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A Gala Charity Concert in aid of:
The Garland Appeal
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A Gala Charity Concert in aid of: |
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The official Garland Appeal website details the origins and backgrounds of Linda and all the people involved in The Garland Appeal. MACCA-Central will echo some of that and give more details on the World and US premiers including first hand comments from fans and yours truly. I even have 2 reports from performers in the choir of the Joyful Company of Singers, who performed in the World Premier.
If you can't get to any of the performances scheduled and you want to contribute to this cause, please make your cheque out to
The Garland Appeal and send it to the appropriate address below or click here to order a CD. | ||
The Garland Appeal PO Box 1 London EC2Y 8PN |
The Garland Appeal C/O MPL Communications 39 West 54th St New York, NY 10019 |
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A Gala Charity Concert in aid of:
Riverside Church | 
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Report by MACCA-Central webmaster, Mike Kovacich This report is being written, so it is not yet complete When arriving at the Riverside Church I was amazed at the size and architecture and is indeed one of New York's "grandest cathedrals". The weather was great for June and it was quite a stroll to walk around the block observing the structure. There were several groups of fans at the front and back entrances and I recognized many of you from the various events over the years. All of you just looked so nice all dressed up. I even had a suit jacket on :) Paul was said to be attending this American Premiere of A Garland For Linda but when the program was to begin he had not arrived. The evening was divided into two parts. The first part consisted of several choral arrangements performed by the Riverside Festival Singer conducted by Helen H. Cha-Pyo. This was followed by a twenty five minute intermission. Paul was seated after the intermission and after everyone had taken their seats. The second part consisted of "a Garland for Linda" which again was performed by the Riverside Festival Singer conducted by Helen H. Cha-Pyo but also featured Demarre McGill on flute and Pittnary Shin on cello. Having seen Standing Stone and hearing some portions of the World Premier of a Garland for Linda, I was somewhat prepared for a type of music I normally don't listen to. I expected to hear some great vocals and I wasn't disappointed whatsoever. The music was thoroughly enjoyable but I particularly liked "Farewell" and "Nova". It really isn't fair to assess the material with just one listen so I did purchase the CD. I know it was recorded and broadcast live on National Public Radio so at times there was a short pause between songs, the conductor awaiting a go-ahead from the sound technician. At the end there was of course a very long ovation from the packed church. Paul was immediately called up to the stage and so he did with no hesitation and he called on the Chairman of The Garland Appeal, Stephan Connock and one of the composer, Roxanna Panufnik. After a while Paul was handed a microphone and gave a little speech apologizing for being late as he was tired from jet lag. He thanked the conductor and performers for a "brilliant performance" and thanked everyone for coming. He gave conductor Helen Cha-Pyo a kiss and she exuberantly ran over to the choir with both hands in turn blew kisses to the female performers in the choir for which we all got a chuckle as well. Many people crowed where Paul was and all the hidden cameras came out, the choir an encore performing a similar version of "Good Day Sunshine" done earlier as part of the Beatle medley.
|  |  National Public Radio has set A Garland for Linda tribute page which has a 17:14 interview in Real Audio (see below) which is I must say a very good interview of Paul by NPR's Bob Edwards. The transcript is also there to read along. You can go to NPR's site or for your convenience I made to short cuts below:
  NPR Interview transcript |
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A Gala Charity Concert in aid of:
In the Chapel of Charterhouse School | 
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Lyrics to Nova
Link to Joyful Company of Singers website
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Lyrics to "Nova":
God where are You? Are you hiding in Your Heaven? Or beneath your deepest sea? Was there something in our past imperfect? Is it something that we should have known? God where are You? Are you hiding God? Are you hiding in the rain? Are you hiding? Are you there?
