Second Philharmonia Sessions: Song of the Prairies and A St Luke Passion

Blog by Paula Downes

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Second set of recording sessions: Song of the Prairies and A St Luke Passion, Tuesday 13th and Wednesday 14th August, 2024, Alexandra Palace, London

For the August recordings of Song of the Prairies and A St Luke Passion, since it was the school summer holidays, we decided to bring our daughters with us to London, as well as David’s parents to look after them. We booked a self-catering house that was big enough for us all to stay in, as close to Ally Pally as possible. The house we found on Hornsey Lane in Highgate, turned out to be just around the corner from my old flat, that I had lived in from 2003-5, when I was a Music Teacher at South Hampstead High School for Girls. I had loved living in that area (‘The Miltons’) and was excited to be back. It was useful to have an idea of things to do in the area for the girls and my in-laws, for example Waterlow Park and Lauderdale House, as well as cafes, restaurants and book shops on Highgate Hill. It was also fortuitous that David’s cousin, Paul, who had typeset Song of the Prairies, lived nearby, and was able to spend time with us all at various points during the first day. As well as helping David’s parents out with looking after the girls, he was able to attend the evening recording session.

It was quite a logistical feat getting the girls, us, all grandparents, luggage and musical scores all to the right places at the right times!

David, the girls and I drove down to London on August 12th. We slowly made our way through the busy London traffic in intense heat and arrived at the Warehouse with plenty of time to spare before the first rehearsal. We were relieved to see a parking space in the tiny courtyard and unfolded ourselves out of the car into the air-conditioned rehearsal rooms on the ground floor. They weren’t being used, and the custodian came down and said he was happy for us to be there. David practised the piano, the girls went on screens, and I lay down on the floor and did my pilates stretches.

I then repacked our bags to make it possible for the girls and me to travel up to Highgate on the tube. We hadn’t quite worked out this leg of the journey and I had imagined I would drive them up to Highgate and back, but it had been so slow and uncomfortable to get down to Waterloo, so I decided the tube was the better option. The girls were definitely up for it, but it was pretty stressful in the heat, and it was really crowded. I was very relieved to emerge safely at Highgate station.

We had planned to meet my Mum and David’s parents at the Woodman pub next to Highgate tube station. I had never been before, but it seemed like the best place for us to meet and wait for each other to arrive. We didn’t quite know when everyone would arrive, since trains can always be delayed, and we couldn’t get into the Airbnb until 3pm, so there was a bit of hanging around to do. We couldn’t have risked being any later since I needed to get back to the Warehouse for the rehearsals that evening. The Woodman pub was the perfect spot. The shaded decking area was ideal in such high temperatures and the food was perfect English pub food. I could relax with the girls there for a bit. My Mum arrived, we had lunch, then David’s parents arrived.

I went to a small shop over the other side of the Archway Road to get provisions for everyone for the house we were staying in. Since it was a very hot day, we ordered an Uber to take us and our luggage from the pub to the Airbnb, which was on Hornsey Lane, hanging over the Archway Road. I was feeling very nervous about making sure everyone was OK and getting myself to the rehearsal in time.

Photo by Richard Lamb, Wikimedia Commons photo, CC

The décor in the house was very cool. The downstairs was split level, open plan, with the kitchen down some steps due to it being on a hill. There was a small but nice decking area outside big patio doors from the kitchen, cleverly shielded from the Archway Road, with trees and high fences. There were painted floorboards throughout in different colours. They were bright yellow in the living room, navy blue in the kitchen, salmon pink with green soft furnishings in our bedroom. There was pop art on the walls. It was a nice, comfortable house in a good location. There were just about enough bedrooms for everyone. Penny and Millie were happy to share one in the eves on the top floor. As soon as everyone was settled, I ran down the hill to Archway tube station and let the tube whizz me back down to Waterloo. I felt a big sense of relief and freedom, having deposited everyone at the house, and anticipation for what lay ahead.

As I arrived at the Warehouse, I could hear the choir singing part of the A St Luke Passion. It sounded so good! I was so excited to hear my Dad’s music sounding like that! Morgan, the soloist sounded amazing as well. Again, we had planned this for months, but didn’t know how it was going to sound until this moment! I sat outside on the stairs and listened. Aidan had again put together some wonderful singers for the choir.

I was involved in the later evening rehearsal. The soloists were the same as for New Dawn apart from the tenor. Samuel Boden couldn’t make this one, so I asked Sam Madden, who I had recently got to know through singing at Ely Cathedral. This time I stood up to sing straight away rather than sitting, having regretted that last time, and the other soloists followed suit, no question!

After the rehearsal, David and I drove up to Highgate full of beans, with all the scores and the rest of our luggage. We were starving hungry, not having eaten between rehearsals, so stopped at Archway for a Macdonald’s which we ate sitting in the car around the corner in the dark. We then found our way to the house on Hornsey Lane and dropped into bed.

