City of Culture

[Braunschlag]

Derby - City of Culture?!?!

I noticed the latest round of nominations for this accolade and was taken aback that Derby was in the running, the CoC was a feature on this mornings Broadcasting House. Here’s a city with no decent concert hall, the Assembly Rooms was technically built as one but it was never a success as it’s low ceiling rendered it acoustically dead. Oh, it also caught fire in 2014 and nothing has yet been agreed regarding its repair or replacement. Great for snooker and beer festivals, not much use for anything else.

And there’s the old Hippodrome, a Grade 2 listed theatre currently crumbling away with no roof and visited regularly by local amateur arsonists.
I know the award isn’t totally for the arts and on those grounds there is some important industrial heritage of note although most is in the Derwent Valley rather than the city. The surviving railway Round House narrowly escaped the wrecking ball. Nevertheless, I think Melvyn Bragg was pretty accurate when he lambasted the local inept council with his ‘culturally empty’ comment.

There’s a theatre of course - the former Playhouse which was a highly regarded company before the local worthies sat by and ignored it in its death throes.
A decent smattering of choirs (Choral Union and the Derby Bach Choir). A visiting orchestra, Sinfonia Viva, the most recent reincarnation of what began as the English Sinfonia.
The Cathedral tries its best as a host venue but doesn’t have the resources to do much more - in the 1970s they (with the support of the old East Midlands Arts Council), held a festival or two which could match anything in any other city. I was fortunate to see and hear Shura Cherkassky, Thalben-Ball, ASMF, Segovia, Swingle Singers (wow, they really were amazing) and every festival ended with a big oratorio with the CBSO and an expanded Derby Bach Choir.
What’s left now couldn’t run a lunchtime recital

I mustn’t leave out the local worthies - Percy Fletcher and, more importantly, Ronnie Binge. Whatever your attitude towards lighter music I think that Ronnie’s contribution is on a very high level. He is now thankfully credited with helping to create that Mantovani sound, working out a method to score the effect Mantovani wanted. An amateur musician by today’s standards but a considerable intellect - I have a copy of ‘Vice Versa’, a piano piece that can be played forward or backwards or even upside down and it sounds the same. He composed it as a palindromic challenge and it’s pretty mind boggling (although as much a fan of Ronnies music as I am it not the greatest piece of music!). And here’s another example of the local ignorance - there was a concert given at the Assembly Rooms during which a blue plaque was unveiled for Ronnie. Someone suggested they ought to include a short piece by RB in the programme (given by the East of England Orchestra, yet another iteration of the English Sinfonia). Needless to say the conductor refused on the grounds of something vaguely ‘unsuitable’. Thanks but no thanks Ronnie - no wonder he moved down south
And why am I interested? Its my home town and an acute embarrassment…….
My money’s on Bradford, it’s near to me now and much more interesting.

[oddoneout]

It is rather more credible than this, https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-norfolk-58842290 at least it's a city .
This

The government says the status also helps promote the UK's creative reputation abroad

from the above article sounds more like a vague hope than a certainty given the havoc being wreaked by Brexit.

The UK City of Culture is a relatively new tool in the UK international relations portfolio. But with investment and imagination, and the benefit of our international connections, it can become increasingly effective in sparking or strengthening international cultural relationships.

is from this article https://www.britishcouncil.org/resea...lture-reflects which, in 2017 when it was written, probably still seemed an achievable and reasonable aim.

[Serial_Apologist]

Unfortunately I used up my Crown Derby pun a few months ago.

[Jonathan]

I lived in Derby from 1991 - 1994 while I was a student and there was little or no serious music available, aside from that generated by my friends from the University music department in Mickleover. I did attend one concert in the Cathedral, I can't remember anything about it but one of my friends (who was a very good soprano) was the singer in one of Mahler's song cycles (I can't remember which one), I don't recall the acoustic being too bad but it was a long time ago.

One of my friends now runs a choir in Derby, along with his wife although that's a long time after I lived there too!

[cloughie]

Interesting that two counties, Cornwall and Durham, made the last eight. Cornwall has a similar population to Coventry but obviously more thinly spread but there is quite a lot going on down here. However the decision may be more about seats in Westminster and levelling up and preserving the now blue red wall!

[LHC]

I thought the purpose of the UK City of Culture scheme was to inject some much-needed culture (and more importantly regeneration funds) into places that were otherwise cultural deserts.

On that basis, Derby appears to be an ideal candidate.

[Petrushka]

I went to the college in Derby in 1973 and worked in the city from 1986 until my retirement in 2019. It was a pleasant enough city in the early days with some very good record shops but over the years I came to thoroughly loathe the place as it steeply declined and Braunschlag's description is absolutely spot on.