I am here. News Reports: Article from Freeserve
SIR PAUL'S CLASSICAL TRIBUTE TO LINDA Sir Paul McCartney has taken his place amid Britain's foremost classical composers in a musical tribute to his late wife Linda. John Tavener, Michael Berkeley, Sir Paul and six others gathered at Charterhouse School in Surrey for the first performance of the mainly choral piece A Garland For Linda, which will raise money for cancer research and British music. Sir Paul wrote his moving contribution Nova after he was contacted by cancer survivor Stephen Connock, who dreamed up The Garland Appeal. Linda died in April last year after a battle with breast cancer. She was 56. John Tavener's atmospheric music was played at the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales. Michael Berkeley wrote the soundtrack for the film The Piano, and Sir Richard Rodney Bennett, Giles Swayne, John Rutter, Roxanna Panufnik, David Matthews and Judith Bingham are the other composers. Mr Connock said: "Sir Paul is thrilled to be working alongside composers of this quality, and they are thrilled working with him, because he is probably the greatest songwriter this country has ever produced. "Originally he was not going to contribute musically, but then he brought forward this piece, called Nova. "It has a theme in the second half that I believe is the equal of any of the melodies he has ever written." All the composers were at the Charterhouse premiere for the piece, and Sir Paul's daughters Heather and Stella were also there.
News Reports: London Times article Paul McCartney has had another crack at the classics, lining up with eight leading composers - including John Tavener and Richard Rodney Bennett - to create a tribute to his wife. At the world premiere last weekend, MICHAEL WRIGHT talked to him about the work All you need is love This is the unlikely story of one of the brightest days for English music at the dark end of the 20th century. Unlikely, because nine works by an eclectic mix of front-rank composers are to be given world premieres. So John Tavener, Judith Bingham, John Rutter, David Matthews, Roxanna Panufnik, Michael Berkeley, Giles Swayne, Sir Richard Rodney Bennett and (perhaps unlikeliest of all) Sir Paul McCartney sit huddled together in the chapel of Charterhouse school, murmuring encouragement to one another as their pieces are rehearsed. This severe, soaring space - the largest war memorial in Britain - is to play host, for one night only, to an audience of Surrey stockbrokers, animal-rights activists, vegetarians and healers. Decked out in their best commuter-belt chic, they are here to experience the first performance of A Garland for Linda, an extraordinary choral tribute to Linda McCartney. "I say, it's a bit of a scream," says Deirdre Hicks, an elegant lady who used to sing with Vaughan Williams, between sips of champagne on the lawn. "There's a load of Americans here who bought their tickets via the internet." She spits out the word as if it were a dead insect, before lowering her voice to whisper, with exaggerated horror: "And they say they're all here because of the Beatles." It is a sunny afternoon, and many of the choir, the Joyful Company of Singers, under the conductor Richard Hickox, stand barefoot on the chapel's altar steps, enjoying the sensation of the cold stone on their toes as they rehearse. They exude that special alertness, despite the heat, that comes from singing and engaging with new music. Or is it that Paul McCartney is sitting in the choir stalls in a salmon-pink shirt, listening carefully to every bar? McCartney is the key to all of this, even though it is a visionary businessman called Stephen Connock who has dreamed up A Garland for Linda and magicked the event into existence. Connock's idea was to emulate A Garland for the Queen, the 1953 cycle of pieces with which 10 leading British composers, including Vaughan Williams, Bax and Bliss, marked the coronation. This time, however, A Garland for Linda is to be the launch pad of a new charity called the Garland Appeal, which - idiosyncratically - seeks to raise £2m for both cancer research and British music. "The linking theme is the power of music to move people and to give them a sense of hope if they're really ill," says Connock, a cancer sufferer himself, who is currently engaged in writing two books on Vaughan Williams, and appears to have the temperament of a latter-day saint. Here is a man who is refreshingly adamant that it is just as important to raise money for British music as it is for research into cancer, "because nobody is doing it. Nobody's raising money for that cause. And this gorgeous music cries out to be performed, and to give people pleasure. For me, a million pounds for cancer is important, but it will not revolutionise cancer treatment. A million pounds for British music can do something fundamental." So Connock