Here's a sweet, non-cheesy story. As regular readers of my (sometimes) sage words may have picked up, I'm a Bournemouth boy by birth. And those of us born or raised in that picturesque town on the South Coast keep part of it forever in our hearts--and not just Sega World on Westover Road. Another Bournemouthian, for so we members of the tribe call ourselves, is Alex James, the bassist from pop band Blur. In fact, Alex and I were at the same school at the same time. And he just presented his most recent radio program on Classic FM about the classical music heritage of the town.
For a place dismissed by James Bond in one of Ian Fleming's 007 novels as only being for retirees, Bournemouth has quite a cultural history. As James points out, authors like Shelley, Oscar Wilde and Tolkien lived there at various times. My family at one point owned a hotel where the great comedian Tony Hancock had grown up. My own school also sired a film star and a legendary newspaper editor.
But James' newest program takes in the famous Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, as well as televisually-inclined choirmaster and, er, yet another schoolfriend, Gareth Malone. I hope that James doesn't forget about the late Bournemouth Sinfonia, an excellent group who died the death of a thousand cuts. Nor the ongoing and very fine Bournemouth Symphony Chorus.
Certainly many great conductors have been to the place. The BSO has an enviable roster, taking in as it does the likes of Paavo Berglund, Simon Rattle (an early guest conductor appointment), Andrew Litton, Marin Alsop and now Kirill Karabits. It has always had a strong connection to new music, moreover, from Stravinsky and Rachmaninov to Tavener and Dutilleux. Sir Hubert Parry was born there.
The show, called "Alex James' Magical Mystery Tour," is broadcast every Saturday night.
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