It's just one of those strange things that you, that the music comes out, you think you know what
you're doing, but sometimes it's, it's a bit strange the creative process. Sometimes you're not
thinking, you're listening. Oh, I will invert that theme and do double counterpoint with the blah,
blah, blah, and then I'll use, no, I don't have any of those thoughts when I compose. I mean,
it might be that once I've written a piece, you can go back and analyse it and see that that's
exactly what I've done, but I won't be consciously, I don't know what other composers think when they
compose, but certainly for me, I might discover afterwards that I've done something, oh, that was
quite clever. I did a bit of that, I did a bit of a stretto fugue there or whatever, but normally
it's, it's the listening that dictates the process. Often the music is already there, it's kind of up
there somewhere, so I can see it and hear it, an object, and all I have to do is bring it down and
write it out. Welcome back to the PianoPod. I am your host, Yukimi Song. Thanks for tuning in for
the second half of season three, episode 20, with a special guest, Mr. David Hackeridge Johnson,
composer and multi-instrumentalist. In this second half, we focused on his compositions other than
piano solo pieces, such as his 15 symphonies and recently premiered opera called Blaze of Glory,
and more. As always with each guest, we ended our conversation with philosophical questions,
such as how to keep our industry relevant in the post-pandemic era, and how we classical musicians
should reach out to the 21st century audience more creatively. Before starting this episode,
I want to welcome everyone listening to the piano pod for the first time. I'm a classical pianist
and educator from New York City, passionate about creating a thriving and meaningful community of
the classical music industry through this podcast. Please visit yukimisongstudio.com to find out more
about my work. In each episode of the PianoPod, I interview a guest speaker who has been breaking
exciting new ground in the industry, so please rate the show and review it on your favorite
podcasting platform, because every rating review will help people find my show. So dear friends,
here is part two of the PianoPod's season three, episode 20 with David Hackridge Johnson. Please
enjoy the show. We are always looking for new music, especially during the COVID. I think there
was a big wake up call where, you know, we classical musicians tend to stick with the, you know,
good old regular composers, but then during the COVID time, we had more time to experiment and
explore different things and realize that we need to play more new music. And then I think people
should play your music more often, Mr. Hackridge Johnson, I think. So I would love to see your
scores in my hands, you know, being published and then being able to purchase.
I will consult with my, shall we say, my syndicate of supporters, which is basically my wife and my
family, and see if we can't come up with a plan. To me, because I'm always a bit obsessed with
things, I write a piece and I think, oh yeah, I should try and get that out there. But when I
get up the next day and I come down and I thought, actually, you know what, it's easier just to write
another piece. The simpler option for me is to write something new. If I've heard it, if something
in my head, if it's not in my head, I don't write, it has to be there. The Colonel has to write
it, the idea has to be there. But that always seems to be an easier option than doing that extra
mile where you actually get your music out. I mean, at this point, I should mention a person who is,
of all people in recent years, is probably most responsible for any of my music appearing at all.
And that's Martin Anderson, who's the director of Takata Classics, who I've known for 35 years,
probably. And we met through an organisation called the Havigal Brian Society. Our associations
were really through other people's music, particularly neglected English music, British music,
I should say. And in 2015, I had a health issue which was quite serious, but it was tremendously
dealt with by my local hospital. But when I came out of the hospital and I was convalescing,
I had a bit of a talking to myself because I knew that I had this monstrous pile of music,
which I'd never shown anyone to. People didn't know what I was doing. And I thought, what the
hell, I'll send Poppy of my Ninth Symphony to Martin. And he wrote back a couple of days later
and said, what the hell have you been doing the last 30 years I've known you? What is the Opus
309 to whatever it was? What on earth have you been doing all this time? And he sent this music,
sent this Ninth Symphony to the conductor Paul Mann, who said, right, we're going to record this.
So the rest of that you probably know, the CDs that came out consequently. But someone had to
say, yes, someone had to say, okay, yeah, we, I believe in this piece, we're going to do it.
