Mexican wave

Tours that start in Mexico have a nasty habit of repeating on one. Of all the British groups touring in the United States at the moment, we were the only one to launch our efforts there. But the upshot is that, two weeks later and safely in New York, I am still directing a sea of unnaturally white faces. I am often asked what happens when someone falls ill on stage. The answer is that they leave it, while trying to give the impression that this is all part of the evening’s entertainment. The resulting sense of unease can be felt by everyone in the room, but is perhaps worst for the conductor, whose job it is to fashion an interpretation out of people whose minds are surely elsewhere.

The Tallis Scholars were in Mexico City for the Festival del Centro Historico de Mexico, under new management since last year. The collapse in the price of oil has hit Mexico hard, and of course when these things happen it is arts funding that is cut first. Perhaps this was why we were the only one of the six British groups who were nearby to be waving the flag in this festival. The other five, all on tour in the US during April, were St Paul’s Cathedral Choir, Canterbury Cathedral Choir, the Monteverdi Choir, I Fagiolini, and Fretwork. It was said about ten years ago that the British were losing their hegemony in international early music-making. On current evidence, I would say it has been reclaimed.

Several of these groups were in New York for Carnegie Hall’s Before Bach series, whose very title plays into my conviction that Bach has taken over as Number One Composer. The safest way for this daring initiative to go was into the music of Monteverdi — nowadays familiar to enough concert-goers to guarantee a big crowd.