telephoned McCartney, and suddenly the ball was rolling. With the help of Richard Hickox, eight composers were assembled. "Everybody wanted to do it because of Paul," explains Hickox. "You can literally feel the love in the pieces for him." But there is more to it than this: a nerve has been touched in many of the com-posers by Connock's suggestion of music's healing power. "This is not a thing people talk about much nowadays," says John Tavener. "Music has become so sophisticated that it has lost its purpose. It is art for art's sake. It has lost its roots. Rather sadly, the only music that now seems to have any effect on people is pop music. And I think we're in a dangerous state if music cannot return to being a part of everyday life; a part of metaphysics." EMI Classics will record A Garland for Linda at the end of August, for a Christmas release; Chester Music is to publish the score; and Connock is aiming for 200 performances of the work around the world in the next 12 months. "Without Paul agreeing to it all, we wouldn't be here now," he explains. "He had to lend his name, and Linda's name, to it. I didn't ask him to write a piece of music himself, because I thought that might be demanding too much. But he came up with something wonderful . . . and I knew that it would 'make' the whole cycle." Paul McCartney is a brave man. His first foray into "classical" composition, the Liverpool Oratorio, was greeted in 1991 with almost universal derision. In 1997, his next attempt, Standing Stones, was similarly ridiculed. And still he keeps on coming back for more. This new choral piece, written as part of A Garland for Linda, goes a step further, in that it is the first classical work he has written without the assistance of an established composer. And for the first time, his work - entitled Nova - will be heard alongside the creations of some of Britain's most talented composers and will suffer all the comparisons that must follow. "Bit intimidating? Yes, slightly," he tells me, after sharing a rehearsal with his distinguished peers. "But if it was a pop concert, they'd be intimidated. It's good; it's what happens when you dare to walk out of your field." The eyes are a little cloudier than of old, but there is still the familiar twinkle there; the half-smile that never quite evaporates. At 57, McCartney's speaking voice is strikingly deep and firm. It was tempting to expect him to look older and wearier than when Linda was alive, but he appears thoroughly invigorated by this latest project. "I'm a young lad at this game," he says, munching on a sandwich, "which is actually quite interesting for me, because in the other game, I've done a lot, and had a lot of success. Some people say, look, you've made a great reputation, why don't you just leave it at that? And I see that point of view. But I enjoy learning. I enjoy working with choirs. There's a whole rich field there. And with the Beatles we would do close harmony; there's some pretty nice harmony on some of our records." Of course, in many ways, McCartney has always shared an affinity with classical music. With a hint of pride, he recalls his use of a string quartet on Yesterday, the french horn-playing of Alan Civil on For No One, and the extended, rhapsodic ending of Hey Jude. And with a hint of irritation, he recalls the music-theory teacher who attempted to teach him how to read music when he had just written Eleanor Rigby. "It's not the simplest of things, that piece. And he wanted to take me back to the five-finger exercise." For all the enthusiasm of his forays into the world of classical music, there remains this suspicion of its demands, its pomposities. "No, no, it's more than just wilfulness," he says, explaining his lingering resistance to the idea of learning to read music. "It's that it might spoil it. There were so many times when we'd be writing a piece in the early days, and George Martin was acting as our notator. He would say, 'What's the note? Is it, "I've been working . . ." [he sings, from Hard Day's Night]. Or is it, "I've been working . . ." [he sings the note a semitone higher]?' And we'd say, well, it's in between. He'd say, 'I can't do that.' And we'd say, 'George, you've got to.' I think that's where classical music goes wrong. It's a funny world." Sitting waiting for the concert to begin, the international cellist Robert Cohen leans over to me. "It's a unique situation," he whispers, "to get so many composers together, half of whom have probably never met one another." And he's right. It all feels a bit like golf's Ryder Cup, only without the funny trousers. For once, everybody is on the same side. With the pale evening light sliding gently through the soaring windows, A Garland for Linda opens with the solemn loveliness of Tavener's antiphonal Prayer for the Healing of the Sick. The opening section is sung by a male soloist several