And that person was Martin. And then the conductor was Paul, who then went forward with it. So I
can't quite remember how we got onto this aspect. But the idea of promotion and the availability of
music, I think it is very difficult for composers because of course, there are hundreds of us,
you know, you lift up a pile of leaves and there's five composers under there. You look in a waste
bin and there's a there's someone in there composing, we're everywhere. So it's extremely
difficult, because you could you could send a piano piece, you could send it to 100 pianists
and not get one reply. Yes, but there are too many pianists out there to, you know, always looking
for wonderful, great music, you see my point. So there are too many of us, too many, too many
podcasts, too many pianists, too many musicians. But then there's always your niche. And then
somebody is recognizing you, someone like Lowell, someone like Steinway Company, right? So I really
I'm saying this not to twist your arm to do something that you don't want. But you know,
we are always looking for great music.
So, you know, you have more piano music
that I listen to on YouTube, songs of the seasons, I listen to Tales from the Forest.
And what else? Paraphrase on an English carol in the beautiful setting of Bristol Cathedral.
I mean, I would love to try them. And I would love my for my students to try some of the smaller
pieces. I wrote a lot of pieces. I started to write an enormous amount of piano music.
After I met Ronald Stevenson, he invited me to a summer school that he wasn't running,
but it was a society, the Ronald Stevenson Society was running it. And he said, well,
why didn't you come? And I went up there. I had written piano music beforehand. But this was a
revelation, because Ronald Stevenson is a great pianist, a great composer. And of course, he
attracted lots of pianists to the summer school. And two of the pianists I met. Well, I first of
all, I met Chisato Kusanoki, who was at the summer school. And I wrote a lot of pieces for her.
And I met her teacher subsequently, Nicholas Austin, who lives up the road here, who is a
marvelous pianist who tends to specialize in the romantic repertoire, Chopin, Rachmaninoff, but
also composers like Godovsky, of whom he's, in my opinion, a really leading expert in piano.
An expert in Godovsky's very, very difficult, very, very beautiful piano music. And I started to,
once I'd been exposed to their way of playing and their approach to the piano, I began to perceive
the piano more in terms of the sound and the textures of a piano, the sonorities of a piano,
rather than just thinking, oh, I thought of a really good tune and just do that. So it became
not just about material, but it became about the medium. And I wrote a lot of piano music,
which was exploring that sonority. I think one of the pieces I wrote at that time, which isn't on
the album, is Five Coloured Parakeet, which Chisato recorded many years ago now, which I felt was a
bit of a breakthrough piece for me, because it was the first piece where I thought, I'm thinking in
terms of the piano rather than just thinking in terms of a piece that could be written for anything.
That really changed my approach. And probably why I've written so much, I'm going to love the piano
as an instrument because I play it all the time and mainly improvising, mainly jazz, but I love it
as an instrument to compose for. And you've got these great pianists and they're at your back.
They're thinking, well, you know, write me something good, you know, write me something for the piano.
Because the piano is a beautiful instrument, right? You know, it really is, because it's an instrument,
it's an instrument, isn't it? It can't sing, the piano can't sing. It's not singing, is it?
But yet it does sing. If you write work in the right way, it can sing as well as any other instrument.
How about orchestral work? How many symphonies did you write?
Well, I've written 15 symphonies and I keep trying to write a 16th symphony,
but because I've spent the last four years writing operas, I'm getting a bit stuck now.
So I start my 16th symphony, I've started my 16th symphony about five or six times now,
and it goes very well up until about four minutes. And then I think to myself, well, hang on,
somebody should come in and sing now. So somebody should be singing, because I'm so
now involved in this, it is a very involving world, the world of opera, where instead of just
writing half an hour's music, you've got to write two hours plus, you've got a libretto,
which dictates to you what you have to write. And you have the dramatic concepts of narrative,
which inevitably make you write in a different way. And so now I'm finding it quite hard to write
a long orchestral piece. I keep expecting someone to go in, burst in and suddenly go,
Oh, the king is dead.
But oh, that's the end of that symphony. That one's finished.
Now that you mentioned about opera, I want to know more about this blaze of glory.