The following day, David very kindly got me a coffee and croissant from Archway, while I had a lie-in. He then drove off to Ally Pally to work on the scores. I walked down to Archway with the girls and my Mum to pass the time. I had worked out the chunks of time over these two days where I could take over with the girls and give my in-laws a break. We got coffee, picked up the spare key to our house from a grocery shop, and bought various food items. It was a hot day! After we had walked up the hill, I got myself ready for the recording session. This time I wore a long-sleeved summery dark blue maxi-dress with white flowers. I wanted to look nice because the Philharmonia Orchestra had booked a photographer for their 80th Anniversary year. I made sure everyone was OK and had plans for the day, told them to look after each other, and then my Mum and I made our way to Ally Pally by bus. We got there in plenty of time, thankfully. I had never taken that route before, and we started off at the bus stop outside our house on the wrong side of the road! There was also some confusion when we had to change buses.

We ordered pizza from the bar at Ally Pally for us and David, and told him to meet us outside for lunch. It was still a hot day, but there were nice picnic tables with umbrellas outside, overlooking the fabulous view across the park, with London buildings in the background and the iconic Ally Pally sign in the foreground.

Ally Pally, August 13th, 2024

After lunch we returned to our dressing room, and I stretched and warmed up. Myles and the engineer were in the backstage kitchen this time, rather than in a truck outside, which had been a little irksome for New Dawn. The Philharmonia Orchestra had set up the tea and coffee urns in the foyer outside the theatre instead.

Today we were recording Song of the Prairies. This was a piece I had strong childhood memories of, having attended the second performance at Birmingham Conservatoire in 1997, along with all of the extended family. It was an exciting occasion, and the music really stayed with me, as well as the experience of watching the students playing and singing. In the last few years, I had created a multitrack promotional recording of this piece, along with a film to go with it, and as I was in the process of doing that, I had flashbacks to that performance in the Adrian Boult Hall, Birmingham.

It was a big orchestra again, with a lot of percussion and piano.

Song of the Prairies orchestra, Paula Downes bottom left, photo by Christopher Jonas

Duncan Honeybourne was playing the piano for this Philharmonia recording, which meant a lot, since he has been such a wonderful supporter of my Dad’s music. 

Duncan Honeybourne at the piano, photo by Christopher Jonas

Duncan was a student at Birmingham Conservatoire in the 90s and sang in the performance they gave of A St Luke Passion in 1997. He became interested in my Dad’s music at that point and went searching for his piano music in the Conservatoire Library – he is a champion of contemporary British music. He went on to perform my Dad’s music at numerous concerts and has recorded several CDs of his music both as soloist and accompanist. He also played the piano in my Dad’s opera, Far from the Madding Crowd and premiered his piano concerto in Birmingham Town Hall. Duncan became great friends with my Mum and Dad and they have enjoyed many musical collaborations.

Aidan sadly couldn’t make these recording sessions but had booked Ben Parry for us instead. Ben kept the chorus in check beautifully, and was a lovely person to have involved – he knew a lot of the choir members already.

As had happened with New Dawn, the recording initially felt like climbing a huge mountain. For the first two movements, which are the hardest, the first play-through suggested it was going to be challenging to put together, and I sat there feeling stressed about the enormity of the task ahead, but then relieved and full of admiration as David and Myles steered the superb group of musicians to create their magic. Recording music that has never been heard before by the players and singers is tough! This music is intricate, full of textures and rhythms and tunings that need to be extremely precise, in order for the music to shine through. These were the musicians for the task though. Both the playing and the singing were sublime. Movements 3 and 4 are more straightforward and everyone had a great time, particularly at ‘the bison feed no more’. I think David might perhaps have been enjoying himself too much, and may possibly have asked them to do more takes than necessary!

Paul Trippett, who had typeset the score, spent the afternoon with the girls and David’s parents in Waterlow Park and Lauderdale House, and then came along to the evening recording session. It was special that he could be involved like this and witness the score coming to life, since he had put such a huge amount of work into the score, and he had given my parents a lot of support.

At the end of the two sessions, I drove David, my Mum and Paul Trippett back to our house via an Indian takeaway, and we washed it down with some beer (I had done all of my singing so could relax from that point of view), relaying the events of the day to David’s parents. The girls were asleep and had apparently had a great day.

The next day we were recording A St Luke Passion. I dressed in the same outfit I had worn for Day 2 of New Dawn (long green dress with white flowers), because the film crew were coming again, and I wanted to redo some of my interview. My Mum and I took the girls to Ally Pally on the bus, and David drove his parents. I had decided not to sing in the choir in this recording because I was too worried about leaving the girls for any longer than necessary. I looked after the girls that morning so that David’s parents could watch the recording. I had booked the girls into ice-skating, but before I took them, I had to make sure everything was OK in the Theatre. Myles had texted me to say there weren’t enough percussion parts and that I needed to print some out. I didn’t have a clue where I could do that. Luckily it turned out that there were enough parts thanks to the use of a tablet! My Mum also asked me for a score to follow since she had given hers to David’s Dad. Feeling very conspicuous I went to ask David, who was starting up, where the score was. He said it was still in the car, so he gave me the key and I went to retrieve the score from the car and take it to my Mum in the balcony. Luckily the girls were quietly on screens in the foyer! I then took them to get their ice skates and watched them from the side, enjoying some time to be in my own thoughts and not running around. 