leagues away at the far end of the chapel, his voice carrying with all the faintness of an echo. To this the choir responds, the thick air palpably vibrating to the vast open chords. "Yea, Lord send down from Heaven thy healing might . . . and banish every hidden ailment." In the work's lofty silences comes the sound of a baby softly crying. This is so touching it could be part of the score. Eventually a young man carries the baby out, with an apologetic smile at the choir. They smile back at him. It's that sort of concert. Many of the other composers have spoken with qualified enthusiasm about McCartney's Nova before the concert, praising it as "delightfully simple", or "great fun" or that "it has worked out wonderfully". Certainly, it holds its own in this distinguished company. And what they have missed is the fact that McCartney, whatever the current limitations of his musical vocabulary, has created a remarkable piece of drama that speaks with uncanny directness to the listener. The repeated question, "Are you there?" from the sopranos and altos rises in unexpectedly jagged intervals, the questioning leaps of the melody neatly capturing the insistence of the demand. The appeal to the listener is potent; the form of address passionate: "God, where are You?" And then, marvellously, God's meaty and thunderous response from the basses and tenors: "I AM HERE." It's tempting to laugh at the sheer audacity of this: how many composers, in their first unassisted choral work, would dare to put music into the mouth of God himself? And how many would be unselfconscious enough to give God such a direct, noisy, old-man-with-a-white-beard way with words? After some meandering counterpoint, a melody appears with a lively, almost folkloric simplicity, while a shifting accompaniment offers a hint of complexity beneath. "I am here. I am here now. I am with you." These are the words, I suspect, that many people have been unconsciously hoping to hear at the end of the millennium. Strange, that they should come from Paul McCartney. And then it's over, almost as soon as it began. Later, Michael Berkeley's perfect little ode, Farewell, touches the air with the delicacy and stillness of dew on primroses, its beauty growing as its simple, falling phrases are repeated: not just one, but a whole sunlit patch of wild flowers. I am reminded of something McCartney had said to me a little earlier, remarkable in its candour and clarity. "You know," he sighed, "there's a sort of deep well of affection. Everybody who knew Linda felt this. But it has been interesting to see how people beyond that closed circle have felt something. And have felt something in my bereavement, in the kids' bereavement; in the idea of someone going before their time. I think none of us like it. Especially with someone so full of life: a lover of life. There are plenty of miserable people around who aren't really into living. So it's particularly tragic with someone like that. And, judging from the feedback I've had, I think it touches a nerve in people." It does touch a nerve. The loveliness and intensity of the nine pieces in A Garland for Linda attest to that. So, too, do the tireless efforts of Connock with his Garland Appeal, and the devotional silence of the audience - not your average classical audience - as they listen. By now, Stella McCartney is asleep, her head on her father's shoulder. And so to Richard Rodney Bennett, and his jewel-like setting of a 17th-century poem, A Good-Night. The choir say this is their favourite piece to sing; a work of great tenderness, couched in the lush harmonies of the English pastoral tradition of Elgar and Vaughan Williams and Peter Warlock. "Then close thine eyes and rest secure/No sleep so sweet as thine, no rest so sure." A standing ovation, and it is time to depart. With some hesitation, I ask McCartney what Linda would have made of this remarkable tribute to her. "I think Linda would love it," he says, wistfully. "I think she would perhaps giggle at one or two of the harder pieces. That was our wont, whenever we reached moments that we didn't quite understand. Much to the kids' embarrassment. They'd be being all serious, and there were these two parents at the back, giggling." He pauses for a few seconds, far away. "I think she'd be very moved, with most of it. I think she'd be very glad that people have gone to all this bother. And I think she'd wonder what all the fuss was about." The London premiere of A Garland for Linda is at St James's, Piccadilly, on Oct 23; details from the Garland Appeal, P O Box 1, London EC2Y 8PN
News Reports: Article from PA News
LINDA WOULD HAVE BEEN SO PROUD AT TRIBUTE, SAYS PAUL
By Jackie Burdon, Showbusiness Correspondent, PA News
Sir Paul McCartney said his late wife Linda would have been "proud and
overwhelmed" that eight leading composers should pay tribute to her memory
tonight.