And it's interesting, this opera was set in the 1950s Welsh Valley's mining community.
And then I saw that a little bit of a mini clip of this opera, there were like a lot of audience
reactions and your comments. And then there's like a few sections in the opera of this male
male choir singing that that's actually quite remarkable. It's different. So tell us a little
bit more about this blaze of glory. It is an unusual piece because it it combines lots of
different types of music. Because it's set in the 1950s. And the libretto is very much of that time.
It lays out quite clear the librettist is Emma Jenkins, an absolutely marvelous writer.
And it lays out quite clearly the types of songs and the types of music that are required
that go with the story. So the basic story is that a Welsh male voice choir, its numbers have
become decimated due to a pit explosion down the mines. And they're very depressed. But there's a
move to try and stimulate the choir master Mr. Pugh, who's played quite magnificently by Jeff
Lloyd Roberts in the production, to start the choir again. Come on, stop being miserable.
We've got to. So the first quarter of the opera really is trying to persuade this rather downcast
man that we can still sing. And in fact that we must sing because it's our hope of salvation.
And so of course, the repertoire of the Welsh male voice choir, it's difficult to say,
it plays an important part in the piece. So there are several set pieces and some pieces that we've
actually revived from the old repertoire of pieces that were sung in the 1940s and 1950s.
They form part of the opera. There's also a close harmony vocal group consisting of three ladies
who are really like the Andrews sisters. So it's got a lot of American influence in it.
So there's quite a lot of jazzy numbers in which right there in the text. And it also has
a competition which has to be set to music. So there's a competition between choirs,
because of course in Wales there's a great history of competitive singing through the
eisteddfodz. And the choir does eventually get going. And so far so good. It's quite male
orientated. It's rough miners in the bar arguing. But actually it's got two remarkable aspects to it.
All based on fact, I might add, this has all been thoroughly researched by Enamor and it's all factual,
that they kidnap a countertenor from a rival choir. So this guy, it's played by Fergal,
Fergal Mostyn Evans, who's got this marvellous countertenor voice. And he teaches the male
voice choir to yodel. And it's all based on a true story. And there's also a character called Miss
Price. Now of course, like a lot of societies, that on the surface at least, and perhaps even
going quite deep down, they look 100% patriarchal. They look male dominated. The men are, they're
quite gung-ho. They're quite, you know, they think they're in control. But actually in a lot of ways
they're not, they're really, their behaviour, at least to a certain extent, is being governed by
their women folk. And it's in fact Miss Price who not only galvanises Mr Pew to start conducting
again, but also excites his emotions. So there's a very improbable love story between these people
who are deliberately portrayed as of a certain age. They're no spring chickens. And they form
this rather unlikely bond, which I think when I read the libretto, I thought, gosh, I've got to
write some nice music here because it's a very touching aspect to it. So it has a community feel
to it because of all these different musical aspects that come into it. And it was an absolute
joy to write. And I've been so lucky with the creative team. Caroline Clagg has produced this
fabulous staging, which almost never stops. It's this tremendous activity. And Ryan Upton has
been consulting on the choreography. And I've got the marvellous Stevie Higgins in the pit,
who is just this wonderful kind of centre of calmness and musicality that keeps the whole
thing going. So it came out of nowhere. Well, it was quite strange because I was doing my teaching
and doing the occasional jazz gig and minding my own business. And I suddenly get a text from
someone saying, you've got to go and meet David Poutney, the director, about doing an opera for
WNO. And I thought, oh, well, at first, I thought it was an April Fool's joke, but it was January.
And I went and trust it. And I got that job. The very next day, I got another phone call
from Jonathan Booker, who runs Surrey Opera. And he offered me the job of doing an opera
called Madeleine based on Madeleine Smith, the famous Scottish Poisoner, allegedly.
So I had to do suddenly from not really doing anything, just minding my own business. I had
two opera commissions on successful plays. And so of course, the first thing I did when I got home,
I thought to myself, help, what am I going to do? Suddenly got all this enormous quantity of music.
