Ihave been reflecting on the short but, to date, illustrious history of the RSNO's Naked Classics series.
It's not that long since it was launched – 2006 – yet in that time it has become an integral part of the RSNO's concert schedules. I remember vividly the moment the then-chief executive of the organisation, Simon Woods, broached the subject. He had invited me into his office for an off-the-record briefing on the concert season he was soon to launch. After working his way throught the regular components of the season, Woods said there was a new initiative about to come on stream. "You're going to love this," were his precise words as he unveiled the Naked Classics concept to me.
Presenter for the series would be Paul Rissmann, already established as a seasoned presenter and communicator with young people, ranging from pre-school nursery children through to secondary-school youngsters. But Naked Classics would be different. The main work from a forthcoming RSNO concert would be extrapolated from the regular programme, and, with an approach conceived, devised and designed by Rissmann, and using the full RSNO to illustrate the piece with extracts, the music would be stripped bare, bringing the audience into direct contact with the nuts and bolts of the piece. That would be the first half of a show. It was to be further illustrated by comment from Rissmann, the conductor of the night and players from the orchestra.
Moreover, Rissmann would garland the revealing elements of his presentation with sophisticated computer-generated projections embracing the written music, aspects of the composer's life and thought, and any other relevant elements that would increase the audience's intimacy and familiarity with the piece. Then, after an interval, and with the audience armed with a huge background knowledge of the composition, it would be played straight through by the orchestra, uninterrupted, though with key reminders about structure and so on projected on to a big screen.
Woods had asked Rissman to run a pilot of the project on trial to key members of the orchestra and its management. They jumped on it, lock, stock and laptop, and have never looked back.
The scheme has developed a bit since the early days when it was a kind of add-on: a Naked Classics event now stands alone, a proud entity. Further, initially it was Glasgow only. Now it's Glasgow and Edinburgh, with Dundee and Aberdeen added occasionally when the RSNO visits those cities.
The word spead through the profession and Rissmann was in demand, along with his creative inspiration and genius for presenting. He is also an awardwinning composer who has an acutely penetrating mind into the innards and workings of a musical composition, as well as a gift in translating those complex operations into approachable, understandable expression and communicating that to an audience. He has been sought for such projects by Valery Gergiev and the London Symphony Orchestra, Esa-Pekka Salonen and the Philharmonia Orchestra, and many others.
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