Conrad Wilson on Classical Music, Food, Wine and other good things.

It is sad that the BBC SSO's future may again be in some doubt, but it has been in this situation before. In the early 1970s as one of its efforts to reduce costs, the mandarins at the BBC in London produced a document on the future of its music output which proposed, I seem to recall, the disbanding of 3 of the orchestras, the SSO being one. There was a huge public outcry as a result of which little if anything changed.

One solution discussed at that time was a formal association with Scottish Opera whose continued growth meant the SNO was no longer able to provide most of its orchestral requirements. The BBC SSO was an obvious solution and the orchestra did find itself playing for a series of performances of La Traviata conducted by its then Principal Conductor James Loughran. Unfortunately for the orchestra management in Queen Margaret Drive, its somewhat archaic Musicians' Union regulations meant that considerable additional payments had to be made to musicians for work outside the studio. Scottish Opera simply could not afford to continue down that route and tripartite negotiations failed to find a satisfactory solution.

So a freelance ensemble was formed from a nucleus of Leonard Friedman's Scottish Baroque Ensemble, the Sottish Philharmonia. From their ranks would soon emerge the Scottish Chamber Orchestra.



Posted by John Duffus to Conrad Wilson on Classical Music and Food at 31 August 2014 20:40