So it completely takes you over. So I'm up at five in the morning, working till midday and then
collapsing. Went on like that for years. You have two operas? Yes, Madeleine was performed last year
by Surrey Opera. And Blaze of Glory is in, well, it's coming to the end of its run, actually. We've
done, I think, four, five performances in Wales and five or six, is it, in England. There are two
more to go. And yeah, it's a lot of fun. And what pleased me, actually, the audiences have been
lovely. And also the musicians appear to really enjoy doing it, which is obviously a bonus one.
Wow, amazing. Then you also wrote ballet music too, in the past, right?
It's never been performed. A choreographer has not had a whiff of any of these pieces.
Although, funnily enough, because I got to know Ryan with WNO, he has suggested something. I won't
say too much about it in case nothing ever happens. But he does have a desire to do
at some point a full-length ballet. But watch this space. I think it's the best thing to say about it.
It's a very, very interesting subject and I'm amazed it's not been done before.
So I better keep quiet about it in case it gets pinched.
Okay, wow. Now, how are you composing all these different genres? I'm sure you attend a lot of
opera concerts and ballet and inside out about the industry too. But composing is a different thing,
especially when you think of opera, there are so many elements to it, not just the singers,
orchestra pit, and also choreography being involved. And there's a dialogue involved.
In a ballet, you have to think about choreography. And I honestly, I took just a few years of ballet
when I was a kid. That's the only knowledge I have with ballet. And then, wow, I can't even imagine
what sort of knowledge you have to have to create. Well, I can't dance a toffee. I mean, I can tread
on people's toes, but I can't dance. But I can look at dancing and I can appreciate it. In fact,
I find the ballet absolutely extraordinary. Because I'm a bit physically lumbering, I find
that what goes on on a ballet stage is to me utterly miraculous. It moves me to see it and to
think of the utterly glorious music that they have. What a wonderful life. I mean, I know it's
terribly hard and they get injuries and it can be cutthroat, but what an extraordinary world to be
involved in. But yes, so I watch ballet, I go to the ballet, and I go to the opera. Because I think,
you know, that's the way to learn. You've got the best stuff out there. I mean, who's going to write
better ballet music than Tchaikovsky? Not me, but you can learn from it. You can learn how it's done.
And the great thing about doing an opera or a ballet is that it's a collaborative thing.
Obviously, when you're writing, because the composer writes completely alone. I mean, I don't
let people in to tell me what to write. I mean, I have to write it myself. And then you let it go,
because it then has to go to the director and the musical director. And if I get a phone call,
and this did happen, this happened with both the operas, you get a phone call and think,
well, David, yes, we've got this bit of music here. But actually, that we only need to get three
characters off stage and two characters on stage. But you've given us a four and a half minute
on track. Do you mind if we they want to cut it? So you think about it, you think, yeah, well, yes,
if it's going to make the drama flow, you've got to let things go. So there's that collaborative
aspect where your part of you, the egocentric part of you wants to say, no, you must play every
single thing I've written exactly as I've written it. You can't do that because I'm not a director.
I'm not a choreographer. They're the professionals. They know what's going to work on stage.
And I trust them not to do serious damage to my music, which they don't. I mean, literally,
it's a few things here. And actually, sometimes they ask for more music because they've had a
change of heart about how to do a scene change. A lot of these questions are about scene changes.
How much music do you need? And what's actually going on? Somebody might need a costume change.
Well, how long take to get in and out of a suit? You literally have to time it. You literally have
to put stopwatch on the character and say, right, go. How can they come off stage? How can they
come off stage, change clothes, come back on stage all safely in the dark with just a, you know,
just a bit of light on them? Do that safely. Come on. That's the amount of music you need.
So the composer has to think about that and not be too egocentric about things that need changing.
And in the end, when you see it and you know they're right, you're absolutely right what
they're asking you to do. And that was the case with both Jonathan, who not only conducted but
directed Madeleine as well, and also Caroline, who's directing Glaze. All of those things,
they were fairly minor things compositionally, but they all amazingly made so much difference to the
the dramatic flow of the totality, which you must have. Otherwise audiences get, they switch off,
don't they? Thank you. I never knew that part of compositional process. And obviously I'm not a
composer. So you're not yet a composer, but who knows? I don't think I will ever be. It's okay.