He was speaking at the world premiere of A Garland For Linda, a choral piece
for which he has also written a section.
John Tavener, Sir Richard Rodney Bennett, Michael Berkeley and John Rutter
are among the eminent composers who have contributed to the piece getting its
first performance at Charter House School in Surrey tonight, aimed at raising
£2 million for cancer research and British music.
Sir Paul said: "It's very beautiful. It is exciting to be in this kind of
company I think Linda would have been very proud that they wanted to do this in her
memory, and slightly overwhelmed."
A Garland For Linda echoes a Garland For The Queen, which was written by
several British composers for the Coronation in 1953. The modern piece was the brainchild of Stephen Connock, the chairman of the
Ralph Vaughan Williams Society and a cancer survivor.
He said he had followed Linda McCartney's progress with breast cancer when he
was being treated for his own bowel and liver cancer.
"When I came through and Linda sadly didn't, I resolved to do something to
raise money for breast cancer and liver cancer, and also to put something
back into music which has the power to heal," Mr Connock said.
Sir Paul said: "He just wrote to me and said 'Do you mind if I do this
thing?'
"I said, `Go ahead, thanks for the honour'."
Later he decided to write his own piece, he said.
Nova has moving words written by Sir Paul, at first questioning whether God
is hiding.
The second part of the choral piece says: "I am here in every song you sing.
"I am here as first a new born babe opens eyes on the universe."
All the composers were present at tonight's Gala performance, and gained a
standing ovation at the end.
Sir Paul's family were also there - his daughters Heather, Stella and Mary,
with husband and young baby, and his son James.
Premieres of the work are also planned for London and New York, and it will
be recorded by EMI for a Christmas release.
The Garland Appeal hopes to stage 200 performances during the next three
years. Half of the £2 million will go to cancer research and treatment, and half to
British music, helping to record neglected operas by Arthur Benjamin, Arthur
Bliss, Nicholas Maw and Ralph Vaughan Williams.
Wow What a night.
I got there early and was told that Paul had arrived earlier in the afternoon by helicopter and that his security wouldn't
let you get near him.
I stayed around the chapel and you could see James walking around. He was dressed very scruffily in baggy green
combat trousers, flip flops and a batgirl long sleeved t-shirt. He looks so much like Paul.
The reception was at 6.15pm and the concert was to start at 7.30pm. I went to the reception and there was
champagne, fruit punch, lots of veggie food. I also met some American women who had come over especially for the
performance.
Outside on the lawn I looked around and to my amazement about 2 yards to my left was Mary and baby Arthur. Also
her husband Alistair and Mike McGear and wife, he was taking pictures of Arthur and Mary was trying to get him to
walk on the grass. He is such a cute baby. Stella came over to join them and she was wearing a lovely red dress
created by herself. I couldn't believe how close I was.
The chapel holds around 800 people so I knew I had a fair chance of seeing Paul. But what luck!! I was seated one
block to his left, more or less opposite him. Everytime I looked up he was there.
The choir was superb and they did a rather funny version of Lady Madonna, very bluesy. While the choir were
singing, James kept staring at me, it was really off putting, because everytime I looked up he was there. He looked
bored and kept looking around to see if he knew anyone, and chatting to Stella who was sitting next to him. At the
interval everyone got up to leave the chapel, as we were walking out I noticed a man walking beside me - It was Paul.
