GRESLEY

BY BENJAMIN ELLIN AND CHRISTIAN JONES

On 7 October Christian Jones gave the world première of Benjamin Ellin’s bass trombone concerto Gresley, at the Town Hall, Huddersfield, accompanied by the Orchestra of Opera North. Benjamin and Christian tell the story of how the work came into being and how it took on even greater meaning as the COVID pandemic developed.

Benjamin Ellin I’ve known Christian Jones since 1996, when he and I were part of the National Youth Orchestra. As a young tuba player, and a budding composer and conductor, I found myself sitting a ‘few doors down’ from one of the nicest people I’d ever met – who also loved playing low octaves in great symphonic repertoire – which we did with great commitment! I was immersed in a world of wonderful music-making and great camaraderie. Both our lives have evolved somewhat since those early days, but there was always a desire to collaborate in the future on a big composition project and Gresley has provided the perfect vehicle to realise our long-held aim.

At a meeting before Covid had changed the landscape of all our lives, arguably forever, the broad plan for a full concerto commission for Opera North and Christian was hatched. We were both committed to creating a work that did not go near any of the stereotypes of what a trombone concerto is, the typical ‘licks’ – to use the jazz phrase – or theatrical gestures that people often associate with the trombone and with which they subsequently pigeonhole the instrument and player. We wanted to leave a substantial work, one that players would want to challenge themselves to play, enjoy playing but also feel musically satisfied with. Equally, we knew we had to create a work that would be seen as a serious offering to the entire concerto genre, a strong concerto in its own right and not just bracketed as a brass concerto. The challenge was high. I knew Christian would be incredible and the Orchestra of Opera North are first-class so where would I start to hang the many musical ideas we both had?

I hadn’t immediately decided on the influence of Sir Nigel Gresley, the famous railway engineer, on the work. What I was fascinated by, following talking with Christian and exploring subtle and new ideas for the solo writing, were machines, gears, systems, the mechanical textures and layers of how things work independently to enable a much bigger ‘thing’ to exist and work. The work of Sir Nigel then became an obvious direction: the creation of huge, beautiful and thrilling steam engines that broke world records and transformed journeys, noted for their beauty but also their mechanical brilliance. There was also an obvious connotation, an association really, between heavy engineering and the might of the brass instrument and as this concert was born in the North of England it all resonated true.

Then, two things happened. At the same time as researching the tragedy of Sir Nigel’s wife, who had died from cancer, the Covid pandemic struck the world. All our lives had been changed overnight in the UK when the lockdown hit and anyone who hitherto

CHRISTIAN JONES PREPARES FOR THE WORLD PREMIÈRE OF GRESLEY. PHOTO CREDIT MICK ARDRON.

enjoyed any form of human communion – which is almost anyone – found themselves isolated. It struck me that just as Sir Nigel had to rebuild his own spirit, energy and creativity to continue his own path, we too, all of us, had to find a way forward and hold on to our own sense of self-worth and self-meaning. This might sound grandiose, but for musicians, for example, the entire raison d’être in so many ways had been taken away from us with no knowledge of when, if ever, it would return. Ultimately my own emotional, practical, and perhaps spiritual challenges were all faced in some degree in this period through the composition of this concerto. It was a cathartic process that was inspired by the similar journey of the rebuilding of an individual by the great Sir Nigel Gresley himself.

Click here to hear an extract from Gresley in rehearsal.

Christian Jones Writing this late into the night of the copy deadline, in a hospital ward with a family member under observation, reminds me that music must jostle with all the other demands of life: so it was with Gresley, the first ever bass trombone concerto I know of to be commissioned by a professional UK orchestra for one of its members.

Having received the blessing of the refreshingly open-minded Opera North management in September 2019, it became clear to Benjamin and I that our collaboration – a quarter century in the making – would unfold during a period of unprecedented turmoil.

During May 2020 I turned 40, unable to leave the house for anything fun, but at least a date was set for the premiere: Thursday 8th April 2021. Benjamin expertly scored orchestral forces that could vary in size to suit prevailing Covid restrictions, without compromising on the technical challenge of the music. Keen followers of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra concert series will know this was the same day Peter Moore was originally scheduled to première Dani Howard’s concerto! What is it they say about buses …?!

At Opera North, government-sanctioned ‘test events’ were held in public but hosting a commercially viable (non-socially distanced) live audience remained impossible. I joked with our manager in autumn 2020 that I really wouldn’t want my first or second full orchestral performance post-pandemic to be a concerto: however, within weeks our entire 20/21 season was

BENJAMIN ELLIN AND CHRISTIAN JONES BACKSTAGE BEFORE THE PREMIÈRE OF GRESLEY. PHOTO CREDIT: OPERA NORTH.

postponed, with the revised première date of Thursday 7th October announced the day after my 41st birthday (still unable to leave the house for anything fun!)

My only half-joking nightmare scenario suddenly became a reality: delighted as I was with the opportunity, Gresley would feature in only our second orchestral concert since March 2020. Both semiprofessional concerti performances I had arranged in preparation had vanished due to covid restrictions and I needed somehow to prepare mentally and physically from home.

I turned to my favourite quote, which you probably already know: Henry Ford’s, ‘Whether you think you can, or think you can’t, you are right’.

Applying that mantra was not simply a question of telling myself, ‘It’ll be fine; I’ve been playing for over 30 year’, as that leaves room in the mind for rational doubt (‘have I really done enough?’) which becomes magnified in front of an audience one cares about, whether during an audition, job interview or concerto.

Rather, as I encourage my students, positive thinking is an incremental process that starts with talking ourselves into something, not out of it, be it our very first performance or assessment, right through to a 25-minute concerto after a year and a half with very little playing. Thinking ‘why not?’ instead of ‘why bother?’ is the single most important step to approaching anything new.

In practical terms, I had to quickly get used to audiences again, while negotiating home schooling and chronic family illness: every day for months, whether at 7am or midnight, on holiday in Scotland, or in isolation wheezing with Covid, I visualised walking onto the stage and listened to the overture preceding Gresley, to imagine the assembled audience. Practicing at full orchestral dynamics was tricky at home, and I am grateful to those who enabled me to perform short recitals in local shopping centres, outdoor festivals and covid secure halls.

By dealing with the anxieties of a big performance well in advance, one is much better placed to cope with what else transpires in life: when my wife’s stepmum passed away from cancer on the morning of the première, the solid preparation meant I could still head to the Hall – with a dedicatee. In the words of Oscar Wilde, ‘life imitates art far more than art imitates life’.

Dedicated to the memory of Sarah Cardus, 17/5/55–7/10/21. ◆