Good evening, everybody
Welcome. I'll try to keep my remarks as brief as I can
but it's incumbent on me tonight to actually say a few words welcoming you to this wonderful new hall
It's also incumbent upon me for once to have a few notes in front of me
so I don't forget what I really want to say about Malcolm
First of all, welcome to the new hall and our new season
I'll try and...ultimately this is amusing, obviously got more laughs than I normally get
It's lovely to see a full house in this marvellous hall
We're really looking forward to playing this programme of British music
We really celebrate tonight British music, so you can really regard this as the end of the Olympic games
A real celebration of British music
I did invite Mr Hunt earlier on to complain about the quality of the closing ceremony
I did invite him to come and hear what really does go on with British music
with a British orchestra - amateur music making in this country
He's been moved to Health [laughter]
Tonight's programme would really be the sort of programme that Malcolm Smith would have loved
I hope you've been able to read... the obituary that Boosey & Hawkes produced
when Malcolm passed away, 18 months ago or so
Malcolm was a dear friend to me
I can't remember exactly when I got to know Malcolm
must have been about 25 years ago
I must have gone into Boosey to order some music, bumped into him
He said as he used to as he worked downstairs in the hire library in Regent Street
"Come downstairs, I've got some scores to show you" or something
and you would go down and you would be entertained
and helped by this extraordinary man.
When Malcolm picked up the phone to help anybody he said "How can I help you?"
and that summed Malcolm up, it really did.
Bromley Symphony Orchestra was the first orchestra he ever heard
He came about 60 years ago, he was a boy at Ravensbourne
and he loved the concerts, he would sit at the back
you would have heard him go "Bravo!" in a very loud voice
and he loved the music and he was incredibly knowledgeable
What is extraordinary is that he wasn't a trained musician
We're not even sure - my colleagues and the executors and friends who helped to deal with Malcolm's estate
We're not really sure whether he played anything or not, a musical instrument
but his knowledge of scores was wonderful
and you'd go to Boosey & Hawkes and he'd say to you
Hello, try this piece, try this piece
and then the violin cabinet would come open at the appropriate place with a bottle
and a plastic cup and you would be entertained
and he was quite remarkable and you'd leave with a bundle of scores
and you would leave the place actually wanting to do the music that he would sell you
and that is so unique
he must have made so many friends
and sold the music as he above all believed
he believed in his friends, he believed in Bromley Symphony
and he believed in me and our soloist
and that was his great gift. He was really wonderful, he helped so many musicians.
And that was what he was like, a Bromley man through and through.
The obituary will tell you the story of his theatrical connections
he knew Olivier, he knew everybody.
He went to a dinner party and it so happened the bosses were entertaining Stravinsky
Malcolm was there and got the menu and drew a picture of Stravinsky
which he got, with all the cheek in the world, Stravinsky to sign
and it said "This is a very good likeness of me, Igor Stravinsky"
and that was left in his house and I had the privilege of taking that to the British Library
as part of the collection of all Malcolm's artifacts, musical autographs,
letters, he knew everybody, he really did know everybody
and everybody loved him because he was wonderful at being like that.
Before we go on, I would like to just mention the fact that
Malcolm was - he loved Cornwall
He stayed at Budock regularly, the Norman and Jonathan del Mar family home
and in fact his ashes were scattered at Budock
He thought that would be a good idea
because Malcolm didn't really want anything to happen, all he wanted...
...for him, the Will was all about us, it was about leaving Bromley
his beloved orchestra and myself, quite a bit of money
just to put on Bax's Tinagel
because he loved Cornwall, and he loved Tintagel, and he loved this piece
but Malcolm, we've done better than that, we've got the best cellist in the country
we've got a whole programme of British music
and Malcolm if you're anywhere around...
you won't like the architecture here I know Malcolm, I'm sorry about that,
If you're here, this is for you, this is my tribute, out tribute, and many friends here tonight
distinguished and...distinguished friends here tonight here to pay tribute
One brief thing before we play the music, just one brief little thing
about how Malcolm as a personality would go up and know everybody and help anybody was...
He was in the RAF after the war, I don't think he was in the war as such because he was a bit too young
but in fact he got to the Mediterranean and ran
a sort of 'Family Favourites' ring-in or write-in for your broadcast, your record
to be played for people
and he received a request from Lady Mountbatten
because the mediterranean fleet was there
and Malcolml ran this radio station and he broadcast with great aplomb and wonderful accent
and he broadcast this and made a great fuss about the fact that Lady Mountbatten
had wanted a recording to be played for the armed forces in the Mediterranean
He made flattering noises and I believe she then got back in touch with him
before you knew it Malcolm was on the...head ship, he spent a time travelling around the Mediterranean
the guest of Lord Mountbatten
and that was Malcolm, he would be there, he managed to do that
before I knew him very well, I was with Malcolm once in Canterbury
and he just said "Oh, there's Rowan" and he went up to the Archbishop of Canterbury [laughter]
that really was like that, he knew everybody
Rostropovich...he would go up there, it was amazing
and he was an extraordinary man
You would never have know because he was to all intents and purposes very unassuming
Now we must press on with the music, I've talked too long.
But Tintagel is the description of the Arthurian legend
of not only the coastline of Tintagel but what Tintagel represents
the legend of not only King Arthur but Tristan and Isolde
and there are quotes galore in this work from Wagner's 'Tristan'
not only is it descriptive of the sea, but Tintagel is a passionate work,
Bax was a passionate man as a composer
and it's dedicated to one of the great passions of his life, Harriett Cohen
and the music is quite amazing,
wonderfully celebratory and a great truimphal sound
celebrating Malcolm's great bequest to us
I really do hope you will enjoy what we can do with Bax's 'Tintagel'