Remember the Assembly Rooms well and, I can't believe I'm writing this, I saw Bernard Haitink there in 1978, Simon Rattle for the first time in 1987 and Andre Previn in 1990 but, as Braunschlag says, the acoustics were utterly dreadful (like listening in a matchbox) and the air conditioning plainly audible.

I used to walk past the Roundhouse every day on my way to work in Pride Park, as soulless as any bleak industrial estate anywhere, especially in the winter, while the wind howled across the wide open spaces every day of every year, no matter what it was like anywhere else.

Derby is emblematic of so many places now. Run down with nothing there to visit (though the museum and art gallery are quite nice) and a declining shopping experience.

[cloughie]

I went to the college in Derby in 1973 and worked in the city from 1986 until my retirement in 2019. It was a pleasant enough city in the early days with some very good record shops but over the years I came to thoroughly loathe the place as it steeply declined and Braunschlag's description is absolutely spot on.

Remember the Assembly Rooms well and, I can't believe I'm writing this, I saw Bernard Haitink there in 1978, Simon Rattle for the first time in 1987 and Andre Previn in 1990 but, as Braunschlag says, the acoustics were utterly dreadful (like listening in a matchbox) and the air conditioning plainly audible.

I used to walk past the Roundhouse every day on my way to work in Pride Park, as soulless as any bleak industrial estate anywhere, especially in the winter, while the wind howled across the wide open spaces every day of every year, no matter what it was like anywhere else.

Derby is emblematic of so many places now. Run down with nothing there to visit (though the museum and art gallery are quite nice) and a declining shopping experience.

I don’t if it is more about cultivation than culture but Derby Arboretum was the first public park - maybe a chunk of money could make it a good outdoor venue for some CoC events!

[Petrushka]

I don’t if it is more about cultivation than culture but Derby Arboretum was the first public park - maybe a chunk of money could make it a good outdoor venue for some CoC events!

Indeed it was and it's a pleasant area, or it was when I was last there, some years ago. As Braunschlag points out, Derby is a place with much more of an industrial heritage and a railway town. Mention of the railway reminds me of the old railway station, a rather dark and gloomy place as I recall, but it was part of the city's heritage and really shouldn't have been demolished and replaced with the current monstrosity which has all the allure of an airport terminal building.

Also just remembered that Sir John Pritchard was once conductor of the Derby orchestra early in his career and I read that no less a person than Johann Strauss conducted there while on tour.

[Braunschlag]

I thought the purpose of the UK City of Culture scheme was to inject some much-needed culture (and more importantly regeneration funds) into places that were otherwise cultural deserts.

On that basis, Derby appears to be an ideal candidate.

I suppose so, but my concern would be that they’d squander their loot!
I’ve been racking my addled brains trying to remember any cultural worthies of note.
Putting aside Fletcher and Binge I can only come up with Ralph Downes and Neville Dilkes as performers/conductors who made something of a mark. I might also mention Raymond Thorpe (conductor of the Choral Union for decades), a past Hallé Chorusmaster. There is also a tenuous link to Rubbra, his father (I think) was some kind of engineering whizz-kid at Rolls Royce.
Joseph Wright - an extraordinary artist, John Flamstead. But it’s not much to show is it?

Derby was one of the very first places to dismantle and abandon its school music service years ago - kind of days it all.

[ardcarp]

Maybe Truro should be on the list? It's only a small city, but punches above its weight, not only with the Pearson neo-Gothic cathedral and its excellent choir, but also The Hall for Cornwall which has just undergone a £26 million refurbishment as a tiered theatre.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cornwall-58883552

So why Cornwall (the County) should be on the list and not Truro, I can't imagine.

[Ein Heldenleben]

Maybe Truro should be on the list? It's only a small city, but punches above its weight, not only with the Pearson neo-Gothic cathedral and its excellent choir, but also The Hall for Cornwall which has just undergone a £26 million refurbishment as a tiered theatre.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cornwall-58883552

So why Cornwall (the County) should be on the list and not Truro, I can't imagine.

Because the Cornish motto is Onen Hag Oll . One and All..

Kernow Bys Vyken….

[cloughie]

Because the Cornish motto is Onen Hag Oll . One and All..

Kernow Bys Vyken….

Also I think size matters - the population of Truro is 21,000. The population of Cornwall is about 500,000 comparable to Coventry. There are cultural assets across the county which would give a more even playing field for the bids.

[Ein Heldenleben]

Also I think size matters - the population of Truro is 21,000. The population of Cornwall is about 500,000 comparable to Coventry. There are cultural assets across the county which would give a more even playing field for the bids.

Yes you are right. The assets would include St Endellion, Prussia Cove, The Minack, The Eden project to name just a few …