Richard Bratby

For fans of neglected, niche and uncool music, lockdown has been a blessing

With no feasible way to make money from livestreams, orchestras like the LSO are continuing to roll out unsaleable passion projects

A blast of moorland air from Maxwell Quartet, performing in St Mary's Church, Ebberston, as part of Ryedale Festival

When this whole mess is over, there’ll be a shortish MA thesis — or at least a blog post — to be had from analysing classical music’s evolving response to the crisis. Already, looking back, distinct phases are emerging from the viral fog. Phase One: the Banana Bread Apocalypse — that first lockdown, when Jamie Oliver was telling us to smoosh up frozen peas and pretend it was pesto, and phonecam footage of a cellist playing Bach in the spare bedroom felt like a kind of miracle. Phase Two: orchestras working out what they could actually do while socially distanced and audienceless. Cue a spike in online performances of works for small (or spaced-out) orchestra. Lots of Tallis Fantasias and Siegfried Idylls. A brief flurry of live shows with miniaturised ensembles and no loo breaks.

Phase Three was when hopes of a normal 2021-22 season spiralled down the plughole, and things started to get interesting. Roughly speaking, the run-up to Christmas, when anyone (and it was by no means everyone) who had the cash and the technical resources to get online realised that since there wasn’t a harpist’s chance in hell of making any actual money, they might as well play what they liked. The CBSO staged an entire programme of Villa-Lobos’s Chôros; the LPO mixed cocktails of Vivaldi, MacMillan and Spohr; and in the wake of BLM, conductors suddenly discovered the music of Florence Price and the (more affordable) Chevalier de Saint-Georges. Phase Four is roughly where we are now — expecting an imminent return to live concerts, but with restricted audiences and an unspoken hope that musical demand will temporarily continue to outstrip supply. It’s a good time to roll out those unsaleable passion projects — for a little longer, anyway.

It’s a good time to roll out those unsaleable passion projects – for a little longer, anyway

The LSO’s latest online concert certainly has the appearance of a loss leader.

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