Musings on a "Symphony For Yorkshire" a project by Benjamin Till

[BurtIsitart]

If there HAS been any serious, critical acclaim for "A Symphony For Yorkshire", please leave details here. Using the "vanity publishing" model, if just under 7,000 watch the video in 17 days and there were 300 people involved in it's production. The You Tube video getting 411 hits a day. There are between 5.5 & 6 million people in Yorkshire.

We will see, in a few months time, to what extent "A Symphony For Yorkshire" has been adopted by the people of Yorkshire or forgotten.

[BurtIsitart]

My idea of a community project for Yorkshire is person A in Leeds rings person B in Bradford and says "why don't we do this?" and person C in Scarborough gets involved rather than "A Symphony For Yorkshire" merely being one of a string of projects dreamed up by someone with a tenuous connection to the county, who is so passionate about Yorkshire and loves the place so much he lives .... in London?

[BurtIsitart]

wakey28 wrote "A Symphony For Yorkshire is a project for the greater community of yorkshire. It is a community project. .." (see below) except for Yorkshire based composers .... er .. and Yorkshire based film directors and ... why not just come out and say it? You don't think anyone from or based in Yorkshire can do what Benjamin Till does! I disagree.

[wakey28]

sometimes I wake up and think....i'll make a video about some composer I dont like and put it on youtube. Perhaps I'll even go out of my way to find his blog, read every entry, and then comment on as much as I can in the most negative way that I can. I might even do all of this with one hand on my keyboard and the other up my a.........but then I realise that would be ever so sad...and ever so pointless...and a little creepy....so I go out to see friends instead. Something to think about? :-)

[wakey28]

A Symphony For Yorkshire is a project for the greater community of yorkshire. It is a community project...none proffesional musicians. How do you still fail to grasp the point of this? Mr Till's previous work have no bearing on this, what matters is the reaction of yorkshire people and as far as I can see, the vast majority enjoyed it. Where are you even from? Are you a stalker? You seem to follow Mr Till around the internet, trying to discredit him where possible. Did something happen to you?

[BurtIsitart]

If  "A Symphony For Yorkshire" receives some critical acclaim that can be taken seriously, I'll be the first to admit I'm wrong but, until other artistes, orchestras and so on start performing it and the score becomes available through serious music publishers, it's obvious it isn't being taken seriously as a work by serious musicians and if "A Symphony For Yorkshire" is not available for other artistes to perform, arranged for string quartets, brass bands, choirs etc., is it a "Symphony"?

[BurtIsitart]

I agree rw535. Our precious county deserves something nurtured over time by people with a genuine passion for the project rather than it merely being something for Benjamin Till to rattle off between "Coventry Market" and Pepys Motet". Yorkshire definitely has the talent and it's a mystery to me why they had to go outside of the county to have this "symphony" composed.

I have the only examples of forgotten scores of works written to celebrate the Queen's Silver Jubilee in Yorkshire to draw upon

[BurtIsitart]

Oh dear. Wakey28 has managed, out of 3 comments, to have one comment removed and another marked as "spam". wakey28 fails to address my assertions that a) The quality of Benjamin Till's previous work does not justify him being hired to compose a work to celebrate an entity twice the size of Wales and b) there were already in Yorkshire composers who could have composed something as good as "A Symphony For Yorkshire" or c) film directors who could have foreseen the shots Benjamin Till "directed".

[rw535]

@BurtIsitart Maybe, as you seem to know so many people who could have done it better, you could have a go at organising and bringing together something like this, with those people involved instead. Then, I think you might be more justified in making your assertions.

Do let me know when it's being broadcast, I'd be very interested to see the result.

[wakey28]

The time it has taken for you to make this video, my weathered face, too close to the camera friend, could have been spent focussing on what sort of things you feel, obviously being the official spokesperson for Yorkshire, should be included in this symphony.If you care so very much about the people of Yorkshire being misrepresented in anyway by this symphony not being composed by a person from the region,then why not use your time to give advice rather than avin a winge?jealous of mr till much?