So then, you know, you are multi instrumentalist. You mentioned that you started learning violin
first, not piano, because your brother was an excellent pianist. So you chose a different path
and also jazz music. And then you can play violin, piano, drum, you can also sing.
Any other instrument you can play? Well, I have played other instruments. I'm interested in
free jazz, completely free form jazz. And intermittently over the last 20, 30 years,
or even 40 years, I have played free form jazz, often using instruments that aren't my specialties,
simply in order to access a different voice. So for instance, I can get noises out of things like
trumpets and clarinets, but I've quite deliberately not learned to play them properly. So that what you
get is a series of sound effects. And I've got two very, very old and very close friends, Marcus
Wright and Paul Rogers, with whom I've done a lot of this kind of thing. And it's very, very
interesting. I was inspired initially to explore this style of music by listening to Cecil Taylor
and Ornette Coleman, who are two of my really great heroes. Cecil Taylor is an extraordinary
pianist who appears to be playing free, but actually he's using an awful lot of patterns
and things that he's worked out, often very bluesy, also using modes of which he's a really expert
improviser in the modes, but also quite chunky, almost late romantic piano textures. You hear him
do things like this. That's a kind of Cecil Taylor type sound, which seems to me a lot of what he
does is derived from Brahms' second piano concerto, but only he's often playing quite atonally and
he's a very percussive pianist. And I thought it was a revelation when I first heard him play.
And so I thought, well, I want to try and do that. So I have done some free jazz piano playing,
but often when I'm with Marcus and Paul, I think, okay, let's see what's going to happen
with the euphonium, for instance, which again, I can make noises down. And I don't have any of
these instruments here to demonstrate for you, alas.
It's okay. Wow. You know, you also composed pieces for like, you know, viola. I really enjoy
listening to the seven versets for viola played by Peter Shepard. I can't pronounce his last name.
Peter Shepard Scarford. He's a force of nature. He's one of those guys. The pianist,
Jonathan Powell is another one, a wonderful pianist who's played some of my music. They're
kind of forces of nature because, I mean, Lowell is a bit like this. The way Lowell can learn
things so quickly and get deeply into them. Peter's like that. Peter can have a discussion with you
and his discussions are always incredibly lively and informative and they go around all sorts of
different subjects. And before you know it, you've talked yourself into writing a piece
because there's some inspiration point that you've grabbed onto. And so almost every time I hear
Peter play or I meet Peter and we have a discussion, I think, oh, there's a piece coming. There's a
piece of solo viola music or solo violin music coming out. And that's exactly what happened with
the Versets. He'd given a concert. He gives concerts in the beautiful London churches,
a series that's now been going on for many, many years. He gives quite a number of concerts
yearly, every year. And he was playing on a particular viola, which if I remember correctly,
and he will correct me if I get this wrong, it's the Jacob Rahman viola, which I think is,
it's 1600 and something. It's a very, very old instrument and it has an absolutely beautiful
sound. And we got into this whole idea of thinking about instruments as having individual
characteristics. It sounds an obvious thing to say, but most of the time as a composer,
when you write a piano piece or a violin piece, you've no idea what kind of piano or violin it's
going to be played on. It could be anything. It could be a honky tonk or it could be a Steinway
grand. You don't really know. It depends on the venue, depends on what's available. So I became
interested in writing a piece, not just for an individual violinist or violist, but for an
individual specific instrument. So that's how the Versets came about. I also wrote a set of pieces
for a violin that Peter often uses for his Baroque recital work, which is a violin that on the belly,
there's a stamp which says Charles II on it. So this was a violin, probably one of many violins
that Charles II owned because he had a violin group. So there's an ordinary history, it's a
beautiful instrument, it's quite a soft instrument. It's not like the modern violin, it's got a big
sound. It's a gentle, soft, sweet tone. And I thought I'm going to write a piece just for this
instrument. Hey TPP friends and listeners, The Piano Pod is in its third season. Thanks to all
of you for watching or listening to every episode since its launch in 2020. I started this show with
a simple question I had in mind for quite some time, which is, how can we as classical pianists
