at the end of the fight, but somehow they seem to go astray.” | Bracing the chettenge For Sue Mallet, the orchestra’s administrator, such difficulties ere all par of the challenge of getting « symphony orchestra and its introments on stage, on _ time and in one piece, Normally se puts the plavers on planes and sends the instruments on in a lorry hrecatse it is los expensive, However on one tour af | Scanéinavia come last-minute reecheduling meant transferring the instruments onto the plane with the orchestra. The airline obligingly and ingeniously, removed several rows of seats to accommodate some Of the instruments in the enbin at no extra cost, On | the ground much consternation was caused atthe border crossings when the LSO lorry turned up_ carrying not the cellos and oboes listed on the customs document, but rows of aircraft seats. Il Prized possession For cellist Francis Saunders, a good instrument is one of the necessities of belonging to a world-class touring orchestra. And while some of his colleagues choose to leave their favourite instrument safely at hhome, Saunders not only’ takes his much loved and priceless cello with him, he actually chances putting itin the hold of the airerait. Mind you, it does have @ specially constructed case, so nine times out of ten Saunders ean take it out of the hold and find it hang on tune, What he doca have to do is keep an eye on the temperature and humidity: Like many players, he puts a simple humidifier in the ‘f’ hole and leaves it there when the instrument is not in use. [_ Resort to anything However well Sue Mallet plans each tous, and she does her planning with all the precision and precautions of a NASA scientist planning a space expedition, events sometimes take the upper hand While others think on their foot, Ms Mallet docs her re-thinking on the run, She will resort to anything to ‘ensure things run smoothly, but no amount of persuasion would draw her on what she did to resolve the situation when one European hotel let other people book into the rooms intended for her musicians, while the concert was in progress. LA moving experience “Touring is tiring and stressful, however well it goes says Francis Saunders. And yet on balance he says that flying round the world is one of the real perks of the job. He won's forget the time he went with the orchestra to Australia and the pilot, who was a great music fan, let him watch the approach to Sydnoy from the flight decks, Nor will he forget tho ond of @ concert in Moscow, when an elderly lady pressed a piece of paper into his hand. It said, simply end touchingly, what lovely music she had heard. TEST 1, PAPER 1