[IsraelIsMega]

When I think of Yorkshire's contribution to art, I think of "The Human League" and "The Arctic Monkeys". If they could have done this up there themselves, they would have done!

[WawneTiger]

It makes Yorkshire look as if we have to import talent to compose, arrange and direct. something like this and I think we have the talent in Yorkshire to do better. It's not terrible but Yorkshire's worth more. Can you imagine the Scots letting Chas & Dave do "A Symphony for Scotland" or the Welsh letting "Spandau Ballet" do "A Symphony for Wales". I reckon we should get John Shuttleworth to do "A Symphony for Northamptonshire" that great, proud British county famous for ...

[BurtIsitart]

I'd liked to have seen Yorkshire based composers, arrangers and directors needing exposure working on this. It looks as if Yorkshire has to look outside of the county to find people who can do things like this. Judging by comments here, it looks as if quite a few people think Yorkshire doesn't have anyone capable of doing this.

[dravidwake]

What a snide and petty minded commentary. Easy to sneer - It only shows your small mind.

[BurtIsitart]

We all know Yorkshire has plenty of talented performers and musicians but there's no reason why some Yorkshire born composers or arrangers couldn't have had a chance to get some of their work heard. It's hard enough for artistes in the provinces of the UK to get funding or get themselves noticed above the attention south of UK based artistes attract. I'm sure plenty of the musicians performing on this piece also compose.

[IsraelIsMega]

Benjamin Till's work has been critically acclaimed so the BBC obviously were obviously right to commission this work from him. If there were loads of people capable of doing things like this they'd have been able to source the talent locally.

[BurtIsitart]

I just heard it "premiered". I'm not saying Benjamin Till is talentless, just not talented enough to justify this much effort going into one of his compositions.

The "Coventry Market: The Musical" YouTube film has had 11 comments left for it in the last 7 months and some of those look as if they've been generated by the publicity surrounding "A Symphony For Yorkshire". I think this piece may well become as neglected.

[VaricamUK]

The funding DID stay in Yorkshire... it was commission by the Yorkshire arm of the BBC, shot by a Leeds based BBC Yorkshire cameraman, edited in Leeds by a BBC Yorkshire picture editor, played by Yorkshire musicians, recorded in a Yorkshire studio, mastered in a Yorkshire sound facility, shot in Yorkshire...

[BurtIsitart]

Great compositions receive critical acclaim and are performed many times by successful artistes and ensembles. We'll soon see to what extent the people of Yorkshire embrace their "symphony" and adopt it. I'd rather have seen the funding for this stay in Yorkshire.

[FootmanUK]

It is a stunning piece and Benjamin Till has done Yorkshire proud! I was at the preview last Wednesday and I think it's magnificent, and I'm extremely proud, as a Yorkhireman, to have been involved.

John Ridgeway-Wood

Carillonneur, York Minster

[rw535]

And I don't know if you've ever noticed, but Scarborough Fair is not in 4 movements, so I don't think it counts as a symphony.

[rw535]

When you've seen and heard it and given it a chance, maybe that's the time to make these remarks about the 268 of these Yorkshire "poets, artistes and conductors" who've worked incredibly hard on the Symphony. And maybe you should keep those remarks off the web, because I didn't see you in the film, giving it your all for Yorkshire.

[IsraelIsMega]

When you think of all the great modern composers the BBC could have commissioned to do this landmark work but they chose the absolutely amazing Benjamin Till who wrote the melodies for Arnold Wesker's "Letter To A Daughter" which The Jewish Chronicle reviwed as "Wesker breaks new ground … a moving depiction of a doubt-ridden single mother … a finely crafted piece of theatre."

[IsraelIsMega]

"A Symphony For Yorkshire" by Benjamin Till, the Midland composer based in London, is going to be brilliant. I can't wait. I'm so glad the BBC in the North didn't waste money on hiring useless local people who wouldn't be able to do Yorkshire justice.

[SuperAngryvoter]

Here here. I've looked at Till's other works and can find little artistic merit in them.