and music educators present the beautiful classical music tradition to the 21st century audience in a
fun, contemporary, and engaging way? It's been an incredible journey for the last three years. I love
what I do through this podcast, providing a platform for pianists and educators to reflect
and discuss freely how we can keep the classical music industry thriving and relevant in this
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So please support my show today and don't forget to subscribe, continue listening, and tell your
friends and colleagues about The Piano Pod. Let's continue with the episode. Now let's get into a
little bit more philosophical questions. So, you know, I would like to know your vision for
the classical music industry. So what is your thought on keeping classical music relevant
and this classical music industry thriving in this really fast-paced society and especially in this
post-pandemic era? I think a lot of that has got to do with schools. School music, I can't speak for
any other country, but I know from my own experience as a teacher of music and also from colleagues,
I know that classical music is under a little bit of pressure, partly because, of course, it's
often an easier option to study other types of music, partly because there's a completely
erroneous idea surrounding classical music to do with elitism, to do with having to have money or
having to have glass breathing or whatever you're supposed to have to play classical music. And I
think that's damaging. Both of those things are damaging because I think classical music should be
available to all. It's not easy, but then we wouldn't expect to do easy physics if we wanted to
get on in science, would we? So I think it's right to have those challenges, but at the same time,
you shouldn't then have a hierarchy where you start to discriminate against other types of music,
many of which, let's face it, don't have any notational aspect. So I think it's important to
have a perspective and to have classical music as part of a general musical education, not instead
of, and not within some kind of pyramid structure. I think with children, particularly young children,
they don't know necessarily the differences between different types of music. It's adults that like
to pigeonhole. So if you take a bunch of small children to a rock concert, I think, yeah, that's
great. Then the next week, if you take them to a ballet, they think, well, that's great. They
haven't necessarily had those non-musical aspects of reasoning that might be telling them, well,
maybe it's not so cool to like this. Maybe I should not be like this. Maybe I should not be
like this. Maybe I should not be liking this. There's also the other aspect that they simply
might be bored. And that's okay. You shouldn't be, you can't force people to like things. But if
you've decided from day one that classical music is difficult, it's elitist, it's for posh people,
then you've already lost the argument. You're condemning it to a slow death. And we have actually
seen in this country declining numbers of children, declining numbers in the uptake of music exams
for secondary school children, for instance, which is a great shame. So I think it begins
with the schools. I think also you mentioned something which I think is very interesting,
the idea of the fast paced society. I think it's a good thing to step off the hamster wheel.
I think classical music is one of those things that allows you to do that. Some people meditate,
don't they? They might have terribly stressful jobs and they come in, well, you know, I'm just
going to get into a nice position. I'm going to meditate. I'm going to let the thoughts come in
and I'm going to process them. I'm not saying that music is just therapeutic, but it can have a role.
If for instance, we catch ourselves, I think even musicians, we catch ourselves doing this.
We think, oh, I'm going to listen to music, but I'm going to do loads of other things at the same
time. I'm going to wash the dishes. I'm going to cook a meal. I'm going to put the baby to bed.
I'm going to do a resume. I'm going to do this. Actually, why not just do nothing, but listen to
music and see what it does to you. See what it does to your perception of time and energy and flow.
Naturally you find, oh, oh no, I'm now a different person when I'm listening.
Absolutely. Thank you.
Fast isn't necessarily good.
Right.
Yes. I think if the pandemic has taught us anything, if we've been lucky enough to come
through it unscathed, if it's taught us anything, it's space and time. I think I can't speak for,
okay, I'll just speak for myself. For me, I became aware of space and time. What happens?
You don't have anything to do now. You can't go out. You can't work. You can maybe do a bit
of work on a computer at home, but you can't really go to work. You've suddenly got all this
space that you fill with thoughts. Classical music allows you to do that, to create the space.