My god I was standing next to him. Only in my dreams have I done this. His hair had been dyed it was sort of
bronwy/reddy ontop but he had very distinctive grey sideburns. He was wearing beige/cream suit with a salmon
shirt. He looked very very sexy. Mike (Paul's brother) was talking to everyone. He was really nice very funny and he
was saying how the music touches him and he gets emotional. (I saw him wiping tears from his eyes).
Outside I was standing talking, right next to Paul. Paul couldn't have been more than 3 feet away. He was talking to
members of his family, and I didn't think it would be right to go up and talk to him, anyway I am shy when it comes to
things like that. I must have stood there for at least 20 minutes. Can you believe it! I still can't I am still pinching
myself. LOL
After a while his security man got a bit stroppy and told us that it was rude to stare, as if we were. We then moved
further away and another guard said that if we didn't go right away we would not be allowed back in again. Talk about
go over the top. Anyway I was pleased just to have got that close to him.
For the second half I tried not to look at Paul too much, because everytime I looked up, his security man was looking
at me. Baby Arthur started to moan a bit so Alistair took him outside so they missed most of the second half.
At the end of the performances the 9 composers made their way to the front, and ceasing my opportunity I got my
camera out and started to take pictures. The next thing I know his security man is there telling me I can't. But
I managed to take about 6 although I don't know what they will come out like as I think I was shaking at the time.
We waited for Paul outside and within half an hour he was out, getting into a silver mercedes. I waited around the
corner away from security (I'd had enough of them for one day) and as the car pulled round Paul was in the front
passenger seat leaning out of the window, I took a photo and as he passed, he shouted out the window, 'Thanks for
coming'. He seemed genuinely happy, he looked more like his old self.
Janey
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A contribution by 2 of the performers: The following have been written by singing members of the group. The "Garland Premiere" was written by Rosemary Day, who is also our chairman, and the "Garland Poem" document was written by Amanda Gibbs.
A Garland for Linda - The premiere at Charterhouse in July 1999. Long before the first performance on 18th July the Garland was special. It's always exciting to sing music that has never been heard before. You flip through the scores, fresh off the press, looking to see difficult passages and get a feel of the piece. At our first rehearsal for the Garland it was even more exciting than usual because we had nine very different composers contributing, some we knew well and some whose music was new to many of us. We were also surprised and delighted when Sir Paul turned up 'out of the blue' to meet us, listen to some of the rehearsal and tell us how much it meant to him personally. It really made us feel involved. We had to work hard in rehearsal and at home to learn the difficult pieces and to be able to sing the easier pieces really well. On a hot Summer Sunday, we converged on Charterhouse and got a flavour of the 'occasion' when we saw the marquees and all the people preparing for the evening and met many of the composers who had already arrived. Then our work started. We had a 4 hour rehearsal with Richard Hickox. To keep cool, many stood in bare feet on the stone floor; to keep our voices in shape we sipped from bottles of water and consumed a multitude of throat lozenges; to keep our enthusiasm, we imagined the chapel full to bursting; to stay professional we remembered that each composer was also hearing his or her music in context for the first time and needed to feel that we would do it justice. We were all very glad to have a break for sandwiches and tea in the early evening sun, with just enough time to change, get made up and psyched up for the performance. There is no substitute for the adrenalin rush of walking out in front of a packed audience. This premiere was even better because as well as the legendary Sir Paul, there were so many eminent composers and this was new music with a special significance. On the night, we were all caught up in creating that special something, which can come from a live performance, and we knew from the reaction of the audience that 'it worked'. After all the work, rehearsal and wondering, we knew we had a success on our hands. This was great for the CD, for future performances and of course for the Charity and those who started and saw through the concept.
"Garland Poem" by Amanda Gibbs Not an ordinary concert
Leafy lanes, summer sun
Such warmth, not just the sun
Then, concentrate, much to do
Composers listening, strive for perfection
Pencils poised, they ask, what do we think ?
In altered dress, now the anticipation
First notes, each note, then suddenly the end
As the notes die away
Leaving the cool and hushed grounds
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