My view from the side of the ice rink.

At lunchtime, I heard from David, his parents and my Mum and Myles how amazingly the session had gone. My Mum said she had cried throughout, David’s parents were obviously very impressed, Myles said he thought the piece was the best so far. He reported that many of the performers had said how the music just flowed, and you knew what was coming next even though you didn’t know the music. Various singers in the choir told me how much they were enjoying the music and that they could tell my Dad had been a singer.

Interviews were filmed with the two pianists, Duncan Honeybourne and Katharine Lam, who had both been students at Birmingham Conservatoire, so knew my Dad, and had both sung in the 1997 performance, since all 1st year students had to sing in the choir. The baritone soloist, Morgan Pearse also gave an interview, as did Gideon Robinson, 2nd violinist in the Philharmonia Orchestra. Gideon had reached out to my Mum on Facebook Messenger, following New Dawn, to let her know that he was originally from Birmingham, and his parents, also musicians, had taught at Birmingham School of Music (which became Royal Birmingham Conservatoire) alongside my Grandad, Frank Downes, who was Head of Orchestral Studies there. Frank had been taught horn by Dennis Brain, a founder member of the Philharmonia Orchestra. Andrew’s uncle Bert was also a founder member of the Philharmonia Orchestra. He was principal violist, and according to Gideon, “a big player” and “core to the the Philharmonia sound”. Gideon explained all of this in his interview, and he went on to say that the Philharmonia sound is the same today: “players are chosen to maintain that sound”.

After making sure the filmmakers were introduced to all the relevant people for interviews, I settled in to listen to the start of Part 2.

The view from the balcony, freeze frame from film footage by Wash Media

Morgan Pearse baritone, David Trippett conductor, photo by Christopher Jonas

David’s parents were taking Penny and Millie to the boating lake for the afternoon. Halfway through the session I went out to see how they were getting on and offered to drive them back to the house, which they took me up on.

I returned to the recording session, and it all went beautifully. Some of the interviews were conducted at the end and we collected all the music ready to take back to the library.

After returning to the house and seeing that everyone was fine, David and I snuck out to the pub on the corner of Hornsey Lane and Highgate Hill, “Brendan the Navigator”, and quickly drank a pint of Blue Moon each, before our Chinese Takeaway was set to arrive at the house. We toasted our achievement. It was a good moment! That beer completely knocked me out and I went to bed soon after eating!

When I heard the final Master of A St Luke Passion, I suddenly had a vision of my Dad composing this work at the piano. He would play all the parts and sing one of them and gradually add to it as the time went on. This was in the days before he started composing on Sibelius. I used to wake up on weekend mornings to the sound of him composing. Every so often he would perform a bit to my Mum for her approval (which he always received!). Anna and I weren’t allowed to make any noise when he was composing!

I remember the two performances of A St Luke Passion: the first one with Wolverhampton Civic Choir was a big event with a packed audience. The choir was totally committed, and I remember thinking Jesus, Bryan Rayner Cook, was excellent, with very good stage presence. The second one in 1997 was at Birmingham Conservatoire. I remember the students playing and singing and watching with great admiration. My Dad would always run up to take a bow at the end of his performances, and the applause was rapturous. I was always terrified he would trip and seriously hurt himself! He said he wanted to run because he was terrified the applause would stop before he got there! We listened to the recording of that performance a lot, and I knew what a stunning piece it was. I was so excited to get it recorded by these world-class players and singers, and to get it out to the wider world at last!

As mentioned earlier, the scores and parts used for the recording were the same ones my Mum created for those first performances. They were not typeset, but in my Dad’s own handwriting. I was concerned players and singers might complain, but no one did. My Dad’s writing was very neat, and I think it is very special to have the scores and parts in his own handwriting. 

The day after the recordings, I drove my Mum, the scores and the girls back to the Midlands, while David returned to Ely on the train. The next day, on the recommendation of Myles, I went to the Elgar Birthplace in Malvern with my Mum and the girls. We heard a talk about Elgar’s life given by Richard Westwood-Brookes. It had me sobbing. I couldn’t believe the parallels between Elgar’s life and my Dad’s. Elgar struggled to make a name for himself and felt he had had an inferior education to other, more famous composers of the time, and thought that held him back. My Dad didn’t go to private school, as many top composers do, and he had a strong brummie accent. He had a big culture shock when he went to Cambridge. He was a real left-winger though, and fiercely proud of his heritage. His physical ailments added to his struggles. Putting in the necessary promotional and networking time on top of his full-time job and his composition was a stretch to far for him a lot of the time. He needed time with his family, resting. He therefore often worried he wasn’t getting anywhere as a composer, just like Elgar. I also couldn’t believe that Elgar had listened remotely to the premiere recordings of his works from his deathbed, making comments down a phone line! My Dad did exactly that with his Symphonies – he was unable to travel to the Czech Republic due to his paraplegia so listened remotely to the recordings from home as they happened in Prague!

Read on: Third Philharmonia recording sessions

Blog by Paula Downes