Absolutely. Whether you are listening or learning a classical music instrument. Yes, absolutely.
So in relation to that question, how can we as classical musicians reach out to the
21st century audience in a more creative way?
I've seen a lot of amazing work done in, again, it's back down to schools again, really,
with professional companies now having really fantastic outreach departments, where instead of,
as they might have done 30, 40 years ago, saying, well, we're just going to put on a series of
concerts and that's it. You can buy the tickets and come or not. Now, a lot of companies are going
out into schools, into universities, into workplaces. They're also involving themselves
with the handicapped, with the learning difficulties children, also with, in practical
ways, actually inviting people who have got nothing to do with the music profession to
participate in actual music making. And I think that's really good because that does help to
break down those barriers. This erroneous perception of classical music as something that's up there
and you can't reach it. So English National Opera, for instance, which has been in the news,
for all sorts of reasons, has an amazing set of initiatives and that started some of them
in during COVID. One of the things was how singing can help your health. I think it's called Breathe.
I think that was their initiative that singing is good for you because you get stuff in your lungs.
And they've done a lot of things like that. Of course, one can't mention E&O without mentioning
the fact that there was an enormous threat to their funding. There's a problem here because
on the one hand, the government wants an expanding art sector that expands into areas where it
traditionally wouldn't have gone into. But at the same time, it's strapped for cash, though
it's giving with one hand and it's taking away with the other. So E&O is a tremendously successful
company. It's our local opera company, if you like. We go there all the time, either to there
or to Covent Garden. The amazing thing is you can get a seat for 15 pounds, which I guess is about
$18, $19. Something like that. So what's elitist about that? You could save up your pocket money
and go once a month. A school kid could go. You could sit there and listen to Berg's Wotsek
for 15 pounds. It's unbelievable. It's for everybody. It really is for everybody. Yet,
of course, it's heavily subsidised because opera can't make money. It's just too expensive.
And when subsidy is pulled away, those opportunities, those areas where you want to expand into
into youth or to people that wouldn't necessarily think of going to the opera, they offer free
tickets to under 21s. Those schemes, those subsidised schemes are under threat. And it then
reduces the company's ability to do that outreach, to do that vital work, because your future
audience is always the young. Yeah, absolutely. Yes. Now, then another question is, under the
umbrella of classical music, how far can we push in terms of multidisciplinary works and performances,
a multi-genre, let's say? Well, I think a lot of that stuff's been going on for some time.
I remember, well, I don't remember. Yes, I do remember when I discovered something called
fusion, where jazz musicians in the 60s were thinking, hang on a minute, these rock boys are
getting won over on us. We're not we're not pulling in the sales. We're not getting the gigs
anymore. I know, get an electric guitarist, an electric keyboard player in the band and we'll
change our style of it. Now, for jazz purists, this was a horror show. But for people who
were slightly more open minds, you could suddenly then go out and buy, you know, the latest Herbie
Hancock album, for instance, where instead of just having your classic jazz quintet, your
tenor sax and trumpet, piano, bass and drums, you've got a whole bank of keyboards and electric
guitar players. Now, of course, the trick is you want to produce high quality music in whatever
genre you're in. And the news out, of course, is there's a lot of stuff in all genres that
is not very good, it's not very interesting, it doesn't doesn't last the test of time. But that's
true also of traditional jazz as well as fusion. So it's not an argument against changing the style.
If you refresh the style, it can potentially open up a new audience for the music who might
in the end go back and buy Herbie Hancock's earlier albums, think, hey, that Herbie Hancock
is really cool. He plays acoustic. A lot of that is going on. And I think, again, we've seen a lot of
changes in concert programming, where now most orchestras in this country, instead of just having
a wonderful, wonderful series of classical concerts, they'll go into a school, or they'll do a gig with
a pop star, or they'll get together with some local musicians who are working with
drum and bass or turntables or electronic music. And they say, okay, what happens if we put these
two things together? Might be a bit of a mishmash, but let's see what happens. So you have a symphony
orchestra and a reggae band or whatever it is. Now, again, there's every hope of success and
every chance of failure. But that's the true, true of any venture.
