Fran Flett Hollinrake, Assistant Custodian of St Magnus Cathedral, shares (exclusively for this blog!) the experience of her first late night SMF Cathedral concert "on duty".Read more from Fran at her Dragon History blog; she is featured as Writer of the Month the June 2011 Living Orkney magazine.
It’s been building up all week….schedules being finalised, strangers in artfully-draped scarves wafting around Broad Street, and the ‘pink stage’ pencilled in for Thursday night….and, mercifully, the weather seems to be behaving.
This is my first hands-on experience of the St Magnus Festival, and the buzz about the place is very energising. I’ve been told to stay out of the way of the stage crew (who can whip a stage out in the time it takes me to make a cup of tea), but to be on hand just in case anything is needed. We have a small supply of bottled water for the performers, and we also have to stock up on patience and forbearance as the whirlwind goes on around us, in ‘our’ cathedral! This is definitely one time of year when we can’t be precious, but at the same time vigilance is required to ensure that the cathedral remains in the same condition at the end of the festival as it was at the beginning.
On Friday I arrived for work at 6.00pm, in time to help usher out visitors, lock the doors, tidy up and get things ready for the London Sinfonietta, due to rehearse at 7.00pm. It was a lovely afternoon and the early evening sun was shining through the west window and creating very colourful splashes of light on the 12th century red sandstone pillars. We removed the temporary stanchions from around the stage area, and I got out the duster to polish the Boston grand piano, set centre stage. We can’t use furniture polish on the piano, so it is elbow grease alone that is required to bring up the shine. I kept spotting bits that needed doing, and will admit to stifling a cry when the stage crew (at the request of the pianist) shifted it a few feet to the left and left grubby finger marks all over it!
The first performer to arrive was a slight, young handsome fellow carrying a white cello case. He looked about 12 years old. We had a chat and he said he’d never visited Orkney before but he thought it was lovely and he was hoping to have the chance to look around the islands. As well as rehearsing and performing, he told me, he has also been involved in the composers’ course too, so has a very busy week with not much time for sight-seeing. The flautist, on the other hand, had been here several times before and was very keen to see the upper levels of the cathedral, so I told her we would see what we could do on that front!
Sally Beamish gives London Sinfonietta notes on Monday, during a rehearsal of her Commedia
(Picture: Sweyn Hunter)
More musicians arrived through the door in the south transept, and the violin player asked if we had a Green Room. Of course! I cried, follow me! Here is a well-appointed toilet with plenty of room for getting changed, and a large mirror. And here (flings door open wide) is the 13th-century north vestry, usually used by the kirk minister, replete with wax-encrusted candlesticks, 17th century wooden chair (featuring wooden Green Man carving…look! Green Man! Green Room! Hehe……oh, never mind…) and door leading down to the old cellar where they used to keep the lime for throwing onto the….ummm…anyway, if there’s anything else you need, give me a shout.
London Sinfonietta players preparing to play in the Cathedral on Friday night
(Picture: Fran Flett Hollinrake)
Whilst the rehearsal progressed, I got on with a bit of work, needed only occasionally to provide gaffer tape (for marking the position of the music stands) and bottles of water. At about 9.00pm, the first of the Front of House folk arrived; the first of, as it transpired, a small army of very well turned-out folk, including a few familiar faces. We spent a little while looking at the exhibition of photographs – the result of the Orkney 24 project, when the people of Orkney took photos on 14 February and submitted them for selection. The pictures chosen represent 24 hours in the life of the islands, from farming to fishing and from dancing to darning. They have all been printed up and are now on display in a variety of festival venues, including the cathedral (and featuring one image taken by your friendly neighbourhood custodian *coff coff*).
The Front of House manager arrived and set to with a precision that would have warmed the heart of many an army general. The musicians’ manager came for a quick chat (Hi Andrew! *waves*) and assured me that he was very happy with the arrangements. The concert was supposed to start at 1000pm, but at 9.45pm the cathedral doors remained resolutely shut: it turned out that the performance of The Tempest at the Picky Centre was running over, and as it was likely that many festival-goers had tickets for both, it was decided to postpone the Sinfonietta concert until the play had finished. The doors opened at about 10.00pm, and the folk who came in were advised to wander and enjoy the building, so we spent a half hour or so chatting to folk about the cathedral and pointing out the wonderful stonemasons’ marks that have been rediscovered thanks to the new LED lighting system. The concert started at 10.40pm and we custodians retreated to our own vestry whilst the musicians took centre stage. The first piece, Veni Creator Spiritus, by Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, was for flute and bass clarinet, and as dusk approached (this is Orkney at midsummer, remember), the flautist had to compete with the trilling of a blackbird in the kirkyard outside. Somehow, the two merged together in the still air and created something very ephemeral.
The second piece by Messiaen, Quartet for the End of Time, was written inside a WWII prison camp, and is in 8 movements. I was making notes for something else, with the music in the background, but an extraordinary sound started forcing its way into my brain and demanded my attention. I went to the door and looked over to the stage: the pianist was playing mournful, bell-like chords, and the cello player was producing heartbreaking sounds. It was hypnotising and highly emotional - I haven’t heard the piece before but the cathedral setting seemed to add a layer of spirituality. By the time it was over, the cellist* had stolen my heart.
The London Sinfonietta rehearse before Monday's lunchtime Cathedral concert
Helen Keen, flute; Andrew Webster, clarinet; Alexandra Wood, violin;
Oliver Coates, cello; John Constable, piano
(Picture: Sweyn Hunter)
When everyone had gone, we straightened the chairs, switched off the lights and locked the doors. By the time I was on the road home it was well past midnight, but there was still a lot of light in the sky. Driving over the Old Finstown Road I was flanked by a golden buttery moon over Scapa Bay, and a beautiful orange-purple Simmer Dim over the north isles. A perfect end to a lovely evening.
*Having tweeted to this effect, I was delighted to receive a tweet back from @ollycoates (for it is he)!
[You can follow the London Sinfonietta on twitter: @ldn_sinfonietta]
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