But you know, honestly, I think your piano pieces, particularly because I'm a pianist, so
I want to promote, should be played more often. You know, I hope that your piano music, at least
your piano music, will be available to a lot of people in the future. That's my hope.
I'm going to write something down. I'm going to write that down. Look, note to self, publish.
Publish my own music. There you go. Great. I hope you don't lose that note.
Great. Wonderful. It's on your envelope. Yeah, I will remind you every time I see it. Wonderful.
So what's your next phase or step in your career? Is there any fun project coming up? Well, I'm
writing another opera as we speak. I've got another opera from Surrey Opera. Jonathan Butcher has very
kindly asked me to do another piece. Again, I better not tell you too much about it.
In case someone pinches it, because again, it's one of those ideas where you think, my goodness,
why has nobody thought of that story before? So I'm half, I finished the first act a couple of
weeks ago, so I'm having a bit of a rest and gearing myself up for the second act. So that
will be finished by the end of the year and hopefully go into production next year. And
that's it really, because that takes up all my brain space. I mean, I'm always writing short
pieces, little pieces, just to keep the juices flowing. And I'm always writing short pieces,
really. So there will be little pieces, but the main project is the next opera. Wonderful. So before
we go, this is a tradition that I usually ask to each guest, any advice for young upcoming musicians,
composers? Join an orchestra or a wind band or a choir or form a string quartet or form a band,
form a jazz group, form a rock group, play together, find out what it's like to play with
other people and then start writing things for those groups. See what happens. Thank you so much.
So if you're interested in learning more about Mr. David Hackerbridge Johnson, please go to his
blog site. It's called dhackj.blogspot.com. And also Mr. Hackerbridge Johnson has a YouTube channel.
It's youtube.com slash at D H A C K J D hack J. So so that you can listen to his music,
some piano music and an orchestral music and some chamber music on his YouTube channel.
So before I let you go, it's been a really wonderful conversation. What a wealth of
knowledge you have. And it's a very privilege to really speak with you today. However, we're
not done yet. There's one more thing to do. It's called the piano pod rapid fire questions. And
this is part of the show where I get to ask fun questions to each guest. Now here's a little warning
as silly as these questions may sound, your answers may reveal who you truly are. So I hope
you're ready. But is the audience ready? Ready or not? Here we come. Right. Okay, so please answer
them with shortest shortest responses possible and no explanation is necessary. Question number
one. What is your comfort food? Corn flakes. That is so cute. Question number two. How do you like
your coffee? I don't like coffee. Cats or dogs? Cats. What is your word or words to live by? Be
kind to each other. What is the most important quality you look for in other people? Follows on
really kindness. Name three people who inspire you living or dead? Haydn, Haydn and Haydn.
Who wrote like 105 symphonies? So hey, you have a long way to go. That's right.
Name one piece in your current playlist. Oh, Arnold Bax's seventh symphony.
Okay, I need to check it out. Yeah, right. Gorgeous. Gorgeous. Gorgeous. So the last question,
fill in the blank. Music is blank. Everything. Wow. Beautifully said. Also love. Love. Oh, music is
love. Perfect. Great. Thank you so much. So this concludes the episode of the piano part. Thank you,
David, for joining my show today and sharing your stories and insights and expertise. And you can
learn more about Mr. Hackridge Johnson through his blog site at dhackj.blogspot.com. And you can also
find his music on YouTube channel and other music streaming services if you are interested in his,
you know, symphonies and also piano music. The links are listed in the show notes. And thank
you to my wonderful audience and fans for tuning in. If you enjoyed today's episode, please rate
the rate and review it on whatever podcasting platform you use. Remember to hit the thumbs up
button and subscribe to my YouTube channel. If you are watching this episode on YouTube,
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Instagram and LinkedIn. I will see you for the next episode of the piano part. Thank you for
watching and thank you so much, Mr. Johnson, Mr. Hackridge Johnson. Thank you everyone.